About 2 years ago my Dad and myself went 50/50 on a little DC welder.

He's converted a metal trolley into a rolling stand for our meat saw, and I've used it mostly for knife making stuff.

I've been using my unemployed afternoons for the past 3 weeks to build a steel frame alu-clad canopy for my Suzuki.

Bit of an ambitious project for a life-long IT-guy 

Friday before last I got the rear door back after having glass fitted.  My idea turns out wasn't great....the window was too big, too heavy, looked like a hearse.......and worst of all the locks wouldn't engage without some serious mcgyvering.

Monday last week I grabbed the grinder and removed the bottom and rear of the new frame....and started over.

This past Friday afternoon I spent mostly on welder repairs......the cable broke right where it goes into the handle. I felt it getting hot there while I worked, but I now know that I could have been done by now were it not for that break in the cable, it's been complicating my life for 3 weeks.

That and 2mm welding rods 

  to metal workers that does this for a living.