Topic: vintage hand tools

[grcamna2]

mrbreeze, logging truck running rte. 1 along the coast hwy. ? You must be a good driver to keep that one on the road around those curves !

[mrbreeze]

No....highway 36 from Mad River to Fortuna and Eureka.

[dave500]

an old bit of gear those?

[mrbreeze]

I don't know how far back they go Dave but they had em in 1976.

[dave500]

spied an old stick welder amoungst a pile of scrap the other day when I sat a bin down,i asked the guy if its being tossed out and he said take it,i opened it up and found the electrode connection inside was so loose and had been arcing,it wouldn't have worked properly like that,i reterminated it and the power cord blew all the dust out and it runs fine!just gotta practise now!

[Retro Rocket]

Great score Dave...

[trueblue]

Bargain mate, those old transarcs were good units

[ken65]

half ya luck, find a boilermaker who likes a beer and get them to teach you, i love welding,

[dave500]

neighbour gave me a decent welding helmet for it,just needs some new leads and electrode holder now,i borrowed some to test it.
I managed to stick these together.

heres some of my neighbours work,he made those stainless A  arms and suspension,he builds hotrods at home.

[ken65]

Best piece of advice i can give you Dave is always wear eye protection when your chipping off the slag, its hot and sharp and beware of welding flash, the 1st time i got a dose of it i didnt even know it till i closed my eyes that night in bed. A bit like having sand in your eyes.

[dave500]

thanks ken yeah I always use googles etc and have a few pairs handy around so theres no excuse not to put them on,i yell at anyone at work whos using say the wire wheel with no eye wear,they say im only doing this quick thing?and the goggles are right there on the bench!

[Retro Rocket]

thanks ken yeah I always use googles etc and have a few pairs handy around so theres no excuse not to put them on,i yell at anyone at work whos using say the wire wheel with no eye wear,they say im only doing this quick thing?and the goggles are right there on the bench!

Here's another tip mate, when wearing shorts don't squat and weld in front of yourself, sunburnt nuts are no fun.....

[trueblue]

thanks ken yeah I always use googles etc and have a few pairs handy around so theres no excuse not to put them on,i yell at anyone at work whos using say the wire wheel with no eye wear,they say im only doing this quick thing?and the goggles are right there on the bench!

Here's another tip mate, when wearing shorts don't squat and weld in front of yourself, sunburnt nuts are no fun.....

And don't weld in your pluggas.  You'll be looking at sunburnt feet as well, and you'll be lucky if you don't get hot metal between your toes

[dave500]

thanks ken yeah I always use googles etc and have a few pairs handy around so theres no excuse not to put them on,i yell at anyone at work whos using say the wire wheel with no eye wear,they say im only doing this quick thing?and the goggles are right there on the bench!

Here's another tip mate, when wearing shorts don't squat and weld in front of yourself, sunburnt nuts are no fun.....

but I want a big black wang!

[vfourfreak]

Best piece of advice i can give you Dave is always wear eye protection when your chipping off the slag, its hot and sharp and beware of welding flash, the 1st time i got a dose of it i didnt even know it till i closed my eyes that night in bed. A bit like having sand in your eyes.

Yup, done that, no fun at all.

Kev

[Retro Rocket]

thanks ken yeah I always use googles etc and have a few pairs handy around so theres no excuse not to put them on,i yell at anyone at work whos using say the wire wheel with no eye wear,they say im only doing this quick thing?and the goggles are right there on the bench!

Here's another tip mate, when wearing shorts don't squat and weld in front of yourself, sunburnt nuts are no fun.....

but I want a big black wang!

That may be the case mate but i'm sure you don't want it crispy and peeling....

[ken65]

Get some good welding gloves that go up to near your elbow, their cheap enough,
 then you can guide the rod easy without it shaking all over the place.

Another thing i found is every time you burn yourself , have some freezing cold beer near by
to hold on the burn .

[dave500]

cold beer from the inside?it had these plastic toy pram wheels on it someone fitted?

I spied an old trolley and pinched the axle and wheels and did some serious suspension mods to it!rolls over grass easier now!few new bolts and some paint,less rattly sounding now aswell.

[trueblue]

Dave, those wheels look like the originals.  Every transarc I have seen has had those type of wheels. 

[Retro Rocket]

Nice work Dave...

[dave500]

Dave, those wheels look like the originals.  Every transarc I have seen has had those type of wheels. 

if they were theyre pretty lame,they say the squeaky wheel gets the oil?in this case they got replaced and upgraded!

[trueblue]

Dave, those wheels look like the originals.  Every transarc I have seen has had those type of wheels. 

if they were theyre pretty lame,they say the squeaky wheel gets the oil?in this case they got replaced and upgraded!

They were intended to be wheeled across concrete, not rough grass.  They were pitiful at best.

[Terry in Australia]

The later Transarcs weren't all that good Dave, when they went from copper coils to aluminium coils, which were sh1t. If you've got an older one, well done. The best Aussie stick welder was the "Champion" brand, I don't know if they still make 'em, I gave mine away when I bought my Mig.

To go back on the "Don't do" list, don't weld wet steel. When I lived in an army house with no garage or carport back in 1982 I was trying to build a trailer on the concrete slab in my back yard, and being a wet Melbourne winter, it was pissing down rain and when it got too wet I'd retire back into my garden shed/workshop until the rain stopped.

The rain stopped, so I raced back out to weld the draw bar to the trailer hitch. I'd straddled the draw bar, and as I touched the rod to the workpiece, my wet dacks came in contact with the wet drawbar, and I copped 140 amps through my ball bag. If anyone's ever been kicked in the nuts by Bruce Lee, they'll understand why I fell on the wet ground in the foetal position and didn't get up for several minutes, then quietly packed up my welder and limped inside for the rest of the day..............      

[trueblue]

I'll have to admit Terry, I've never heard of the aluminium coil transarcs. All the ones I've seen have been about as heavy as your average cruise liner.

[Terry in Australia]

This is Dave's fault, all the talk about vintage stick welders peaked my interest, so I went looking for a cool old welder. There was a great "Goodwell" welder, circa 1950's on Gumtree for 30 bucks, but the seller fcuked me around so I didn't buy it, then when perusing eBay I found this old Peerless welder, and bid $83.99, and got it for 83, after some last minute snipers tried to beat me out.

I drove out to Little River on Sunday morning to collect it, and had a good chat with the seller, who'd inherited from his father, who was an old biker too. I wasn't looking forwards to dragging it out of the boot of my car, so I didn't pull it out until tonight, but as it still had half a rod attached I fired it up, and it worked like a dream.

I have a feeling that the new "Champion" welder that I bought back in the 1980's was an evolution of these old Peerless welders, and were probably the best single phase arc welder on the market at the time, so I reckon this one will still be working fine in many years to come. Cheers, Terry.