A confused beginner

By JohnnyCheesedog Date 05-24-2004 04:16

Hello, I am new at these boards and any help is greatly appreciated. I took Welding 1 this year in high school, and I learned quite a bit about welding it's self, but I still don't know much about the equipment. I was recently given a brand new Lincoln LN-25 Wirefeed welder. It was my uncles but he never used it so he gave it to someone who was interested. Anyways, I've used some Wirefeed welders at school that were the MIG something..300? (I think that was it, they were pretty big, on wheeled carts and had huge carbon dioxide gas tanks on the back with digital dials) But I went to plug in my new welder, and it doesn't have a regular 230v power cable on the back, instead it has what looks like a car battery cable. How do I get power to my welder?

By jwright650 (*****)

Date 05-24-2004 11:16

Hi Johnny,
Welcome to the forum, .... your wire feeder will need a CV power source to operate it. The power mig 300 you used in school has the wire feeder and power source as one unit, all built in. What you have is a remote wire feeder that will need a power source to drive it. The cables you see coming out of it go back to the output terminals on the power source to feed power to the wire feeder. I'm not familiar with the LN-25, but we have a couple old LN-7's and LN-8's still in service here in the plant and they are several decades old and still doing the job.
Here is link to some info on Lincoln's site concerning your wire feeder.
http://content.lincolnelectric.com/pdfs/products/literature/e8100.pdf
Have a great day,
John Wright

By pipewelder_1999 (****)

Date 05-24-2004 12:02

In addition to the info posted bu Mr. Wright, your machine will also runn off of a Constant Current power source. (A Regular Stick machine)

The Lincoln literature should explain what you need.

Have a nice day\

Gerald Austin

By jwright650 (*****)

Date 05-24-2004 12:50

Thanks Gerald,
I didn't read the literature far enough to see that it would run off the CC machine as a bonus.
John Wright

By JohnnyCheesedog Date 05-24-2004 23:09

Well I took my machine into my welding teacher, he said it's missing the drive roller and guide tubes. Also, he said it would run pretty crappy off a CC power source (I.E. Machine stopping or hesitating) and I can't really afford a CV power source right now, So I've decided to sell my machine. What seems like a good solid price for it? It's never been used and has a Tweco .045 Fluxcore gun with it. The man at the welding shop said it would go good for around $1000 dollars, since the gun it's self costs $250 new. He also said the machine alone new would cost $1750.00 Would anyone around Northern California/Nevada area like to buy this machine?

By OSUtigger (**)

Date 05-25-2004 04:28

Johnny,

I hate to contradict your instructor, but I have ran an LN-25 off of both my machine, a Ranger 250 capable of CV output, as well as off of a Pipeliner capable of only CC output, and running it off the pipeliner kicked the living crap out of running it off of my machine, though it was a little harder to set. I realize that perhaps you are too strapped to buy an engine driven, but the principle is all the same, amps are amps and volts are volts, no matter how you get 'er done. The machine is MADE for a CC across the arc input, and like I said, its a good machine. You might wanna research a little more into this and understand a little more before you metaphorically throw away all the M&M's that have W's written on them if you know what I mean...

Just a thought
G. L.

By jwright650 (*****)

Date 05-25-2004 10:53

Check out that link I supplied in the earlier post. That is a very nice gift that you have been "given" (no dollars- nada- $0.00).
John Wright

By qcmike

Date 08-18-2004 21:08

Hi Johnny,

The LN-25 (suitcase) welder needs either a CV or CC power source to operate. If you don't plan on investing in one ($1,000+), I may be able to take it off your hands.

Let me know your sell price if interested.

Mike Julian
Boston, MA