On Mon, 17 Jan 2005 22:27:13 -0500, RWL
wrote:

Hmmm. How do you make a High Freqeuency generator? Are there plans
somewhere in the dropbox or on the web? Would my stick welder benefit
to make my starts easier? (to rephrase that.... would it be easier
for me to start a bead without sticking the rod or getting it started
through dirt / paint with an external HF unit?)

The Lincoln and Century accessory HF boxes are (or were) essentially
a ferro-resonant transformer delivering about 8000 volts to a spark
gap thru the primary of a fairly large (6" dia) air-core coil. This
is actually a stepdown xfmr; the secondary is a couple of turns of
copper strap delivering about 2KV at HF. I think there was a cap in
there too. Note: these things generate a LOT of radio-frequency
interference. They're legal, but they can make you unpopular.

The Lincoln (from Sears) I had was pretty good. The Century was
utter crap. After examining it I returned it.

An electronic air cleaner supply (Honeywell, Trion, etc) would work
well here. The voltage is about right and they're current limited.

If you're running DC, be sure you have a shunt capacitor (0.1 uF or
more) and maybe an MOV on the welder side to protect the rectifiers.

Yes, it make starting a bead with an arcwelder much easier. The guy
at the welding store told me that farmers love 'em. 7018, no sweat.
Ditto paint, rust, mud, etc. (Shudder...) There's time for perfection
after the crop is in, I suppose.