I'm thinking about buying a Classic 300. But I'm only interested if they truly do weld like a Red face. Lincoln states it has “all copper windings”. And “produces the welding arc preferred by pipeliners”.
I'm wondering if there are any Lincoln distributor in your area or region that just may have one of those puppies to demonstrate for you what they're capable of? You might want to check and see if there's one available near you or you can always go to Cleveland and while you're there you can visit the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame...
Seriously, here's a link to all of Lincoln Electric regional offices with their addresses and telephone numbers to call ahead and find out if they have one available for you to try out:
any dealer worth a flick will let ya try that new machine out on a rental basis. So pony up and rent it for a few weeks of whatever job and if ya like it negotiate a purchase price, I WILL not buy any machine till I burnt a bucket of rod nubs with it.....this is easily negotiated with any GOOOD welding supply.
There is a brand new 300HE on this job site I'm on. The guy has roughly 200hr on it now.
I have been asking him every week how hes getting along with it.. He owns an old Redface a New Miller Trailblazer a 80s blackface and now this 300HE.. He seems to like it. He says its not his redface but he doesn't have to put fuel in it everyday ether. He is getting roughly 36hr out of a tank of fuel he says.
My first impression of it is good.. It seems to be a touch more noisy than the 4cyl diesels. Its a bit lower noise but louder. Its nothing like the old sa250s with the 3cyl diesel.. Its much smother than that.
There are 30+ rig trucks on this site and I have worked with these guys for a year and a half now. I have seen every machine you can think of come through here from a little 2cyl Hobart burning 3/16 80+ down hill to a Lincoln SAE400 or maybe it was a 500 I don't remember. I just know it look as big as a house.. lol
I have seen awesome running sa250s and sa250s that didn't weld worth a crap. I have seen Blackface machines smoke a Redface, I have seen a Trailblazer out weld a Redface. The best running machine I have seen yet is an 80s Black face with a Kabota diesel conversion. I bet the guy has $15k+ in that machine but he had it built for how he likes to weld. I guess we weld enough alike that I love it..!!
There is a 63yr old man here who I respect a lot. He has been welding all of his adult life. He says there are machines that fit different people. He says for the most part if a machine is running right all a guy has to do is be patient and learn how to weld with his machine.
There are junk machines out there.. Blackface, Redface, Shorthoods, Pipe Pros, Red-D-arc it doesn't matter. There are also awesome versions of those machines out there too.. Find a machine that fits you and what you want to do then learn how to weld with it.
Would I buy an HE300..?? No. Why because I like the SAE300 better because of the arc control they have. This guy bought the HE300 because it was simple and he didn't have to go through the headache of finding the sweet spot on an SAE300.
We weld to make money. Don't forget that... I believe a New Lincoln is the way to go if you are welding for a living. An old sa200 will have to stop at the gas station every night. A new diesel stops every 3rd day. A new diesel will run 7k+ hours before you have to mess with it. Every 2k maybe 3k hr you are going to have to do something to an old sa200. Nothing welds like a well tuned sa200 but when you put dollars and cents on paper I believe a new Diesel Lincoln is the way to go..
Thank you very much for the informative post rcwelding! I've got some feed back from other sites, that the Classic 300 will not weld like a Red face. My working days are over I just play and collect old SA-200s. I've decided to bag this idea. I have already taken my 1966 Red face a part. Dropped the generator off at the shop yesterday to have dielectric put in it, and on the armature. A long with a new bearing. The engine will go in for a complete rebuild this next week.
Sounds like a great choice. Nothing brings me as much joy as grabing the stinger on a good running Sa200 and listening to the old girl talk without a muffler.. No need to spend the money on a new HE300 if you arnt Putting 1200 1500hr a year on one.
Hi Iron Head,
