Nano Cordless Spot Welder Is a Modular, Hacker-Friendly Fuse Wire Welder
Clever modular design makes the Nano well-suited to a range of power sources, including internal 18650 cells.
Canadian-based battery refurbisher RePowered Batteries is looking to make welding more accessible to the hobbyist with the launch of the Nano ultra-compact spot welder — complete with a 3D-printed housing and air-cooled electrodes.
"The goal is to make a no hassle and affordable welder," Julien Lemay explains of the company's project. "There are excellent options out there, but they can be expensive and require external power supplies, and there are some not so great devices as well that run off tiny LiPos which are accidents waiting to happen, and are barely able to weld 0.1mm nickel."
"By using a small built-in DC-DC power regulator, and high quality supercapacitors, and 15x more copper than a standard PCB, our project delivers a small, premium quality, and affordable welder that can use different power sources ranging from universal (USB) for people completely new to electronics, to more advanced but with a standard voltage (9v)."
The Nano is built in a modular fashion: The 3D-printed handheld housing, which will be replaced with an injection-moulded version if the crowdfunding campaign hits its stretch goal, includes a board with three Eaton XT-series supercapacitors, a gumstick-format welder control board, and a selection of welding tips, plus room for optional 18650 batteries as an internal power source. Each item in the design can be ordered separately or as a fully-complete kit.
"This project brings the only consumer device on the market made to weld fuse wire, and provides a better, portable, entry level spot welding solution, capable of welding up to 0.15mm solid nickel," claims Lemay. "In fact, here is a picture of a weld on 0.2mm split nickel with proper flagging from being pulled apart. Did it overheat a little? Yes, 0.2mm is asking a lot, but try finding another budget welder that can do this!"
The campaign is now live on Kickstarter, with rewards starting at $30 Canadian (around $23) for the fuse wire tip or $40 Canadian (around $30.50) for the custom PCB and rising to $90 Canadian (around $69) for a complete Nano kit, with delivery scheduled to begin in December 2020.