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Hi John, I think everything Dave said is right. Lincoln buzzbox welders also work with fixed taps even though the configurations of the two welders look quite different externally. The wires inside the Lincoln run to a heavy duty dial; changing the setting on the dial transfers the current from each wire (tap) to the electrode lead. On the Forney the wires inside run to individual outlets on the front of the welder; you change the setting by moving the plug of the electrode lead to the outlet which is marked with the amount of current you want to use. The Lincoln system is slightly easier to use while the Forney system is less complicated mechanically so there's less to go wrong with it. Lincoln buzzbox welders were never manufactured with copper transformer windings while it's possible (though not likely) that the Forney might have been. I've never welded with a Forney welder so I can't tell you anything about how they weld compared to the Lincoln. A student artist I know got one a year ago but he has virtually no stick welding experience so he wouldn't be able to tell me anything meaningful about how it works. Dave reminded you to remember that the welder you are considering is over 30 years old. Early this year I bought a Lincoln buzzbox on which someone had written the date August, 1967. It works beautifully even though it appeared not to have been well cared for. The only thing its age affected was that the rubber on the electrode and ground cables was so badly cracked that I had to replace them. That was a shame because someone had installed 50' 2/0 cables which would have been worth what I paid for the welder if they had been in useable condition. I've owned or used a number of those inexpensive 220 volt AC stick welders---Craftsman, PowerKraft (Montgomery Ward), Chicago Electric, ESAB Bantam, Hobart, as well as several Lincolns. They can be quite picky about which electrodes they like, even to the extent of only working decently with a certain brand. Because of an unusual circumstance I have a huge variety of electrodes, but I imagine that most people might give up in frustration before buying and trying (especially buying) enough different electrodes to find the one or two that a particularly difficult machine would run okay with. If you're an experienced operator and you know you're good, you can make a poorly performing machine work for you. If you're inexperienced you'd probably think it was you rather than the machine and maybe call the whole thing a bad deal. Am I making it sound like you shouldn't buy that welder? I don't mean to. I'd probably pay $100 for a Forney welder just to have one. But I'm a history buff, too. All the best, Stan
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