Anyone know what this is?

[Anthony Knapkin]

I think it is some kind of welder but im not sure what. My mate is asking and ive never seen one. Obviously i cant go and have a look due to the current situation

Thanks

 

[Wozzaaah]

It’s a spot welder.
Never used one but they’re petty useless from what I gather.

 

[Alan Reynolds]

It fits an arc welder and operates like a house bell solenoid. This pulls the welding rods off the work piece very fast and enables you to weld thin metal without burning through. I've got one on my old Topweld arc unit.

 

[Alan Reynolds]

once you get the hang of it , it does work!

 

[willie.macleod]

I've had two of them and I think they do work well given what their purpose was and the time they were made.

They were sold under a variety of names but Rawlplug Welder's Mate is probably the most common. Designed to get you welding with narrow (1.6mm) diameter MMA rods using only a couple of old car batteries. Most of the original users wouldn't have had an arc welder to power it. Mostly a thing of the past as we now have cheap MIG and TIG units, but it will do the job it was intended to do! One of mine went out to Africa with a very grateful Zambian, ideal for repairs out in the bush.

 

[brightspark]

rawlplug welders mate worked of 2 car battery's . total dross they used to sell them in the exchange and mart

 

[Alan Reynolds]

Still available apparently. https://www.frost.co.uk/body-weldin...9WRh2AELRwZgty3pzxKLLuz697i57SPhoCLqEQAvD_BwE

 

[Alan Reynolds]

If I remember, they had a diode in them to reduce the current by chopping the AC waveform. This wouldn't happen if you use two dc batteries.

 

[Cobbler]

I’ve got one made by Kelarc. Advertised as being able to weld car body thickness steel using an arc welder. As post above, there is a diode in the handle which can be connected or disconnected with a crude screw contact. Like the old joke “tried it once & didn’t like it” it was not very successful. I’ve had it over 30 years, in those days hobby migs weren’t available at a reasonable price & it was an attempt to get round the problem of welding thin sheet. Kelarc used to demonstrate them at shows apparently, cutting a hole in a car bonnet & welding it back in, all I can say, the guy doing the demo must have been able to walk on water as well!

 

[northwest]

Been waiting for a thread like this 'cos I didn't want to look foolish. So guys, what is this, it is about three and a half inches long and the scale is not metric:



Now, it could be anything. The box it came out of belonged to my mother in laws second husband and he had an antique shop and did all sorts of repairs.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Could be home made?

 

[Seadog]

It looks too well made to be a home job. Look at the pressed stop in the bottom piece, that's very neatly done.

 

[Memmeddu]

Could be home made?

I understand what you mean because I thought the same exact thing

We would like to know if we can build one from scratch

 

[slim_boy_fat]

It looks too well made to be a home job. Look at the pressed stop in the bottom piece, that's very neatly done.

Mhhh, not entirely convinced - just look at the quality of some of the stuff some of the Membership here turn out.

 

[BrenM]

Think I have seen something like that with the wifes sewing machine. Spacing seams ?

 

[8ob]

Been waiting for a thread like this 'cos I didn't want to look foolish. So guys, what is this, it is about three and a half inches long and the scale is not metric:

View attachment 229964 View attachment 229965

Now, it could be anything. The box it came out of belonged to my mother in laws second husband and he had an antique shop and did all sorts of repairs.

Perhaps a gadget for opening tins of paint or the like and clipping onto a jug/jar as a measure

Bob

 

[Paul.]

Mrs Paul. thinks it might be a Hem gauge, used by people who sew things as opposed to those of us that weld things.

 

[willie.macleod]

@Anthony Knapkin whilst clearing out the old caravan I came across the instructions - scanned and uploaded a PDF of them, can't upload it here as it won't let me upload a 5.8Mb PDF. Try this link for the manual https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JYmsuPVCP929cJma7ZC4fFhoRyG6mXUP/view?usp=sharing

 

[Arc Tourist]

Hello Anthony, and Welcome to the forum.

 

[northwest]

Mrs Paul. thinks it might be a Hem gauge, used by people who sew things as opposed to those of us that weld things.

It appears that this indeed may well be the case.I sent the pic to a friend of mine and she seems to think it was a Hem Gauge, my mother would know for certain but she doesn't do Internet and she is miles away. Looking at Google Images of Hem Gauges and there looks to be some right mystical stuff used by the girls: HERE