[Old Machinist]

Pretty impressive for 115V.

 

[Old Machinist]

Welder came in today. Damn Fedex driver left it sitting outside my gate which I left open all day so he could bring it another 600 feet to the house.

Haven't had much time to play with it but here are a couple of photos.

The side door is shorter than my old welder and can be opened without tipping it.

I haven't plugged it into 240V yet. Tried a few settings from the chart but it doesn't differentiate from 120V to 240V. Numbers didn't seem to work for me so I cranked both dials full clockwise and it laid down a decent bead. This is a straight push plugged into my 120V 30A outlet.

I will plug it into 240V tomorrow and try it. No way I could ever turn the wire speed all the way up on my old Lincoln at any heat. Most of my welding with it I had the heat all the way up and the wire feed on 3.5. The digital numbers on this machine don't make much sense to me but I will adjust.

 

[Old Machinist]

Had to order a 14-50p to r-50r power adaptor to run it on my Generator. More waiting.

 

[Old Machinist]

That is looking pretty darn good! That's a promising looking bead right there.

Yeah that's on a piece of cruddy hot roll angle. I just wire brushed the top and didn't grind it totally clean. You can't get hot roll metal totally clean anyway.

 

[Old Machinist]

Nice. Have you had a chance to stick stuff together with it yet?

No. I have too many other things on my list. I will wait till the power adaptor I ordered to plug it into 240V gets here before I play with it any more.

Their wire feed chart is a little confusing. The manual says it is in/min. It starts at 78 and goes up over 300. 78 inches per minute would be shoving out over and inch per second. I must not be understanding something about that.

 

[Old Machinist]

Let’s see that chart

This is kinda fuzzy but I found it on the web.

 

[Old Machinist]

Here is the spec sheet. So the settings I used on that bead above was 20+V at 275 inches per minute. It was plugged into a 120V, 30 amp circuit and using .030" wire with about a 3/8" stickout.

 

[Old Machinist]

Check your voltage. What size breaker are you running the 120 on and what guage wire is running between the breaker and wall outlet?

This is a dedicated circuit I added for my previous welder. I used a 25 amp rated receptacle and connected it to a 30 amp breaker that is only 15 inches away with 10 gauge wire. My voltage reads 123.8 on a Fluke multimeter.

I should probably add a circuit for this new welder. I have two empty spaces in my panel I could use for another 240V outlet.

 

[Old Machinist]

Just sticking my head in for a FEDEX Vent. I received an email this morning saying my 14-50 to R-50 adaptor was out for delivery. Was driving out to meet my sister and BIL for lunch and saw the FEDEX truck pull off the highway at the end of our muddy road. I had a feeling he was getting cold feet about driving down the muddy road but figured he would see us leaving in a compact car and decide it was safe. NADA, ain't doing muddy deliveries today. When we got the the restaurant I had a email update saying delivery was delayed until tomorrow.

No plugging the new welder into 240 volts today.

 

[Old Machinist]

Probly get one at Lowe’s

I checked Lowes, Home Depot, and Harbor Freight before I broke down and ordered one. You would think it would be a common item for any place selling welders.

I can buy the supplies needed to add a 6-50 circuit for the new welder in the garage local. I will eventually do that but not on the task list for this week.

 

[Old Machinist]

Adaptor plug came in today so I can plug it into my 50 amp generator connection. I also went ahead and bought the pieces to add a dedicated outlet in the garage. Just finished that. I am officially out of empty spaces on my 200 amp panel.

May get a chance to run some full power beads in a day or so but I have so many chores on my plate playing with the new welder might have to wait.

 

[Old Machinist]

I have a Lincoln 210mp welder, it comes with simple setting instructions for the thickness of the steel. At a certain thickness it says to run 240, I think that starts at 1/4 and it can use 120 up to 3/16 steel

My Lincoln SP-100 has a wire feed knob labeled 1-10. Anything above 4 will push the torch away from the metal at any heat setting. From 1/8" up I just turn the heat all the way up and the wire feed to 3 or 3-1/2.

This new welder will be a learning experience.

 

[Old Machinist]

I ran a few globs at 240 volts but they are too ugly to share. If a fella knew how to weld and held his mouth right I think it burns hot enough to stick stuff together.

My bead at 120 volts looked better. I probably wasted my money putting in a 240 volt circuit for it but I may need the extra oomf one day.

 

[Old Machinist]

Nah you want more heat if you want penetration. Just remember your running off a genny so the power is delayed a little. Then it surges and evens out. Kinda like a 2 stroke dirt bike with a power band. Well not that bad but you get my jist. Make sure your polarity is where it’s supposed to be and follow the chart as best you can. You’ll find that power chord and genny requires a little more heat settings than the chart. I used genny welders a lot in the field doing cracks and repairs on excavation equipment with sticks more than I’d like because the mechanic was a lazy bastard. Play around with it see what works and doesn’t. Have fun and show us some welds. Everyone knows my welds suck but they stick so don’t be ashamed to show it

No I broke down and added a 50 amp circuit off the house panel. I will just have to learn the settings.

 

[Old Machinist]

A young welding student came around and bought my Lincoln today. I imaging it will give him as good of service as it did me. I told him it was older than he was.

 

[Old Machinist]

I finally got a chance to do some tack welding with it. The trigger takes some getting use to. Seems like it starts the arc before it starts to feed if you pull it light. I will get use to it with more time.

I am building a set of skid steer mount forks using 3" channel iron. I figure channel iron will pick up anything my little Kubota can lift.

I split a piece to make the top and bottom hook channels. It bowed a little when I cut it and didn't want to unbow so I just clamped it onto a piece of uncut channel to tack it on. This is just the top rail so far. I still need to cut and weld some gussets to the bottom.

 

[Old Machinist]

Getting use to the two step torch trigger. It's handy for setting the gas flow without feeding wire.

The nozzle builds up slag inside worse than my old Lincoln but it scrapes out easy enough. Just a swipe around with the tip of the pliers and it falls right out. I may break down and buy some spray or dip but I don't see either of them stopping it.