Design, Construction and Performance Evaluation of a Low Cost Electric Arc Welding Machine

Abstract

Apart from woodwork, brickwork, all other formworks are of metalwork. Thus engineering devices, equipment, machineries and infrastructures are made possible with the use of welding machines, be it carbide or arc – welding type. In Nigeria, where the cost of imported goods rises astronomically in accordance with the foreign exchange rates, the need to fabricate this very important equipment became of important necessity. In this paper, a single-phase 6KVA, 240VAC/30-70 VDC electric arc welding machine was designed and constructed using locally available materials. The different operating current required, arcing time, the heat generated by the arc, the minimum arc gap, the fluxite coated electrode, oxidation of the molten materials by the surrounding air where some of the designed parameters that determined the auto-transformer specific magnetic loading and specific electric loading. Cooling medium, integral switch, the rectifier circuits and the tanking of the transformer designed determined the equipment production. The locally fabricated AC/DC air cooled electric arc welding machine capable of withstanding 200A, when subjected to insulation resistance test, no – load test, short circuit test and on-load test to ascertain its performance characteristics were very satisfactory.