Idealarc TM-500

He gave me what he said was the serial number

AC-364446

I see on the Lincoln web site you can learn alot about a machine if you have the Type No. P-No. etc; I was not smart enough to ask for those last night. I did not see any place to look up anything using serial numbers.

Anyone know the Lincoln site well or any other site where I can find out about the machine using the serial no.

Also, anyone familiar with the TM-500 or -400, wheather it is in fact single phase, will home 220-230 volt service be sufficient, wheather it is suitable for home/garage use (welding mainly in the 3/16 to 1/2 inch thick range, sometimes thinner, sometimes thicker) or is it too much machine, etc.?

Thanks.

It has the foot print of a large refrigorator, and is about 4.5 feet tall. The other issue is that it does not have the original face plate - it has a face plate from a TM-400, thus the slight confusion. So, I suspect it would make it more difficult in the event that parts were needed.

Thanks again for your replies gents. I am most interested in, and am on the look out for an Ideal arc 225 AC/DC machine in my area.

Thanks for your thoughts. After posting I was able to get some info on the TM series - they made AC only and AC/DC machines in TM-300, 400, 500 and 650 sizes (actually expressed as e.g., TM 500/500 which I assume is the AC/DC rating)

What the guy said about the size was "tag says TM-500, but I don't know if it is right because this is the same as my other one, which is a TM-400" - he has has two for some time, he got them from a ship yard.

Unless I get some hard evidence otehrwise, I have to assume the tag is right and he is selling a 500 amp machine.

I am confident it is a single phase machine, but ..... My main concern is that it is a big machine and will not weld thinner materials well as Stan cautioned. Lauren, do you have experience with a TM-500 welding thinner material?

He will let me use it at his home before buying.

It is not a MIG, it is a Stick that can be set up for TIG.

The TM-400/500 part doesn't sound right at all. Lincoln's website doesn't return anything in a product search using either of those numbers. There were no TM prefixes.

The Idealarc is a great welder. The basic stick unit is an AC/DC machine running 40 to 300 amps. It is Lincoln's most powerful single phase stick welder. Lincoln does make plenty of 3-phase stick welders with designations of 400, 500, 600, etc. They weigh almost 500 lbs and up, though, so they're not portable by anybody's definition.

Chances are you'll never have any reason to bring 3 phase to your home shop so there's probably no advantage to owning a 3 phase machine which is modified to run on single phase. Sort of the same with having far more power than you'll ever need. A machine that is built to put out 400 or 500 amps might or might not have the capacity to hold a smooth arc at the output levels you're far more likely to be using, like 100 to 200 amps.

My advice is to not be too impressed by features that mean nothing to you. You're better off spending your money on a welder that has the quality built in where you need it. A single phase Idealarc is such a machine, and a R3R-400 or R3R-500 isn't.

Good luck, Stan