[R-390] Springtime!!

[mikea]

On Fri, Apr 16, 2004 at 08:47:26PM -0700, Joe Foley wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I'm putting a new 480 Volt service in a local factory
> that makes,..... what else,....  SPRINGS!!
> 
> Bill, the owner, says he likes doing custom springs,
> short runs of custom springs!  If all you need is a
> dozen, he'll do a dozen.
> 
> Angelica Spring Co.
> 99 West Ave.
> Angelica, NY 14709
> 
> 585-466-7892
> 
> Send him a sample, or specs, and see what happens. 
> Good guy to deal with, too.

_Cool! Thanks loads for that; some of these critters are hard to find,
and now we can get them replicated. 

> The heavy equipment repair guy up the street told me
> his 1953 Lincoln welder was acting up, arcing over
> inside, smoking, etc,... but only when he ran it on
> DC.
> 
> Gee, I thought, what could the problem be? 8^/
> 
> Sure enough, there is a HUGE selenium rectifier stack
> inside, about 6" X 12" X 18".  It was making HUGE
> beautiful, blue sparks when he showed it to me. His
> wife said he was real sick, 102+ fever, Sunday after
> spending most of Saturday welding with it.  But he was
> only sick for a few hours,........ lucky?
> 
> He promised me he'd only use it on AC until we round
> up some new rectifiers for it.

Sounds damned impressive. 

I think he needs to tell his doctor he needs to be tested for selenium
ingestion/poisoning. IIRC, it's not just an immediate thing; it's also
a long-term thing. If the doc thinks there may be a problem, then the 
tests will tell for sure, and they can take measures to mitigate the 
problems.

-- 
Mike Andrews
mikea@mikea.ath.cx
Tired old sysadmin