Black face, blue face, red face??

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Looking at Lincoln SA200 welders on Craigslist and I am finding them listed by these different face colors.  What is the difference?"G"ConductorX - The Volkswright Shophttp://volkswright.blogspot.com/http://bugwerks.blogspot.com/Miller DVI w/Spoolgun - Miller Plasma Cutter
Reply:well the sa 200s were made over a few decades.  There were different nationalities, and tribes of people who worked for Lincoln on the assembly line.   I'm not trying to sound racial or anything, but lincoln left it up to the guys on the assembly line to use the color of plate for the machine, as the same color as the assemblers skin or face.   Despite what anyone tells you, this is the real story.   Kinda like rolls royce does.  On a rolss royce, each worker who builds a radiator for the car, scribes or stamps there name in the radiator.
Reply:Originally Posted by 123weldwell the sa 200s were made over a few decades.  There were different nationalities, and tribes of people who worked for Lincoln on the assembly line.   I'm not trying to sound racial or anything, but lincoln left it up to the guys on the assembly line to use the color of plate for the machine, as the same color as the assemblers skin or face.   Despite what anyone tells you, this is the real story.   Kinda like rolls royce does.  On a rolss royce, each worker who builds a radiator for the car, scribes or stamps there name in the radiator.
Reply:Do a search there is plenty of info, short hoods were the first generation, then red faces, then black faces which switched to aluminum windings mid production(my 72 was aluminum), then came the green light series. JTMcC knows thus better than me, go ask on the AWS forum all the pipeliners will set you right.Disclaimer; "I am just an a$$hole welder, don't take it personally ."
Reply:I think, but am not sure the blue background was Canadian built machines.Disclaimer; "I am just an a$$hole welder, don't take it personally ."
Reply:never heard of blue face before.edit: see them on google images, never seen one in person.Last edited by TimmyTIG; 10-26-2013 at 11:48 PM.
Reply:I'm sorry.    I walked off away from the computer for a few minutes, and my 2 year old like to get up and play with the keyboard.   He to young to spell, and just like to bang on the keyes, so don't pay any attention to the post.
Reply:dad is gone again.   I think Tozzi may be right about the blue face being in Canada.   You see its's very cold in canada, and in the winter time sometimes an assembler would be filling ill or have a cold.   Bing there pale from being around all that snow anyway, and being sick at the same time, there face or skin may have been slightly blue that particular day.  Thats why the blue faces are so rare.
Reply:Originally Posted by 123welddad is gone again.   I think Tozzi may be right about the blue face being in Canada.   You see its's very cold in canada, and in the winter time sometimes an assembler would be filling ill or have a cold.   Bing there pale from being around all that snow anyway, and being sick at the same time, there face or skin may have been slightly blue that particular day.  Thats why the blue faces are so rare.
Reply:The forum just admonished me for not posting anything in a long while.  So I asked a serious question and I am no better off than before.  Thanks guys.  "G"ConductorX - The Volkswright Shophttp://volkswright.blogspot.com/http://bugwerks.blogspot.com/Miller DVI w/Spoolgun - Miller Plasma Cutter
Reply:ConductorX, I have nothing to back this up so take it for what it is - my personal opinion.I have never seen anything on Lincoln Electric letterhead giving any reason for the different faceplate colors used over the years.  However, having been involved in various phases of product development over the years, MY best guess is that the particular engineer or group of engineers assigned to the SA-200 product line at the time left their personal external "signature" behind not only in the form of changes to the faceplate layout but the color as well.  I say this because that is exactly what I and others I know have done in the past.Now, that's not to say these design/color changes can't indicate or be referenced when identifying a particular "era" design and in fact appears to be just that.  Why? because those responsible for any product design change(s) at the time simply left their "signature" in the form of a different faceplate design/color in the process.  I truly don't believe they said "Hey, let's make a change to the machine that affects design or performance and to document it we'll change the faceplate design and/or color.  If that were the case I believe there would be a record of the fact denoting the design changes associated with a specific faceplate design/color within the Lincoln archives.  Check the operational manuals published by Lincoln.  Have you ever seen one listed as "Red Face", "Black Face", "Short Black Face", "Tall Black Face", "Tall Black with Notched Corner Face Plate", "Red on Blue Face", Texas Flag Face Plate, etc.?Obviously over the years we have come to identify some very specific design differences of the SA-200 with the faceplate design/color which I would expect and understand based on my own personal experience with a particular product development over the years as I stated earlier.  That said, there are several here and on other forums that have done much in documenting machine design/performance factors - and more importantly the Code# - that can or are associated with the various different faceplate designs/colors used over the years.But again, until someone can show me anything to the contrary in a Lincoln document, this remains my personal opinion on the subject.MM200 w/Spoolmatic 1Syncrowave 180SDBobcat 225G Plus - LP/NGMUTT Suitcase WirefeederWC-1S/Spoolmatic 1HF-251D-1PakMaster 100XL '68 Red Face Code #6633 projectStar Jet 21-110Save Second Base!
Reply:Pay no attention to 123weld.  This is the same baby who does the e-trade commercials, what would he know about welders?
Reply:Duane and 7A749 -  Your answers sound the most plausible to me as well.  The sellers on Craigslist seem to make a big deal of the face plate color.   I did not know about the aluminum windings versus the copper.  I think I would prefer copper.I truly appreciate your response.  "G"ConductorX - The Volkswright Shophttp://volkswright.blogspot.com/http://bugwerks.blogspot.com/Miller DVI w/Spoolgun - Miller Plasma Cutter
Reply:Many times faceplates have been changed on a machine to make it look like something it's not which is why the Code# and generator barrel style are the more important factors in identifying a unit.As for the aluminum-vs.-copper winding issue, that applies to the main shunt coils which can be and are routinely changed out for new copper versions in in the octagon barrel generators (round barrel are copper).  Although the octagon shunt coils are/were aluminum, the armature windings are still all copper in those machines.MM200 w/Spoolmatic 1Syncrowave 180SDBobcat 225G Plus - LP/NGMUTT Suitcase WirefeederWC-1S/Spoolmatic 1HF-251D-1PakMaster 100XL '68 Red Face Code #6633 projectStar Jet 21-110Save Second Base!