Picked up my first welder today

[Shield Arc]

Happy I paid $200.00 for this 1966 Red Face. It didn't weld, within 15-minutes I had it welding. Replaced the hood, face plate, and painted it. Turned down $4,000.00 for it.

 

[joshuabardwell]

I think you missed attaching the link???

Whoops. Edited.

 

[joshuabardwell]

There are a few reasons why the SA welders are so venerated. For one thing, they are based on a generator/commutator design, not an alternator/rectifier design. This means that they generate pure DC, with very little or no "ripple". This makes for a very stable and smooth arc. Nowadays, we have inverter-based welders that can generate just as smooth an arc as an SA ever did, but up until recently, the SA had absolutely no competition when it came to smooth arcs.

Another reason is that the SA-200's have a very useful volt/amp curve. To put it very simply, you can adjust the "heat" of the arc by adjusting the arc length. This means that when a pipe welder is welding overhead on the bottom of the pipe, or when he is welding flat at the top, or when he is welding downhill on the sides, he doesn't have to run back to his truck to adjust the output of the welder. He can do it on the fly with the arc length. Later, Lincoln released a remote control for the SA-200's output, which meant the welder could adjust the heat on the fly with one hand while he was welding with the other hand. Now we get into a realm that is beyond me, but if you watch one of FieldRes's videos (he's the creator of the video in the "missing link" in my previous post), he talks about how there is a difference between a puddle with lower output/long arc and higher output/short arc. These two puddles have more or less the same amount of heat energy going into them, but one of them is going to "dig into" the metal more. One of them is going to solidify faster while the other will stay fluid longer. Etc... So the SA-200 is a really, really versatile machine in the hands of someone who knows how to use it.

 

[Shield Arc]

Now we get into a realm that is beyond me

Oh I don't know about that, sounds to me like you nailed it!:thumbsup:

SA-200 manual.

 

[joshuabardwell]

Oh I don't know about that, sounds to me like you nailed it!:thumbsup:

Perhaps, but I'm just repeating what others have told me. I don't have enough experience and finesse to actually make use of the information ;-) Never mind the fact that I have never touched an SA-200!

 

[Happy Gilmore]

I'm guessing the SA 200 might really be out of my league then

 

[Happy Gilmore]

I didn't realize when fixed up they're worth that much, I just figured it was just an old gas welder.

 

[Shield Arc]

I didn't realize when fixed up they're worth that much, I just figured it was just just an old gas welder.

In the Mid West they go anywhere from $4,000.00 to $6,500.00. Don't let anybody talk you out of that one! :drool:

 

[Happy Gilmore]

In the Mid West they go anywhere from $4,000.00 to $6,500.00. Don't let anybody talk you out of that one! :drool:

Yikes, I had no clue SA

 

[Shield Arc]

I'm guessing the SA 200 might really be out of my league then

Right now! But wait awhile, run a lot of different machines. When / if you can get that SA-200 to weld, you'll think you died and gone to heaven.