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Way back in '77 my brother bought a 2nd hand Clarke arc welder so that I could repair the garden gate (I was 12). Over 37 years the welder has been well used for the run off the mill jobs and some odd ones, it has been repaired, had cables replaced a new clamp etc.

Over the weekend I was building a steel frame for my new new lathe (vintage 1960's) and the damn thing packed up completely leaving me with a part finished stand with maybe 4 inches of weld left to do. A ring around my mates turned up nothing.

Today I have been out looking at the modern equivalent and they are pretty crap, all sealed units with no repairs possible and judging by the weight they have silly little 'coils' in them. To get something which will take the 3mm & 4mm rods I have you need a 'professional' setup. Tonight I'm going on Gumtree to try and find a decent OLD welder.

David

If you think they don't make THINGS they way they used to, you should see the PEOPLE they're churning out these days...

What is this gumtree?


Sent from my banana phone.

http://www.gumtree.com/search?q=LATHE&c ... max_price=

The one at the top of the page is 12 miles from me, the one I got involved a 400 mile round trip. But then mine was £50 cheaper.

Looked at it earlier seems as though there is no location within a few thousand miles from my location.


Sent from my banana phone.

I was a welder's assistant for a summer after I got out of the Army in 1988. The rig we used was made in the 60's and was built like a tank. He used to hang it from the ceiling on a huge industrial winch every night so no one would steal it out of the open bay we worked in. One morning he dropped it a good 5 feet when he was getting set up and it didn't even phase that thing. He's probably still using it.