Ever seen one of these?

[furyus 67]

I recently inherited a barn full of tools and hardware. I will NEVER go to the hardware store again. In the lot of stuff was this old "shock box". I also got 300lbs of various rod. It works wonderfully! I'm going to shorten the power cord as I've read it is better for the operation of the machine. I can't figure out if it's homemade or not. What do you guys think?

 

[66sptfry]

No I have not

 

[commando1]

Blocks of Oak as insulators?
Yah, I'd say homemade. LMAO.

Jeezes, I hope you ground that chassis to a pipe first. lol
As Saylor likes to say..
"Try not to die"

 

[Fratzog]

Congratulations on the score. Is some type of welder? If it is 300 lbs of welding rod you are talking about hopefully it is well stored otherwise it will soon be useless. What other goodies did you come by?

 

[furyus 67]

Blocks of Oak as insulators?
Yah, I'd say homemade. LMAO.

Jeezes, I hope you ground that chassis to a pipe first. lol
As Saylor likes to say..
"Try not to die"

Well....oak isn't conductive lol. Like I said it works great!! My "tin knocker" buddy looked it over and gave it a green light lol. Ive burned a few things with it already. I made the "chassis" it's on and a grinder stand out of pipe and a rim for a buddy. Honestly I forgot how much I like arc welding. I've been using a mig for yrs now.

 

[Pete Kaczmarski]

I agree on an homemade stick welder. I suspect the options were based on the type of metal and heat needed to get the correct flow.

 

[commando1]

Honestly I forgot how much I like arc welding. I've been using a mug for yrs now.

I never got the timing of dropping the helmet and touching the rod down pat.
It's a wonder that I'm not using a white cane. lol
MIG for me.

 

[furyus 67]

Congratulations on the score. Is some type of welder? If it is 300 lbs of welding rod you are talking about hopefully it is well stored otherwise it will soon be useless. What other goodies did you come by?

I couldn't begin to tell you Fred. There is soooo much stuff. A wood lathe, a craftsman hobby lathe , all of the metal storage in the 1st pic is completely full of tools and hardware..

 

[Pete Kaczmarski]

If you ever seen a Popular Mechanix in the 1960's.....you are in "Putterin Pete" heaven.

 

[furyus 67]

I never got the timing of dropping the helmet and touching the rod down pat.
It's a wonder that I'm not using a white cane. lol
MIG for me.

It's not as bad with auto darkening helmets. I learned on a stick at the tender age of 15. Got pretty good with them. Now I'm re-learning lol.

 

[furyus 67]

If you ever seen a Popular Mechanix in the 1960's.....you are in "Putterin Pete" heaven.

Yes Pete , I am!! There's 6 truckloads and 6 trailer(4x8 and a 6x12) loads we have brought down. And there's plenty more! My uncle calls it the mother load lol.

 

[furyus 67]

I'm still in awe of the amount of stuff!! Every drawer and cabinet is full. And mostly vintage stuff!

 

[furyus 67]

At this point I feel like I'm bragging but holy heat shrink batman!! I think this fella hit allot of auctions and estate sales!

 

[bluefury361]

Can I borrow something.....?

 

[Fury440]

Wow, does look like a blast from the past! I love old building like that, unfortunately they are getting pretty rare. Love the welder, I built a similar beast years ago using an old pole line transformer that had lots of taps. As commando already pointed out, make sure you ground the case. Since you may have children around, maybe build an expanded metal cage over the top to keep little hands and/or falling tools away from the power connections. Those old tap transformers will take a lot of abuse, but when they blow, its a spectacular event you need to view from afar!
I inherited a similar, but much smaller horde of stuff when my dad pasted and I found many of the power tools were held together with spit and duct tape. Some were repairable, but many were too far gone to trust. My biggest fear was not for myself, but for my family who habitually borrow things and assume modern safety things like grounding, fuses, breakers and finger guards. One of the first thing to have it's cord clipped was a skill saw with the blade guard removed. That sucker was scary to just hold never mind cut with!
I envy your bonanza!

 

[bluefury361]

This looks like something from a 50's sci fi flick....... Very cool.

 

[commando1]

There's 6 truckloads and 6 trailer(4x8 and a 6x12) loads we have brought down. And there's plenty more!

 

[furyus 67]

Here's a bit of the story: All of this stuff belong to a good friend of mines birth father. He walked away from his family when my buddy was 9, he is now 44. Paxton(my bud) is more of a buyer than builder. I've been fixing his and his families cars and houses for 15yrs or so. He's only interested in the cabin near Rose city MI(to sell). Paxton was going to throw most of this stuff away. Thank god he ask me if I was interested. So I helped him clean the place out and he gave me what I wanted.

Wow, does look like a blast from the past! I love old building like that, unfortunately they are getting pretty rare. Love the welder, I built a similar beast years ago using an old pole line transformer that had lots of taps. As commando already pointed out, make sure you ground the case. Since you may have children around, maybe build an expanded metal cage over the top to keep little hands and/or falling tools away from the power connections. Those old tap transformers will take a lot of abuse, but when they blow, its a spectacular event you need to view from afar!

Before I used it a lifelong,retired welder/tin knocker buddy inspected it for me. He said "yup it's old but everything appears in good shape". That's a good idea on the cage over the top tho. Best to take no chances. Fortunately my children listen better than I did lol. They are a bit intimidated by most of my tools. They've received more than a few "this is DANGEROUS " lectures from Dad I couldn't live with myself if they got hurt . It's got a 20' lead and ground on it so I'm going to shorten the power wire so the unit stays near the wall in a "designated " area. I've seen a few transformers blow and as you stated quite an event! I have to say tho, everything I've come across works and seems to be well taken care of. The organization of it all was impressive. Hopefully I can recreate it in its new home.

Yea Stan....pretty much a lifetime of collecting hardware and tools! I couldn't let it go to the dump!!

 

[Fury440]

I went so far towards safety in my basement wood working workshop that all power was wired through a key locked master switch. When the master was locked off, only the overhead lights still worked.
If you mount the welder by a wall, maybe raise it off the floor and put a sheet of fire board between it and the wall.
I still envy your bonanza!

 

[furyus 67]

I went so far towards safety in my basement wood working workshop that all power was wired through a key locked master switch. When the master was locked off, only the overhead lights still worked.
If you mount the welder by a wall, maybe raise it off the floor and put a sheet of fire board between it and the wall.
I still envy your bonanza!

Another great idea!! And thank you! A bonanza it is. It's gonna take me years to remember what I have and where it is!! I even found a good ballast resistor in a box. This guy had everything! I had to ask my bud a few times " Are you sure??"