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Thread: A welder from yesteryear
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6th Aug 2017, 11:34 PM #16Novice
- Join Date
- Mar 2016
- Location
- Sutherland Shire, Sydney
- Posts
- 24
Yes please Grahame, Id like the manual, I have the Mk 1 - bought it about 10 yrs ago from a retired gentleman that used to own a crane company in Sutherland Shire, Absolute cracker of a machine, won't part with it. Sorry dont have a pic but can get one next weekend - worth the effort to show off the beautiful trolley he made for it.
Leigh
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7th Aug 2017, 08:40 AM #17
Link for Abel Manual
Alas it is an Abel How to, but has reference to Mk 1 and Mk 3 in it.
A short instruction manual booklet with hints on arc welding for beginners
Grahame
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7th Aug 2017, 09:37 AM #18Senior Member
- Join Date
- Jun 2012
- Location
- melbourne
- Posts
- 341
I have one like the first post, only its champion. I bought a few years ago it for $30 because I want to do some steel reinforcing on a retaining wall and I didn’t want to get my inverter welder all muddy. It works better than the old SIP 130 amp thing I had 35 ago. The SIP didn’t have the two outputs, so was probably a bit harder to start on low settings. The champion works pretty much as I remember it though, in fact stick welding was harder than I remembered and I had to practice a bit.
This next one though, is something else. It might get an award for the oldest, I’m not sure. The insulation might be some kind of paper/resin, its certainly not any type of rubber or plastic. And it doesn’t look anywhere near modern. The construction looks like it never had a cover over the base, I think it was always exposed underneath like this, so either it was only for the Afrikaans proletariat or it was before anyone had thought of safety. Not sure if the ceramic connector block helps date it, although I remember those in the 60’s I’m sure. It has the look/size of a diy thing, likewise the name doesn’t really sound industrial to me.
It has some pretty heroic Maks Stroom going on there. On a 10 amp domestic plug no less, although that isn’t original since it has 30amp on its toevoer. The switch on top is a 6 position one which includes off, which is a nice touch. The O/C output volts vary from 29 to 42 on the other 5 positions.
It looks so dodgy, that I bought this for 99c just to scrap it. The guy knew he could get money for scrap but I think it was too rusty, heavy and jaggy to put in his car so he was happy for someone to take it away. If nothing else though, I’m game for a laugh so I did try it out. If using compressed air on chips bothers you, its probably best you don't think about this. The inputs were isolated from the earth, so whats the worst that could happen, ha ha.
This thing is fantastic, and makes the champion seem like a little toy. Its so easy to strike an arc, its like its got HF. Turn it up to 4 and after a few seconds a 3.2mm rod will glow bright orange, and that’s while its running an arc. 5 is like having a thermal lance. You know how a DC inverter has a much nicer feel than an old ac buzz box on stick? Well this one has that feel with bells on, its much nicer to use than my inverter. I think there is so much copper in there, that it has almost zero internal resistance. After all that, I’ve decided it’s a keeper and it won’t die until I do. Its still on a 10 amp plug too, and the fact you can switch it up in steps from off to max helps to not trip the breaker. Of course it should only be run on a 32 amp plug, but where's your sense of history.
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7th Aug 2017, 11:02 AM #19Diamond Member
- Join Date
- Jun 2010
- Location
- Canberra
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- 1,322
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7th Aug 2017, 03:42 PM #20
RustyArc,
You might like this as well?
Abel Mk 1 with homemade trolley.jpg
Grahame
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10th Aug 2017, 08:57 AM #21Senior Member
- Join Date
- Jun 2012
- Location
- melbourne
- Posts
- 341
Slightly different thing, but this went for $145 in Dandenong last night, all working but earth cable missing. Cheaper than usual I must admit, but I think these things are incredible value. These transformer migs just keep going, and I've twice had to finish the job on my trusty 25 year old mig, when my inverter one went faulty and was out of action for weeks. its easy to get carried away with all the digital functions you get nowadays but if you actually want to weld something rather than play with a welder as a hobby, then the transformer ones are as good as anything. Size/weight is a disadvantage but think of the price!. This one had no earth cable, and you'd need to get a regulator but that's not going to add too much.
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10th Aug 2017, 09:52 AM #22
Not fair! not fair ! - whinge,weep, moan, complain.
Obviously, one good thing about living down south is the advantage of population density.
We never see goodies like that up here in Joh land.
Grahame
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10th Aug 2017, 11:19 AM #23Banned
- Join Date
- Feb 2015
- Location
- Oz
- Age
- 73
- Posts
- 459
My first welder was a home made job sporting a 1/2" square tube frame filled in with weldmesh. I think it had an aluminium coil from memory and two settings, low, which would blow holes in anything and high which would blow holes in absolutely anything.
I used it daily in the factory where I worked, the boss gave it to me around 1969 when he bought a CO2.
He had some interesting machinery when he first started out, another was a homemade drill press that use a vehicle diff. It drilled interesting shaped holes!
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11th Aug 2017, 07:35 AM #24Senior Member
- Join Date
- Sep 2008
- Location
- texas, queensland
- Posts
- 248
just had a quick google to try and find a picture of the type of welder i used when i first left school but i could not find anything like them . we had about 8 of them in the factory . they were about the size of a average household fridge and to select amps there were a few rows of levers that could be lifted and pushed into the conector fork . so if you wanted 175 amp you would conect the 100 the 50 and the 25 or you could use another combo like 100 /40/15/10 something like that anyway it was a fair while ago . i do remember for fun me and another of the young blokes would drop a stanley tape across 2 terminals = puff gone .we also used to give ourself a jolt first thing in the morning to wake us up and start the day off with a charge one would hold onto one of the earthed out benches and the other would hang onto the electrode then we would shake hands . dont try this at home kids .
'If the enemy is in range, so are you.'
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11th Aug 2017, 09:34 AM #25
Texx
Does Hobart ring any bells for you.I was an apprentice at Accurate Welding Works at Cordelia Sth. Brisbane in the sixties.
They used a Hobart Tig there that had a rack of push/ pull knobs that were pushed in to select amperage.
It was as big as a large refrigerator.We did some speedway and racecar related work as well as stuff other welding shops would not touch.
Like you I scanned google and can't find anything even similar.
Grahame
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11th Aug 2017, 12:01 PM #26Golden Member
- Join Date
- Oct 2008
- Location
- Cairns, Q
- Posts
- 666
texx,
I remember that the blacksmith at Broadwater in NSW in the early sixties still had and used an early welder like you describe. It was about the size of a large bar fridge or small domestic fridge, and had the same row of knife switches on the front panel for current selection. He did not know how old it was - my guess was pre WW2. Unfortunately I cannot remember the maker's name, and a search of Google Images did not yield any photos of similar machines. I did see a couple of other old out-of-use ones in old farm sheds, so they may have been fairly common once.
Frank.
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11th Aug 2017, 04:35 PM #27Senior Member
- Join Date
- Nov 2007
- Location
- Near Rockhampton
- Posts
- 270
Was this it.
https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/belc...der/1153669815
These old EMF welders were certainly quite popular in their day.
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11th Aug 2017, 05:23 PM #28Senior Member
- Join Date
- Sep 2008
- Location
- texas, queensland
- Posts
- 248
nah mate that one looks a bit modern and a bit small . the ones we had were black like that but they had 2 or 3 cant remember rows of knife switches . super heavy duty looking things . we used to whack a heap of em into gear grab the biggest rod we could find and cut steel plate like an oxy torch very messy but i did do it just for and giggles . cant remember how many amps those old things pumped out but it was a hell of a lot .
funny thing was most of the welding we did was only light stuff and those welders were way over kill , maybe the boss picked them up at the right price and they were impossible to kill .'If the enemy is in range, so are you.'
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11th Aug 2017, 08:39 PM #29
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11th Aug 2017, 09:53 PM #30Pink 10EE owner
- Join Date
- Aug 2008
- Location
- near Rockhampton
- Posts
- 6,216
All the old farm ones I ever see are PTO driven. As back in ye olde days there was no mains electricity on farms.
Gold, the colour of choice for the discerning person.
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