Century 5 Star AC/DC Welder

[yomax4]

Every Farmer in the Midwest had a Century stick welder back in the 70's 80's.( sadly making the Century Mig welder popular ) Anyway, Century had salesmen that used to call on Farmers at the Farm.. Sold the welders and rods direct... There are still a ton of these around at pawn shops and in barns. Lincoln bought Century and let it die a slow death. Later they came out with a new kinda Century Mig unit 115v and 180 amo 230v. That was low dollar and didn't light the world on fire. I am guessing the company has passed. ?

 

[ThomasH]

Bob -

I had that same welder back in the 70s and welded together about 50 boat trailers with it. Other than the usual rods sticking at arc initiation because of it not having hot start, it worked perfectly. Try 7018 rods with it, I think you will find that it welds well.

 

[Bob E]

I contacted the folks running the old Century website Century Tool And Equipment Automotive & Industrial Tools & Equipment and they sent me this.

 

[OldGeezer68]

Bob -

I had that same welder back in the 70s and welded together about 50 boat trailers with it. Other than the usual rods sticking at arc initiation because of it not having hot start, it worked perfectly. Try 7018 rods with it, I think you will find that it welds well.

I have one for like 20+ yrs works great ,picked up a used hi freq box at a sale for $30. that takes care of any rods sticking and allows welding of ligher material. The 5 star is a tuff old welder~~OldGeezer68

 

[OldGeezer68]

I had a friend ,who since passed . He had one and i'' bet he used it everyday, for the 40 odd yr's I knew him.He was always welding some thing to just play of fab up something for some one. that wa my fist intro to the Cen 5 Star. a local garage had a Cen rep give a seminar and I went with him and ened up putting a dep o n one, probably 30 yrs ago ?? Cost around $700 back then with the seminar discount. From what I've seen they are bullet proof.~~OldGeezer68

 

[Bob E]

I just ran across this old Popular Science article on google books.

 

[Mark @ Everlast]

Every Farmer in the Midwest had a Century stick welder back in the 70's 80's.( sadly making the Century Mig welder popular ) Anyway, Century had salesmen that used to call on Farmers at the Farm.. Sold the welders and rods direct... There are still a ton of these around at pawn shops and in barns. Lincoln bought Century and let it die a slow death. Later they came out with a new kinda Century Mig unit 115v and 180 amo 230v. That was low dollar and didn't light the world on fire. I am guessing the company has passed. ?

No, after Lincoln bought it out, and it has become second line that is marketed to small auto repair shops and mom and pop hardware store market. Even wal-mart. You can still buy century product including a MIG which is a older version Lincoln MIG, mostly all made in China, even an inverter stick welder or two.

 

[redneckaggie]

Wow I never dreamed I would actually find something on this welder online. I have recently inherited one of these units and I am curious what the ac force setting would be used for. Is that like ac high freq? Thanks in advance for any advice or help given.

 

[redneckaggie]

If the ac force is not high freq, how could I outfit this machine to weld aluminum tig. And is there any way I could hook up a mig to it? Sorry for the insane amount of questions.

 

[ThomasH]

Wow I never dreamed I would actually find something on this welder online. I have recently inherited one of these units and I am curious what the ac force setting would be used for. Is that like ac high freq? Thanks in advance for any advice or help given.

Arc force is what lets you adjust how much a stick electrode 'digs' into the metal. If you turn the arc force up, it puts more heat into the base metal in a concentrated area. The lower the setting the flatter and more spread out your arc/bead will be. The higher the setting the thinner and more penetrating your arc/bead will be.