I'm curious if that guy in Miami ever found his cheap AC welder. I quit
posting the ones I've seen up here after a week or two, figuring I'd made
my point, that he really wasn't looking correctly. It's hard for me to
imagine a place so devoid of guys selling little old welders. - GWE

Actually, there is a serious number of cultural and social-economic
factors playing out in the hobby welder (and hobby machine tool) market.
It will vary strongly by the average age of the population as well as
some blue collar vs white collar backgrounds. In one city of 60k people
that had the majority of growth from 1955 to 1970, the number of estate
sales that have any tools to interest has dropped by 3/4. All the guys
that did stuff have died off. The younger set just doesn't get into
welders etc.

Grant Erwin wrote:
I'm curious if that guy in Miami ever found his cheap AC welder. I quit
posting the ones I've seen up here after a week or two, figuring I'd made
my point, that he really wasn't looking correctly. It's hard for me to
imagine a place so devoid of guys selling little old welders. - GWE

I'd agree. In the Philadelphia area The dominant newspaper can go days
without any listings for "machinery and tools". Last year I managed to
find a 20 year old wood jointer at a reasonable price but that was in
close to 4 years of searching. On the other hand searches on ebay will
turn up a scrollsaw almost every month within 50 miles of my home.

When the local machinery auctioneer has a major auction to break up a
shop they tend to sell in lots to get it done and the tools either go
with a lot of junk or some hobbyist gets crazy and drives the price up.
Even so an auction every 4 months is about all that is out there.

Then again I was a mechanical engineer in the area in the 70s and left
the profession because the work was unstable, the manufacturers were
leaving the area and the pay levels stagnated. There isn't much blue
collar or technical people to keep the interest in old iron high.

Still I'm looking for a MIG welder.

Yeah, the jerk conned me into spending $15.00 on a box to ship him
mine, then quit cold when he checked on the shipping cost. A real
ignoranus.G
Bugs

On Fri, 15 Apr 2005 09:42:16 -0700, Grant Erwin
wrote:

I'm curious if that guy in Miami ever found his cheap AC welder.

Craftsman 235 amp machine. Its costing me $80 and I have to pick it up
an hour away. I'll probably pick it up next week.

I quit
posting the ones I've seen up here after a week or two, figuring I'd made
my point, that he really wasn't looking correctly. It's hard for me to
imagine a place so devoid of guys selling little old welders. - GWE

well... posting ads from Oregon featuring $100 dollar welders
is like me saying you can buy a "Guyabera" for $15 on any corner.
The latter holds true in Miami,FL, but if you live in Ohio, you may
have a little trouble with that one. :-)

I know there are towns where everyone has or had a stick welder, many
of which end up for sale, but its just not like that here.

I guess the fact that there is really no *need* for an individual to
own a welder around here, may play a role, but I dont know. I mean
what are you going to do with a stick welder here? There are certainly
no farm repairs to make. That *rare* other repair that requires
welding, would likely be much faster and economical to have done by
the heavily *compeating* pros.

So having no need, leaves those who (like myself) have an interest.
And sadly, I really dont think there is all that much interest in
either welding or metalworking, around here. Dont know if it's just
the times. the area, or a mixture of both.

regards,
Art

On 16 Apr 2005 05:50:02 -0700, "Bugs" wrote:

Yeah, the jerk conned me into spending $15.00 on a box to ship him
mine, then quit cold when he checked on the shipping cost. A real
ignoranus.G
Bugs

I dont know who contacted you but it sure was not me.
regards,

Art