I think that I'll start a Zombie Apocalypse store

[Papa_Complex]

Here's the final version. The scales on the shoulder are actually silver, with protective blue plastic on them for shipping purposes.

[wildchild]

final product looks great. have you sold any yet?

[Papa_Complex]

I've sold a couple of larger pieces and tons of jewellery. Most of the large pieces that I've done have been donated to web series though.

I'll hopefully have a shot of Sarah in her modified shirt some time this week and she's hoping to do a shoot with it soon.

[Turbo Ghost]

That looks fantastic!! Any idea if she'll be at DragonCon this year? If you were to sell that piece what price would you be looking at? My girlfriend and I will be at DC this year. I'll be Ghost Rider and she's doing a video game character I'm not familiar with so I can't tell you the name but, the costume is fantastic! You should post some videos of the resistance welder in action!

[Papa_Complex]

Both Sarah and Jen might be at Dragon Con, because they're associated with the upcoming web series "Chaldea" by Peter Adkison (former CEO of Wizards of the Coast), but I'm unsure of that. If so, then they would likely wear their Chaldea character costumes. Sarah lives in Indiana, so GenCon is an almost certainty.

A piece like that one would go for $300+ and at that I would be paying myself maybe $2-$3/Hr labour.

I've been thinking about a video of the resistance welder once I've got my space better set-up, and I've become more proficient with it. Right now my work area is a mess, but at least it's not a fire hazard I have a more advanced version, but this is a video of my supplier's older version gives an idea of how it works.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWQ6ifucFhY

[Turbo Ghost]

It's hard to see but, I'm guessing there is a groove in the tips of the electrodes and when you push the ring in it keeps pressure on the joint and then welds. Is it always live or does the pressure of pushing the ring in activate the welder? Nice device!
You're definitely underselling yourself with your labor costs but, that's often the way it works out I suppose. I've done a lot of metal, wood, mechanical stuff for people over the years and always short myself.

[Papa_Complex]

This is the unit that I have. Both the original and my later unit have a foot switch to control the welding action. The old unit required manually tuning it, via variable resistors, to set the pulse power and duration. My newer unit has 30 digitally selectable levels of pulse, so getting repeatable welds is theoretically easiler. In truth there's a fair bit of art to the science.

The flat electrodes make it easier to get solid contact on my model than on the original. I just have to burnish them occasionally with a fine file or sandpaper, in order to maintain good contact and remove oxide.

One problem with pricing is that you're always being compared to what comes out of India and Pakistan, at cut rate prices. Ultimately if I can build the skills to make high quality custom stuff, that'll no longer be an issue

[Turbo Ghost]

Nice rig! The price isn't too bad either if you plan on scaling up production! I have no ide if this would work but, if it can, it might save you a lot of time! Could you load a rod with open rings and then turn the welder on its' side and hold the rod in front of it and use your pliers to grab the rings and push them against the electrodes one after the other down the rod and when done, load the second rings on the first and load the rod again and repeat with the new rings that are hanging of the first rings and so forth until you get a sheet of mail? Don't know if that made sense but, it did in my head.

Ooh, ooh! Have a rod with a groove lengthwise and insert a thin strip of metal so when you slide the first rings on, they will have the gap lined-up on the strip and then you scoot them down and off as you weld them! Clear as mud?

[Papa_Complex]

Originally Posted by Turbo Ghost

Nice rig! The price isn't too bad either if you plan on scaling up production! I have no ide if this would work but, if it can, it might save you a lot of time! Could you load a rod with open rings and then turn the welder on its' side and hold the rod in front of it and use your pliers to grab the rings and push them against the electrodes one after the other down the rod and when done, load the second rings on the first and load the rod again and repeat with the new rings that are hanging of the first rings and so forth until you get a sheet of mail? Don't know if that made sense but, it did in my head.

Ooh, ooh! Have a rod with a groove lengthwise and insert a thin strip of metal so when you slide the first rings on, they will have the gap lined-up on the strip and then you scoot them down and off as you weld them! Clear as mud?

I tried something like that and, in practice, it didn't really make thins any faster. If you have a rod and give it a little bounce, all of the cuts in the rings pretty much go right to the top. Given how fast I've gotten and finding and aligning rings prior to welding, the time saving was almost zero.

I take a pile of rings, split it in half, then open up half and close half. The closed half gets welded shut. I then make chains that are the length of the sheet I want to make, which are two rings, joined by one, joined by two, joined by one... I then weld those closed. When I have the chains, I then weld them into sheets. It takes several passes this way, but it's the fastest way that I've found.

[Turbo Ghost]

This is where experience trumps theory! It usually does!