|
|
OK, I just replaced my Lincoln G7 with a ranger 250. The G7 was great and still works. The Ranger in a whole different animal. The first 2 weeks, I swore at it because of that silly arc force knob. I didn't know what it did. I tried this and that many times. I now have 100 hours on the machene and figured it out pretty good. I use a LN 25 more than anything with this machine. I have talked to lincoln about this silly little knob. I did figure out that to the right (+5) is better for stick and to the left is better for Mig.I am just looking for more info.ThanksDavidAnd yes it did give me a woody when I first bought it. I have had the machine 2 months and it has paid for its self. Yesterday I took and passed the AWS verticle up with the LN 25.
Reply:That Arc Control knob can be a bit mysterious. In the past I have needed to test that feature. This is my best understanding of how it works.In CV mode it functions like a reactance or pinch control. I dont have much more than that because I was testing a machine that was using stick, and didnt question the Lincoln guys about the details in CV. I would think that last paragraph in the explanation below would apply to both Stick and CV.In most types of welding, the arc heats the base metal and the rod until a droplet of molten metal forms, then drops off into the puddle. When the droplet transfers from the rod to the puddle, it causes an instantaneous short circuit; arc voltage drops and sometimes will stick rod. This happens many times per second. Lincolns chopper machines can use arc voltage to sense when that droplet is transferring from the rod to the puddle.In stick mode it works like an arc force control. The electronics in these machines can react with incredible speed. Control pulses to the chopper occur at 20,000 times per second. It can sense exactly then the droplet shorts the arc and can send a higher current pulse to sort of blow it clear so the arc wont go out and the rod wont stick. At the lowest setting the Arc Control does nothing. The higher the setting on the arc control dial, the higher the short circuit current pulse will be. That is why the higher settings will cause more spatter, and the lower settings generally more sticking and snuffing.In older Lincoln chopper machines, this control does not work in Pipe mode, because the pipe mode already increases the current when the arc is shorter, and arc voltage is lower. In newer machines, it does work in pipe mode, but its effects are subtler.The fact that it senses at the machine and things happen so fast, makes setting this control seem really strange. The sweet spot will probably be different from one machine to another, depending on things like length and size of cables, if cables are laid out or coiled, user preference, etc. In some rare cases the setup can make this control completely ineffective.Bob
Reply:Originally Posted by David ROK, I just replaced my Lincoln G7 with a ranger 250. The G7 was great and still works. The Ranger in a whole different animal. The first 2 weeks, I swore at it because of that silly arc force knob. I didn't know what it did. I tried this and that many times. I now have 100 hours on the machene and figured it out pretty good. I use a LN 25 more than anything with this machine. I have talked to lincoln about this silly little knob. I did figure out that to the right (+5) is better for stick and to the left is better for Mig.I am just looking for more info.ThanksDavidAnd yes it did give me a woody when I first bought it. I have had the machine 2 months and it has paid for its self. Yesterday I took and passed the AWS verticle up with the LN 25.
Reply:Thanks for the replies. The first 2 weeks I had the machine, I cursed that little knob.I set the machine for 1/8 7018 and ran some flat beads. Then I turned it all the way up and ran a tall narrow bead. All the way down and got a wide flat bead. I couldn't pile it up no matter how hard I tried. With the LN-25 and .045 wire, I tried quite a few settings. I found on +10 I could run about 1 1/2" sitck out and still keep a nice arc.Now the machine has 100 hours on it, I found -5 or more for mig and 0 to +5 for stick. + 10 for overhead.It seems on the higher settings it makes 7018 behave more like 6010. I also found changing the little knob requires a change on the big knob. With the knob on lower settings for a "buttery smooth arc" I can't seem to get the arc to go to the base metal, it wants to go to the puddle.I have read all I can find on it and am still looking for more discussion.David |
|