This small gas turbine combustor sparked the development of the Hobby Spot welder company.   Complicated angles required clamping and adjustment before welding.  It was found that by only making one weld per panel, adjustments could be made to make the combustor more circular.  A second weld in each panel then locked the conical sections in place.  The total weld thickness in this combustor is 0.020 inch. 

These two welds were made using the HSPEN pen welder.  The HSPEN spot welding pen allows single sided spot welds to be made in small or hard to get to areas. The pen welder is also good for general welding in thin sheet metal.  With only moderate hand pressure the pen welder can make quality welds without the hassle of positioning the work-piece under a conventional locking welder head such as the HS100B.  Simply attach the alligator clip near the weld area and start welding.

These examples were made using the HSTAB battery tab welder by hand!  The HSTAB allows true single sided welds to be made though it’s parallel electrode design.  Conventional battery tab welders cost thousands of dollars.  Hobby Spot has developed a single sided welder that makes quality welds without the expense! Use the HSTAB with the HS100B welding head or use it as a truely single sided pen welder!

Hobby Spot’s 100 W*s class welders will combine approximately 0.035 inch total thickness when the welded sheets are identical.  However, this example shows that thin sheet metal can be attached to much thicker sheets maintaining good weld quality.  Shown in the example, 0.010” sheet has been welded to 1/16^th sheet (stainless). Destructive pull test reveal that weld nuggets are ripped from the 10 thousands sheet and remain on the thicker base metal!

In another example of exceeding the 0.035 inch limit for the Hobby Spot 100 W*s class welders, a stack of 0.010 Inch sheet has been welded to a total thickness of 1/16^th inch!  

These results were obtained using a slightly larger capacitor then the HS300A.  Metal cleanliness and other factors will affect maximum thicknesses of thinner sheet stacks. The HS300A should be capable of welding around 4, 0.010 inch pieces of stainless steel (0.040”).