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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
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    Mackay North Qld
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    6,446

    Default A welder from yesteryear

    Just a tease for you.

    This was sold at a graysonline auction today.

    Flow arc.jpg

    It was 4 copper coil and built like a brick outhouse.

    Champion, Peerless and this FlowArc where all built in a similar way.

    It was sold for $9.

    Grahame

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
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    Lebrina
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    1,910

    Default

    If you could keep the power up to them, they would match most modern offerings and were bulletproof. A lot of welder for $9.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
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    near Rockhampton
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    Default

    Gee they are not that old Graham. Well I hope not as I can remember when they were on sale.
    Gold, the colour of choice for the discerning person.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
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    Mackay North Qld
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    Default

    You are entirely correct, I didn't mean Flowarcs were vintage but with inverter being the catchword of the moment as far as welders are concerned I did want to point out that the this genre of well made welding Aussie machine holds are place in our recent history.
    Flowarcs were made here in Queensland somewhere on the Sunshine Coast.

    I had the 160 amp model purchased new around 2000 and apart from the 4 coils it sported steel centered ball bearing wheels, a low volts tap for LH rods, a recessed front panel-protected by a sheet-metal lip and a decent length handle.

    The peerless, Champion and another brand this old brain can't give a name to at the moment were all earlier welders and had these features in common.

    They were unfortunately bloody heavy. They model pictured could well be still running in another tweny years ,what so the inverters ?

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    Dural NSW
    Age
    82
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    1,203

    Default

    Graham
    I have the equivalent Welder, its a CIG Transarc 140 amp, it seems I purchased it new a "few" years ago.
    Actually it was more like 46 yrs ago, & its still going strong !!!!
    Bruce

  6. #6
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    Jan 2004
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    Mackay North Qld
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    Default

    Bruce
    That is really interesting. I knew that the Transarcs had a few model variants but never knew they had a 4 copper coil model. There were a few different shapes.

    Would it be a Transarc Tradesman? They had an the extra tap point for LH and stainless rods.

    My Transarc was wound in aluminium and was circa early eighties. There was no wire as such in the windings, rather aluminium flat strap. It never had the grunt that the peerless units that I had used and I got rid of it after a while.

    Grahame

  7. #7
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    Mar 2011
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    Dural NSW
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    Default

    Graham
    Dont really know what the windings are, however it looks like the one in your photo & its not the Tradesman version.
    Bruce

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    NSW
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    537

    Default

    That's not old I got shoes older than that . That's quite modern compared to my Able welder .
    The volume of a pizza of thickness 'a' and radius 'z' is given by pi z z a.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
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    Mackay North Qld
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    Default

    Alright then
    Lets see some pics from those that have some.
    Who has the oldest stick welder then ?

    Thats 240volt jobbies not industrial.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    Cairns, Q
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    666

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by .RC. View Post
    Gee they are not that old Graham. Well I hope not as I can remember when they were on sale.

    Do you remember these being on sale too then? It's an original AEM Type 1 from about 1958 before they got a more modern shape. It started life at a sawmill near Kyogle and was traded for a larger welder about 1963, when I bought it. Even by 1963 standards I reckon I got a buy worth a tool gloat -18 pounds ($36) and the seller threw in a second hand helmet, a packet of 3.25 GP electrodes, and a packet 2.5 semi iron powder electrodes.

    Without the leads attached there is nothing to identify it as a welder at first glance - just a small black box with a wire sticking out and a switch on top. I reckon you would get arrested at the moment if you tried to smuggle it onto an aircraft. The trolley isn't original. I pinched it from the kids' toy box about 40 years ago after they had lost interest. It's on its third set of leads, and received a new electrode holder recently after the bronze jaws on the original became so worn they would not hold a 2.5 electrode securely.

    There is no chance of mistaking it for an inverter type. It weighs 19Kg, though it has been feeling heavier the last few years!

    Frank.
    Attached Images Attached Images

  11. #11
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    Apr 2008
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    NSW
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    537

    Default

    That's got me beat mine is from the early sixties .
    The volume of a pizza of thickness 'a' and radius 'z' is given by pi z z a.

  12. #12
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    May 2011
    Location
    Murray Bridge S Aust.
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    71
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    Default

    I can vaguely remember a welder my father had, it was an AEM also. It had two terminals on the top with wing nuts, no voltage control, if you wanted it hotter you used 16 gauge 1.6 or if it was to hot you went to 10 gauge 3.25. This welder is what I'd learnt to weld on, it also had a carbon arc torch, don't ever remember using it though.
    The welder itself was about a 6" 150 mm cube, with a chromed carry handle. This would have been about 1962, does anyone remember them??
    Kryn
    To grow old is mandatory, growing up is optional.

  13. #13
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    Oct 2008
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    Cairns, Q
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    Default

    Sounds as though it might possibly have been the same as mine, but mine is about 350 mm high and has two amperage settings labelled 12 gauge (2.5 mm) and 10 gauge (3.25 mm).. You can see the carry handle (beside the rule) and the wing nuts in the photo. As far as I remember the later Type 1s were shaped more like the welder in Grahame's illustration, though I've never seen one in the flesh. If you want it hotter you use a 2.5 electrode on the 10 gauge setting. A few years ago when we were living 25 Km out of town, it was usually impossible to strike an arc between 5PM and 7 PM when everybody had their stoves on cooking dinner.

    A friend of mine had one the same and used it to build the whole steel framework for his 32 foot concrete yacht.

    AEM (Adelaide Electro Magnetic) are still going, but now make transformer cores instead of transformer welders.

    I also still have a Lincoln carbon arc torch, but haven't used it for years. The 12 gauge setting on the AEM was really still too high for the torch and it ate the carbon electrodes very quickly.

    Frank.

  14. #14
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    Jun 2010
    Location
    Canberra
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    1,322

    Default

    My old man's welder is an Abel MkI - Australian made, 130A of honest AC current, sliding choke to adjust the amps and a 15A primary rating with a 10A plug.

    Panel artwork has mostly rubbed off, so can't put a date on it. I'm going to guess 1960's?

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
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    Mackay North Qld
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    Default

    Rustyarc
    like this one maybe?

    Abel MK 1.jpg

    Abel was the brand I was trying to remember.
    There were according to Google:
    MK 1
    MK 1b
    MK 3
    Also found a manual if theres interest I'll post the link.

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