Old or new choosing a welder.

[JP-Fab]

I acquired a older 20th century welder in a trade about 5 years ago. I have never fired it up because it didn't come with leads and my concern is that I would lay out 150.00 in leads, stinger, ground and plugs only to find out that the thing either dosen't work or dosen't work well.

So I am contemplating the purchase of a stickmate ac or ac/dc They are reasonable at TSC. The only thing I have against the Older welder is the lack of leads and the size, It is huge, but It would never need to move because it is sitting in the right spot.

Recomendations, sugestions? All are welcome.

[hankj]

If that Century is an old buzzbox, there's not much inside it to go bad. I'd plug it in, turn it on, and measure the open cicuit voltage. If it's there, I'd look for a deal on some wleding leads and call it good.

Hank

[villemur]

I'm with Hank, turn it on, see if the cooling fan spins, and check the voltage. You could always buy some short, inexpensive leads to start out with and then make some extensions later on when you need more length.

HF has a sixteen foot lead and stinger for $23. I bought one to use for stick welding with my Dynasty, and it's fine for what I need. Using extensions might be a good idea because if you ever sell this welder to upgrade, you can keep the extensions for your next welder. I'm guessing that your Century is worth $75 or $100 on the used market, you certainly don't want to give away $150 in leads with it (if you ever decide to sell it).

Tom

[JP-Fab]

I was looking at it after posting , Maybee I will get a plug and try it tomorow. The terminology on the welder is diffrent than my mig. I would have to figure that out.

How do you check the open voltage? Last time I tried something like that I let the magic smoke out of my volt meter.
This thing weighs about 100 pounds.

[villemur]

I'm betting that your Century is an AC machine. And does it have a lever for setting the amps? Or are there a bunch of tap outlets (like an old-fashioned telephone switchboard)? I'm guessing that you have a lever.

So set the amperage lever down to it's lowest setting, and set your meter for AC volts. Attach your meter to each of the terminals on the welder. You should hopefully see between 60 and 80 volts. I believe that my old Hobart puts out 75. Let us know what you find out.

Tom

[JP-Fab]

It is a combo of the two. it has 3 plugs, high, low, ground and a big round selector with 2 sets of numbers on it. I asume that the high ones are high and the low ones are low.

I am not sure it is worth it but I will check it out.

[Critter]

I bout got thrown out of a Fleet & Farm store today, they had the Hobart AC DC sticker for 384 bucks, guess I was droolin a bit too much.

[Some Creep]

Post a pic of the face of that sucker! It would be easier to tell what it is, what it will do, where to put your leads to test.......everything!

Them pictures is worth a thousand words they say.............:D

[villemur]

It is a combo of the two. it has 3 plugs, high, low, ground and a big round selector with 2 sets of numbers on it. I asume that the high ones are high and the low ones are low.




My Hobart is setup like that. After my last post I went out in my shop last night and hooked my meter up to it. I got 80 volts between the terminals. I went from ground to low output and then tried ground to high output. The ratings on my machine show 80 volts as the no-load-voltage, so all is well.

You are right about the calibration of the dial, the lower set is for the low output, and the higher set is for the high.

[TommyA]

I was thinking that a heavy set of jumper cables would act as temporary leads for testing. Does anyone find anything wrong with that?

[hankj]

I was thinking that a heavy set of jumper cables would act as temporary leads for testing. Does anyone find anything wrong with that?

Electrically, no problem, but mechanically, you'll have to ruin the cables. Need plugs on one end and a rod holder on one of the other ends (maybe the aligator clampo could hold a rod, though.), and you'll need to pull the cables apart for a few feet at either end.

If it has good open circuit voltage, I'd just go buy some leads for it. It will work OK. #4 welding cable is going fo around 90¢ a foot. Connectors and rod holders are inexpensive. For $70 or so, you can have a set of 25-footers.

You can always make extensions later.

Hank

[JP-Fab]

I will tinker with it this weekend if I can find the time. I needed it to weld a loader mount and ended up just buying one. So... While I need to get it working it will take a few days to mess with it.

Thanks for the info and I will post an update.