/diy/ - Do It Yourself

>>1682794
Again I can't get a good reading because of the many layers of animal shit embedded onto the contacts, but the manual describes R5 as a "150W, 5 ohm rheostat". The most confident measurements I've gotten off of a couple days ago are 6-7 ohms with the dial set to zero (weakest HF arc) and 3 ohms with the dial set to 100% (strongest HF arc). Speaking of, how should I clean this thing - meaning the whole machine? A lot of guys who refurbish welders say to hose it out with a literal garden hose and wait a week or so for everything to dry before firing it up. My plan was just compressed air and CRC contact cleaner. It seems to be working the way it is but all that corrosive animal urine / shit can't be good to keep in there for the next few decades. WTF gay pic.

>>1667939
>the larger it is the higher the surface area and the more readily it can conduct heat to the surrounding air.
Ok thanks, since this thread is practically toast I'll ask a retarted question: Is this something I could make at least for testing purposes out of a couple copper plates separated by a piece of saran wrap, or mica / glass for long-er term durability? I've already sunk 250 into this thing and I hate the idea of buying $30-150 parts without knowing if it's going to work in the end. Consider my labor/time free.
Pic is of the innards, what you see there is about 2' tall... It would just really suck to put a couple hundred into this thing only to find out the most important parts are toast.