frying control board

[Denman]

Just a quick question.
Our robot is made out of inch square angle , and i need to do a bit of welding on the lifter (its from the box lifter one)
what i want to know is, if i do some MiG welding on the robot lifting arm (the vertical bits) will it blow up the control board? It is bleeding hard to get the control board out as i will have to remove EVERYTHING else....

[Ryan M.]

Probably not. As long as you aren't near the bottom, it should be fine. The lexan/whatever covering should keep it plenty safe.

But, I don't endorse my own answer, so if anything happens...

[Denman]

oki doki, the mentor i found just said the same, so i suppose it should be ok
but if it blows up, i will be back and warning you not to do it yourself lol

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Den,
This is one of those situations where you need to weigh the benefits against the hazards. For a few minutes of frustration you save the $1000+ price tag of a new controller. Seems like a no-brainer to me. There should not be any direct connection between the frame and the electronics but the welding process passes huge amounts of current through the frame. Current passing through a conductor induces a magnetic field (Huge currents=huge fields) and conductors in a magnetic field induce current flow.

[Denman]

its going to take me several hours, not a few minutes lol, and i would hten have to wire it all back up and mess around when it doesn't work... it has to be done by friday as well..


what about if i stick the earth in a place where the current will go straigt away from the rc?
ie if i am welding half way down it, if i earth it at the top??

[dez250]

Not only will you have the risk of frying the controller, but also the spikes and victors you have the chance of zapping and destroying. If it is going to take a few hours to remove the RC and other electronic, then you might have one other option. Can you remove what you need to weld and weld that off of the robot and place it back on when you are done. I would not suggest MIG welding a robot that has its electronics still attached.

[Denman]

hmmmmm that might be possible actually... i will go and see now...... thanx

[Racer26]

Well, I know for a fact that as long as your ground clip stays ON the robot you will be fine, the problem is, that the clip falls off relatively easily, and then it may touch some electronics... 1075 lost a whole robot's worth of Victor 884's (6) and the multiplier chip in the RC, requiring us to get a new one. But, since our sponsor was welding it, we didn't have to foot the bill. Also, if your 'bot is aluminum, I wouldn't recommend MIG welding. All of 1075's welding is TIG... but that's my 2 cents. (I'm not a welder so I don't know if its even possible to MIG weld Aluminum)