Welding Tips and Tricks

Someone gave me an old Trindl 125A about 30 years ago and it just sat around the shop getting dirty. I think it was from the 1950's or early 60's. One day I got bored and decided to see if it worked. I put a plug on it and plugged it in...it buzzed, so it must work. I replaced the old jack plug receptacles with new Miller ones, the old plugs aren't available anymore. I cleaned out the rust and dirt, painted the cover, attached some leads and it worked like a champ after all those years! I use it a lot now if I just need a quick weld and don't feel like hauling out all of the bigger stuff.

I was wondering if anyone might have some user manuals for this model stashed away somewhere? I looked on the internet, but no luck.

If its that old probably not. Check ebay maybe someone auctioning em off thinking their worth some money. What all do ya need to know on it? Can you see the duty cycle on it? If its a 125 I wouldnt expect a -whole- lot ya know.

Thanks, I'll try ebay. I don't need any specific information on it, just sort of a collectors item. I try to get one for all the old tools I find and fix.
Heres a picture of it. The Miller jack plugs convert to Tweco so all my cables can be used on any welder I have.

Well now I see why you wanted a manual on it What are all those jacks for, the amperages? Or can you actually hook up 4 welders at a time to that thing.

edit-That things way more than 30 years old. I'd put it at late 60's to early 70's

It's for the amperages. Major Control is the electrode holder and Vernier Control is the ground wire. I don't know why they're called that. Wires in 1 and A give you the lowest amperage, I think about 25 amps, 1 and B is about 33....and so on up until 4 and D which is the highest at 125 amps. The inside was two transformers with four wires coming off of each one and those went to the plug receptacles. Pretty simple system and it still works after all these years.

Thats crazy how they used two seperate transformers. Sounds like quite the collectors item

Here's a close-up of the amperage chart on the front. It doesn't give a duty cycle, at least not that I can find and there's no internal fan to cool it off if it overheats, but I don't use it that much all at once that it should ever overheat. I've got it on a 40 amp breaker which should be more than enough. It can also switch from a 220 input to a 110 just by moving a lug connector to 2 different points. They thought of everything back then!

Wow that is a pretty nice setup. Must of cost a fortune back then. Its even got more amperage selection than the lincoln buzzboxes :p

Got you beat, here is my Marquette welder Circa 1938

Before the invention of Alternating Current, welding could be performed using batteries.
I've tried this method several times and it works reasonably well for emergencies.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjH8I1oKNMY
If you can't afford a welder or don't have access to one,
it can get the job done, when nothing else is available.

As a SAFETY NOTE, make sure the batteries are downwind while welding with them.
Recently charged batteries can explode like a bomb, if the vented gas reaches the arc.

THE OLDEN DAYS

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/show ... &showall=1

When I go Jeeping I take my HD jumper cables, 1lb of 3/16" 6011, gloves and Helmet so we can weld on the trails. I prefer 3 batteries and never have a problems with others bringing their jumper cables to link it all together.
There are some expensive Welder AC kits for vehicles but for quick repair to get back batteries work fine.