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Lincoln AC/DC Tig- Idealarc Tig 250/250 question

I fired up the stick welding side of that Lincoln I brought home, today. Ive not got an argon bottle or a pump running yets, so havent been able to fire up the Tig.

First thing I noticed about the stick welding arc on this machine..is it feels really really harsh. The Dialarc 250 has a much smoother arc in any mode, AC or DC and its easier to establish an arc and keep it going smoothly.

This Lincoln seems like its running at much higher heat, from the sound and ;ook of the arc puddle, and the force of the arc, but welds no better or worse a bead than the Dialarc. The arc diameter seems to be far smaller as well, which is wierd. I was burning some 1/8" rod and it burned a bead like 3/32" would on a straight pass. I found this most odd..... lots of sound and fury, but a pretty small bead.

Is this something unique to this machine, a combination of reactor etc etc that makes the arc really harsh?

Its hard for me to explain what I mean by "harsh"..more violent and stiff an arc..where other machines Ive used give a nice frying bacon noise, a nice smooth arc with minumum amounts of flying crap, less under cutting and so forth.

The machine is entirely usable, but this one will take more getting used to, than about any other stick welder that Ive used over the years.

Does anyone have a link to a manual to this machine? I cannot for the life of me figure out which one it is on the Lincoln website

The data plate says Tig 250/250 with a code of 8809

Serial Number AC-U1921105578

I repainted it back to the original Candy Apple Red from the latex off white someone had painted it and have built a table that bolts to cart and covers the top of the machine all the way back to the bottle holder and has lead holders on one side and tig holder on the other, with filler rod tubes on it as well. Ill post some pictures later in the weekend when I have all the bells and whistles finished up. Im trying to design pull handle that either folds away, or is quickly removable, just to get it out of the way.

A guy gave me some spun aluminum CO2 bottles that at one time or another belonged to a soft drink supplier (no longer listed in the phone book) and have manufacturing date codes of 1987 and 1989 stamped into them, but no later testing dates. Are these doorstops?

A band around them indicate that they were Deposit bottles. Whats the ramifications of this?

Next question..the Spark Switch. Is this only for use with TIG? It pops my 60 amp breaker if its turned on and I strike an arc with the stick.

I had 90' of lead, so cut it 35' for ground clamp and the rest is connected to a "Short Sub" stinger that Ive had around. Is this too much lead for this machine?

Thanks

Gunner

Come shed a tear for Michael Moore- Though he smirked and lied like a two-bit w**re George Bush has just won another four. Poor, sad little Michael Moore

Diogenes

Reply to
Gunner
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There should be a hot-start adjustment for stick welding. That should adjust the open-circuit voltage.

Unfortunately Lincoln kept using the same name for many different machines. Just download them all and find which one matches.

The original color was battleship gray, not red.

Probably. You could use them as air storage tanks for a punkin chukker.

They are rental tanks. Not ownership.

"spark" is old Lincolnese for High Freq.

Not it should have plenty of juice.

Reply to
Ernie Leimkuhler

Not on that model. I own the 300/300 (which is gray) and was torn between it and the 250/250, all of which were red that were on the showroom floor. I remember it all too well. This was back in the mid 80's.

Harold

Reply to
Harold & Susan Vordos

I've noticed the same thing on my unit. Always thought welders are just different. I just went down and looked at my almost identical unit. I don't see anything that sounds like a hot start adjustment. I'll ask for gunner, I have these adjustments, have NO CLUE what to do with them:

Afterflow timer: Has electrode sizes listed or desired afterflow min to max. Spark Intensity: adjusts by knob from low to high Soft start: On/off Spark start only: On/off

Any of these related to hot start by chance?

Karl

Reply to
Karl Townsend

This controls the amount of time the gas flows through the torch after you stop welding. Larger tungsten electrode means takes longer to cool off with the post flow.

High frequency arc start. I adjust mine to be able to start the arc from about 3/4" from the work.

Gradually ramps up the current when the arc is established.

High frequency control for establishment of arc. I use the start only setting on most everything except aluminum. Aluminum needs HF all the time for arc stability and cleaning.

I don't use the TIG side on my machine a whole lot. Others will be able to answer in more detail.

Good luck

Reply to
John L. Weatherly

This should be the manual for it:

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It's tough to tell exactly what the current is set to on this machine because of the different ranges and variable control. Is it maybe set higher than you think? That might exlain the extra "flying crap" and undercutting.

I had the same problem when TIGing on a 50-amp breaker. As soon as my foot pressed the pedal it would pop about 1/4 of the time if the current was under 100 amps or so and every time if it was at about 125 amps or more.

IIRC it called for a 90-amp breaker.

Best Regards, Keith Marshall snipped-for-privacy@progressivelogic.com

"I'm not grown up enough to be so old!"

Reply to
Keith Marshall

I'm sure it is! It was listed under their discontinued equipment manuals section here:

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I don't think the Idealarc ever popped the 50-amp breaker when stick welding but most of what we did was around 90-125 amps.

Glad to help!

Best Regards, Keith Marshall snipped-for-privacy@progressivelogic.com

"I'm not grown up enough to be so old!"

Reply to
Keith Marshall

Lincoln always did this, instead of just listing the time in Seconds. It is about 7 seconds to each increment. I timed ours at school.

15-20 seconds is a good range.

High Frequency intensity, Where you set this depends on how happy your high freq. unit is. Every few years you should pull out the points, clean them and regap to the factory spec, which should be between0.008" and 0.011", depending on manufacturer.

This is for stick welding and drops the open circuit volts to start the arc with less chance of sticking.

High Frequency Start only for DC TIG.

Soft Start.

Reply to
Ernie Leimkuhler

The water is for the torch. Your boss probably used an air cooled torch.

Reply to
John L. Weatherly

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