Did I do okay?

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I'm still recovering from my back surgery and maybe the pain meds have had long term effects on my brain. I ran across this older Lincoln 225 S welder and some accessories. I have a great little Lincoln 140C mig welder that I just love....so I really don't have any use for an arc welder. I couldn't believe it when I heard myself say...."I'll take it".I had to get help loading it into my truck.....It didn't appear that heavy when I was looking at it. Now I have it home and I realized I don't have 220 power in my garage. I'm needing to get a 220 outlet anyway.....so my electrician friend will get me connected in the next week or so. I started looking at the welder in my garage and decided I can make a better rack/grab bar for it. The kinked conduit for a handle just don't look very nice.......that drives me crazy. Another thing making me crazy is the "do it yourself" cable extensions. If your going to put 50' cables on it, dont use five 10' pieces of cable. I'll probably do something about that too!Now my problem is I don't know how to use it......so I'll dig into the little text book that came with it. I don't think I got hurt at $150 for the setup. Attached Images
Reply:You're gonna love that machine.It will be easy to change the leads.  They bolt on inside the machine.  The newer Lincolns are silver soldered."Any day above ground is a good day"http://www.farmersamm.com/
Reply:i disagree that you dont need a stick machine because you have a small mig. that stick machine is gonna open new worlds to you.
Reply:6011 will be your new best friend --Wintermute"No man's knowledge here can go beyond his experience." - John Lockewww.improvised-engineering.comManufacturer Agnostic:Blood----------Sweat---------Tears----|------------------|----------------|----Lincoln Red, Miller Blue, Esab Yellow
Reply:That's what I learned on,  self taught at the time.  if you can take a class at local college, go for it....  Stick will let you weld a lot thicker material,  after some practice, post some pics and let folks give u constructive criticism...   then try a DC machine and you will not want to use your AC machine againTiger Sales:  AHP Distributor    www.tigersalesco.comAHP200x; AHP 160ST; MM350P,  Spoolmatic 30A; Everlast PowerTig 185; Thermal Dynamics 60i plasma.  For Sale:  Cobra Mig 250 w/ Push-pull gun.  Lincoln Wirematic 250
Reply:You did great!   You will be welding in 30 minutes, but like golf, you can improve for a lifetime. I have used these for decades. Along with a few others...       This machine was designed with 1/8" 6011 in mind, the Volt Amp curves were matched to it.  with 1/8" 6011,  - 60 amps- conduit, muffler pipe, kid's toys. 75 amps- most light structural, bed frame angle, pickup frames, wheel rims for hose hangers, plumbing pipe,  90 amps- all those things plus 1/4" to 5/16" plate, higher amps, thicker metal.     These machines seem happiest at the mid ranges, with about 1/8 inch rod, also no worry about burning up the machine. They are a little hotter also in the mid ranges than say a century, seem to be about 10-20% hotter per range.     The 1/8 inch rod has a nice soft wide arc at the 60 and 75 amp setting, nice and "buttery" works well for thin stuff if you don't stay in one place. at 75 and 90 it has enough mass to weld the medium stuff, and is sharper for the thick stuff at up to 135A. At  higher amps it tends to burn the coating off.     What you find out is that with stick the amps act bigger. Also you have a lot of control due to arc length that you don't with wire feed.     At about 180 amps it will work good as a cutting or scrapping torch, actually better than oxy acet, on thin car body steel.  I have cut a lot of steel to 3/4 bar and 2 inch rounds with this setup, just work your way through. Not pretty but when you get good it will work for bolt holes etc. You can also cut aluminum and stainless etc. Just do us a favor and don't get into cutting old gas tanks and drums.      If I remember right ( it is , I just looked it up ) , the 75  amp setting is 100% duty cycle. I know it will work all day on a 30 amp breaker or fuse at that setting. - means you can use a 10 ga extension cord. I ran mine for 10 years on that size breaker and wire. depending on the generator, a 4kw may run it as well. It will also run on a 5kw gas generator at 90 amps, I have done this with 2 different generators.     The old lincoln book "metals and how to weld them " is readily available and great instruction. Find the "Oxy Acetylene Handbook" by Linde  too if you can. Lots of shop setup pics.     Lincoln and Hobart have published a LOT of books with projects and designs -since about 1935. Some of these books show 8 year olds welding, It was encouraged!!! I learned at the old age of 10...    History, this machine dates back to the depression and  WW2 and the rural electrification administration. The 1930's REA limited individual farms to 2 phase 220 volts, 60 amps. these machines were designed to run on those 60 amp services. They were limited to about 45 short circuit amps input. During the war, the production of this size machine was stepped up and classes taught in rural areas to encourage farmers to repair and rebuild machinery and to build their own machinery to replace what the factories could not build due to the war effort.     This size machine, and this model on particular, was actually used in thousands of small factories, schools, and farm shops. It was originally designed to withstand these types of use, that is why they are such great machines for our uses today.     Taking into account the time required to change rods, and set up the work. You can weld full time at any setting less than 120 amps, for as long as you need to to finish the job or weld. I have made welds on 3 " thick cast iron tractor parts, 10 lbs of rod melted, non-stop without overheating the machine. - The parts were kept as hot as possible and anealled overnight in a charcoal fire afterward.    It is estimated that more than 75% of welding during WW2 was done with AC  transformer sets. Including engine mounts for the radial engines used on bombers, fighters and transports.Last edited by wesdavidson; 06-10-2010 at 05:57 PM.past work toys; lathes,mills, drills, saws,  robots, lasers ironworker, shears, brake, press, grinders, tensile tester,  torches, tigs, migs, sticks, platten table, positioner,  plasmas , gleeble and spot. Retired June 30, 2009.
Reply:Wow!  That was a neat history lesson!  Thanks.
Reply:thanks for the info about the old buzz boxes.   they do work great.     excellent machine to learn on esp when you get to use a newer high tech machine later.   there is also an AC/DC version of the buzzbox...  its max is 125 amps on DC.    also 6011 is the one rod that can have the sawtooth look to the weld bead.  I know when I took some classes in CA it was like $11 per unit .  I definitely burned through more than that in welding rod... was a great deal....Tiger Sales:  AHP Distributor    www.tigersalesco.comAHP200x; AHP 160ST; MM350P,  Spoolmatic 30A; Everlast PowerTig 185; Thermal Dynamics 60i plasma.  For Sale:  Cobra Mig 250 w/ Push-pull gun.  Lincoln Wirematic 250
Reply:Thanks for all the input! I have already started to "clean" up the machine. The machine itself is in great shape, I just had to take off all the rigged hardware he bolted to it (like bent conduit for a wagon type handle). I'll replace the handle, but I'll put something on there I won't be embarassed to show to people. It looks better than when I bought it already.  With my bad back, I'll replace the handle, but I'll put something on there I won't be embarassed to show to people. I can't wait to try it, I just need an outlet(he included a 50A breaker for my panel).Thanks for all the help!!!
Reply:sorry for the "repeat".....that darn copy and paste command anyway!