This could potentially be a separate chapter -
I amost started a new thread that I was going to call "Rustoration!!", but that would have been naughty as it is the title of someone elses van restoration thread on the Club8090 forum for like minded VW T3 / T25 / Vanagon van money-pit owners.
Where else would you find a van model called a "Club Joker".?
After procrastinating for many years, and leaving complex welding jobs for Troy at his unit -
a discussion about how poor funds are and trying to budget between parts, labour and materials the other evening resulted in Troy advising that I could try doing some welding myself. Potentially saving £25 per hour.
Lord knows, there are probably 200 hours of bodywork to be done.
Cutting, dressing, cleaning, treating, welding, dressing cleaning and treating / coating.
Now it is about fifteen years since I last used my welder in anger.
In that time I have grown lazy, apathetic, unsure of my welding abilities, and becoming expert at making stupid excuses to do nothing.
So I pulled out my welder from our secondary storage shed (formerly known as a professional sized kennel for our first Great Dane, circa 2005 to 2012).
The welder has been protected from direct elements (rain, sun and the like), but still exposed to the semi-permanently damp air of east Manchester.
First job was to kill about half-a-dozen spiders who were demanding squatter's rights in the casing.
The welder casing was / is very rusty with a lot of paint and painted on tables and decals flaking off.
First job - check it worked after such a long hiatus.
Amazingly it crackled into life, telling me that I had a lot of practice and technique revision to do.
(Crap welds).
Next job was to wash off any loose flakes and general skank,
Then dry it, and give it a good polish.
Furniture polish will do for now.
As you can see it is a modestly cheap make.
A Nu-Tool Gas-less welder.
I know everyone says get a proper MIG as they are easier to use, but to be honest it was good enough in 2007 to do a cracking job of welding on a rear nearside arch on my mk2 Cavalier.
On a more down to earth level - It was a Christmas gift from the late father-in-law (so I must have been highly thought of, or liked a lot by him - he did not suffer fools).
And the plan is to use it on the van that is still registered in his name.
I hope that I will be able to post up some decent weld pictures soon - but don't hold your breath.
My official welding training was in 1984 (gas welding, electric arc and brazing) I have not done very much since then. Eeek!!
This was back in the day of Youth Training Schemes at large employers like Ferranti electronics (in my case), where you spent a year learning basic engineering skills, making your own tools and tool boxes.
I still have everything I made in the main shed.
Moving on...
I have a face mask from an Aldi stick-welder that I bought in 2015. Sadly, after 30 years all I could do with that welder was blow holes in the van floor.
So that has been consigned to a junk box in the back of the van.
But yes the mask is simple, but will do what I need it to, until my budget can stretch to an automatic helmet.
Assuming my welding improves enough to warrant pretending that I can weld.
courtesy of the late Sir Clive, a true pioneer in bringing affordable electronics to the masses at the time.
.
