[Shop-talk] resistance (tong type) spot welders

[Eric J Russell]

I bought the H-F unit to spot weld on the sills & pillars for my MGA.

It works adequately for my purpose. I made a few test welds using 
scraps of sheet metal then tested them to destruction. They were hard 
enough to destroy to satisfy me. BTW, I also used 'weld through' 
primer between the pieces. It does burn away the primer in the heat 
affected zone but didn't seem to adversely affect the spot welds. Keep 
in mind the unit is quite heavy -  a factor if you must contort into 
odd positions or make long reaches to make the welds. Also, the sheet 
metal should fit together well in order to make good spot welds. Don't 
use the tong's clamping force to draw the parts into contact.

H-F does sell a set of 'extended reach' tongs. They are not available 
in the retail stores though. And now I can't find them on their web 
page.

Where are you in cyberspace? You are welcome to borrow mine but it is 
probably not worth shipping vs buying one on sale at H-F.

Eric Russell
Mebane, NC
http://home.mebtel.net/~ejrussell

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Rambour"
>
> I was looking at a tong type resistance spot welder,
>
>  Looking for suggestions, will the HF unit work for one job ? will I 
> be
> sorry I got it ?