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Old Lincoln Welder

DoyleX

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 2, 2013
Messages
571
Location
Minnesota
Occupation
Lever Puller, Gear Jammer, Pipe Twister
Not so quiet but will weld, cut or melt just about anything made of metal. And yes one of the most versatile, smoothest welding machines created still to this day.
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DIYDAVE

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 18, 2007
Messages
2,409
Location
MD
still gots the buzzbox I started with, at 18. Monkey wards 300 amp. Put a lot of busted farm equipment back together with that one... Upgraded about 8-10 years ago to a lincoln 300 amp with reverse polarity, but still love that old monkey wards...;)
 

check

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 1, 2012
Messages
800
Location
in the mail
I don't have electric grid where I live so I'm using an old Hobart 200 amp powered by a 2 cylinder Wisconsin. It's not much good over 140 amps, makes a lot of noise and drinks a lot of gas but gets the job done.
I would love to find an old Lincoln SA200 Pipeliner with copper windings and F163 Continental engine.wisconsin lister 001.JPG
 

old-iron-habit

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 22, 2012
Messages
4,233
Location
Moose Lake, MN
Occupation
Retired Cons't. Supt./Hospitals
Here's my 600 AMP Caterpillar. D4 based engine. Twin 300 Lincoln's hooked end to end. Ability to run two stingers. Use the ground off of one and stinger from the other for up to 600 AMPs. Not the best picture. Putting the torsion axle under it in this photo.
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Welder Dave

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 11, 2014
Messages
12,257
Location
Canada

repowerguy

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 18, 2015
Messages
810
Location
United States southern Ohio
Occupation
mixer truck mechanic
Welder Dave, were Canadian Lincolns made in Canada, or were they Cleveland made to some Canadian spec?
Yeah mine has a F-162 like you said and the 115 volt dc output on the receptacle is good for a grinder only.
Oh boy when you weld with one, you will know why everyone raves about them!
The red faces would have an F162, I have a 1961 Canadian red face. Not the best for running tools but hard to beat for a stick welder.
 

old-iron-habit

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 22, 2012
Messages
4,233
Location
Moose Lake, MN
Occupation
Retired Cons't. Supt./Hospitals
So.... 600 on one stinger would be like 4/0 cable ... or two sets of 4/0 LOL

They are heavy leads with a 10 ft. or so lighter stinger. The stingers on it would quickly melt in the hand at 600 amp. Interesting thing about Lincoln is that the started out with serial number 1 and are still going with consecutive numbers ever since. No model numbers in the serial numbers. They still have records for all their machines also. Ag-Mike on the ACMOC site has a older version of mine with a pony motor instead of 24 volt. He completely rebuilt his welder end with Lincoln knowing and having everything he needed. His looks better than new and welds as new. Mine runs and welds great but could use a tune up in the looks department.
 

92U 3406

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 3, 2017
Messages
3,099
Location
Western Canuckistan
Occupation
Wrench Bender
My dad picked up an older 220V Lincoln AC welder at a neighbour's yard sale nearly 20 years ago. No idea what the year and model is though. I figure its gotta be close to 30 years old. I burnt a few 10 year old 6011 rods off with it a couple weeks ago when I was fabricating some new air bag mounts for my KW. Did a pretty decent job. Probably would have been a bit nicer with fresh electrodes though.
 

check

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 1, 2012
Messages
800
Location
in the mail
The red faces would have an F162, I have a 1961 Canadian red face. Not the best for running tools but hard to beat for a stick welder.
OK, then the F163 is the newer engine and the F162 is older. In 1981 I had and old Lincoln welder, short hood with hand crank only. It had an FS162 that looked like all the other Continentals but no place to put a starter. Got it from a customer and the wrist pins were knocking. I re-sized the rods and gave it a light overhaul. With the new rings I could not get it cranked fast enough to start so it sat in my shop for a year until a guy with a welding truck came by and we hooked his leads to it to crank it. It fired instantly and ran perfect. He bought it from me right then and there so I never even got a chance to weld with it.
 

crane operator

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 27, 2009
Messages
8,274
Location
sw missouri
I don't have electric grid where I live so I'm using an old Hobart 200 amp powered by a 2 cylinder Wisconsin. It's not much good over 140 amps, makes a lot of noise and drinks a lot of gas but gets the job done.

I learned how to weld on one of those old hobarts. Ours was built a little different, it had the fuel tank on top, like the one in this picture. (found the pic on the internet- I have no idea what happened to the old welder we had- I hope its still burning rods somewhere.)

4846854_01_hobart_welder_generator_640.jpg


I don't think I ever poured fuel into it, without spilling on top of the lid, and it would run over by the hot exhaust. I was sure I was about to go up in flames at the ripe old age of 15, while whitey (the old man on the crew), stood back laughing at me, smoking a cigarette. Come to think of it, we didn't even have a gas can, we had one of those old steel mobil oil cans with the spout built into the top, haven't seen one of those in ages.

The fine adjustment was broken, you set temperature by adjusting rpms, which was a comedy of welding, sticking the rod, yelling back and forth, and welding some more, burning holes in whatever I was patching up, and finally getting the temp right, or taking the time to make a bigger patch for whatever I just burned a big hole in.

I learned the mysterious art of points.

The battery on ours was also always dead, it was on a trailer with a old trailer house axle. We would have to unhook it, roll it up by the truck hood, unhook the leads and vise grip them up to the battery posts for a jump.

The only thing you could see of the welder when backing up was the muffler standing up, so the trailer hitch had been rewelded together numerous times from being jackknifed. Trying to back up a welder with a 3' long hitch behind a crew cab, utility boxed one ton, is a art form of its own.

Good times......
 

Old Doug

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 16, 2013
Messages
4,484
Location
Mo
I dont have any pictures of it but my first welder was one i built with a aircraft genarater i got form surplus city. I powered it with a Mazda engine it took some skills to weld with but i used it alot until i got something better. I have a 400 lincoln portable that i would sell for scrap price.
 

Junkyard

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Joined
Jun 5, 2016
Messages
3,621
Location
Claremore, OK
Occupation
Field Mechanic
I dont have any pictures of it but my first welder was one i built with a aircraft genarater i got form surplus city. I powered it with a Mazda engine it took some skills to weld with but i used it alot until i got something better. I have a 400 lincoln portable that i would sell for scrap price.

What's the 400 Lincoln you have? Where in MO are you?
 

check

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 1, 2012
Messages
800
Location
in the mail
I learned how to weld on one of those old hobarts. Ours was built a little different, it had the fuel tank on top, like the one in this picture.
Mine looks just like yours, but there are several models that do. Mine is a G-213 and has the TJD engine. I built the gas tank from scratch. The early ones had the THD engine (both pistons going up and down at the same time). The TJD had crank throws 180 degrees apart. Runs 2300 RPM. No starter, it takes two lawn tractor batteries in series and there is a start winding in the generator end. Starts every time.
 

Welder Dave

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Joined
Oct 11, 2014
Messages
12,257
Location
Canada
Welder Dave, were Canadian Lincolns made in Canada, or were they Cleveland made to some Canadian spec?
Yeah mine has a F-162 like you said and the 115 volt dc output on the receptacle is good for a grinder only.
Oh boy when you weld with one, you will know why everyone raves about them!

Yes, Lincoln built machines in Canada. Sadly Lincoln Canada doesn't have as good of records for old machines as Cleveland does. Some Lincoln engine drives are still built in Canada but not Canadian specific. I think the new style SA300's are built in Canada. At one point I had a 1959 Airco Hornet Special that was a DC generator similar to an SA200 with an F140 engine. Oldest machine I ever I had, I think was from the 40's. It was a Hobart 200 amp DC with a 3 phase motor but had an extension shaft for hooking up to an engine. The engine was a Chrysler IND 251 6 cylinder similar looking to a Continental. No doubt way more engine than needed but it was a good welder and had the fine adjustment that could be removed to use as a remote control. It was a very smooth welder. I wish I would I would have taken pics of some the machines I've owned over the years.
 

hillbillywrench

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 14, 2014
Messages
49
Location
Ozarks, USA
I've got one of the old Lincoln round-top AC machines in my barn just like the OP. The on/off switch and the amp crank are the only functioning adjustments. I prefer to run DC, but the price was right (free). A family member owned it for years, the ON/OFF switch started to fail, he figured out that he could slap the case while holding switch and it would switch on or off. Of course, over time the switch got worse. When I got it, he had a five pound rock laying beside it and had beaten the crap out of the case with his "fix". I installed a new switch and did a little sheet metal work.
Years ago I also had a Hobart welder. Willys 4 cyl. Flat head gas engine, 90 volt DC outlet, and was a LOAD for a 1/2 ton truck. I was told that Hobart had no records or info on it. I built a fine-adjustment for it (the entire adjustment mechanism had fallen out/dissappeared). I just used it occasionally. It ran a nice bead, but the willys needed a rebuild/repower, the outlet was DC only, and it really needed to be on a trailer. I gave it to a buddy when I moved out of the area. Still kicking myself for not keeping it! Sorry, I don't have any pics.
 
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