Which Welder?

The welder I think Skinner is talking about is also sometimes refered to a Lincoln tombstone welder. Tombstone refers to the shape of the case (round on top). Most are AC/DC.

I got to use one in High school and later in college. Finaly about 10 years out of school I fufilled my dream of having one of my own (it replaced a AC/DC buzz box). Bought it used for $300 had another one lined up for $600. This welder will do very nicely for you and last a lot longer than the buzz box I think you are looking at.

My suggestion would be to find a used one. Used ones are availble at the upper end of your price range. New ones are about $2800.00 and have aluminum windings. ebay would be a good place to start.

LOL

JT

I dont know the right English translation, but in Dutch, it is the "inschakelduur", or how i would translate it "engaged timespan"

When this "engaged timespan" is 25%, you could, for example, within an hour, weld 15 minutes at full Ampere without overheating the machine. So when you buy a 400 ampere machine with the "engaged timespan", you can weld continously on 100 ampere for, let's say, a year or so, without overheating the machine.

This is what i am told at work,
I work at a steel construction and machinery company in the Netherlands.

Nick 3rd generation Dutch

Simpley put, DC has better Arc control. You can also Tig weld with DC. If you would like a in depth explanation, do a search on this forum on welding as alot of good info has been already posted. If that don't answer your questions, post back and it'll get answered.

For that money, Lincoln AC/DC is a good buy.

T_Bone

I was very fortunate that I ran into some very skilled craftsman that was willing to teach me so I'm just giving back what was given to me.

Best wishes for all and Happy Hoildays,

T_Bone & Family

Well geezs now I gota tell a story as you brought up some memories :)

35yrs ago I'm working at Coors as a "pup" and they give me a partner from Venzuela(sp) that could not speak any english, neither can I but's thats another story. Were running a SS 12" sch10 brew pipe line on beer cooling tanks. He was carrying around a 1x2 10ft long. So I asked him what the stick was for, well pointed and jestered but we worked out the language problem, He replied it was his "measuring stick". He was never taught to read a tape measure and would mark the stick for cut length. I bought him his first tape measure and taught him to read it with-in a week. He still used that stick tho just to double check :)

Now I send him for a 90 elbow and I get that blank look. After some arm jesters and other odd ball moves I determine that they don't use 90 el's in Venzuela so he's never seen one. So I get to asking him about how the run pipe with out making any turns. He teaches me how to been 90's on straight pipe using sand and heat.

I really think that man tought me more that day than anyone else did in 35yrs as he taught me to keep it "simple".

T_Bone