Escutch-ions

The last week of January went for the most part toward helping a friend with an aluminium casting project. This month has started with welding up the handles and what I think are escutcheons. This is the indoor side of my creation. This time I have kept all the twists incomplete, so that one edge runs in a wiggle all the way down the sine of the handle, instead of disappearing around the corner.

My welding torch finally died also and having acquired a replacement I set to work on making a small water cooling device for the new one to try and get better use out of it. This means the water is just cycled through it rather than flowing from the tap out to the drain. That also means that I can perhaps move the whole lot elsewhere in the shop as it is not spouting water. My boiler project inspired me to persevere and it all worked perfectly, the coil of finned pipe hardly even warms up with an extended session, but I still need to feel for the earth cable that is not water cooled. I was not sure what water to use, but I opted for distilled with a good dose of car radiator coolant (antifreeze)to stop it freezing if the shop drops below zero. Apparently the worst choice is deionized water as that would want to eat the metal in the wires that run through the hose.