87 Old South Salem Road, Ridgefield, Connecticut 06877.
I fell in love with my first 8N in 1949. As you can see by
Picture A, my adoration has not weakened in the last 42 years.
Pictures B and C show my 2N, which I converted to a 400 AMP 24 volt
D.C. welder with a B17 generator in 1962.
Now, before you ‘real’ welders laugh too loudly, of
Wally Lawrence, my friend, and I welded 200 feet of eight inch and
six inch pipe for our main steam line in our greenhouses last year,
with ‘nary’ a leak! Of course, Wally and I had to get our
own pipes fixed first-meaning, I had three angioplasties and Wally
had a triple bypass! He said the doctors told him he was a special
case. I told him he was always a special case!!
I saw the plan for this welder in a Popular Mechanics article,
and Johnny Wilkens of Wilken’s Fruit Farm in Peekskill, New
York, encouraged me to try it. Johnny is one of those special
people we all know who is way ahead of his time. He was using a
computer in his business before most of us. Give him a couple of
wheel rims, an old motor, and a rope, and bingo, he has a dandy
rope ski-lift for his kids.
In Picture B I am welding an old wheel rim and tire to a
sprinkler we use in our business, to hopefully make the sprinkler
more stable and moveable. It is interesting to me how many people
became involved with this simple project of mine. Katie Markey gave
me the inspiration for the design, Keith McDonald gave me the old
wheels; Christopher Pinchbeck took the pictures. Maybe some of you
real mechanics can figure out from Picture C why this set-up has
been a companion to me on many projects for 30 years. Many setups
were tried, but none produced a spark. If you can’t figure why
this set-up works, I plan to be at the Connecticut Antique
Machinery Show in Kent, Connecticut, the last weekend in September,
if it’s not raining, and I’ll tell you then!! Hope to see
you later!
