Sitting next to garbage cans.....

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Hey guys,Like some of the others here who have gotten lucky, yesterday was my day. Had to go to a customer to prep for a '50 Chevy coupe restoration in a couple weeks. After discussing his prep parameters for me to do the job, he mentioned his neighbor just put a welder next to his garbage cans to be hauled away. He asked me if I would want it & called the neighbor who said to take it. He said he bought it many years ago at a hardware store that sold Chicago Electric Tools before the HF era & his son broke it last fall. I put it in my truck....with a smile.It is a 120A, 110vac unit with gas setup, copper-wound transformers, & made in Italy. I had to make a new spool assembly & threaded brass tip collar for the gun. I found a piece of 12ga shotgun magazine spring in my machine shop for the spool tensioner. After fixing everything, I ran a test bead with .030 Lincoln NR211MP.... wow....this little bugger runs HOT! I also found out that the gun tip is ALWAYS hot....the trigger is only for the w/f drive motor...... probably why the tip got burned off. Gonna use it strictly for those easy fixes in the field with flux-core only & not have to haul my mobile unit. Going to make up a small field kit box with the necessities & nothing elaborate to keep in the truck. I'll post some test welds later this week. Here's some pics.Denny Attached ImagesComplete Welding/Machine/Fab. ShopMobile UnitFinally retired*Moderator*"A man's word is his honor...without honor there is nothing.""Words are like bullets.... Once they leave your muzzle, you cannot get them back."
Reply:Nice find Denny..No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:I didn't have time to read all your post, 'cuz thought I should hurry to warn you about Italian things; they're known to be dangerous, addicting, or otherwise get you in trouble. Consider that Italy is famous for its wine, its pizza, for olive oil....and now we have to add Welders to that list. I hope you don't plan on using all these together when you celebrate; I'd at least forgo the oil!  BTW, any chance it has a sticking relay that makes it hot all the time? Might be worth looking for a schematic to see if is should be like that.Last edited by Oldiron2; 03-21-2010 at 10:19 PM.
Reply:Originally Posted by Oldiron2I didn't have time to read all your post, 'cuz thought I should hurry to warn you about Italian things; they're known to be dangerous, addicting, or otherwise get you in trouble. Consider that Italy is famous for its wine, its pizza, for olive oil....and now we have to add Welders to that list. I hope you don't plan on using all these together when you celebrate; I'd at least forgo the oil!
Reply:Might want to check up from the company about that live wire being on all the time, can't see anyone mfg something like that for the american market because of liabilty.
Reply:Originally Posted by 4sfedOldiron, you forgot the cars . . . personal experience here!  Jim
Reply:The older Italian welders like that one usually had a hot tip,in the 90s or so they didn't put a relay in them.
Reply:I picked up an older Clarke 95 welder on a lark and it has a hot tip all the time also (I think it's Italian made as well) You got yours cheaper than I did mine but not much cheaper!It welds pretty good actually considering what it is. I thought it burned pretty hot too for it's size. The "always hot tip" is so so until you get used to it,but then it's not so difficult to deal with once you get around the issue.I started to get rid of it,but it's really lightweight compaired to the Hobarts and I'm not worried about banging it up either,so I may just keep it around for a tote around quick fix tool.I wouldn't want to use it on critical welds,but it does get good penetration on lightweight materials and overall it works pretty good.If you can find a model number on that dual Mig 120 you can usually find a manual online for Chicago Electric tools. If you post the model # I'll try to help find it.
Reply:Mmmmm, Italian wine, cars, women, food, designs.  Not necessarily in that order.  AFAIK, those units -do- have a 'hot' tip once the unit is powered up.  No relay.  The best laid schemes ... Gang oft agley ...
Reply:Stick machine is always hot and nobody complains. "The things that will destroy America are prosperity at any price, peace at any price, safety first instead of duty first, the love of soft living and the get rich quick theory of life." -Theodore Roosevelt