Restoring a vintage welder

In which I take a severely neglected piece of classic engineering and attempt to make it work once more.
Will this elderly oil filled arc welder live again or was washing the insides a bad idea?
If you've enjoyed this video - feel free to buy me a beer via paypal - many thanks to those of you that have already :-)
www.paypal.me/...

[@maximusironthumper]

Big thanks to viewer +henrikoldcorn for his help with this video!

[@thepvporg]

Your selector should be immersed in oil as they will get hot.

[@thepvporg]

You can find out about the history of phone numbers and it's interesting stuff. The hardware as well, where it came from and the GPO engineers that led the way with telecoms and some of the GPO guys worked on Bletchly park hardware AKA Colossus or the many machines they had built. The switching systems that led to the telecoms system the UK built if I am not mistaken came from that early research, if you look in to Tommy Flowers, the man behind the machines concept and the use of valves for switching like transistors. Digital electronics was born around the end of the 30's early 40's.

[@metheone4]

Great machine!!! Pickhill Engineers Ltd. was incorporated on 30 July 1959 so the welder is more likely from the 60's beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/00633918

[@SuperBreast123]

Yes, a good bit of Interest. Thanks

[@nickcoppard5335]

I have a number of these in working order but if you try an inverter welder , I have one you can carry one finger welds 1/2 in plate in two passes and much kinder to electric supply , I only use an Oxford at night economy seven

[@eternalpoint]

I am a middle aged woman. I have spent two days binge watching your videos. I live in a council flat and can not even drive. There is no logical reason for me to watch these. However I love watching them, they are fascinating and so therapeutic to watch. Your voice is very soothing and you are very inspirational in all that you do. Looking forward to getting my own Ironthumper candle holder treasure. Website looks great. Watching these videos is better than medication for lifting spirits.

[@nickcoppard5335]

Something very soothing working on or with old machinery of any type ,

[@briangable08]

Hi Maximus, I used to be the main dealer for Pickhill welders in the 70's until 82 in Herefordshire, I sold all over the Welsh marches including Gloucester and Worcester, oil filled welders build up water in the oil due to condensation caused by the frequent change in temperature inside the machine causing air to breath in and out of the welder after each use, this moisture condenses on the cool lid, the drops into the oil and goes to the bottom. In later years they had an oil plug on the bottom to drain out a few litres which could be separated from the oil and returned to the tank from the top. If attention is paid to this the welder should last for ever. Caution, do not place metal objects on the top of the welder, a spectacular short between the terminals could result in serious damage before a fuse blows. I have watched nearly all your videos and really enjoy them. If I was 40 years younger I would consider a similar off grid lifestyle. But now with a large garden and 2.5 acres of orchard and paddocks I grow most of my fruit and veg, some meat and 90% of my eggs Happy new Year for 2019 Brian

[@anthonygostling]

Hi Brian did you sale Gable Arc Welder's in Hereford, if so I had one from you back around 83/84 in Hereford market, and what a lovely welder it was...!

[@briangable08]

@@anthonygostling hi Tony, yes that was us, (me), a supplier did a dirty trick which destroyed the business overnight, I placed it into liquidation in Feb 82. Went to Oman for a couple of years to earn some dosh, working for Marconi, another business that went pop. Back to UK, worked for Miele as sales manager in commercial dept until 2002, took early retirement to nurse my wife until I was widowed in 2017, now living the dream, orchard, food forest, permaculture perennial veg garden, chickens, geese, ducks, dog n cat, keeping the old bones working 'til I drop.

[@anthonygostling]

@@briangable08 Sorry to hear about your wife, sad times am sure, would to meet up sometime to see you again its a long time, all the best in the mean time, and good luck with the farming...!

[@briangable08]

@@anthonygostling I f you're up N. Hereford way, there is always good coffee, builders tea, or a bottle of beer, for a chat :-)

[@anthonygostling]

@@briangable08 Thank you Brian

[@mrsgchew556]

Thank you very much for this video. We've found a Pickhill Bantam welder hidden under the stairs in my Dad's house after his death a year ago, and I found your video whilst searching for options as to what to do with it. We've no way of restoring his. But watching your video - Dad would've very much enjoyed it and been encouraged about trying to resurrect his own welder, which hadn't been used since at least the early 1980s.

[@English.Andy1]

The only thing wrong with these videos are they aren’t long enough. Really fascinating stuff & interesting. Could watch & listen to you all day. Looking forward too the next one 😎

[@maximusironthumper]

I spend ages hacking these videos down into a manageable episode and I still worry they will be boring, glad you are enjoying them though!

[@English.Andy1]

Maximus Ironthumper not at all boring. Fascinating I’m amazed at the knowledge you have about a board range of subjects. Love the give it ago attitude you have towards projects & life for that matter. Keep up the great videos. KZbin would be dull without you.

[@manfredschmalbach9023]

There is no such thing like a boring Ironthumper video, I'm afraid, in fact, I even shut other work down, or pause at least, should the thumperbell go off no matter what time or day. Thank's for sharing.

[@al9094]

I'm across the pond as y'all say . I never seen a welder like that and was glued to the screen awaiting the restoration . Sad it didn't happen but nice of you to say why and happy to see it works witch is what is important . I'm glad you didn't paint it ! Most lately restoration videos end up as clean and painting with very little restoration .

[@maximusironthumper]

Yep, generally the only stuff that gets painted is the restoration work for paying customers! I quite like the welder with all it's battle scars...

[@stephendavies923]

That welder sure was built to last, shame new equipment isn't. Great work as always Max.

[@Boatdog_Traveller]

Hi I used to work on oil immersed switchgear in quarries and we always filled them right up. It suppresses the ark on the contact and helps stop premature wear and welded contacts. Another great vid as always 😊

[@richardbarber4444]

Beautiful unit. Have one at farm. Once was left 2 weeks, output dead short. Unit was warm or we would not have noticed. They are heavy and reliable.

[@johague9981]

Nice! Smooth sounding transformer ❤️

[@terrybullock3140]

another excellent video Max. love these ones where you restore something old so it can live another 60 years or so.

[@joeestes8114]

Awesome video! I love watching old tools being restored! Thanks for sharing!

[@kylebishop6233]

Excellent repair. I’m in the processes of fully restoring a cytringham Bantham 180A welder. These machines where built to go on and on! good video :)

[@Chr.U.Cas1622]

👍👍👏 great find, great price, great resurrection respectively revival. Very well done. This stabil old technical stuff will last nearly forever. Thanks a lot for making taping editing uploading and sharing. Best regards luck and health.

[@jasperrasper2392]

Well done Max for bringing an old welder back to life...great vid

[@JonDingle]

Hello again young man, I have an Oxford Bantam 180amp oil filled welder. Have done a video of for my channel too. I bought mine in an auction for £100. There were about eight of them for sale so I chose the best one. They can be used on single or 3phase supplies. I have put a 32amp plug on mine. It was made in the 1980's according to the serial number. As I understand it, a chapp called Cytringham invented them and several different brands of these welders were made. Mine has the ability to charge batteries too, they are great welders and as you rightly say, they will last a lifetime!

[@chrisharding7203]

Apart from the colour yours looks identical to an old Oxford in the back of my garage. I may take a closer look at it in the morning. Thanks for another brilliant video.

[@karldolan6351]

Great watching your videos keep them coming thx karl

[@mohabatkhanmalak1161]

Nice one. I got an old Port-to-Arc stick welder that I bought very cheaply at an auction, and which I intend to use in my home garage. These old machines were well with quality.

[@SCOTTISHPREPPERVARIETYCHANNEL]

very interesting very enjoyable and nice metal graft crying out for a lick of paint

[@johnclarke2997]

Takes me back to my youth looking at that old welder. After leaving school I worked in factory which made car suspension parts. In the factory those welders had a trolley which had hooks to hang the cables and larger wheels which allowed the unit to be easily moved around the factory site. The wheels supplied by the manufacturer were small and fixed from what I recall. In the factory they used a red industrial socket from what I recall.

[@819ANT]

just rewired a Oxford very similar to this.. saved the day again Maximus!

[@saabinsanity]

ITs the same machine sold to pickering play

[@coles201]

I scrapped two massive 3 phase oil filled Oxford welders similar to this. Was a shame, but they were just not needed and the bigger one used to trip the 3 phase fuse on anything over 3/4 power!

[@Music4BalletClasses]

Always so happy when you put a new video up! I've learnt a lot from you, and as someone who's next major life goal is to aquire some land and start to go off grid and largely self sufficient I must say you're a real inspiration! Thanks for taking the time to make such watchable content, I'll be sure to buy you a beer or three! I picked up a few of the books you recommended earlier as well and am enjoying Shelter very much...

[@wyrdwildman1689]

Congratulations on the great find. As a metal worker and an vintage tech nut, I found this video pretty damn inspiring.

[@IrlDave71]

nice find. love these type of videos

[@tamberp]

Ahh, that terminal block brought back some memories. At the workshop I started my apprenticeship, I had to dig one of those out of the deepest darkest depths of the storage room and wire it back up for one of the guys to run a stainless steel job. Not a whole lot to go wrong with them, so with a little care (or even a bit of neglect!) they'll last forever.

[@MrLouis79]

Good video as always. Keep up the good work.

[@darrenfarrell-bn2cb]

Fair Play to You I Got One Today Ive it rubbed Down for Paint and New Leads Tomorrow new Clamp and Stinger, I Served My Time On Them in The 80’s and 90’s as a Deisel fitter along with my Trade , Forgot how Good They Were I’m putting mine back into Service, Good old school hand Crank Deisel Geny , lister or Petter , Youl weld anywhere , thanks Im Subscribing, Darren Farrell Deisel Mechanic plant fitter Ireland 🇮🇪 👍🍀

[@neildelaney5199]

great video, i still use one of these welders at work, the same model, for when i can't get in some awkward place with the mig welder, and for cast iron and special rods

[@moreteavicarfromengland8299]

Grand job again Max cheers , nice one

[@highdownmartin]

When my stick welder died after twenty odd years( second hand when I got it) I got one from Screwfix. Turbo! ( it had a fan) lightest transformer ever, a row of tack welds and it tripped out , overheated. Took it back , the exchange one was exactly the same. Shite Then got a massive heavy sealey one from a steam rally. £25 and it's been going ever since. If you can hardly lift it then it's gonna be good. Nice vid

[@jolknowles924]

I have a Sealey. Have had it for 43 years!!

[@TheCitroenman1]

you can rely on a oil filled ark welder to last even after a nuke is droped . old is gold

[@xDrDeath78x]

Nicely done mate

[@markmc2011]

Really good video - enjoyed that - thanks!

[@lazylad9064]

A bit of science a bit of engineering and a lot of humour. You make great videos and are well edited. Something were built to last, must of been made in England 😀👍👍👍👍

[@williamhall3933]

Another fascinating video

[@almath9987]

Thanks another intresting video. Something to be said for old equipment they knew how to build things to last! Had a old washing machine my gran gave me 15+ years ago that she had had for years. Fix it loads of times bearing, motor brushes and belts. Eventually wore through the fixing for the drum springs. Got a new one and it must of been less than half the weight!! Two and a bit year later it had problems with the electronic program selector!! But hay it had a A+ efficiency rating even though its in a dump somewhere now work that one out!!!

[@petervanrensburg4171]

Thanks for showing, very interesting

[@edgeeffect]

I'm learning about power factors... so looking forward to the next bit too.

[@dragontattooee]

Great video , great find , 2nd the trolley idea

[@thejavaman53]

You seem very happy. We too are happy for you.

[@LucasRichardStephens]

Great film Max and reading the comments reveals loads of the other channels I subscribe to watch your films too, quite a community, all the best from Norway.

[@cibie01]

Never seen one of these before what a fascinating piece of kit ,your videos keep getting more and more interesting great work Max.

[@stewartmorris5524]

Really good video thanks

[@phil-oq9id]

Once again totally interesting. Thank you max 😁

[@FrankenShop]

Very interesting, I've never seen a machine like that so thanks for taking the time to video and post it.

[@kottargrisen]

watching your videos is a great motivator for me

[@machineshopatthebottomofth3213]

I have one of these Max, I use it as an autotransformer for my phase converter. At £30 it was way cheaper than buying a proper autotransformer, and I have the bonus of having a rum ol welder for heavy work.

[@NaomiLever]

I learn so much from your videos! Excellent stuff!

[@ReForge7]

Learned to weld with those as an apprentice back in the day. That's a few years ago.

[@richardtyreman8762]

Nice one mate another great video 👍🏻

[@spungletrumpet]

I have to admit that I wasn't too bothered about all the oil that it leaked in the car when I picked it up. I mean, it wasn't actually my car! ;) Great to see the thing in action. Just goes to show how utterly bombproof it is. I certainly started panicking when I saw the bit in the vid where the water started boiling off though!

[@maximusironthumper]

Well you seemed pretty unimpressed at the time! At least the story had a happy ending. Yes quite an exciting half hour or so drying out the coils by powering it up!

[@spungletrumpet]

If you've never pulled into a layby on the A48 with loads of oil pissing out from under the tailgate of a 20 year old Citroen Berlingo while having nothing to mop it up with then you haven't lived! ;)

[@allenhuling598]

In my experience, any time a winding (motor or xfmr) has been soaked in water, a good 24 hr drying in a oven will usually dry them out. Great restoration!

[@saabinsanity]

HI Maximus The tank was filled to about 1 to 1 1/2 inches from the top at the end of production, each tank was drilled individually, you may have found when you tried to put it back together the holes only lined up one way. The transfomer oil was orginally made by shell but cannot remember the grade etc. The cork gasket was not preformed but just drilled through when the 5/16 or 3/8 bsw bolt was driven in using an air compressor gun. The coils were varished cotton coated copper wire dipped and baked usually on a paxoline bobbin, these were wound on old lathes using singer industrial sewing machine motors. If we had a repair in the were flashed tested at 5000 volts, it was like a scene from a horror movie and always made the lights dip. I was an apprentice from 1976 to 1981 and went through the factory oxfords badged the welders but not to sure oxford product history file:///C:/Users/user/Downloads/016%202017%20Jan-Feb%20Rowell%20Heritage%20(5).pdf

[@maximusironthumper]

Thanks for the background info, v interesting!

[@joeavacado7796]

Great video , found an old big one myself , no idea if it works and this was comforting

[@SuperGliderman]

Great video look forward to the follow up vid

[@ypop417]

Nice and quiet with that oil cooled welder

[@tommurdoch2989]

Good old pickhill bantam, brilliant bit of kit. Nearly every farm in Northern Ireland had one at one time, probably put a few blacksmiths out of business sadly.

[@nigelmchugh5541]

Tom Murdoch Most farms in Southern Ireland as well!

[@macspud28]

Looks like a Pickhill Giant.

[@martinjustice]

Love it, great content. Can we get an update on the solar panel install? If it didn't work this summer it never will.

[@ALR0808]

Thank you!

[@rustedoakhomestead]

Good stuff, Max!

[@LoftechUK]

Well adapted. Like it.

[@ianpin100]

whilst I was brought up on these oil filled monsters, boy am I glad they invented the new invertor type more controllable and lightweight I remember pushing this type around the yard and don't miss it at all

[@jvsdibond1768]

i'v got one of those, a good friend gave me it when he moved up to a pro' mig. very heavy but does the job.

[@reubenleveridge5175]

nice vid fix and repair reminds me got an old compessor need to get on with.

[@bonnie8441]

Excellent.

[@gb4670]

brilliant!!! Thanks for the video.

[@DesmondsDonders]

Nice one. Great when a plan comes together :-)

[@UnstoppableTramp]

I love your videos mate. Great Resurrection

[@dewexdewex]

I mentioned in an earlier video of yours that my dad bought an Oxford welder similar to this in the 1970's. I was looking for it last week and drew a blank. Considering how large and awkward it is, I wonder whether he did something most unlike him and got rid of it. If and when I do find it, this video will be a great reference, should I need to repair it. Thanks.

[@dewexdewex]

I found it. It looks like a new one. I have not yet plugged it in. That's a job for tomorrow.

[@davidbutler4363]

Brilliant engineering max your a master.👍👏👏😁

[@twocvbloke]

I was given an arc welder a few years back, also old (has old-colours rubber cable on it, both for mains and used as welding cables!!!), haven't even dared plug it in as it's pretty bodged up, don't know it's ratings so unsure of how many amps it produces, it's been painted over, and the best part, the 13 Amp plug had a 13A fuse with a bit of wire soldered across it, so, definitely more than 13 Amps needed!!! :S Should dig it out and see if I can restore it, really want to get into welding...

[@karlhrdylicka]

On the single phase connection it needs 20 amps if you want to use it at maximum amp welding settings

[@zrobotics]

Excellent video. As someone who has an off-grid solar system (utility wanted >14k USD just to get power to the corner of the property): I didn't hear you mention it specifically, but unless your inverter is specifically specced for it, do NOT hook up any sort of welder to it. Xantrex (now bought by Schneider electric) specifically warned me that it would void the warranty and was not recommended, although they had no objections to the 2.5HP electric well. Additionally, when running one of these welders off a generator, I have been told (by the repairman who was rebuilding my generator) that it is an excellent idea to plug a 100w (so likely less for 240VAC) incandescent bulb into the generator when welding. It acts in a similar way to a flyback diode and absorbs excess power when the arc is broken. Very hard on bulbs, but in the intervening years I've had no trouble with the generator. Although the generator appears to be wired directly into the shop, overhead lights will not work as effectively if they aren't incandescent- although it seems like an excellent way to harm the ballast in flourescent light fixtures.

[@maximusironthumper]

Interesting to hear that about the inverter. I have a very nice Studer inverter (very nice apart from being only 2kw) and it's happy to run my inverter welder or the mig welder. It has decent protection circuitry too and everytime I've manage to do something stupid with it, it just shuts off rather than blowing up. I agree completely about running a base load for the generator, in my case it's a 40w light bulb and an extractor fan both in the generator room. My overhead lights are LED strips inside fluorescent fixtures, they run nice and bright without flicker from either generator or inverter.

[@zrobotics]

It may just be the age of the inverter, it's a 4kw that was purchased in 2009, and I'm sure technology has improved in the meantime. Or perhaps Xantrex was just being extra conservative. I have never tripped the output protection on the inverter, the only time any inverter protections tripped is low voltage cutoff (batteries are also almost a decade old, I have the second set on order). I checked the output w/ an oscilloscope a month ago, and didn't notice any deviation from new, pulled the cover 1 year ago to dust internals and check for bulging caps and noticed no issues internally, so I can at least attest that inverters can be quite long-lived. I assume there must be something to this, as the reason I called Xantrex support was I was considering purchasing another inverter to convert the system to 240V instead of 120V only, as I needed a new air compressor and was considering a 240V unit. I don't know why they would have wanted to BS me, as they were talking me out of purchasing more of their products, but in the end I stuck with 120V only. Massive pain anytime I need to do any arc welding, as my generator is PTO powered from a tractor, so it is a 1/2 hour process to set up the welder, thus I do more oxy/acetylene welding than anything else.

[@maximusironthumper]

I don't know if they do small engine powered welders in your part of the world but my 165amp 2-stroke version was quite handy for occasional use when I needed some heavy arc welding doing.

[@malcolmyoung7866]

‘You dan substitute the actual oil with chip oil.. But I haven’t met anyone still alive who has done that. !’ Just starting my journey on MaximusIronThumper.. some incredible stuff .. like all of it..

[@marcperrett662]

oil filled monsters lol - i retreived one that had been dropped into the thames off a jetty(it had sat outside for at least 5 years then under a plastic cover) -two weeks later we pulled it out at low tide with the dock crane-banged the dent out of the box ,emptied the oil and salt river water, cleaned up reoiled and was still working !!!! theres really nothing to go wrong lol

[@metusa666]

I have one of these welders the high volts setting is useful for connecting a carbon arc torch this torch could be used for brazing and heating metal

[@BRENT3143945]

That's a really neat one.

[@lyndacoles]

Cytringan Welders was my Maternal Grandfathers company, Mr Cyril Charles Dobson. My Mum probably helped build that welder! I remember playing in the old workshops as a child in Cambridge Street in Kettering, Northants. I am so glad to see some of these are still working and being restored! There is a video of the workshop where your welder was born on KZbin at: kzbin.info/www/bejne/l5mcaYVsptqUpZo

[@maximusironthumper]

That's brilliant! Thanks for the link.

[@repairitdontreplaceit]

had a boc transarc just like this . i ended up dumping it as it was just too heavy for mobile work , but what a beast :)

[@michelod.i.y.5202]

Great vid 👍

[@LarsKiel]

👍😁 - well done, what a joy...

[@Mark-le8sr]

Very interesting I am now considering changing my Clark te260 (issues) but wonder about duty cycle of your Oxford

[@MrKanjidude]

Amazing. I'm not criticizing you, but I personally would never have had the courage to open it up and have hundreds of amps run around seemingly unshielded just centimeters away from me. I'd be too afraid of getting zapped. One of the few things I remember from my electrical studies in my teens is that just 1A is more than enough to fry a man from the inside out, so I have huge respect for electricity now. ^^

[@maximusironthumper]

Well it's not really any different from using something like a chainsaw or even driving a car, in all of them one wrong move could equal disaster. I think the key is to concentrate on the task at hand and keep other people, children and animals well out the way!

[@littleworkshopofhorrors2395]

The advice I was given when I bought my Oxford version was to turn the power off before changing the current to save arcing on the contacts. When I bought mine, for a tenner, I had to make some new contacts so no they don't last for ever but they can easily be fixed, as long as the transformer is good that is.

[@morganplatt6762]

I used the old Oxfords when I was serving my time as a pipe welder. It took at least 3 of us young lads to lift these anywhere. Interesting thing is, I've just bought a 220 amp inverter off ebay for 95 quid and have been hammering it as I thought it was going to be a pile of crap with no duty cycle. How wrong was I! and I can lift it with my little finger.

[@Aspins]

Oil filled welder gives a far smother arc than a air cooled welder. I like.

[@mossturn01]

Very little goes wrong with the old oil filled welders. You can sometimes get a shock off , funnily enough, the earth clamp/lead. Particularly outside on damp ground. It'll still weld fine, just be aware. It's usually an untraceable short in the transformer insulation caused by rough handling and er... condensation ie water. Hydraulic oil's fine in welders. Nice video. Regards, Ian.

[@888johnmac]

like it.. once again junk revived & put to good use

[@rbrtcrowther]

And the duty cycle at full power..... more than one man could ever manage. ...

[@tech4pros1]

add in a small pump, an oil cooler and a couple 120mm computer fans and that thing would weld forever.

[@maximusironthumper]

No need - 100% duty cycle as is!

[@bigunone]

"I wouldn't want to lift it again" LOL

[@TheInfoworks]

Max, just viewing this again, maybe your generator is running a bit fast so the volts would be high and so would the cycles, cheers, Andy

[@maximusironthumper]

Yes it was, this was filmed just after I'd finally fitted an analog meter to measure the Hertz, so I could set it to 50Hz whist running a base load. It's behaving a bit better now!

[@TheInfoworks]

Max, sorry for delay, yahoo thought you were spam, yes analogue meters are much better for some applications where the readings are in constant motion. Hope you found things in the book to get the thinking processes going, cheers, Andy

[@JonDingle]

Brilliant channel young man! Subbed.

[@garrigproductions]

Another marvellous video, thank you. By the way I have solid aluminium piston that came from an Intercity locomotive which is sitting beside my wood stove. It's 15" high, 11" across and 33kg. I use it merely as a hotplate beside my wood stove when cooking...but I'd love to clean it up and put a piece of toughened glass on it to make it a little table.. Could you give a recommendation on how to clean it up nicely ???

[@maximusironthumper]

If you have a compressor then blasting with baking soda works well for aluminium. I did a VW engine top end using a cheap paraffin gun as the blaster, came up lovely!

[@garrigproductions]

Splendid!, thank you for your advice. I used to work for a glass company so I can get the top cut, bevelled, toughened, etc. But now at last I am really enthused about actually doing it after dragging this piston around in my life for over 20 years, ha!...A simple response from a person with abundant knowledge can cause a ripple effect in enthusiasm......this is nature in it's finest form!!!

[@edgeeffect]

I swear baking soda is The Philosopher's Stone. The number of questions that are answered with "give it a bit of Sodium Bicarb" boggles the mind.

[@benspeedschannel888]

Burned my first rod on a machine very similar to that 👍 made me smile to myself also because whenever an oil cooled welder gets mentioned around my dad he always says "don't get potching about with them things, that transformer oil is terrible stuff" 😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@maximusironthumper]

I checked the data sheet it's not that bad!

[@tonkajjz109]

Pickhill bantam welding tubs i remember these from starting serving my time as a plater tubs the old lads called them im looking for one myself to do some jobs at home

[@lesthompson5907]

I have one i trend my in to a AC & DC welder & a long duty Cecil, I found it best to fit the rectifier . in a box whit coil resister & micro ferries condense. to smooth out the cure by By coming of AC to rectifier the new power lads coming of the rectifiers now DC . I ues mine as a TIG welder on DC for steal & detect of AC 50 for AC TIG wedding for Aluminium, it works well I also bras with my TIG now IM on DC

[@charles588]

We have one of these still in good order, someone tried to nick it once but it was just too heavy! 😁

[@MegaDirtyberty]

Well Max I learnt something, generators and inverter welders don't play happily together. Was reading the bumf my inverter welder came with and found out it can be used with a generator so stoked by that (not that I will attach it to a generator very often).

[@sarkybugger5009]

Slap a coat of paint on it, job done. ;o) I recommend OD green.