Lincoln 225 AC/DC Welder Comments?

[flusher]

I'm about to 'pull the trigger' on a stick welder purchase. I want to stay with one of the big players in the welding game ie, Lincoln, Miller, Hobart, etc. Guess with all the history that the old "Tombstone Lincoln" has, I'm sort of leaning that way. The DC is a plus (I guess) over the old boxes. I'm fairly proficient with Oxy/Ace cutting and welding on thinner materials, so I've got the basics down about what it takes to 'glue' two pieces of metal together, but other than toying with my son's wire Mig machine, I've never 'struck-an-arc'. I'm not wild about buying over the net, as I'd rather support local business, but surfing has shown the K-1297 between $490.'s to over $600 bucks! I stumbled across the same unit on the web advertised by Home Depot for $389.-!! OK, add to cart, viola! Add $200. Shipping!! Bummer! Speaking with a friend that works PT at HD, he called his boss who said "No problem" They'd just special order it in, and sell it to me for $389.- (plus my local sales tax). This was NOT because my friend works there, just something they'd do!! I'm ready go with it.

Now a couple questions! Are DC worth the extra money? Can a person get relitively proficient stick welding, in a reasonable amount of time? I envision 1/4-3/8" steel will be the bulk of my challanges. Does this sound like a unit that a 'newby' to the art of electric arc would be well served with? Any comment on price/value are appreciated. Thanks in advance. ~Scotty

I looked at the Lincoln, but bought the Hobart Stickmate LX AC/DC at TSC on sale for $400 or so. Use DC positive for all of my welding (6011, 6013, 7014, 7018, 308). So far all my welding has been on mild steel 1/4" thick or less. AC is nice for the thicker stuff since you can crank up the amps beyond what you can get on the DC settings.

Plan on burning several hundred rods before you can get good, repeatable welds.

Get yourself a good 4-1/2" angle grinder and a supply of grinding and cutting disc. My experience tells me that metal preparation is the key to successful welding. You'll spend more time grinding the weld areas than you will laying down bead.

Grind all the mill scale off the weld area while you're learning to weld. I do this even with 6011 which is supposed to let you weld through rust and paint layers.

 

[greenmule]

First time I ever heard ac was better than dc for thicker stuff,[are you sure?]

 

[SLOWMANDOWN]

Lincion AC/DC 225 amp welder has a range of 30-125 amp DC, if you like to weld hot say 7018 1/8 Rod you will need 90-160 amps and that would exceed your amperage capablities for that machine however you can run perfectly fine on AC.

 

[danielgeddes]

i weld with a lincoln 225 ac/dc every day even if i dont want to and love it its the most enjoyable bang for your buck