Wow. That digital pulse box is some task. The primary reason I wanted pulse control was for higher frequency DC, like around 60-120hz for lowered heat range on steel, but it may be more effort than what it's worth to me. I'm not going to be welding on production lines or running this thing all day, so pulse timing for rod use, I can handle. I was more interested in the higher frequency DC stuff for thin gauge beads, but I think I can accomplish what I want manually. All of my cars are stick shifts and I'm a simple guy. lol. If I can come up with a way to adjust 4t on analog and solid state electronics, I'd be game, but I'm not terribly interested in PWM because of HF start. That's why I sort of gave up on the first round. I can see why HF and AC combined are a disaster to deal with in microelectronics.
This has got me thinking that I should probably shield the cables running into the sleeve on the ground and isolate the torch lead on the floor with some brading, as well.
Using the foot pedal as a junction box can still be done, but I think it will end up with an isolated portion of the housing to run the torch feed through.
Does anyone here have a good link to a 7 or 8 conductor (more common) 18awg cable that has braded shielding? I'm thinking that an 8 conductor would be ideal, to run a separated foot pedal ground with.
The more I think about it, the more I like the spring idea for the gear, I'm wondering if something like a mig welder wire feed tension would work best. This way, I can put rollers under the rack and just let the gear bracket sit under spring tension on a set screw.
I think I'm going to fire the welder up tomorrow and put a test lead on 6-7 to see how quickly the pedal registers when it's on, to see if a time delay off is necessary.
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