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some pics of what i do for a living

C

carvel minne farmer

Well-known Member
good evening all here's some pictures of what I do for a living, I repair, rebuild, and build custom pipeline welding machines, mainly sa-200 Lincoln welders, this welder is what iv'e been working on yesterday and today, it is a frame off restoration being set up and custom wound as a pipeline machine. the customer looked after the paint job, his company colours, all new wiring, oil lines new rad, new hoses, water pump, starter, gauges, switches, altenator, complete engine overhaul, generator rebuilt, basically a new machine. john
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Looks to me you like rebuilding old school beasts. I just love the
color and as you said it looks like a brand new machine. Some people
would say this is crazy to spend so much money on an old machine. Then
the rest of us go noooo it is a very tough and reliable machine.
Fantastic.
 
I have a friend that?s a pipeliner and he bought the
same model machine I guess that?s the model they
like for the job
 
I had one. I am a welder, and having welded in 2 nuclear powerhouses, I never had a machine lay down such a nice weld as an old SA 200 Lincoln welder. I'm sorry I sold it. The old ones had copper windings and just seemed to weld much better. And that Continental 132 engine ran sooo smooth! That's why this man is reworking these old machines! God Bless you!
 
Nice work,and a good old welder.What is custom to the wiring that you do? Is the sa200 becoming extinct or is there plenty around yet?
 
Great work,I have an old Hobart welder I absolutely loved run by a 2 cylinder Wisconsin engine something happened to the welder wish you were nearby,you could obviously fix it no problem.
Do like those old Lincoln welders too,own one now that's powered by a 12 HP flathead Kohler that does a good job Its AC,DC+ and DC-.
 
Where are you located? Do you do any repairs for farmers? I have a old Lincoln that I love. It will generate 120v AC but will not weld on
AC or DC. The local Lincoln Dealer says it will cost more than the welder is worth to repair, but it welds so nicely I hate to give it to the
scrap man.
 
Beautiful job, museum quality. You know where it's going to be put into service or will it travel all over?
 
Very nice work.
The only problem with them is the pure DC power. You can not run a AC grinder with it.
But they sure lay down a nice root pass.


Want to start a good argument.
Pick a short hood; redface; or a new inverter welder; and say how one is better than the other.
 
Very nice work. You should be proud of yourself. I spent my years working on generators. Starting to see more of a demand for the old machines. Would
love to talk with you.
 
Very nice job. My Dad did the same thing for years before his passing. Dad taught my son how to work on the welders. He was a better
troubleshooter than Dad. Repairs slowed down so he is welding at a refinery in Corpus at the present time. Might be selling some of the parts
machines and inventory if you are interested. Located 50 miles south of San Antonio. E-mail is open.
 
Thanks for posting those pictures. I worked at Lincoln for forty-one years, retired in 2014. Saw a lot of them go down the lines. At one time Lincoln discontinued the Continental powered machines but there was such blowback from the market they brought it back...as the "Classic" series. Heard a lot of old time weldors say that nothing welds like a DC generator. Lincoln used to rebuild them in-house, engines and all, Hercules included, but discontinued that service.
 
Left side of the photo in the dash, the voltage regulator and switch, I would like to have both of mine gone over. Mine is 20 years old 400 am diesel but I know those parts need updating. Where are you located?
 
Non variable speed brushed motors run on DC just fine (better than AC!!) they are smooth as silk. Hand electric saws and anything old or simple enough to not have electronics is probably fine to use with DC.. We ran a DC generator building houses in the 60s and 70s. Jim
 
i do love rebuilding the old sa-200's they are a rugged, simple design, that's why they've stood the test of time. you can always get them going and always get them welding. the new computer controlled garbage that's being built today won't be sitting under my crane rail being rebuilt 50 or 60 years from now! this is the smoothest welding machine ever built, the most desirable are these red face and the old short bonnet machines. if your running a new inverter welder on a pipeline and this welder rolls up across the pipe from you, your going to have a bad day, he will just bury you, this welder will put in way more metal each pass, the welder can cheat on each pass by just slowing down his travel speed, where you point the rod is where it go's. not running down the pipe and on your boots like the new bic lighter welders
 
(quoted from post at 08:34:43 01/07/18) Very nice work.
The only problem with them is the pure DC power. You can not run a AC grinder with it.
But they sure lay down a nice root pass.


Want to start a good argument.
Pick a short hood; redface; or a new inverter welder; and say how one is better than the other.
Click to expand...

You can run any grinder that has brushes in it........
 
bob b. I use pertronix distributors on the f-163 engines, on the older f-162 engines I have to stay with magneto's as the head isn't set up for a distributor.
 
good morning uncle tom, there are still some around up here, I grab them when I can find them. the custom work to the windings is the result of 30 years of working on them tweaking the exciter, how the armature is wrapped and balanced, the brush combinations.
 
morning plant doc, I'm located in carvel alberta west of Edmonton about 25 miles. I need the make, model and serial # off your welder, so I can do some digging on your problem. I do work for local farmers, mostly on the barter system, i'll go over and fix their welders and when I need help I call on them.
 
good morning blue, the main reason the 1930's to 1973 are so desirable is they where built with cold hard drawn copper, across the street from the factory in Cleveland Lincoln used to have a draw mill. they used to get their copper in 4" square bars 40 ft. long on railroad cars. this copper was pulled through the press mills to get what ever size copper bar or wire they wanted, there was never heat applied to that copper. the generators and armatures they built with these windings would carry (transfer) a lot more current flow than the recylcled windings of today. welding with the older copper wound machines your moving a lot more metal into the puddle, the puddle freezes faster, you will hear the term a liquidy puddle being used with the new machines (VERY frustrating to weld with) with the old copper wounds where you point that rod is where the metals going, not trying to run down the pipe ahead of you and all over the ground.
 
good morning john, there are 3 things in this world you never sell or loan out: your welder, your rifle and your wife :lol: john they are out there john keep a look out and you'll find another.
 
morning mike, you would have been there when I came down to school in jan. of 1990 then, I took the service tech 1 and 2 back to back I was there 6 weeks, enjoyed every minute, some very smart and knowledgable people there, and to this day I'm still boogled by the reasoning to drop the sa-200 in 1993!! why would you stop building the best welder on the planet???
 
I have one of these machines set up with a Chrysler flat head salvaged from a Massey Harris combine. I use it as a general shop machine, and for traveling repair work. No other machine will give you such fine control over current and voltage at very low settings. This gives you the option of using specialty electrodes in the field, rather than having to drag a heavy piece of machinery back to the shop. Any machine will work well at the high end of it's output. The real test is how much control you have at the low end. unc
 
god morning m-m I would love to get your excess inventory, the only problem is the shipping, a long way from texas to carvel alberta! unless your coming up this way. maybe a summer holiday trip to Alaska? your welcome to stop over here lots of room to park your rv and spend the night.
 
Carvel Corner ...... drove near it countless times heading west on 16 starting after the war in the back seat of my dad's cars
on our way to Seba Beach on the weekends (while the weeds grew in our yard). Beautiful work, some guys still do it the right
way. I recognize that block as the F400 series I think, down below here someone mentioned the displacement which was a bit
different than the ones I knew about. I remember the 124's, 140's, and 162's from Massey Harris stuff and also later in Massey
Ferguson swathers I think as well as a Case V that I once had.
 
Those little continentals were one of the best engines ever. I have 4 of them in Cockshutts. Speaking of this, I notice rhe governor is on the
front like the Cockshutts. Have you ever changed a governor or shaft or gear? I wonder if they are the same as the 20 and 540 Cockshutt?
 
WOW. I never new that about old school copper wire. I think the oldest welder i have used is what was called a torpedo welder. It was and electric motor turning the welder part made by Lincoln. And i thought they welded good.
 
good morning jim, as far as I know there are no updates for your rheostat or range selector, just keep them clean and use some fine emery cloth on the contacts (with the welder shutoff of course!) on the range selector and emery the windings of the rheostat where the wiper runs, and be sure and blow them off real good before starting, also pull the covers off the generator and exciter and blow out the barrel and exciter.
 
good morning T.F. the only problem I would have is parts, miller bought Hobart to get their consumable line ie. welding rod, wire etc. but most parts from whats left of Hobart especialy the older models is nla. in your case I would look someone with the same machine with a blown engine and build 1 out of the 2. john.
 
that's correct uncle tom, the old style torpedo or some called them bullet welders are in every shipyard in the world, in the shipyard in Cleveland we went there for a tour, 90% of the welders on the slipways are the old style bullets from ww 2 and still humming along, you can rebuild them over and over. no new inverter electronic welder can touch them inspite of all the sales hype they just don't have that pure D.C. smooth arc. iv'e rebuilt dozens of the old gen set bullet welders for bigger fab shops that build vessels and fabricate pipeline and plant facilitys
 
good morning red, this welder will be going on the customers truck, ford f-450 dually with a nice welding deck, he's what we call a rig welder up here, he travels where ever the work is. mainly welding on pipeline or bigger plant projects. the welders up here are going back to the older sa-200's like this one to get a reliable machine that welds as smooth as these old girls. the problem with the newest Lincoln and miller welders is all the computors and electronics just don't stand up the the harsh weather and conditions we have up here. a lot of welders that went with the latest techknowledgy are having to leave the job site and go back to the dealer for another new computer board, do that 2 or 3 times and the welding formen will tell you not to come back, he need's welders that are going to be on site working not on the road going back to the dealer for more repairs. when you start loosing jobs because of your welder the cost of rebuilding an older reliable machine now looks pretty cheap!
 
(quoted from post at 03:16:32 01/07/18) I have a friend that?s a pipeliner and he bought the
same model machine I guess that?s the model they
like for the job
Click to expand...
sv. I will guarantee you that if you get your hands on and older sa-200 Lincoln and weld with it you'll throw rocks at any new machine being built today, even your mom can weld with one of these :lol:
 
I have changed out 100's of govenors over the years neil, with both hoof and pierce being out of business we are getting govenors through our local Lincoln dealer (continental engines) they are running close to $900.00 each!!
 
good morning crazy horse, the carvel store is exactly 1 mile west of my place, I'm between rr-21 and rr-22 south of the tracks. great people out here most of the acerage owners and farmers in our area still old school, if you need a hand just ask or if they need a hand your there for them.
 
good afternoon unc, I would love to have you come up here and weld with this one, when iv'e got it all finished, set up and dialed in you can dial it down to weld cigarette paper or dial it up to weld 1" plate. all with that signature soft quiet bacon frying arc! I'm expecting it will put out over 300 amps when I'm done setting and tuning it up. the one I finished before Christmas was putting 348 amps on the ground at max settings, I took a 1/8th rod on range 3 and 30 and bored a hole right through a 3/4" plate, no arc snuff, the drive these oldtimers have is unreal.
 
Hello Carville, thanks for taking time to reply to all the questions. I was esp interested in learning how these old machines stack up against the new technology. Looks like you have enough work to keep you busy for a good long while so I appreciate your taking time out to show what you do. Gary in Maryland
 
(quoted from post at 14:00:44 01/07/18) Hello Carville, thanks for taking time to reply to all the questions. I was esp interested in learning how these old machines stack up against the new technology. Looks like you have enough work to keep you busy for a good long while so I appreciate your taking time out to show what you do. Gary in Maryland
Click to expand...
your welcome gary, and thank you and all the members for their kind words and compliments, I was raised old school, do a days work for a days pay, and do the best job you can. I am very fussy about the work I do (some even call me an*L) nothing leaves my shop I'm not 100% happy with. I have a very simple business philosopy gary "look after your customers and they'll look after you.
 
Carvel, those pictures bring back memories. I'm not much of a welder, I was in tool and die and worked on the dies that made most of those parts. I started there in 1973. Those years they were going crazy building SAM 650s (GM 2-71) for the Alaska pipeline with modifications for the cold. As I recall the decision to end the SA-200 had something to do with the availability of Continental engines besides being old technology. But they did bring them back with a pearly paint job. I came across some old prints where Budas were once used as well as Hercules. When they ended the in-house rebuilding, you would have been sickened to see the racks of Herc parts that were scrapped. Also back then, the AC-225 line put out around 14,000 units a month.
 
(quoted from post at 10:10:06 01/07/18) i do love rebuilding the old sa-200's they are a rugged, simple design, that's why they've stood the test of time. you can always get them going and always get them welding. the new computer controlled garbage that's being built today won't be sitting under my crane rail being rebuilt 50 or 60 years from now! this is the smoothest welding machine ever built, the most desirable are these red face and the old short bonnet machines. if your running a new inverter welder on a pipeline and this welder rolls up across the pipe from you, your going to have a bad day, he will just bury you, this welder will put in way more metal each pass, the welder can cheat on each pass by just slowing down his travel speed, where you point the rod is where it go's. not running down the pipe and on your boots like the new bic lighter welders
Click to expand...


I must agree with your assessment of the SA200; I used to have one back in the '70s. It was built in the '60s and needed it's Continental engine rebuilt but it welded GOOD! Wish that I still had it! :cry:
 
Thanks , Been a wonderful unit has a Perkins diesel and the fact that it may set two or three weeks here on the farm between use is the problem I have. I have already discovered that by taking fine emery cloth to those contacts I can get it back going. Will also pull the cover and blow out around that area.. THANKS for the information, the first time I could not get to weld scared me to death , I would be lost without it.
 
good evening M.J. you need to track that welder down and either buy it back or wait till it's dark :wink: , the ones your after are like the one you had, a quick way to tell if it was built with cold hard drawn copper is the generator barrel is round, (from 1974 to 1993 they where octagon shaped), the welding cables bolt up on the front control panel on the old timers, and they bolt on under the fuel tank (left side) on the newer ones. the face plate on the old ones is either red or orange and narrow, the newer ones where black and quite a bit bigger.
 
(quoted from post at 06:56:37 01/07/18) Very nice work. You should be proud of yourself. I spent my years working on generators. Starting to see more of a demand for the old machines. Would
love to talk with you.
Click to expand...
thank you for the kind words bill my email is "[email protected]" shoot me an email with your phone # and i'll give you a call, but be forwarned I may come down and kidnap you, good people who understand generators are few and far between!!
 
good evening leoin, I would like to have met your dad and talked welders with him leoin, if your dad is still around leoin put him on a plane and send him up here, I could definatly use a man with his skill set he did a very nice job building that welder, my first guess is the main generator is out of a ww 2 bomber. a lot of guys that came home after the war built home made welders like your dads out of surplus aircraft parts. tell your dad i'll pick him up at the airport leoin :lol:
 
good evening mike, we did a tour of the tool and die shop when I was there, there was 70 machinist per shift working then, they had to drag me out of there, I could have spent days in there watching and talking to the machinists, for me it was the best part of the whole factory tour, I could have spent the whole 6 weeks in there :lol:
 
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