On Tuesday, March 24, 2020 at 3:58:09 PM UTC-7, Clifford Heath wrote:
On 24/3/20 11:10 pm, Jim Wilkins wrote:

Arc welders inherently limit short circuit current...

What about a spot welder, hooked up to a fat coil of copper tube on a
magnetic core?

The spot welders I'm familiar with are all AC, so they'll only magnetize as deeply
as the field-penetration-distance after one half cycle (if you can time it so a full
half-cycle is the end of the conduction). That won't usually be enough for magnetization
of a sizeable lump.

If you could spin the lump, so that the lump turns 180 degrees WITH the AC
reversal, it'd be a possibility.