Big welder?

[FarmWrench]

Looking for added capacity. Currently have a Bobcat 225 amp, a Hobart tigwave 300max/low duty cycle, and a handy little 110volt mig but no bigger mig and no carbon gouge. I'm considering adding a used cv600 with a wire feeder. 600 amps @100% duty cycle 80 or so as a minimum. CC/CV will do stick/carbon as well as MIG and Sub,arc.

What is your big welder? Is it too big?

 

[FSERVICE]

no such thing as having one "to big"!!!! lol that being said I have a Lincoln Vantage 500 its a GREAT WELDER!!!

 

[Dualie]

To big is more than you input power can support, plain and simple

 

[old-iron-habit]

I had a old 400 Amp Lincoln with a continental 6 cylinder gas engine for years. Trailer mounted with 100% duty cycle. Smoothest welder I ever ran. Worked excellent for thawing frozen water lines to. Got stupid and sold it in a weak moment when I wasn't using it for a bit. Only thing I ever did to it was adjust the water pump packing every couple of years. The company. I work for has about 20 400 amp Diesel driven Miller Big D welders. They get run around the clock for days on end during shutdowns, but after 4,000 to 8,000 hrs on them the welding end is becoming troublesome. Controls failing and the like.

 

[FSERVICE]

To big is more than you input power can support, plain and simple

I thought we were talking engine driven welders!!! not a shop electric powered welder......

 

[dixon700]

Lots of people like the old lincoln sa200. I personally like the big millers. One of the large air pak millers would be nice though. I personally would take any large welder for the right price.

 

[1466IH]

What I never did understand is why most service trucks you see have millers but the pipeliners always have lincolns. I know back in the day you couldn't beat a Lincoln pipeliner but I wouldn't trade my blue ones for anything

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[KWD]

Lincoln Vantage 500 European spec, myself, had a view problems when new, circuit board **** that took a bit of sorting out but its been great since, use it with LN25 mostly, :cool2

remember about twenty years ago working on the pipelines in the Uk, l converted a D7 to a pay welder, the boss turned up with Miller sets to put on the rig, I said those prima Donna stovers won't like them, he said stick Lincoln stickers on them they won't know the difference and it worked :naughty

 

[oceanobob]

The secret to the "correct welder" starts with The Curve (volts and amps graphically). Then the response during transients - inductance, in general terms.
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Newer inverters with menus help with this by having Modes. Just trying a Invertec and it runs quite a bit diff than the diesel Lincoln SAM 400 or the Powcons or the .... you get the idea.

 

[RayF]

600 amps is not overkill if you want to do some serious arc air work.

 

[FSERVICE]

What I never did understand is why most service trucks you see have millers but the pipeliners always have lincolns. I know back in the day you couldn't beat a Lincoln pipeliner but I wouldn't trade my blue ones for anything

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the same reason you like IH instead of DEERE you just don't understand!!! its hard to explain to somebody that likes a different brand, be it beer, tractors, welders, trucks & the list goes on.......

 

[1466IH]

the same reason you like IH instead of DEERE you just don't understand!!! its hard to explain to somebody that likes a different brand, be it beer, tractors, welders, trucks & the list goes on.......

I just seems like the pipeleners the guys that use them all day every day prefer lincolns but mechanics who usually have smaller machines and use them less often like millers. I just didn't know if there was an explanation behind it other than brand preference. The Miller trailblazer and bobcats are the best selling service truck welders out there but if you go out to a pipeline almost all trucks have a vantage. I know the whole "well grandpa had one so that's what I stuck with" but why did grandpa the mechanic chose different than grandpa the pipeliner?

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[Dualie]

The miller is cheaper by about 4 grand over the vantage or Classic 300 and has more AC than the comparatively priced Lincoln rangers.

The reason the pipe welders favor the old Lincolns vs anything that the miller line is has is simple. All BIG miller welders are AC generators with inverters built in. where the Lincoln pipeline or classic 300D is a DC machine with AC capability. The true pipeliners will pay $3000+ fpr pre 1972 Lincon SA-200's that are pure copper wound even with bad motors. The reason is the TRUE DC arc and the stability of that arc, you can roll the rack (rotate the brushes) on them to give you better arc characteristics to your preferred welding style. You can set the open current volts to your welding style by adjusting the high idle RPM.

Most if not all the lower price point Millers are 3600 RPM engines where the Lincolns are 1800 RPM engines. lower RPM's make for a longer engine life and a much quieter job site. Theres MANY reasons the true welders prefer the Lincolns over the millers and theres a reason the miller is the preferred welder for service truck work

 

[RZucker]

Lincoln has lots of 3600 rpm air cooled machines too. But after owning a bunch of both makes, my opinion is that a Bobcat is twice the machine of a Lincoln G8 or G9. JMO. I do both equipment repair and irrigation pipe work. Ive run my Trailblazer 302s for 12 hours a day at 205 plus amps running 3/16" 5P 6010 for weeks at a time and they just keep going. Used to run the famous SA200 lincolns, The last one went 6 months ago. And try putting an SA200 in the back of a Ford Ranger, I had to use the Ranger 2 years ago to run a line through an orchard and didnt have the room for the bigger trucks.Trailblazer fit nice in the back.

 

[1466IH]

The miller is cheaper by about 4 grand over the vantage or Classic 300 and has more AC than the comparatively priced Lincoln rangers.

The reason the pipe welders favor the old Lincolns vs anything that the miller line is has is simple. All BIG miller welders are AC generators with inverters built in. where the Lincoln pipeline or classic 300D is a DC machine with AC capability. The true pipeliners will pay $3000+ fpr pre 1972 Lincon SA-200's that are pure copper wound even with bad motors. The reason is the TRUE DC arc and the stability of that arc, you can roll the rack (rotate the brushes) on them to give you better arc characteristics to your preferred welding style. You can set the open current volts to your welding style by adjusting the high idle RPM.

Most if not all the lower price point Millers are 3600 RPM engines where the Lincolns are 1800 RPM engines. lower RPM's make for a longer engine life and a much quieter job site. Theres MANY reasons the true welders prefer the Lincolns over the millers and theres a reason the miller is the preferred welder for service truck work

Thank you for the explenation. I never knew what made them better for that type of work. now to shop welders lol. Seems like a lot of manufacturing and production work is done with millers at least in the factories around here

 

[Dualie]

field work and shop work are two different things. I LOVE my Lincoln engine drives but i haven't had ANY luck with Lincoln shop equipment. Miller XMT's with LN-25 feeders are an unbeatable combo in my shop. I will say my old Lincoln ideal arc tig is a rock solid workhorse but my Miller Syncrowave 350 will weld circles around it in thinner materials and really waxes the floor with the Lincoln in heavy aluminum.

another note about the 3600 RPM miller welders vs the 1800 RPM Lincolns, is most of the little welders are worn out and junk at around 4000 hours where i have seen the big linc's with 12000+ hours with proper maintenance. The really hot setup for dudes that pipeline is a early 50's Lincoln short hood generator barrel mated to a little yanmar 3cyl diesel. The early Lincoln with the F126 contential Flatheads actually ran at 1400rpms in high idle. with the 4cyl continental you could set them to the right "gear" and current setting, and the slope would be so dialed that you could jam the rod in there till it would bend and it it wouldnt snuff the arc.

 

[1466IH]

The olny lincoln gen welder i have ever used was for a barge company. They had just bought a new hensley hd bucket for the pc800 and they wanted it hardfaced and the welder they had on the barge had a detroit in it but so did their tug and the winches. I do know that the only thing a lincoln plasma cutter is good for is a boat anchor. I havent dealt with too much of their shop stuff other than the old tombstones. I saw an old timer gouging with one of those and would get it to jump off the ground as soon as he touched the carbon to the steel lol. Why do you like the LN over a miller suitcase. I run a 12rc miller and love it. plug it in right into my shopmaster or big blue and can change settings from the feeder. You are deffinatly right about the sync's too. I have an older 300 and with the right operator it will outweld most of the new inverter stuff

 

[RZucker]

field work and shop work are two different things. I LOVE my Lincoln engine drives but i haven't had ANY luck with Lincoln shop equipment. Miller XMT's with LN-25 feeders are an unbeatable combo in my shop. I will say my old Lincoln ideal arc tig is a rock solid workhorse but my Miller Syncrowave 350 will weld circles around it in thinner materials and really waxes the floor with the Lincoln in heavy aluminum.

another note about the 3600 RPM miller welders vs the 1800 RPM Lincolns, is most of the little welders are worn out and junk at around 4000 hours where i have seen the big linc's with 12000+ hours with proper maintenance. The really hot setup for dudes that pipeline is a early 50's Lincoln short hood generator barrel mated to a little yanmar 3cyl diesel. The early Lincoln with the F126 contential Flatheads actually ran at 1400rpms in high idle. with the 4cyl continental you could set them to the right "gear" and current setting, and the slope would be so dialed that you could jam the rod in there till it would bend and it it wouldnt snuff the arc.

I have to agree about the old SA200s. My last "Pet" SA was a 69 redface, with the current set on 190 and the voltage around 85 percent you could almost run a 5/32" 5P root without a helmet... well not quite. But those Trailblazers work so much better for me now, the AC auxiliary is pretty useful to run tools, plasma cutter, even the Dynasty 200 for aluminum TIG.