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Lincoln 125 plus VS Century Quick Fix

A friend of mine bought a Century Quick Fix 120 volt wire feed machine at a garage sale. He doesn't know how to weld. I am going to teach him. I have a Lincoln 125 Plus. The Century has only two heat settings and the wire is electrically hot when the machine is on, even when the trigger isn't pulled. The Lincoln has both heat and wire speed settings. Anyway, no matter what the wire speed is on the Century it just welds kind of jerkily. The wire fed smoothly but the voltage seemed to vary. The Lincoln welds super smooth. So smooth in fact that I am not going to let my friend try it so that he won't know how bad his machine really is. When he can make good welds with the Century I'll let him try the Lincoln. Just to make him envious. The Lincoln really is a good machine. ERS

Reply to
Eric R Snow
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Yeah, but he probably paid $75 and you paid - ??

I know what you mean, Eric. I have a little Century and I've used a Lincoln 110V machine, night and day. Still, the little one gets used for quick tacking outside, keep it loaded with fluxcore. Maybe I'll sell it one day, but to replace it would cost me at least $300.

Grant

Reply to
Grant Erwin

I'll make the assumption that you are using flux core wire. If so, have you tried some new/good wire? If the wire came with the machine it could be el cheapo, rusty, deteriorated, etc. I know my SIP unit is quite fussy about it's flux wire.

I'd also take a quick look > A friend of mine bought a Century Quick Fix 120 volt wire feed machine

Reply to
RoyJ

I know for a fact that the always-hot feature on Century (and, by extension, Craftsman-badged as well) is intended to be that way. It takes some getting used to, but it keeps cost and complexity down.

GWE

Reply to
Grant Erwin

Makes them really nasty to use after getting used to a "real" MIG machine.

Reply to
sparky

Greetings Roy, It's not the wire, both machines were run with the same wire. You can hear AND feel the difference between the two machines. The Century is cheap but looks well built. The Lincoln is also a well built machine. It costs more and the money is worth it. ERS

Reply to
Eric R Snow

FWIW, Lincoln bought Century and is still running their production line, cranking out the "Weld-Pak" line of Lincoln MIG welders. Those are distinctly cheaper than Lincoln's own MIG line e.g. SP135.

Grant

Reply to
Grant Erwin

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