Product Development: Magnetic Butt Welding Clamps

looks cool to me.

 

Welding around magnets is a pain in the ***.

 

You don't weld right next to them.

They're really only good for lining things up so you can tack.

If you get them too hot, you'll demagnetize the magnets, so you can't weld right up to them anyway.

I'm working on a V2.1 that use a UHMW center section instead of aluminum, which will be a lot cheaper to build, but I'm not done with the fixtures and dies to manufacture them with yet.

 

I TIG weld and you can't get near a magnet. The other thing with TIG is you really dont not want any gap when doing sheet metal - we just fuze the metal together. I would like to have a few of them, they look kinda handy. To keep cost down how about if you provided the machined parts etc and we can ***emble them ourselves, that way the packedging etc would be way easier - drop some screws magnets spring and **** into a baggie and send it down the road.
One thing you might want to consider is to keep the magnets as close together as possible because very few pieces of sheet metal that we weld on a car is flat. if the magnets are spread out they'll misalign because of the radius in the metal.
Will they magnets loose thier magnetism near an ****og welder? They're a funny beasties, tend to magnetize everything near the welding bench.

 

If I'm 2 inches away it still has an effect on the weld.

 

Its a great design and I can see where using them in conjuction with the tube style clamps would be pretty nice. I voted packs of two for 20 a piece would be cool.I can only imagine how much time you spent figuring them out,as for some of your ?s the one that hit the most is yes the economy has hit with the form of three paycuts this year my tool and hobby spending is at a halt. But thats the beauty of side jobs! They are the only thing that has kept me afloat this year.That being said after the next one Ill take two man!!!!!!!

 

These magnets aren't real big, less than 3/4" in diameter. They are strong, but not so strong that you can't TIG weld next to them. I've used them with my TIG and they don't start to cause arc wander until you get within about 1"-1.5" of them. This shouldn't be a big deal, because much closer than that and you risk over heating them anyway.

They are supposed to be there to help you line up the panels for tacking you shouldn't be laying down a TIG bead with them still on the panel.

I don't think an ****og or inverter TIG makes them any difference, just don't heat them over 350-400 degs F. Get them too hot and they demagnetize. Otherwise, they're pretty hard to damage. They're inside a steel housing, so they don't shatter if you drop them.

I've found that these don't bother the arc until you get within 1"-1.5". Obviously, you wouldn't want to place your tack any closer than that to the clamp. They're easy to move, keep moving them away from where you want to make the tack. They should be totally off the panel when you make the actual weld.

Since I first posted this thread, I have pared the idea back to the bare essentials in an effort to reduce the retail price and make them easier to build and use.

Pics of new version:







The magnets are ~5/8" in diameter, and the stem handles are ~1" long. They don't come with the spacer pins as most folks seem not to want them, but the pin kits can be bought for $3.25 each if you want to add them on later. If I can come up with a cheaper way to make the spacer kits, that price will come down some, but right now it's kinda labor intensive, so that's what I've gotta have for them.

Prices:

$3.75 each
$35 for ten (10)
$81.25 for twenty five (25)

Thread for the new version:

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=5294561#post5294561