I thought it would be fun to see why people seach out these forgotten old welders and fix them up, instead of buy the new and best out there. I don't own my own rig welder yet, but I will. Lets start the debate.
Its like owning a mint perfect classic car than can keep up or beat any new factory one.
If you are pipelining, it is hard to beat a SA200. They are simple, easy to work on and parts available everywhere in the world. But dont kid yourself. Like a 327 chevy it may have been good in its day, but a new 4 banger Honda can turn out more HP, go further longer and with less maintenence. If I was going to use different process like SMAW and GTAW and wanted 120V AC, why dink around with a SA200. Sure you can do scratch start, but it is all the BS you have to do to make it work well. And the SA200 does not have the fine control like available on te new computer controled machines.
BABRT's
I have a totally rebuilt 56 Sa 200 front to back but run a Miller Pipe Pro 304.
you like that pipe pro?I've been thinking about selling two of my welders and buying that miller 300.it has ac/dc on it
Yea it welds pretty slick and doesn't idle up unless it needs to. I can run almost 200 amps (3/16 8010) and it wont idle up.
I'm runnin a 07 200d but I have a 67 redface that I'm currently restoring. (I like to hear the bark of the straight pipe on the old gas jobs) and they stack nice too.
Hell yea they run real smooth there way better than the 80's model and I thought newer was supposed to be better Lol.
what do you think of that new 200d? Close to a sa 200 or not even close?
i was lookin at one but the price is on par with the classic 3. My buddies rollin an older classic 2 with the duetz and it beads nice and stacks. I actually find my 305 g beads nice when yous have it on downhill mode and hotpasses and caps pretty good too. I was thinkin about tryin the 305 d just to see if its the same
I havnt tried a new 200D But the 300D's run pretty good.
I haven't mainlined with my 200d yet but so far it hasn;t let me down. got about 550 hours on it so far. I'll let you know how it pipelines in the spring when I get outta the bush
Yea id appreciate it Where are you at right now?
I tested a new welder today, failed him,his cover pass was reinforced 3/16+ and varied from 1" to 2" wide.
I'm an old welder, got plates holding my arms together a pin holding my leg to my hip and can run a pretty good bead.
from an inspectors point of view, I would search out all the "old welders" and fix them up because they have the experiance to run a good weld!
still wanna debate? :)
here I just thought it was for the "cool" factor cause everybody is doing it. Nah, I've welded with new ones and old ones. If it runs a good bead it's worth fixing
I keep the old 1's cause like Lee i like to hear it bark and the way they weld it's just to hard to beat i got a 68 at the house burns leaks and prolly blows by 4 quarts of oil a day and still burns 3/16 rood you should hear it bark lol
haha the last time I had the 67 running in the garage I had both doors open and you still couldnt see it there from the smoke. time for a rebuild!!
back when i was runnin ol smoky had a guy tell me it wudnt burn 3/16 rod. i told him put your money where your mouth is rod for rod all day long my machine vs. yours he said no i dont push my machine that hard lol told him thats why it runs so bad you gotta run 3/16 once in a while to blow the soot out. he dont talk to me nemore lol. i've got 4 of the old school machines and 1 of them i'm partint out the other 3 i'mna keep was gonna sell 1 and get another redface but good luck finding 1
Raftergwelding,
I have not delt much with the SA200, but I did rebuild a 1956 Hobart pipeliner. it had a jeep engine. It came factory that way. After I rebuilt it it ran great. It had a vacuum idle up switch on it. For TIG it had the best soft start that I have ever to this day welded with. I thought I had some pictures, maybe I can find them and post them. It was Hobart pea green.
Jim
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