cyanidekid
Titanium
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2016
- Location
- Brooklyn NYC
I get the value of old antiquated welders, the best stick welder ive ever used was an ancient Lindy selenium rectifier unit that probably weighed 2200 lbs, dimmed the lights on the entire east coast when turned on, and only put out about 160 amps. and yes they can be had for pennies, but there is a reason. go ahead and wave your sword at windmills, but its just not good advice for a novice who isn't a masochist.I see old transformer welders sell cheap at auction on a regular basis, no you can't test run them, but cheap enough you can scrap them if that is what needs to be done. I bought my Lincoln 32 years ago for $25, dirty dusty looked like it had not been used for years, plus several hundred for a new Bernard gun, and it has made thousands in that time, I think it was well worth it. Yes it sucks to move it, its on casters but it takes full body weight shoving it to get it rolling. I have no doubt some of the newer pro grade inverter units could match it, but my experience with the portable 110v machines is that they will never match its capabilities.
As for duty cycle, if you are doing light sheet metal, maybe they are ok, but at max power you will hit the limit rather quickly. Maybe you guys don't trip the thermal switch because temps in upstate NY are milder, in central Tx at night when its still 100f, it took me 3 to 4 hours to finish a job that the Lincoln could have done in under an hour.
The only use I see for the 110v units is portability if you do lots of small offsite work.
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