My new toy

Date 02-21-2011 02:29

Well could not pass this up. Have not been on craigslist in months and just looked this a.m, typed lincoln welder and hit search. On the top of the list, "Lincoln LN25 suitcase welder $400". I called the guy at 10 a.m, about 1 he called back. Was at his place at 3:30, tested it out with the Sa and was on my way home by 4. Came with a solid wire gun, flux gun, regulator, handrull of tips, .045 wheels and .052/1/16 wheels. I have to say this son of a gun just fell in my lap, don't know why I checked craigslist today.....glad I did. Now I just have to figure out how to use it.....

By DaveBoyer (*****)

Date 02-21-2011 03:02

I purchased a similar setup to that from a guy on a blacksmithing site. SOB cashed the check & never sent it. My understanding is that they are good machines. Does Your SA have the CV kit, or do You plan to run it with the Ranger? If You run it on CC, let Us know how it works out.

By Cumminsguy71 (*****)

Date 02-21-2011 11:27

No cv kit on the machine that I know of Dave. I figured cc for now with flux core, just gonna have to do some research on here to find out which wire was suggested as the best for that application. Might run with the ranger depending on the job, if it's someplace I can leave my machine onsite. Got a bunch of self educating to do with this thing, I know jack doodly about a suitcase welder so later on today is in house training time and digging around lincolns site to find the operators manual if I can, might even investigate a cv kit.

By crahner (**)

Date 02-21-2011 13:37

Lincoln nr 211 for material up to 1/2 and nr 212 for material over 1/2. I have two and they are the best investment on the truck. I have the owners manual in pdf if you would like it i will shoot it to you. PM me with your email.

By Cumminsguy71 (*****)

Date 02-21-2011 14:08

Thanks crahner, I'll have to write those down. Downloaded pdf from Lincolns site and printed it, glad it was only 34 pages! Appreciate the offer!

Shawn

By 99205

Date 02-21-2011 03:22

pretty sweet deal. I really like that thing but I hate the sensor wire. Because I ripped it out of the box so many times I put a pull apart connection on it, at the box, to save time fixing it.

By hillbilly (**)

Date 02-21-2011 12:33

If I can be of any help, I'll sure try with any questions. I've got alittle bit of experience with the 25's. All of mine is from running in CV mode though. We're running 232&311 thru the ones at work currently, but they're being pushed by Pro's & Vantages with the wire mode. The job before this one we ran duelshield 308 thru em feed by eight packs. Now that duelshield will sure enough spoil you, its that nice.

Glad to see you snag it neighbor.

By Cumminsguy71 (*****)

Date 02-21-2011 14:15

Been reading the owners manual this morning checking everything out, getting familiar with it, cc, cv, vv, aye, aye.....to early for brain to hurt so much! Was wanting to get a cable remote for my machine with the cash I used for this but just could not let this slip thru my hands! You were right Brian, this was on CL awhile back for $800, yesterday he was telling me that and then said he cut it in half and reposted on Friday. I'm shocked nobody snagged it up Friday night or Saturday, hard to believe it sat around until Sunday! Glad it did though! Glad to here your out there making that coin! Have to write all this stuff down and start checking everything out.....later though, have to get this railing done and up to powder today. I'll chat at ya later! Hope all is well with the fam!

Shawn

By Lawrence (*****)

Date 02-21-2011 17:27

Golden Arm!

I like the new NR233 and the ESAB Self shielded They can run a some crazy high feed rates compared to the NR211 and 212....

Your welds look fantastic.

By Iron Head 49 (***)

Date 02-21-2011 18:39

Thank you Lawrence!
I have run quite a bit of Lincoln's NS-3M, it has a pretty high deposit rate.
I too like NR-233, little more user friendly over NR-232, don't have to watch the stickout as much with 233, as with 232.
It was sometime in the 1990's that all the CC machine were set aside for CV machines for wire work.

By Rig Hand (***)

Date 02-21-2011 18:37

How is that 212 on thinner material? I run Coreshield 8 in .072 and love it but, you need at least 1/4'' thick material for out of position work (in my opinion). I was just curious if you've ran any 211 or 212 on lighter material (1/8''- 1/4'') with 1/16 or .068

By Iron Head 49 (***)

Date 02-21-2011 18:45

Rig Hand if I was going to weld something that thin I would go with .045. Lincoln's NR-212 .045 is childs play, it will run it's self. Take some electrical tape, tape down the trigger, and go set in the truck! LOL!

By yojimbo (***)

Date 02-21-2011 17:32

Cummingsguy- Man, you scored. LN25 suitcase with just the dual shield gun goes for about $1600 new. Inner shield gun about another 3-400. Nice bargain. When you look at the pics posted by the welder's post above mine you will see the machine will put down some weld. I've always run mine off a Classic 3D in CC mode for dual shield only. You really need the CV module in the Classic to run innershield to code. I have heard the LN will run dual shield from a SA200 but it was a little trickier. Don't know why that would be. Dual shield wire with a C25 gas is a very forgiving and productive weld process and not difficult to pick up on. One thing to remember is stick out on wire- you want to keep it about 5/8 to 3/4 of an inch outside the end of a properly seated nozzle, you don't use it in spray mode generally as this increases your voltage and creates operating problems like porosity, worm tracks excessive digging of the electrode. If you know any guys that do Big Bore Waterlines with these feeders see if you can pick up some tricks from them- they'll run 400 ipm wire speeds on .045 and put down some serious deposits. A few of them hang out here on occasion, maybe they'll chime in on their production settings.

By Lawrence (*****)

Date 02-21-2011 18:24

Just a knitpicky code point.

As far as D1.1 is conserned, Both gas shielded FCAW (dual shield) and self shielded FCAW (innershield) must have CV power to be pre-qualified processes.

"3.4.2 FCAW and GMAW Power Sources. FCAW
and GMAW that is done with Prequalified WPS's shall
be performed using constant voltage (CV) power supplies."

The code makes no distinction between gas shielded and self shielded FCAW in this matter.

Edit:
However, if the WPS has been qualified per section 4 with CC than it may be kosher.

By yojimbo (***)

Date 02-22-2011 17:06

Lawrence-

Interesting point....ya damn nitpicker. Just joking. Maybe you can explain a mystery for me though. The LN 25 has a toggle switch in side of it for CC/CV mode that needs to match the power source to work correctly. I have never had a satisfactory answer as to its actual function although a supply salesman tried to indicate it magically transformed cc to cv I respectfully kept my skepticism to myself. Also I am looking at a pre-qualified welding procedure specification I had a local lab do for us-WPS-FCAW-1 [dont know if thats a lab or an AWS reference] ad it makes no mention of power source. Under electrical charachterisitcs it mentions transfer mode: globular and under current: DCEP. No mention of CC/CV power source. Any ideas?

By Cumminsguy71 (*****)

Date 03-08-2011 00:08

It's funny you mentioned 400ipm and .045 wire. I hooked up to the ranger(knew I kept the cv...air cooled for a reason) I set it at 400ipm and then pulled the trigger on some 3/16" plate. Had to adjust the heat on the machine to get it to run right but holy smokes!!!! I ran about 2 inches and thought, I really need to speed up!! I know I had good penetration on that one!!! Hahaha!

By DaveBoyer (*****)

Date 03-08-2011 01:26

I am pretty sure that switch sets the starting speed of the wire feed motor. As these machines run on open circuit voltage and maintain the arc voltage by changing the wire feed rate, it wants to know if the 90 volts from the CC machine will drop to welding voltage [in the 20's] or if the lower voltage of a CV machine is going to remain somewhere near there when the arc starts.

In short, it compensates for the high open circuit voltage on a CC machine.

By Blaster (***)

Date 03-08-2011 15:28

That switch tells the feeder to operate at a constant wire feed speed, which is appropriate when using a CV power source, or to operate at a variable wire feed speed which is appropriate when operating on a CC power source.

In CC mode changes in arc voltage cause the feed motor to speed up or slow down in an attempt to regulate the length of the arc.

In CV mode the feed motor runs at the set wire feed speed at all times, assuming the minimum voltage required to operate the feed motor in this mode is present.