lincoln vantage 300 and pipe welding

By jallegranza Date 04-19-2010 02:41

I have a year old vantage 300 with the kubota engine. There are two settings for welding stick: CC (constant current) and Downhill pipe. Until the other day, i did all my pipe welding on downhill pipe setting. I talked to a friend with the same welder who has been pipe welding on CC because he said that the sa200's are all CC so the vantage would run similar to it when on the CC setting, and run pipe better than the downhill setting. ANybody have any info on this? Thanks

By weldwade (***)

Date 04-19-2010 04:16

CC is constant current and you are still welding with constant current (CC/DC) weather you are in the CC mode or downhill pipe mode. The difference will be the amperage/voltage curve will differ between the two. You also have a inductance knob that will also manipulate the curve to suit different rods, positions etc. An SA200 is a CC/DC machine that is true and so is a Vantage or several hundred other welding machines I could think of. Most supply CC/DC output but that does not make them the same, they accomplish this by different ways. Simple answer is use the mode that best suits you for the application you are doing. The Vantage just makes it really easy to manipulate the arc characteristics much easier/faster than say rolling the rack in a SA machine. For SMAW and GTAW welding you use CC output and for GMAW FCAW welding you use CV output in most situations.

By smithcd2208 (**)

Date 04-19-2010 04:23

Just like weldwade said both modes are CC, the difference is in the arc. The Lincoln brochure for the vantage says downhill pipe mode is designed for use with cellulosic electrodes. "Downhill pipe welding mode. Excellent for cellulosic electrodes. Fast travel speeds, especially on fill passes. Arc control adjustment for a soft, buttery arc or a more forceful digging arc." So it sounds to me that "downhill pipe" mode has a steep volt-amp curve by default that can also be adjusted with dig control as well. Don't know if that helps, that's just what Lincoln says.

http://content.lincolnelectric.com/pdfs/products/literature/e6206.pdf

By jallegranza Date 04-19-2010 04:46

I see. Thanks for clearing up that confusion. I did not know it was always running CC. I have been searching this topic for the last few hours and have found a few other posts regarding the same. Seems like it's just personal preference . Im going to try both settings tomorrow and manipulate the arc control more. Thanks again.

By smithcd2208 (**)

Date 04-19-2010 04:57

Nope, i don't even own a welder. I'm still in school. I'm in my final quarter ready to get certified. I just tried to look it up to see if i could help a feller out. I want to start building some rapport in this forum though since i'm not really a regular yet. I've seen plenty of posts that have caused people to make enemies.

By weldwade (***)

Date 04-19-2010 13:30

Nope we use the Air Vantage machines and BB Air Paks. Get comfortable with the arc control adjustment knob and understand what it does. My guys tend to run Exx10 electrodes in downhill pipe mode and use the CC mode for LH. IMO it is operator prefference use what works for you.

By smithcd2208 (**)

Date 04-19-2010 20:02

I've never seen a Vantage welder before. So is the dig control available when you have "downhill pipe" mode selected? or is it available in both downhill pipe and CC mode?

By Cactusthewelder (*****)

Date 04-20-2010 00:38

I run Vantage welders. The arc control is availible in BOTH modes. I prefer to run everything in CC mode

By okwelder82 (***)

Date 04-20-2010 01:11

You run Downhill rods in CC mode also?

By Cactusthewelder (*****)

Date 04-20-2010 01:26

Sure do

By smithcd2208 (**)

Date 04-21-2010 03:46

Thanks for clearing that up for me.