one thing is the are easy to maintain,there are pretty simple buy design(sa200's that is)
For starters Lincoln is not owned by the Lincoln family any more. So all the new welder models aren't fielded tested like they use to be before being released to the public. The new ones are more complex and have more bells and whistles so more things to go wrong with them and harder to repair. The Old ones are simple and bullet proof.
From what I've read on this forum(I've never welded with one) it has a unique and superior arc for downhill pipeline welding.
What about the SA-250? Does it weld the same as the SA-200?
I just got off a job in Arcadia,La. for WHC. I have a 62 redface and it did great. Alot of the welders had the new 200Ds with the kobotas and they did great but it seems like the old red faces carry more iron.
I'm in Covington.La where is Arcadia,La seems like I've heard of it
its about 35 minutes east along I20 from me. bout half way between minden and ruston.
oh ok so I take it all up there it's booming with gaslines going in then right?? My sister is living in Shreveport she said something about Shreveport is sitting on one of the biggest natural gas booms ever, have you heard of anything like this??
Chris
the haynesville shale. its supposedly one of the biggest gas pockets ever discovered.
too bad, it was discover back in the 50's though, not here recently like they want you to believe.
no kidding so it's true well I'm sure there will be more welding jobs up there in the future then COOL
yeah there is a pipeline(3 in one right of way) fixing to kick off just north of me. i think price is the name of the company. i heard 2 42" lines and 1 6" short run line. coming from oklahoma(rumored) to the east toward mississippi or farther. supposed to a year or so of work, rumored 2 years. i wish i was rigged up! a grand a day sounds nice!!!!
nice, well some guys are gonna be making a bundle on this line
yeah, i wish i had some pipeline experience. All i know is refinery. we do run some pretty long lines, the farthest being about 3800 ft. gotta love tank farms!
I remember someone saying they use heavier gauge copper and more copper on primary windings then they do now, mostly because of the cost. I remember someone telling me that's why the old engine driven welders weld so smooth.
but I've never tested that first hand,
I would be interesting if someone hooked em up to high end multimeter and other gizmos and see if there was something different in their current profile? perhaps a more stable OCV or something
Well, I'm not a pipe guy, but a lot of things already touched on are the reasons. The older machines are made to a much heavier built standard than newer ones. The older Lincolns are also 100% copper wound. Anything over 25 years old isn't going to full of complex, expensive solid state circuitry that can be very costly to repair if a failure was to occur. Probably the biggest overall reason is preference. The newer machines generally (when it comes to stick welding) weld smoother & more stable than their newer counterparts. This is not just an "old school" mentality. Many, many weldors, including myself, can clearly see a difference between the newer & older machines when it comes to arc quality, stability & control. I've used the newer Miller machines burning 1/4" rod all day & have done the same with a 38 year old Lincoln machine & seen a clear difference in how smooth & controlled the old Lincoln's arc was. I'm a Miller guy, but the difference was enough that I would rather have the old machine in the field any day than a new $18,000 solid state machine.
That's my take on it anyways. S.W.
look I am not trying to be silly but where do you work that you burn 1/4 rods all day long? I have several sa 200s and a couple of 55 shorthoods iI would like to put them to the test I have burned quite a few 5's with them but 1/4" WOW!
By sbcmweb 
Date 07-17-2008 04:24
Edited 07-17-2008 04:37
I worked for an outfit that mainly did refurbs on scrap machinery & balers. We put a floor in a shaker table of a scrap shredder. We plug welded over 80 2" X 3/4" deep holes in that floor plate for that machine & it majorly sucked. Almost 18 hours grinding, leveling & welding that new floor to the sub structure. We had to pad the sub to get it level for the floor going over it. If we would have used anything smaller, we would have been there forever. They had a Miller 500 amp Air Pak & a Miller 600 amp Du Op. We did a demo job up in Grand Rapids at a big scrap yard & burned 3/8" carbons at 600 amps for 14 hours cutting apart an old shaker table & transfer conveyors. we used the Miller machines for that job as well.
I used an older Lincoln machine here in Lansing at a steel warehouse, putting in a set of steel plate racks & catwalk. I didn't CAC with the machine there, but I felt the arc quality far surpassed the newer Millers. This was an 3 phase electric machine, (R3R) but the SA's are the same deal. Nice, smooth, real deal arc. NO inverter magic. The Du Op by Miller is all inverter inside & you can tell. The rod almost buzzes when you're welding. That was where I made the comparison. We did mostly 1/8" & 5/32" on the Lansing job, but that ancient Lincoln beat those new inverter based engine drives hands down. Here's some pics of the scrap job. Steve.
Are the older welders AC only or did they have a DC option?
Gary
All the SA's are DC only, no AC aux power even. They really are the best as far as arc quality goes. We ran those 7018 1/4" electrodes at 200 amps & it burned real smooth. I'm sure most SA's will handle that. Most I have seen bank out at around 280+ amps. They just aren't made for CAC. The SAE 300 & 400 will do it no problem though. We ran 3/8 carbons at around 600 amps with the Air Pak. Of course, you can't get 100% duty cycle out of that machine at those values, but we did a little & backed off, went back in, etc. S.W.
That is awesome I will try some 1/4 inch rods as soon as I can find a few and let you know how it went thank you for the pictures!
It was cool.....For a little while. Not anything I would want to run out of position. I suppose if you were welding 2" thick stuff. We actually had to hang two throat plates at the chute of the table. They were 18" X 24" 1" thick. The morons torched them the day before & did an awful job. The dude I was working for didn't believe in 6010, so we had a terrible time trying to put them back up in 4F pos. No bevel. They should have had the helpers bevel them out & clean the surface of the mating areas up better. I found some 1/8" 6011 in the storage shed at the scrapyard & we tried to use that to put them back up. I finally told the guy it just wasn't going to get done right with what we had there & suggested coming back the next day with some 3/16" 5p. He said no way.
Needless to say, after working 18 hours that day & 14 the next, I was done working for him. He didn't believe in lighted work areas & safety first either. He never called me back after that anyways. I guess the overall feeling was mutual. Major Hack Master!
Glad you liked the pics! Thanks. Steve
