instructions on using Lincoln Bullet

Hi everyone.

Is Lincoln Bullet (3-phase electric motor spins DC welding generator) in store-room of a highly regarded research institution doing ultra-modern research. Donated but no knowledge of using it.

How do you use one? Are there any web articles or past posts I could look up? Or anything on Lincoln site?

Can't start to guess how to use both voltage and current controls

Richard Smith

Reply to
Richard Smith
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Google search for "lincoln bullet welder". Ebay has a manual for sale for $15.

It appears to be a 200-amp DC stick arc welder. These are instructions on how to use the welding machine controls, NOT how to perform arc welding.

Look at this site for basic welding instruction:

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Arc welding proficiency is 5% reading and 95% practice. You will also need:

- safety equipment

- welding cables

- welding electrodes

- scrap mild steel

Welding is only half the job. The pieces of metal are never the right size nor shape, so they must be cut to fit well together. Tools such as abrasive saws, grinders, cutting torches and plasma cutters are used to cut away damaged metal and create a repair part.

It is quite helpful to gain access to someone who already knows how to weld in order to ask questions and get them to see if you are doing it properly. The best place is at the shop where welding electrodes and safety equipment are sold.

Good luck.

Reply to
Tom Kendrick

Welding suppliers:

Google search for "uk welding supply" and find the one nearest your location.

Reply to
Tom Kendrick

All of the motor/generator machines I have used are three phase. If it is like most other old bullet machines the markings and the coloured bands have faded away. The voltage control had a printed guidelines. One band was for positional welding, another for flat and I forget the other range. What it did was change the slope characteristics. I just left it in the "positional" area unless I was running something like E 7028 on the flat. You are looking for something complicated.... This is WW2 or earlier technology :'))) The amperage adjustment is simply for amperage. If you can make out the model and serial you might be able to download a manual. I have done this with Miller several times but I am not sure if Lincoln has the identical service. They did provide manuals and literature by snail mail many years ago. It would be worth it to look around on the Lincoln site. Randy

Is Lincoln Bullet (3-phase electric motor spins DC welding generator) in store-room of a highly regarded research institution doing ultra-modern research. Donated but no knowledge of using it.

How do you use one? Are there any web articles or past posts I could look up? Or anything on Lincoln site?

Can't start to guess how to use both voltage and current controls

Richard Smith

Reply to
R. Zimmerman

Reply to
RoyJ

IIRC this welder was developed specifically to burn the new 'low hydrogen' electrodes developed to solve cracking problems encountered in the welded steel hulls of Liberty ships during WW2. It was considered a breakthrough development in welding technology. This generator was most commonly rated at 300 amps @ 60% duty cycle but IIRC it was also available in a 400 amp version. IMHO it is the best welding generator ever built, (now ducking and running). This generator was built with many different drive units, the 3 phase motor generator units are commonly called Lincoln bullet welders due to their shape, they are GREAT welders but fell into disfavor because they are noisy, and since they have brushes and moving parts, do not like the dusty and gritty conditions in most welding shops. Because of this they are often best located in remote sound insulated clean rooms, and the control units are often run through the wall so they can be accessed from the shop area. This generator is also often mounted on different gas engines, the most common IIRC was a 6 cylinder flathead Continental (or Hercules?) but I have seen them on Ford flathead V8s and there are many military versions with other engine drives. They are not commonly used because they are too heavy for a 1ton welding truck and they burn a lot of gas. The much loved SA200 is a similar machine but does not have the same fine control over welding voltage and slope.

IIRC, the left control is an infinitely adjustable amperage control and the right control has four sectors marked on an infinitely adjustable voltage control. IIRC, the voltage control is marked large electrodes, ?????, ??? positional, and special applications. IIRC the special applications section is used for TIG, (which in WW2 would have been called Heliarc). I spent a lot of time using one in a school when I was doing my pressure certificates and found it very controllable, but not a machine that you can just walk up and test on, for that a single control transformer machine is much easier to set. IIRC the area between the middle and top of the second voltage range (??? positional, just ccw from special applications) was the sweet spot but required a lot of tweaking to get set just right and to optimize for different positions and for the root and cap passes. You can get the same heat but a different slope by lowering the amps and raising the volts or by raising the amps and lowering the volts you will get a softer arc with less dig.

It was a great experience to use this machine for training in a school setting and it taught me a lot about arc length and manipulation. I was doing root passes with 6010 and with 7018 straight polarity as well as capping with 6010 and 7018 reverse polarity.

These machines are often available cheap (copper salvage price) or free, from people who either do not know what they have or are not prepared to use and maintain properly.

These machines can weld a lot better than most of us are capable of and are a great learning opportunity.

Good luck and have fun.

"R. Zimmerman" wrote in message news:8DTNg.533275$Mn5.96886@pd7tw3no...

Reply to
Private

Using the link Roy supplied I searched on SA300 (Shield Arc 300)

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here are links to a motor generator (bullet type) manual M-229 (code 7006)
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are links to the engine driven models manual M-203 (code 4722), which seems to be a little clearer scan.
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My memory seems to have failed me (again) in my earlier post. These (bullet) manuals show the amp control on the right and the volts control on the left. Most modern engine driven welders have a stepped amperage range control on the left and a fine control on the right which also controls voltage somewhat and, (since the amperage ranges overlap), provides a means of selecting different slopes. The beauty of the bullet Lincolns is that they provide an infinitely variable control of slope where the common current welders only provide one fixed slope for each of the commonly 5 ranges.

The (bullet) manuals identify that the voltage control varies the open circuit voltage, and identifies the 4 ranges as white - large electrodes (highest OCV), black - normal welding range(med-high OCV), red - overhead & vertical (med-low OCV, and silver - special applications (low OCV).

I do not quite agree with the manuals description of a snappy 'digging' arc (as I associate these descriptions with higher OCV while this manual associates these descriptions with higher amps) but they and I agree that for welding overhead and vertical it is our preference to turn the amps up and the volts down (in the red range) and I like to use a nice short arc which will give lots of heat and power without blowing or sagging or blow through. This setting will also allow the arc to cool more when whipping which will result in a faster freeze of the puddle.

I would advise the OP (or any student of stick welding) to get a demo from a 'good hand' on a Lincoln bullet using both 6010 with various whipping techniques and with weaving 7018. Once you have worked with a good welder such as these you will understand why most buzz boxes are held in such disregard.

As in most welding the secret is lots of practice, with guidance to ensure that you are not just reinforcing poor technique.

Good luck and have fun.

Reply to
Private

Lovely info and comment. Thanks very much everyone.

I'll ask around if anyone will show me how to use the machine - else I will get a fist full of rods and give it a try anyway.

RS.

Reply to
Richard Smith

I have one of these, or something similar. Mine is a SAE150J, and my father in law has the 200A version. As they are DC, you can add an argon bottle and tig torch and use it for tig welding stainless and mild steel. They have 2 controls - volts and amps. Not much else really... Mine has a reverse switch hacked onto it - I assume it was done in the past as an easy way to reverse polarity, but I have never tried it. Stable arc, but noisy. Geoff

Reply to
Geoff M

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