I am just about ready to start welding with my refurbed SA 200. Notice I say refurbed, and not restored. There is something wrong with the sensor that kicks in the throttle when an arc is struck, and the regular idle/high idle switch seems inoperable. Neither work. I suspect a printed circuit board and the high/low switch. Solenoid seems to work, as does governor.
I have kicked up the rpms to the point where the governor starts to applying backpressure on the linkage, attached a temporary wire at that point, and welded with it. It welded with both 1/8 and 3/32 7018 rods just fine. The current jump switch and fine tune rheostat seem to work fine, too.
I removed the commentator cap, and the grooves between each contact on the commentator appear to be slightly less than 1/8" deep. I took a dentist pick and carefully cleaned each. The brushes are a full 3/4" thick, so have a lot of life in them. Either not used much, or changed and not a lot of hours on them. Springs and guides looked fine.
Hauling this to the Lincoln service center involves a 400 round trip, and if what I think is wrong with it is the problem, probably a $500 repair bill.
I talked to a Lincoln tekkie, and he said the high idle was 2300 rpm. I was wondering if I rigged up a throttle lever and just ran the throttle manually up to operational rpm range if that would be okay, and I could just leave the electronics dead where they are. Maybe just cut the wires. Does anyone know offhand what the operational load rpm of the motor is? Do you think that if I ran it at that rpm, then sparked an arc that the engine would die down enough rpms to make the welding current less?
I'm going to call the service center there tomorrow, and in the past they have been very helpful. However, I'd like to know if anyone here has some info they have gleaned from firsthand use, or perhaps have a manual for it. I downloaded the manual for the SA 200 from Lincoln, but it is thin in some areas as they used some different combinations of motors and generators. Info would be appreciated, and if someone has a SA 200 operator's manual that covers the Continental motor that would show all the inner parts and how to rebuild it, I'd be in the market.
It would sure be nice to have this running exactly like it's supposed to, but if I can make a $10 throttle linkage (or less) vs. a $500 bill to put it back entirely right, I'd have to weigh that. My main concern is that it will not hurt the engine or generator to run it with a manual control. It would be easy to make a lever with a spring release. I also want to disassemble the governor and clean and inspect and grease it to make sure it's functioning properly, hence I'd like to have a book.
The project is coming along. I got some red paint on it in various places and it looks cool. Now to get it working and make a few bucks to finish the aesthetic things like fenders and lights. And a 6" vise for the work bench. Maybe a new Smith propane torch head, too. A couple of good tires, and paint the rims.
Will post a couple of pix after I get home Tuesday of the progress.
Thanks, as always.
Steve