Playing with Davros

Michael and his MIG welder Davros have been buddies for thirty years. For much of this time, the poor piece of equipment didn't even have a name. I thought was wasn't good enough, so on our first meeting (with the MIG welder, not Michael), I duly christened him Davros.

His name sprang to mind as he is shaped rather like a shortish, squatish mobile rectangular box. But that would have to be the only resemblance to that particular evil character from Doctor Who. Davros the MIG appears to be quite docile and agreeable and does not cause any strife. He only really creates difficulty if we have to move him, as he has all the aerodynamics of a one hundred and fifty centimetre high, very heavy brick.

Davros is also getting so old that Michael can no longer source parts for him. So far, this has not proved to be an issue as he appears to be indestructible. I guess a day will come when Davros finally goes to the big scrap yard in the sky. I am sure Michael will shed a few tears at that time and we will have to give him an appropriate send-off.

Now to his technical details. I actually opened Wikipaedia to research MIG welders. I might as well have been decyphering ancient Greek, so I gave up. As far as I can work out, Davros uses electricity and gases and stuff called wire electrode to glue two bits of metal to each other. He also produces a lot of sparks and makes loud electrical type hissing noises. He has been known to spit metal at Michael and burn holes in his clothes. Hence Michael does not wear his Sunday best when he and Davros are engaged in a project. His welding helmut, apart from changing Michael's appearance to that of Major Tom, is also useful for preventing nasty and painful eye burns.

Since Michael has been able to unleash his creativity once more - as we have more or less completed the initial renovation of the building - he and Davros have been joined at the hip.When Michael first envisaged Dory, he estimated that he would have to make fifty-three small circles for her scales. This proved to be a wild underestimation, which resulted in many more uses of the grinder to cut the required rod lengths. Each circle has then been welded closed, placed on her the designated section of her body and welded into position.

After the enormous effort of moving all his metal to the Workshop, with Loic and Manon's help, Michael is back playing with Davros this afternoon to finish Dory's troublesome tail. Listening to the happy sounds of grinding and zapping, I can tell Michael is in his element.

And his head is already filling with ideas for his next artpiece.

Live long and prosper, Davros.

All photos of Michael courtesy of Hank Kordas.