I have a project, and someone suggested that an arduino may be a way to achieve the result I am looking for. Have never played with one, but am interested in learning.
The project is an external tig pulser (ETP), a device that is installed between the welder and the foot control which ultimately creates a controlled pulsing arc at the workpiece. This pulsing is very beneficial when welding extremely thin metal. The resultant weld also looks prettier.
In the case of my welder, there is the welding power supply (WPS) and a foot control (FC) which are connected by a cable. The WPS provides (unregulated) 20VDC power to the FC, and the FC is a potentiometer. If the FC is at the 50% travel position then the potentiometer halves the input and the control signal going to the WPS is 10VDC. This results in an output at the workpiece which is 50% of the amperage set on the WPS dial.
Basically, if you had incredible foot skills, you could pump the pedal and create a pulsed output at the workpiece. My foot skills aren’t that good.
To summarize: Project description
Build a waveform generator which would allow me to vary the peak voltage, background voltage, frequency, and “percentage on” time. It would work with an input voltage of 20VDC, and have a max output of the same.
Is this task something that an Arduino is suited for? Any particular add-on pieces that would be useful?
Thanks in advance
Ted