Century 5 Star AC/DC Welder

[ThomasH]

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.

There are two types of welders, those which produce constant voltage (and the current will vary), and those that produce a constant current (and the voltage will vary).

MIG type welders are constant voltage machines, and your century welder is a constant current machine (assuming that I remember correctly) where you choose the output current and it tries to keep the current constant and varies the voltage.

These are as different as AC and DC welding, and unfortunately it means that your welder won't run a wire feed unit. There are aluminum spool guns made to add on to CV machines (MIG welders). So if you get a DC and AC MIG welder, you can hook up a aluminum spool gun and welding aluminum. The welder would need to be set in the AC position, and if equipped, the "cleaning action" adjusted by setting the % of the time that the pulse is negative.

The spool gun may sound like duplicating whatever is already there, but the thing is that aluminum wire is fairly difficult to "push" as it would need to do by feeding from the inside of the MIG welders through the cable to the handle. Spool guns have a spool on the handle, and therefore only have 6" or so that they have to push aluminum wire.

As you can tell, welding aluminum is a lot more expensive than welding steel, because it requires special gear that is not used in welding steel.

 

[redneckaggie]

Thanks for the info it is nice to learn a little about how welders actually work. I was specifically asking about the different spots to plug in the leads on the front of the machine. On the front of the machine you have dc straight and reverse, then you have ac force, smooth, and ground. What would ac force be? I am fairly experienced at welding however I am self tought and know nothing about the terminology. I have a tig rig ready to be hooked up and was hoping to at least be able to weld aluminum tig with this machine. If I can not then I will look into mig machines which I could weld aluminum with. I have cleaned the machine up and struck an arc with 3/32 7018 and it welds pretty good on dc.

 

[Arc weld]

There are two types of welders, those which produce constant voltage (and the current will vary), and those that produce a constant current (and the voltage will vary).

MIG type welders are constant voltage machines, and your century welder is a constant current machine (assuming that I remember correctly) where you choose the output current and it tries to keep the current constant and varies the voltage.

These are as different as AC and DC welding, and unfortunately it means that your welder won't run a wire feed unit. There are aluminum spool guns made to add on to CV machines (MIG welders). So if you get a DC and AC MIG welder, you can hook up a aluminum spool gun and welding aluminum. The welder would need to be set in the AC position, and if equipped, the "cleaning action" adjusted by setting the % of the time that the pulse is negative.

The spool gun may sound like duplicating whatever is already there, but the thing is that aluminum wire is fairly difficult to "push" as it would need to do by feeding from the inside of the MIG welders through the cable to the handle. Spool guns have a spool on the handle, and therefore only have 6" or so that they have to push aluminum wire.

As you can tell, welding aluminum is a lot more expensive than welding steel, because it requires special gear that is not used in welding steel.

No such thing as an AC MIG welder unless it's a really, really cheap flux-core machine. Aluminum MIG runs on DC reverse polarity. I think you may be confusing TIG and MIG. Aluminum TIG requires AC current and high frequency. Having said that, you can hook a spool gun up to a constant current DC (stick) machine but it isn't very common anymore because of cost. You need to get a special electronic control box to be able to hook the spool gun up. It used to be quite common but with the new smaller MIG machines and direct hook up spool guns, spool guns on stick welders are all but obsolete. Low end spool guns are only a couple hundred bucks. The control would probably be over $1000.

 

[Bob E]

I was specifically asking about the different spots to plug in the leads on the front of the machine. On the front of the machine you have dc straight and reverse, then you have ac force, smooth, and ground. What would ac force be?

Force has a higher open circuit voltage than smooth. This allows you to hold a tighter arc and get deeper penetration with less chance of sticking the rod.
This is a stick welder high frequency is not built in. You need a separate high frequency box to get high frequency.

 

[sheff52]

I just picked up one of these welders the other day with a Universal High Frequency Arc Stabilizer attached to it. Looking around on line this thread was about all the information I could find about this welder. So I figured I would go ahead and throw up some more pictures and the pdf's I got from Lincoln for anyone else who might also be looking for information.

Here is the parts list/diagram. Lincoln still doesn't have a manual for the welder. If anybody else has one I would be interested in taking a peak at it. I don't care if you are reading this 3 years from now, send me a PM. :wave:

Thank you for the attachment. I too am looking for an owner's manual for this model.

 

[MinnesotaDaveChalmers]

I just picked up one of these welders the other day with a Universal High Frequency Arc Stabilizer attached to it. Looking around on line this thread was about all the information I could find about this welder. So I figured I would go ahead and throw up some more pictures and the pdf's I got from Lincoln for anyone else who might also be looking for information.

Here is the parts list/diagram. Lincoln still doesn't have a manual for the welder. If anybody else has one I would be interested in taking a peak at it. I don't care if you are reading this 3 years from now, send me a PM. :wave:

Hey Bob - I have two additional digital manuals for the Century 5 Star with the HF box that is sometimes attached to them.
It is for this welder:

Model 110-119 Century 5 Star 295/250 AC/DC
Date code 073087
Ser# C436567

The files are stored in my "dropbox" since they are too large for this website - just click the link below to download.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/kmx1gdnucky2b2l/AAC3e9JuwYeX7SH7z2UdJsQUa?dl=0

 

[reacher950]

I would appreciate the info you received from Lincoln regarding the Century 5 star welder.

I found a good Craigslist buy and picked up my first welder, a Century 5 Star AC/DC 295/250 Amp. When I tried to research this model, information was a bit sparse so I thought I'd post some photos in case anyone else runs into one of these.

It's a bit rusty here and there but the previous owner assured me that it worked. So far I know that the fan runs and there was no magic blue smoke or unusual noises when it was fired up. :thumbsup: That, and some cleaning, is as far as I've gotten. I took the back off to clean and took some photos of the 'guts'.

View attachment 339503 View attachment 339504 View attachment 339506 View attachment 339507 View attachment 339508 View attachment 339514

The amperage adjustment is made by lifting the knob on the top and turning the knob. Pushing the knob back down locks the setting.

It came with a pair of 15 foot leads so once I've made an extension cord and found some scrap steel to practice on, I can give it a try. It came with a few 7018 rods and some rods that I can burn up to play with.

If anyone has any information on this model, I'd appreciate it. It's model 110-178 and has a date code of 082581 which I would read as August 25, 1981? If so, it's about the same age as my Yanmar 1510D I've had a look around for a user's manual but Lincoln doesn't seem to have one for this welder.

Thanks.

Charlie

 

[MN Charlie]

The information that I got from Lincoln is the parts list that Bob E posted earlier in the thread.