A friend of mine has been offered a commission in Cambridge to sculpt a massive troll. She lives here in Seattle (USA), and is intimidated with the idea of having to weld the internal steel armature that all the clay hangs on on location in Cambridge without having any contacts in the area for metals and welding supplies.
She was thinking she would have to weld it up here and ship it over. I think she should be able to find ample materials and equipment there and should be able to weld it up in Cambridge.
Any help with local contacts would be appreciated. I taught her how to weld years ago and she is a pretty good welder. I think you guys call it MAG there. Anyway, wire feed welding is what I am talking about.
I used to live in Cambridge, but no longer. I would suggest you call these guys:
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Phone number is +44 1223 517000. Ask for the Metals Warehouse. Mackays is the best tools and metals supplier in Cambridge. They sell all kinds of metal, and what they don't have in stock they can probably get. They also have an engineering division where they build stuff. You might be able to rent a welding set from there.
They're helpful guys. You should get somewhere contacting them.
Well, you've got what used to be called The Welding Institute, now just TWI, just down the road at Abington. Easily the top welding consultancy in the UK, generally regarded as world class, I think. Maybe she can do a tie-up and get some help in return for the publicity.
I do hope it's nothing like the giant spiky star-thing which got put up in a UK town centre somewhere, then individual spines started falling out. There's a big law suit pending, I believe. Just to look at it, it was obvious that the design and build at the hub would have to be very good.
We call it MIG here.She might try a free ad on this board which is read by a lot of people in the UK.Just a request for info should let her sort out the useful contacts.
She was a sculpture long before she was my student. She just got fed up with having to wait for other people to weld the steel armatures that support her sculptures. She came in to learn basic MIG welding, and has since gotten quite good at it.
I do some engineering consulting for her and she feeds me. A happy exchange.
Helpful information for your friend - sculpture in Cambridge UK. Lived in Cambridge for a few years and visit often.
Responses I saw on Google Groups...
Mackays is good for tools. And they have a fab-shop. Quite an interesting useful company actually. But not what you were asking for.
This is it.
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useful general welding store, 2 miles North of Cambridge:
STARMAKER WELDING SERVICES
16 Pembroke Avenue Denny End Industrial Centre Waterbeach CAMBRIDGE
CB5 9QR
TEL:01223 860662
snipped-for-privacy@starmaker-welding.co.uk
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About 5 miles South of Cambridge. Good price on Lincoln stuff when I used it a few years ago. General good store with lots of different kit:
Fowlmere Engineering Ltd
Industrial gas & welding supplies
Rectory Lane Fowlmere Royston Hertfordshire SG8 7TJ United Kingdom
Telephone, fax and web
Tel: (01763) 208265 Fax: (01763) 208515
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Further away in Hitchin, about 20miles to South, but down the main railway line to London Kings Cross and walkable from Hitchin station. These have been very helpful - supplied Basics and Cellulosics which run perfectly with an inverter when most folk here have never heard of anything but Rutiles. Will deliver.
United Welding - Hitchin
01462 437991
United Welding Supplies Ltd Unit 32 The Cam Centre Wilbury Way Hitchin Herts UK SG4 0TW
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