- Thread starter peterd51
- Start date
zardoz
Old school Socialist
- Messages
- 2,217
- Location
- Chetser, UK
Wahaay!! i bought the WELDER OXFORD MODEL RT 300 OIL COOLED for just £26+VAT and im near enough to collect in person. I just hope it works now
I just realized that i paid the same for this Oxford that i paid for the 1980's Sip 130, that i 'accidentally' bought! lol Oh well each was a bargain i suppose. Now i will have to sell the Clarke Easi Arc 190E that i have in the garage still with its shiny box
I'll bung it in the local paper for £45 methinks.irondarren
Member
- Messages
- 2,583
I just realized that i paid the same for this Oxford that i paid for the 1980's Sip 130, that i 'accidentally' bought! lol Oh well each was a bargain i suppose. Now i will have to sell the Clarke Easi Arc 190E that i have in the garage still with its shiny box
I believe you will find the oxford as smooth as it gets for a transformer type unit, plus the oxford has the 80volt setting for other rods requiring a higher OCV. The clarke one is only around 48v OCV, so thats a little low ever for normal 6013's
irondarren
Member
- Messages
- 2,583
Murex is right, i use to use the BOC every day rods or weldability ones, i never do that much in terms or arc welding. Weld a panel between between 2 steel post on site etc. I splashed out and bought some esab mildtrodes, now i find myself Arc welding in the workshop instead of using the MIG, just for the pleasure of Stick welding.
Speak to weldequip he offered me a knock out deal, with esab mildtrodes at silly prices if i bought £250 worth, might be a bit rich for you zardoz as thats a lot of welding rods, a lifetimes supply lol, but if you can find someone to split them with its well worth doing
Speak to weldequip he offered me a knock out deal, with esab mildtrodes at silly prices if i bought £250 worth, might be a bit rich for you zardoz as thats a lot of welding rods, a lifetimes supply lol, but if you can find someone to split them with its well worth doing
zardoz
Old school Socialist
- Messages
- 2,217
- Location
- Chetser, UK
Well the beast is safely in my shed at last.And what a pallava getting it there! First i set off to Darwin with a mate in the passenger seat, to help me lift it into the back of my Hatchback (yes you can start laughing now) When we got there, after foolishly following the googlemap directions, then after getting lost and giving up ("take the 5th exit off the roundabout" it said. Fifth!? there are only four! ?) So i eventually went with the directions i had also got off the company website, like i should have done in the first place. So we gets there and hands our receipt in to the scouse lacky, who eventually turned into a lifesaver. "You lucky B***tard. Thirty quid" "a much smaller one went for a ton" So we brought the car around and backed it in, whilst he went off to find it and wheel it down.
Hmm, thinks i. Its lucky i brought my strengtho mate to help me lift it, i'll bet that weighs, two hundred weight, a bit more than i thought" So we tries to lift it and got it about an inch off the floor before we gave up. There was no way we could have lifted that the 24 inches or so, into my car. I thought i'd come prepared and had plywood on the floor, and had taken out the back seats and had rope on standby to secure it to the seat belt lags. All no bloody good if we couldn't lift it in. then Mr Scouser offers to lift it in with his forklift. I took approx two milliseconds to say yes, even though i had visions of crushed tailgate, etc. Well we got it half in with a lot of slow inching forward etc. then it became obvious that unless I wanted to take the rear window hatch off, i was going to have to saw off the handles on top (see pic) No prob, i can always MIG them back on, i told myself. Whist l silently wondering if this was just the first in a round of ever shrinking Oxford. The song "right said fred, time to take the doors off" started playing over and over in my head at this point. With the small differences such as "right said Mr scouser, time to drain the oil out" ad infinitum. But give him his due after we had butchered the handles it went in and even turned around in line with the axle.
So with a cheery wave to hide my worries, we went straight to the garage to blow the tyres up to super cargo weight. The forecourt sign said rear tyre 41lb for fully loaded, it seemed a tad much, from the normal pressure which i new to be 28lb, so i split the difference and called it 36lb (Apparently the sign was correct though ?) Though i just new if we had a puncture there was no way that weedy ford scissor jack would lift it, never mind the fact that the jacking point on the sill never looks safe at the best of times, and this was one of those crappy 'my way or the highway' jacks no use anywhere else under the car. And to think i had taken out my trolley jack to save weight!?
Anywho, we eventually got back the 60 miles home, without incident, for which i am eternally grateful. all the way back We are both thinking "how the f**** are we gonna get this out" We both new it was gonna be a lot harder than getting it in. So back home I started bending bits of metal to cover the bottom of the tailgate it was going to have to go over. First we had to turn it back around. I summoned my Father. His first words were "bloody hell we had one of these at the lead works, these are heavy buggers. How did you get it in there in the first place. Have they got Hercules working there as a load lugger?" One quick recap later and we were all struggling to twist it around, which we did just about. Then my dad has the idea of building the height up to over the level of the tailgate bottom with 3 inch square batons, to lift it over the height of the door latch area and onto the planks we had laid there to lift the weight off and over the plastic bumper. Which would be the first thing to go. We had one inch and a half thick scaffold plank in the middle and two long half inch thick planks for the wheels either side. The plan was to lift up to the planks which one of us pulled the weight back at the rear, so it pivoted on its rear wheels and let its huge weight help us lift it onto the batons, and as far forward as we could before it overbalanced onto the planks.
Well miracle of miracles it actually went to plan. With the side planks taking the wheels and being pressed down onto the tool box we had underneath to take the weight. then the weight of the welder being taken by the thick scaffolding plank as it depressed the thinner planks and sort of skidded down the ramp we had made whilst being slowed down by us three as much as we could.
To say that i was amazed that it worked, and with practically no damage to the car (a bit of paint off the inside tailgate) is a huge understatement. In fact i thought that it would require me to take the tailgate off and take it to bros place and get a block and tackle on it.
So here are the pics to show the result of our great labor. By the way, does anyone know how much it actually weighs ?
And is it just a three phase or can it go 240V ? The four connections on show say (from memory so i could be wrong) 440V, 415V, 400V, 0CV
PS: the bl**dy cables must have weighed 30 lb on there own
Hmm, thinks i. Its lucky i brought my strengtho mate to help me lift it, i'll bet that weighs, two hundred weight, a bit more than i thought" So we tries to lift it and got it about an inch off the floor before we gave up. There was no way we could have lifted that the 24 inches or so, into my car. I thought i'd come prepared and had plywood on the floor, and had taken out the back seats and had rope on standby to secure it to the seat belt lags. All no bloody good if we couldn't lift it in. then Mr Scouser offers to lift it in with his forklift. I took approx two milliseconds to say yes, even though i had visions of crushed tailgate, etc. Well we got it half in with a lot of slow inching forward etc. then it became obvious that unless I wanted to take the rear window hatch off, i was going to have to saw off the handles on top (see pic) No prob, i can always MIG them back on, i told myself. Whist l silently wondering if this was just the first in a round of ever shrinking Oxford. The song "right said fred, time to take the doors off" started playing over and over in my head at this point. With the small differences such as "right said Mr scouser, time to drain the oil out" ad infinitum. But give him his due after we had butchered the handles it went in and even turned around in line with the axle.
So with a cheery wave to hide my worries, we went straight to the garage to blow the tyres up to super cargo weight. The forecourt sign said rear tyre 41lb for fully loaded, it seemed a tad much, from the normal pressure which i new to be 28lb, so i split the difference and called it 36lb (Apparently the sign was correct though ?) Though i just new if we had a puncture there was no way that weedy ford scissor jack would lift it, never mind the fact that the jacking point on the sill never looks safe at the best of times, and this was one of those crappy 'my way or the highway' jacks no use anywhere else under the car. And to think i had taken out my trolley jack to save weight!?
Anywho, we eventually got back the 60 miles home, without incident, for which i am eternally grateful. all the way back We are both thinking "how the f**** are we gonna get this out" We both new it was gonna be a lot harder than getting it in. So back home I started bending bits of metal to cover the bottom of the tailgate it was going to have to go over. First we had to turn it back around. I summoned my Father. His first words were "bloody hell we had one of these at the lead works, these are heavy buggers. How did you get it in there in the first place. Have they got Hercules working there as a load lugger?" One quick recap later and we were all struggling to twist it around, which we did just about. Then my dad has the idea of building the height up to over the level of the tailgate bottom with 3 inch square batons, to lift it over the height of the door latch area and onto the planks we had laid there to lift the weight off and over the plastic bumper. Which would be the first thing to go. We had one inch and a half thick scaffold plank in the middle and two long half inch thick planks for the wheels either side. The plan was to lift up to the planks which one of us pulled the weight back at the rear, so it pivoted on its rear wheels and let its huge weight help us lift it onto the batons, and as far forward as we could before it overbalanced onto the planks.
Well miracle of miracles it actually went to plan. With the side planks taking the wheels and being pressed down onto the tool box we had underneath to take the weight. then the weight of the welder being taken by the thick scaffolding plank as it depressed the thinner planks and sort of skidded down the ramp we had made whilst being slowed down by us three as much as we could.
To say that i was amazed that it worked, and with practically no damage to the car (a bit of paint off the inside tailgate) is a huge understatement. In fact i thought that it would require me to take the tailgate off and take it to bros place and get a block and tackle on it.
So here are the pics to show the result of our great labor. By the way, does anyone know how much it actually weighs ?
And is it just a three phase or can it go 240V ? The four connections on show say (from memory so i could be wrong) 440V, 415V, 400V, 0CV
PS: the bl**dy cables must have weighed 30 lb on there own
Last edited:
- Messages
- 6,338
I always ran mine on 50volts unless I was on thin stuff your amps will be less with more volts and you can get a bit of arc wander, I had an old quasi made the oxfords look portable with a 100v strap on it, not legal anymore but handy for some rods.
- Messages
- 6,338
What makes up the majority of the weight in these lovely old welders. Is it the copper
both, but there is a few gallons of oil sloshing round in there, the cases are about 3/8 thick as well... portabilty didnt seem a high on the check list when they designed them, but they do go on and on, Thats a newish looking one youve got there proberbly only about 25 years old
.
zardoz
Old school Socialist
- Messages
- 2,217
- Location
- Chetser, UK
These Pickhill Arc welder are described on ebay as being made in a similar mode to the old Oxfords. (one is even named 'oxford'. see below) Does anybody own or ever used one ?
http://www.pickhill-engineers.co.uk/items.htm
The oxford is still being made according to this website which seems to be selling them http://www.arcwelders.co.uk/oilcooled/oxford.php
According to that site the Current RT 300 weighs in at 430lb (3.839 Hundredweight )and has 74 liters of oil (130 pints or 16 gallons !) Thats a lot but i'l bet my last glass eye that mine still weighs more.
http://www.pickhill-engineers.co.uk/items.htm
The oxford is still being made according to this website which seems to be selling them http://www.arcwelders.co.uk/oilcooled/oxford.php
According to that site the Current RT 300 weighs in at 430lb (3.839 Hundredweight )and has 74 liters of oil (130 pints or 16 gallons !) Thats a lot but i'l bet my last glass eye that mine still weighs more.
Last edited:
irondarren
Member
- Messages
- 2,583
All in the days when things were built to last, everything was over engineered. Nothing was recycled it was just repaired. Different now days over doing it costs money, which means you become un-competitive. Its a throw away society now, which might explain the current ecological climate
