Moving Millermatic 252

[gnforge]

Moving Millermatic 252

I agree with lifting eye, not the place to cut cost.
But I still think that was a good excuse to pickup another welder. With a little (maybe a lot) effort you could have convinced her.

[WillieB]

Traditional VT stockpiling....

Haul it out of sight up the logging road uphill into the sugarbush with all the other old iron and other stuff you might need someday....

as a young man in the 1970's.... I found some real treasures in some of those stashes....

it is a tradition that I am sorry to see fading away... some truly wonderful things were preserved that way.... these days that stuff is considered an eyesore or environmental blight...
the greenies have over-regulated that beautiful state into ... a quagmire where locals cannot afford to live...

On the subject of VT stockpiling; one bit of rural history is the Delco System. No examples of it in good condition exist to my knowledge. Electricity was developed and refined many years before Vermonters were able to take advantage of it. With the exception of big cities like Burlington, and Rutland, small towns didn't get power lines until the 20s. Even then, only the heavily populated village centers got it. Farms were, in most cases too far dispersed to make power lines cost effective. My grandparents were on a farm half mile from the village center. They bought the farm from the widow of a man who was born there, he was the richest man in the state. Her mansion in the village bordered the farm. Roosevelt, in his "spend ourselves into prosperity" plan devised "Rural Electrification". In 1938 my family got utility power. For many years before that prosperous farmers used electricity. They had Delco Systems.


A Delco System was a small one cylinder air cooled generator that sat on a poured in place tapered with rounded corners flat top pyramid. I presume the form was made of rubber, due to its consistency. 32 volts DC was generated, charging enormous glass cased batteries, which in turned powered lighting, refrigerators vacuum cleaners, toasters, flat irons, and in a few cases, milker vacuum pumps.

The former presence of these marvels was the unusual configuration of the Knob & Tube Wiring, in itself a miracle of engineering. Delco Systems had a two conductor trunk line of #10 copper with tap lines of #14 to lights or outlets, this system of feeders and taps is still used in industrial distribution systems today.

Is there a working display of this piece of American history?

I've always marveled at the way technology has changed rural Vermont, and I guess America!

The railroad in the 1840s made some VT land and farms very prosperous, produce could be moved to consumers before it spoiled. At the same time it turned other farm areas into ghost towns. My town, Mount Tabor had a one time $5.00 tax to buy the right of way on which the railroad would be built. Most of the East side of the mountain farmers refused to pay it. The civil war practice of taking all of the able bodied men in town in one day left the farms without anyone to work them. By the end of the Civil War a wealthy family with influence arranged to sell the delinquent property to Silas Griffith, their most promising young relative. He bought 21,000 acres for 1100 dollars of his father's money. He was an entrepreneur, and became VT's wealthiest man, owning over 200,000 acres of VT.


Cars once again caused an exodus from farms, until they became more suitable for back roads, still farmers often sold out to retire near the village, or work in factories. I used to hear the term "get out in winter"


Then came the Subaru. "Flatlanders" could drive from cities all the way to their abandoned farms where they could have their own weekend/vacation paradises. Farm land considered unlivable, because you were trapped in winter, was now very different. Everyone with resources could be isolated, dreaming of a day they could move full time to paradise.


The internet made it possible to do whatever they were paid to do, package it, and with the press of a button send it to the city.

[WillieB]

I agree with lifting eye, not the place to cut cost.
But I still think that was a good excuse to pickup another welder. With a little (maybe a lot) effort you could have convinced her.

Oh, I wouldn't have had to convince her. I would have endured plenty of crap about it.

[H80N]

Smith-Putnam wind turbine, on Grandpa's Knob in Castleton, Vermont

On the subject of VT stockpiling; one bit of rural history is the Delco System. No examples of it in good condition exist to my knowledge. Electricity was developed and refined many years before Vermonters were able to take advantage of it. With the exception of big cities like Burlington, and Rutland, small towns didn't get power lines until the 20s. Even then, only the heavily populated village centers got it. Farms were, in most cases too far dispersed to make power lines cost effective. My grandparents were on a farm half mile from the village center. They bought the farm from the widow of a man who was born there, he was the richest man in the state. Her mansion in the village bordered the farm. Roosevelt, in his "spend ourselves into prosperity" plan devised "Rural Electrification". In 1938 my family got utility power. For many years before that prosperous farmers used electricity. They had Delco Systems.


A Delco System was a small one cylinder air cooled generator that sat on a poured in place tapered with rounded corners flat top pyramid. I presume the form was made of rubber, due to its consistency. 32 volts DC was generated, charging enormous glass cased batteries, which in turned powered lighting, refrigerators vacuum cleaners, toasters, flat irons, and in a few cases, milker vacuum pumps.

The former presence of these marvels was the unusual configuration of the Knob & Tube Wiring, in itself a miracle of engineering. Delco Systems had a two conductor trunk line of #10 copper with tap lines of #14 to lights or outlets, this system of feeders and taps is still used in industrial distribution systems today.

Is there a working display of this piece of American history?

I've always marveled at the way technology has changed rural Vermont, and I guess America!

The railroad in the 1840s made some VT land and farms very prosperous, produce could be moved to consumers before it spoiled. At the same time it turned other farm areas into ghost towns. My town, Mount Tabor had a one time $5.00 tax to buy the right of way on which the railroad would be built. Most of the East side of the mountain farmers refused to pay it. The civil war practice of taking all of the able bodied men in town in one day left the farms without anyone to work them. By the end of the Civil War a wealthy family with influence arranged to sell the delinquent property to Silas Griffith, their most promising young relative. He bought 21,000 acres for 1100 dollars of his father's money. He was an entrepreneur, and became VT's wealthiest man, owning over 200,000 acres of VT.


Cars once again caused an exodus from farms, until they became more suitable for back roads, still farmers often sold out to retire near the village, or work in factories. I used to hear the term "get out in winter"


Then came the Subaru. "Flatlanders" could drive from cities all the way to their abandoned farms where they could have their own weekend/vacation paradises. Farm land considered unlivable, because you were trapped in winter, was now very different. Everyone with resources could be isolated, dreaming of a day they could move full time to paradise.


The internet made it possible to do whatever they were paid to do, package it, and with the press of a button send it to the city.

While we are talking Vermont power...

In 1941 the Smith-Putnam wind turbine, the world's first megawatt-size wind turbine, was connected to the local electrical distribution system on Grandpa's Knob in Castleton, Vermont, USA. It was designed by Palmer Cosslett Putnam and manufactured by the S. Morgan Smith Company. The 1.25 MW turbine operated for 1100 hours before a blade failed at a known weak point, which had not been reinforced due to war-time material shortages. It would be the largest wind turbine ever built until 1979.[2]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith-Putnam_wind_turbine

[WillieB]

That's cool! I had heard some oral history of it. Locally considered a failure. I don't know, the Wright brothers had issues, but history remembers them as a success.

[Portable Welder]

I had the same problem with mine and am kinda glad I did, Since I have a 30' long 8/3 extension chord on mine, the ground cable and the mig gun, I decided to mount 4 angles going up at the 4 corners and built a shelf that was high enough to clear the door when its open, I then made cable loops at all 4 corners to hold all the chords.

I used 3/4" # 9 flat expanded for the shelf set inside of a angle frame, I then installed a lift eye into the shelf so that when I lift it with the tank on it the machine stays level.

I used 1-1/2 x 1-1/2" x 3/16" angle to make the frame and its all bolted to the machine, ( No welding ).

No pics, the machine is out on a job at a concrete plant we are rebuilding.

[WillieB]

It sounds good!

[Can You Weld This For Me?]

Bolt a piece of 1/4" or 3/8" flat plate to the bottom of the 252. Full length of welder and a couple of inches wider on each side. Weld or bolt a lifting eye in each outside corner of the plate. Build a spreader bar for the top to line up withe the bottom eye bolts. Use chain and shackles to go from spreader bar, down to eyes on bottom plate. Find balance point (with or without tank) then weld one lifting eye to the top of the spreader bar.

You can undo 4 shackles on the bottom plate and lift the spreader bar back up and out of your way. Bottom plate could stay as a permanent fixture on the 252 if you plan on hoisting it a lot.