New very heavy toy for the shop

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hairy_apple

hairy_apple

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Grass Valley, CA
Picked this bad boy up yesterday. Don't have 220v in my shed (yet) I haven't been able to play with it yet, but tested it out before I bought it and it welds sweeter then some of the brand new welders I've used.

Getting it into the truck was interesting with the old guy I bought it from, his old wife, and me who had shoulder surgery a while ago. Two come alongs and a bunch of 2x4s later it was in.

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hairy_apple said:
Picked this bad boy up yesterday. Don't have 220v in my shed (yet) I haven't been able to play with it yet, but tested it out before I bought it and it welds sweeter then some of the brand new welders I've used.

Getting it into the truck was interesting with the old guy I bought it from, his old wife, and me who had shoulder surgery a while ago. Two come alongs and a bunch of 2x4s later it was in.

Click to expand...

That is a very good ol' machine Hairy. We used those often in the professional pipefitting world. It was referred to as a "tombstone" because of its shape. You will almost always run 7018 and 6010 stick rod on DC-ground, it makes a great tig/heliarc machine also, all you would need is an argon cylinder, a regulator, and a tig torch,and run it on DC + ground. That machine will make as heavy a weld as you would EVER need on any cruiser. I see you have a mig set up for sheet metal :cheers: Good to see you have sealed rod holders, if you can't chip the tips of your rod with your thumbnail, it's probably ok. When you find the "sweet" setting for a rod, mark next to the wheel noting the size.
 
That's a good idea about marking the wheel for a rod. I am pretty excited to play with it... just waiting on my electrician friend to come wire a 220v plug into my shed. The more I read about these the more I wanted one, until I finally found one on CL.

My brother in law is wanting to build a trailer soon... might have to make him do it at my house. I'm eager to build something with it. Funny I had never stick welded before and decided I wanted to get welding certs so I starting taking classes at the local college and found that I really enjoy stick welding. I'll I have ever done before was Mig. Stick is kind of fun... but then again I like old school everything. That little mig/wirefeed is what built my cruiser. I didn't' really think I'd ever need to do heavier then it could do, but I'm happy now that I have the ability to do heavy welding if I want to.

I am very interested in getting it set up for TIG too, that's a big reason I bought this old beast is I was reading about how to do some TIG with it, I figured until I can afford a modern TIG this might be a good way to have that ability as well.

Going to home depot right after I finish writing this to go pick up the 220v stuff on my list and hopfully my friend can be here this weekend and we can get to melting metal.
 
Fast Eddy said:
Someone should do a "Using and old beater welder to TiG weld" thread.
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That "old beater" is perfectly capable of making 100% xray quality welds, both tig and stick all day long, I know from experience.
only consideration would be not having the ability to get heat low enough for light tig welds, but this is easily accomplished using the old stainless tig wire rheostat trick, and of course can not weld aluminum. :flipoff2:
If you have any question Hairy, just ask.
 
Hi All,

I have an old Lincoln 220V ARC welder that I use for fab projects.:)mportant to rely on novice welder skills.

Other projects I am happy to give try! :D

Good luck with your "tombstone." :)

Regards,

Alan
 
ojaij40 said:
That "old beater" is perfectly capable of making 100% xray quality welds, both tig and stick all day long, I know from experience.
only consideration would be not having the ability to get heat low enough for light tig welds, but this is easily accomplished using the old stainless tig wire rheostat trick, and of course can not weld aluminum. ************
If you have any question Hairy, just ask.
Click to expand...


Ran, I haven't seen an old Crank O MATIC in a few years in shops... HA!

J
 
Nice score on the stick machine... The old ones were certainly built to last. I love my old Forney, I picked it up a few years ago for $50. And I know what you mean about heavy!

DCFC0003-1.jpg
 
What would one expect to pay for a tombstone. One has come up for sale in my area and I have been interested in getting something good but not to expensive to play with.
Thanks for any help.
Shane
 
coinoperated40 said:
The paint is not as pretty.
It does come with a cart.

[URL="http://images.craigslist.org/3Ge3M43N95L45H85M5d4511692e43bc6c1613.jpg"][/URL]
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Hell Ya !! that's it, get some 6010 and 7018 in sizes 3/32 and 1/8th and start burning rod. usually, those things are incredibly filthy inside, you can take the shell off, and blow everything off with an air hose, you should hear the fan come on when you turn it on.

AS an AFTERTHOUGHT, make sure you have it unplugged if you take the cover off and start cleaning it,..:doh:
 
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