SMAW/Stick machines - options?

[FlyFishn]

Thanks for the reply. I switched the connector around so ground was the 3ord pin. The cable on the welder goes to chassis ground so that did make more sense. I have a 120v outlet next to the one for the welder also so I took neutral just to the 120v outlet and took the white wire from the 10-50, cut it off, and spliced it in to ground. All works well. The wiring isn't permanent, its just a temporary set up/extension cord.

I like the 4 pin cable/connector idea also. Like you say, though, there isn't anywhere for the neutral to go on the welder end. It would just make splitting off 120v at the large connector a lot easier - which I do and is why I put the 120v outlet on the end of the extension cord also. It makes it a lot easier to run tools like grinders, saws, and drills as opposed to running 2 cords.

 

[FlyFishn]

Its been awhile since I posted here. Just a quick update:






You can find more details - including some videos of voltage settings, lots more photos, etc - on the thread I have on welding web:

1966 Round Top Idealarc 250

I decided to make another thread specific to my welder progress. After some researching on stick welders I decided it was a very smart idea to have an old-school transformer-based machine, at the very least as a back-up machine. My last project requiring heavier welds than what I could do...

weldingweb.com

The machine works great. I haven't made sense of the "high" DC voltage, but the peaks on AC are up there so it doesn't sound too far out of whack - the RMS AC is pretty close to spec (spec is 70v OCV @ 230v in, my line voltage is 244 and I'm at 74v RMS OCV = close enough for me). It runs fine with amperages between 30-175 so far. I don't have a reason to go any higher, and in fact I'd say the majority of my welding will be under 100 judging by how 1/8" rods run. I have 5/32" 6011's that can get up higher in amperage, but I don't think the material I will weld will dictate the higher end of the spectrum for those rods - probably still down towards the lower end. 60-70 amps with 1/8" 6010 and 6011 does well with some practice welding. Higher amperages to 80 or so are just cookin'.

I still have a bit of work to do with the machine. I want to clean up some of the paint. However, I also want to make a cable rack of some kind. I am contemplating what I want to design the rack to then build it and at that point look in to the repainting of the welder panels. We'll see. At the moment the machine is very usable as-is.

 

[gr8legs]

At the moment the machine is very usable as-is.

Yes, and the cleanup and new paint job will make it much happier.

These are great machines - you can 'fine tune' the weld current to get a perfect arc and it will still be working when your grandchildren are learning to weld with it.

Good job!

Just a thought: Since you have had the machine opened up and know how to get to the guts it would be really neat to go to a 4-wire cord and then add a 120 volt duplex receptacle to one of the side panels or the front panel so grinder power comes right from the welder. If I ever open mine up that will be on the 'to do list' now that I've seen how your machine is assembled.

Stu

 

[FlyFishn]

Just a thought: Since you have had the machine opened up and know how to get to the guts it would be really neat to go to a 4-wire cord and then add a 120 volt duplex receptacle to one of the side panels or the front panel so grinder power comes right from the welder.

I've thought about that. The outlet and "extension cord" that feed the welder is 4 wire that carries neutral. The short lead to the welder is 3. I do have a 120v outlet there.

The cabling is temporary, this isn't an installed set up at the moment. I am using 10g romex. The large 3 pin (NMEA 10-50) is for the welder. The small receptacle above it is the 120v. Then below is an L14-30 twist lock. The L14-30's are part of a "project" that includes a better cable for use in the garage here, as well as a grab-n'-go generator cabling system - which is mostly what the 3x duplex box is for, but could be used in the garage.




As to adding a 120v outlet to the machine directly - I think I'll pass on that. I have seen people that have done that, as well as welded or bolted cable racks to it. I don't want to deface the character of the original Round Top doing that. I am looking at making a cable rack - but it won't mount with holes or welding anywhere on the original welder. If anything, I may use the joint between the cart and welder to sandwich the mount for the rack. We'll see. The rack would be a candidate for an outlet, but I am not sure.

If I ever open mine up that will be on the 'to do list' now that I've seen how your machine is assembled.

Just a note - from what I know the transformer stack on some generations of these machines were welded in, not bolted like mine. I believe mine is an "early" generation - it has the AC in the middle on the polarity switch. I am not sure what changes may have been made prior to my generation. I seem to recall selenium plate rectifiers on earlier models back to the 40's, but between that era of rectifier (in industry in general, not these specific round top machines) and the era of Round Top I have there may have been some more changes. The polarity switch was changed somewhere between '72 and '74 I believe - and some, if not all, of those later machines (at least for a generation of them - several years maybe) had the welded in transformers.

If that is the case - you will be able to pull off all the panels on the sides, but you won't be able to split the transformer from the base.

The base on mine, if you go back through the restoration thread and find the pictures, was a bit rough with rust. Needless to say, it took a lot of work.

That was the nature of this beast from the get-go - I took it one step at a time and worked through things as I came up to them. I'm glad I tackled it, but it did take a lot of work and time to do it. There is a difference between "getting running", "cleaning up", and "restoring". Even after all the work I did I am still not sure you'd call what I did a true "restoration" as I left the original guts in there and still haven't painted some of the straps. And I didn't use paint coded as Lincoln Red, just something pretty close (Rust Oleum Farm & Fleet in their Massey Ferguson Red color, which I dare say did turn out very very nice and I'm more than happy with the color).