I have read before about using jumper cables and batteries to make a DC arc welder, but never seen it done. Anyone ever tried it? Here is a guy who has gotten it to work:

https://www.instructables.com/id/Golfcart--Welder/

I don't own a welder, and don't do enough welding to justify buying one. There was an older gentleman who had a shop a few miles from my house and I have been getting him to do the little that I needed. But he has retired, so I've gotta do something different. I need to do some welding on a trailer, and by a little, I mean it would take one or 2 sticks to do the job. I have everything I need to try it except the welding rods, so I ordered a pound of e6011 and thought I would give this a try.

I have a golf cart that has 7 batteries in it, so I can set it up with anything from 24 volts to 42 volts. That's not exactly a normal way of controlling power, but I can't see why it wouldn't work with a little testing to see what voltage works best.

Get you a microwave transformer . Seriously finding a used stick welder (buzz box) should be hard.

And how would I hook it in? I have seen that recommended on other sites, but have not read any details. And that's not something I know where to get. A used welder would be great, but I need to fix the trailer before the weekend

Have an old welder on an old ford farm truck that works f a high output alternator. Got a hand throttle hooked up and the faster you turn the engine the hotter it welds. Never heard of just using the batteries.

Preacher, bring it over and we'll handle it.

I bought a red Lincoln tombstone welder for $75. It needs leads but works. You can find them for cheap.

I'd be afraid I would blow the battery or batteries up trying that.

If you are headed to Huntsville, my shop is always open to you too PCP. I was joking about the microwave transformer (MOT). You really need two or more transformers and by the time you cut the secondary windings out, rewrap with 4awg wire, add leads you are better off buying a used unit. Now, you can also make an electromagnet with MOTs. Parrell a couple of MOTs and you hold down some metal (great for face milling metal on a milling machine). I grab every microwave I see on the side of the road.

How bout telling us that again in English?

Definitely a possibility. I have toyed with it just to say I’ve done it, back when I was welding full time, years ago. Several problems. One is no way to control your heat. Another is, the sparks can definitely cause a battery to explode. If you make leads long enough to avoid that, by setting the battery back a good distance, you get a good deal of voltage drop. More hassle than its worth.

That is the thing that concerns me and is the main reason I asked about it. There are a bunch of YouTube videos of people welding with batteries, but I would suspect that anyone who blew up a battery would probably not make a video about that.

jmudler, I've seen several recommendations to put a microwave transformer in the system, so it isn't a wild idea. But I don't know where to get one and don't know how to hook it up either. There are some videos of decent welds that people have made just using car batteries, and I got to think that 6 volt cart batteries would be much better. I don't see any reason it would damage them as long as I didn't pull too much power out, and I could monitor that closely.

When I say this is a small job, I'm talking about welding a 1/2" coupling back onto the trailer for the hitch pin to go through. I need to run a 1/2" bead across another place to strengthen a crack in the frame. And I need to tack the wire floor back to the frame in several places. This is 5 minutes of work with an arc welder, but when you ain't got one you have to consider alternatives.

Turkey, thanks for the offer. I will probably take you up on that at a time of your convenience. But I am still curious as to whether or not the battery method would work.

The Iraqis can do a damn fine job with a car battery and a coat hanger

I've done it many times on log skidders and things that wuz broke back in the woods. You need at least 2 good batteries, get 50ft of #1 welding cable, a 300 amp stinger, 500 amp ground clamp and you'll need various cable lugs to rig it all up.. You could probably go with #2 cable and smaller amp stuff but you've got no way to really control anything so to me bigger is better.

Now here is the bad news.... It's not what you want to be doing.

Look around and get an old tombstone stick welder off someone and don't look back.

No way in hell I would do that

It works just hard to adjust your heat and you need two good batteries. Takes a minute to figure out how it burns. You probably won’t be making exray welds with it but if you know what your doing you can make stuff happen

I have a Miller Matic 200, if you can bring it up to Birmingham I'll weld whatever you want for free...maybe swap some welding for turkey hunting instruction.

That is an excellent way to get ur azz killed, a microwave transformer is high voltage, low amperage whereas a welder is low voltage high amperage.

Have you considered just buying a cheap stick welder from Harbor Freight?

Ding Ding Ding Ding Ding. Folks, I think we have a welder. I mean a winner.

This ^^^^

I have a 120v and it works surprisingly good once you figure out the speed of the wire and the amps to use for a particular project. Mine has been handy. i think I spent more on my welding helmet than I did on the welder.