I'm picking up the radiator for the SA 200 Monday, and will be painting and reassembling according to the wind speed over the next couple of weeks. When I get the old gal running, I'd like to do a check on the output through the leads.
Would I do this with a helper and an amp clamp? Set it up to weld, and then weld with a helper watching an amp clamp on the lead? Is there another type of tester I should use just on the main lugs off the machine? I'm just trying to see if the output is good, and is within the range of the controls indicate. I will be using 50' leads of #1 cable on each leg. I will be using 7018 1/8" rod in the flat position, and making a dime size pool, and trying to burn thirty seconds per setting. Stinger positive.
Does this sound like a plausible idea? Other suggestions, caveats, tips, procedures or whatever appreciated.
Unless you have a DC amp clamp..you cant do it. Most ammeters using inductince to read current, are AC only. Your machine is DC only.
Put a volt meter across the leads, see what it says. Have your helper read it while welding.
Frankly..I consider the dials on most welders to be only a a way to figure out what the needle was pointing at the last time it worked good. Then I use a grease pencil to make a mark for the size/type of rod it worked well at.
Now there is "shunt ammeters" but I dont have a clue how to hook one up for your rig.
Just wire wheel some of your scrap, grab a mixture of rod, and burn it. Set it at what the dial says..then adjust up or down as needed for each rod.
You could use an automotive starting/charging current meter, which is a simple DC magnetic meter with grooves on the back for the wire. They aren't very accurate but you just place it on the lead. The one I have reads charging current to 75A with 5A graduations, or 400A starting current to 25A.
6013 or 7014 rod (and maybe 7018, haven't tried it) will weld by itself if laid flat on the work, then you could let go and read the meter.
I'd be more concerned with maximum AC line current.
You could use an automotive starting/charging current meter, which is a simple DC magnetic meter with grooves on the back for the wire. They aren't very accurate but you just place it on the lead. The one I have reads charging current to 75A with 5A graduations, or 400A starting current to 25A.
6013 or 7014 rod (and maybe 7018, haven't tried it) will weld by itself if laid flat on the work, then you could let go and read the meter.
I'd be more concerned with maximum AC line current.
Your 50 feet of #1 copper lead would have a resistance of about .0063 ohms, so it will display a drop of 6.3 millivolts per amp.
Use a voltmeter on a low-volts scale to measure the voltage from end to end of the 50 ft cable while welding. Amps will be volts / .0063 or volts * 159.
What the other's said about measuring with a voltmeter and a longer cable. Just clamp one voltmeter probe onto either the stinger or ground clamp, the other voltmeter probe onto the other end of the same cable. You can extend the voltmeter probes using any wire that is handy. The voltmeter draws negligible current so the voltage drop in the probe wires is negligible.
You should check the current at several po> I'm picking up the radiator for the SA 200 Monday, and will be painting and
You could use a high current shunt kind - they are real time so you have to watch... cut the lead, make two lugs to the ends and use the lugs to attach to the ammeter. When not using that - one could get a conduit box or the like and have the two wires coming on either end and the lugs bolted together and taped...
Good (there are inexpensive ones that are good enough) clamp meters now use Hall effect devices to measure DC. Many AC ones do as well.
Martin
Mart> >
----== Posted via Pronews.Com - Unlimited-Unrestricted-Secure Usenet News==----
formatting link
The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! >100,000 Newsgroups
Yeah they work, but they are not very accurate - that's why they are cheap, they are only accurate enough for the intended job. Within 25 amps either way is plenty close enough to find a bad starter...
If you want something halfway accurate and repeatable (and perhaps even with traceable metrology calibration) you'll need either a Hall-effect clamp-amp that reads DC Current (or an accessory clamp with a good multimeter), or an inline shunt and meter movement set.
I'm actually not as concerned about the exact number output as much as I want to know if this old machine will still weld what I want to burn long enough to pay for itself, and get me going without having to fork over twice as much for a new one.
Since I'm getting replies all over the map on this one, I have decided to do the following:
Get some of the rods of diameters I'm going to be welding with. 7018, 6010 and 6011, 1/8" and 3/32". Set the settings at the suggested amperage. Weld, and see how they run. Then intentionally crank the settings up or down from the accepted parameters, and see how they act.
I got back home today after a few days in Gomorrah taking care of some things. I'll go pick up the radiator tomorrow, and if this wind will stop for a few days, I'll get old Sally painted. In the meantime, there's power washing at the car wash, WetOrDry sanding, and getting some new medium grade bolts to put all the shrouding back on. (They had put it all back on with soft Home Depot grade bolts.) Maybe make the tumbler for the gas tank out of the barbecue spit turner I have .......... something to burn up a few days of doodling.
Put it up on blocks and maybe go get some new tires. Get a new tongue where the lock for the ball works. Torch off the old one. Look for some fenders locally, although Northern Tools have some I like that have skirts in the back that would bolt on better. Locate some decent lights. Send off for an official Lincoln decal package.
I'm having some fun getting this old bucket running again. Pictures will be available when I'm done. I'm into it about $800 right now.
"Pax Americana is a philosophy. Hardly an empire. Making sure other people play nice and dont kill each other (and us) off in job lots is hardly empire building, particularly when you give them self determination under "play nice" rules.
Think of it as having your older brother knock the shit out of you for torturing the cat." Gunner
This is a very reasonable plan and something you will need to do anyway to learn the capabilities and character of your individual machine. I think you are cutting yourself short thought, as these machines are also very good with 5/32" xx10 & xx18 and will run 3/16 well (but with the rain hat straight up and obviously using lots of power (& gas)). Testing should really be done over the full range of output but especially at the higher and lower end.
I suggest that you will find that most heavy work can be done faster and with much less distortion by using bigger rods whenever suitable. These bigger rods are often available (free) after questionable exposures to air & moisture, see the earlier thread subject 'drying E7018'. Bigger rods also tend to lay down smoother better appearing beads, (especially horizontal fillets) and usually it is easier to remove the flux and are less likely to suffer from flux or rust inclusions when welding dirty or rusty steel.
I quite like to use very small (1/16 or 5/64) 6013 for very light work. I suggest you buy a small box and sub-package the rods using heavy sealable plastic freezer bags as even a small box has more rods than you will use for a long time.
I suggest you will find this is a sweet and very versitile machine with lots of range.
Good quality bolts (and lock waskers, as you discovered) are cheap innsurance. They are also much less likely to strip the threads out of older parts, I suggest you also check the heads of the other bolts such as the water pump or manifolds to see if they have been replaced with soft ungraded hardware store bolts.
snip
This and the right color of (good quality) grey paint will make Sally look like new.
I still think you have found a great value, and a machine that should last you a long time and allow you to do some good work. IMHO you should NEVER (EVER) use it for thawing pipes.
I used to get applicants for welding jobs. I'd take them to the shop, turn the dials on the machines, give them some metal, and tell them how I wanted it welded. Most came back saying how there was something wrong with the machine. Some came back with the metal welded up. You could put the symbols in Fijiian, and a real weldor would figure it out.
I was a steel erection contractor for nine years. The main thing I learned was " stick with the gravy jobs."
I could make more by going out and repairing a gate than I could by building it from scratch. And only have a couple of hours and one trip in it. I do not want to get into this as a full time job, but rather a sideline where I can work when I want and don't have to feed the overhead monster that is created when a business is started. My wife and I were talking about it yesterday (she was a CPA), and besides putting the dba under the umbrella of one of our LLCs, we will probably only get handyman licenses, worker's comp and liability insurance.
I can't lift a lot any more. I was an Offshore Petroleum Institute certified rigger, crane operator, able bodied seaman, crane operator, and had OSHA sponsored courses in rigging all along the way. Still, one has to rig all that stuff up, and move it around. And usually it's harder when others present haven't got a clue and either watch you bust butt, or just watch, or worse yet, try to help. I want to stick to smaller stuff that I can fix in place, or bring to my home shop and buzz up on the wirefeed. The low work higher hourly rate jobs.
As it goes, I'm sure I'll make adjustments as I don't like to pass on jobs that are good money even though I may have to go buy some bigger rods or some of this and that. I do like the round threaded containers with the gaskets that one can put a few pounds of rods in, and keep them dry, and not carry the whole 50#. We do get a bit more rain here than I am used to in my other location, so will have to protect accordingly. A new toolbox, probably diamond plate aluminum, is on the horizon. Then I'll make hose hangers and other goodies to keep my stuff straight on the trailer, and make locking straps to keep the riffraff from bothering it.
Well, time to go to the big city and pick up the radiator, sandpaper, decal pack, and fasteners. Not sure how it is where you are, but spring has sprung here, but we are still having occasional cool windy days, and today is one of those. A good day for parts chasing.
Keep your eye on the money, anyone can buy themself work.
It can often be good to hire on as an employee (or part time contract employee), get your employer to pay for all consumables, licences, Worker'sComp and PLPD and do the paperwork AND THE ACTS-REC and you may also get other H&W and unemployment benefits. You can then rent out your rig for you to use on the same job as a sideline rental business. This is especially good if the job is union. I do not know what the tradesman shortage is like where you are but qualified people who can and will work are in very short supply in my area and the rates charged by rental shops for a welder, torch and tools is quite sufficient to give a good profit. One of the side benefits is that you always come home with a full tank of gas and usually much other stuff. AFAIK, You can still claim your expenses as deductions from total income as long as you (not your LLC) do the renting, YMMV. Your background may result in a foreman or leadhand position and you may be able to rent your rig as more of a perk and you may not even need to do much with it.
Where I work, the tradesman shortage means that trained older people are normally given a younger helper (or two or more) to do ALL the grunt work lifting and grinding. We have paid our dues working hard and now it is a case of finding the 'lazy' guy (me) and putting him in charge as he will find the 'easy' and MUCH more importantly SAFE way to get the job done. Where I run cranes, the basic qualification is grey hair. Employers will no longer tolerate unsafe operations and the days of expecting accidents and injuries is long gone.
The great wages paid by the big jobs have sucked the pool of trained labor dry and even the local small customers and companies have learned they need to pay top wages to attract trained people and that their apprentices only stay until they get qualifications to let them go to bigger money jobs. This has created opportunities at the local level. Don't sell yourself short, you are not looking for callbacks, get the maximum return from EVERY job. IMHO, Do not expect customer loyalty.
Big rods (and gasoline and especially OA are expensive and you can go though them in a hurry on a big job. Many people have abandoned the flat hourly rate inluding consumables pricing model and now price as hourly labor + daily equipment rental + ALL CONSUMABLES EXTRA. It makes your base rate look very competative but prevents the situation where you only get called for the high consumable cost jobs.
CAUTION, It is tough to secure a trailer against theft as they are quick and easy to just lift onto a truck with a small picker and welding equipement is easy to fence no questions asked.
A good clean rig is the best advertising you can have. The tools a tradesman uses tell a LOT about the kind of job he will do.
PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.