Lincoln SP-150 idealarc parts? Help

[bperk45]

I acquired quite a nice Freeby. But to my dismay it's short a gun and line assy. Anyone know where to find this stuff on the internet. I need everything from the machine to the gun...Cable, liner, the works..... any help would be appreciated.

[mtpopejoy]

"Freebie"...sure!

[jay50]

Originally Posted by bperk45

I acquired quite a nice Freeby. But to my dismay it's short a gun and line assy. Anyone know where to find this stuff on the internet. I need everything from the machine to the gun...Cable, liner, the works..... any help would be appreciated.

Unless you can find the missing pieces and they are free or very cheap, you will spend more on this than it is worth.
IIMHO, the are better units available now than what you have.

[partsman]

try ebay, i see a fair amount of guys parting out used welders on there.
you can also check the local welding supply store alot of times they take stuff on trade just to get a new one sold, they might have parts lyeing around.

[Franz©]

There is a very good reason for that short gun assembly. Lincoln was fully aware of the push capability of the wire drive mechanism.

[W-Cummins]

Originally Posted by bperk45

I acquired quite a nice Freeby. But to my dismay it's short a gun and line assy. Anyone know where to find this stuff on the internet. I need everything from the machine to the gun...Cable, liner, the works..... any help would be appreciated.

That is a ok machine, don't let them fill you up:-) It is a larger machine with wheels on it and runs off 230v. ( same class machine as they are selling today at a reduced duty cycle as a 200-210 amp machine) So you can add a tweco gun to it no problem and they are cheep on fleebay. A mini mig or #2 gun would be just fine for it.

Here is a mini mig gun of fleebay ( new $65 so far) if your interested in it make sure that it will adapt to you machine ( write the seller and see)

William.....

[PAToyota]

Start by going to the Lincoln website - www.lincolnelectric.com - and downloading the manual for it (quicklinks pulldown at the top of the page to owner's manuals). That will give you a starting point. As W-Cummins says, you can fix it up with a gun pretty easily.

[Franz©]

Originally Posted by W-Cummins

That is a ok machine, don't let them fill you up:-) It is a larger machine with wheels on it and runs off 230v. ( same class machine as they are selling today at a reduced duty cycle as a 200-210 amp machine) So you can add a tweco gun to it no problem and they are cheep on fleebay. A mini mig or #2 gun would be just fine for it.

Here is a mini mig gun of fleebay ( new $65 so far) if your interested in it make sure that it will adapt to you machine ( write the seller and see)

William.....

Yea William, I only been runnin MIG since 1978 when they all came with 5 or 7 foot gun cables and we hung the machines from gantrys. I know EXACTLY how well older machines push wire when longer gun cables are retrofitted.

You're right about the power suply, it's rock solid, but the wirefeed won't support a longer cable, and a part time hobby"weldor" won't be able to use the machine effectively.

[W-Cummins]

Originally Posted by Franz©

Yea William, I only been runnin MIG since 1978 when they all came with 5 or 7 foot gun cables and we hung the machines from gantrys. I know EXACTLY how well older machines push wire when longer gun cables are retrofitted.

You're right about the power suply, it's rock solid, but the wirefeed won't support a longer cable, and a part time hobby"weldor" won't be able to use the machine effectively.

Well you have been welding with mig for a few more years than me but not many. and I don't think that his machine is any where that old!
It's a given that the sp-150 wasn't as good of a machine as say a MM 35, just like the MM 200 wasn't 1/2 the machine that a sp-200 is. Each had better machines in their lines than others. I have never ran or owned a sp-150 but I knew others that did and they were not a bad machine. Lots of body shops had the AB version of them, BTW I was going to ask if the above machine had the AB stuff in it ( i.e. the spot, stitch, and burn back timers in it).
The machine may have problems with a 15' gun that I listed the link, with SMALL wire but it should be able to push 0.035 through it, if you don't tie the cable in a knot.

William....

[Franz©]

William the consensus is the MM 200 is the finest machine Miller ever made until you get into the inverter power suplys with the programable power.
Miller's attempt to upscale to the MM 250 was a disaster, and the company won't recover what that machine did to their reputation till a lot of guys die.
My MM 200 was born in 81, and still runs and drives every day, and it's never lived in a heated environment for more than a few days. Of course I give it a break and let the Hobart 400 amp suply fill in on bigger wire. It's a lot easier to remote the drive from that machine than it is to move the 200 around.

As things stand today, I'm not real impressed with either Lincoln or IndochinaThugWorks. They both let bean counters run the show and lie their asses off about machine capability till you get to the real money machines. Somehow I just can't warm up to a machine that needs to be plugged into a laptop for arc characteristics, and I definitely don't like the way Miller is playing the software game when compared to Lincoln. Fortunately the machines I already own will last the rest of my life.

The spot, stitch, and burn back timers, ain't got a machine with them on it, and always figured them things were primarily for machines operated by robots. Weldors come equipped with trigger fingers to perform them functions. Then again, I ain't welding special alloys with a programable power suply. I let my bud Danny handle that end with his CobraMatic. My eyes are a little too old to play the tunes he can with that machine.
2000 hours plus of his work went to the ski slopes of Italy for the last Olympics, and I figure it's a lot easier to let him weld aluminum.

[W-Cummins]

Originally Posted by Franz©

William the consensus is the MM 200 is the finest machine Miller ever made until you get into the inverter power suplys with the programable power.

Your consensus maybe I can't think of a single thing that the mm200 works better for than the mm35. Yes it has more power but you really can't do more with it unless you want to run larger wire. Neither will spray weld so why pay more the larger 200 when your just going to run .035 wire in them...

Also I know that Miller made lots of larger 3 phase transformer machines and almost ALL of them are better than either the mm 35 or the mm 200 or for that matter, any other single phase transformer wire machine!) The 3 phase machines just run better.

Originally Posted by Franz©

Miller's attempt to upscale to the MM 250 was a disaster, and the company won't recover what that machine did to their reputation till a lot of guys die.

You will get no argument from me I have no desire to have one either. I will keep my SP 200 for now. I may get a 300 amp miller or Lincoln 3 phase power supply some day. I used to run a nice miller with dual digital wire speed displays on a dual head wire feeder that was a really slick setup.... only problem is that the feeder and guns cost more than my whole sp200 did:-(

Originally Posted by Franz©

I give it a break and let the Hobart 400 amp suply fill in on bigger wire. It's a lot easier to remote the drive from that machine than it is to move the 200 around.

That's one reason why I like the SP200 better than the mm200. you can remote the wire feeder and I have had mine hanging from a boom on my welder cart from almost day one...

Originally Posted by Franz©

As things stand today, I'm not real impressed with either Lincoln or IndochinaThugWorks. They both let bean counters run the show and lie their asses off about machine capability till you get to the real money machines. Somehow I just can't warm up to a machine that needs to be plugged into a laptop for arc characteristics, and I definitely don't like the way Miller is playing the software game when compared to Lincoln. Fortunately the machines I already own will last the rest of my life.

I'm not sure I want a inverter machine I have not run one enough to see the advantage. I'm sure that given time they will get them right and I will probably buy one in my lifetime as I plan on welding for at least 40 more years!

Originally Posted by Franz©

The spot, stitch, and burn back timers, ain't got a machine with them on it, and always figured them things were primarily for machines operated by robots. Weldors come equipped with trigger fingers to perform them functions.

Well you can attempt to perform "them" functions with your fingers, 2 of them you can come close to anyway. The timer box wasn't $$ on my machine and for sheet metal work it's slick. For one the stitch feature you can't really do with out the timer (because you can not keep the shielding gas running when you cycle the trigger) and the contactor takes a beating on the machine too... The burn back can not be reproduced with the trigger at all...

William....

[Franz©]

Well now we both know there isn't a way in hell a single Ø rectifier can deliver the same quality of DC a 3Ø rectifier can, that's just one of them inconvenient laws of Physics AlGor can't repeal. So we can put that discussion to bed.

The MM200 can support a remote feeder, any machine that can suport a spoolgun can suport a remote feeder. All you gotta do is unplug one connector and plug in another one.

As far as the 200 being the best machine Miller ever built, I'll hold to that position. The 200 came to market in 78 I believe, and was the top of the market machine in its size and ability in the timeframe. I switched from a Airco DipStick 120 to the 200 in 81 mostly because I was fairly tired of a 7 foot gun cable, and 13 feet sure seemed like a big step up. Funny thing about progress, it comes with a price. Back then the price was the change from a fully adjustable moving core power suply to a tapped transformer suply. It took a little getting used to, but it wasn't insurmountable.

Inverter suplys are the wave of the future, funny thing is that they are also 1940s designs manufactured with todays parts. I sure ain't one bit thrilled by them, and damn well ain't buying one. Of course, I ain't plannin to buy any more welders anyhow, seems at my place in life 2 gas drives, 5 vert rotarys, 2 Heliarcs and 2 MIGs are about all I need. If you're thinking of spending another 40 years in the craft, chances are you'll be buying an inverter or 3. I don't see them as long life machines, especially not given the problems I see guys having with 2 and 3 year old machines.

I get to play with any machine I desire over at the lab of the LWS, and I'll admit some of the new inverter machines such as the passport and the heavy end of the Miller line are pretty damn nice machines. I even find a bit of irony in the Passport being designed to weld with Co2 while half of the world keeps insisting straight Co2 is inferior to C-25 gas on steel. On the heavy end, things like crater fill on inverter machines is a real nice feature, BUT, it's really a machine designed to be run by a robot, not a weldor. I played with one for an hour, and honestly wouldn't want to weld with that machine for 8 hours a day. Then again, I would rather shovel manure than make the same damn weld over and over all day long.
The MM 200 is definitely spray capable, several people have proven it, but lets also admit the spray process wasn't even in existance when the 200 was born. Lets also admit the average home welding machine operator will never have a real spray aplication, so it too becomes an irrelevent.

The spot and stitch functions were around in 80 as I recall, performed with relays and timers on a subpanel. Unless it's a weld being made 1000 times a day on a fixture by a robot, they just don't come into play in my world.
Burnback on MIG began being marketed with a double contact trigger around 85 best I recall. It wasn't real sellable and kind of got left as an available option very few people I ever knew bought.

The MM 35 was in fact one of the pioneer machines in MIG, and as you say, other than a slightly bigger transformer and a switch rather than a jumper board the two are very similar. The major difference was Miller had perfected aluminum windings and their ability to attach the winding to the copper jumpers by the time the 200 appeared on the market.

You also gotta remember back in 1980 Miller wasn't a division of IndoChina Thug Works, and the people named Miller still ran it just the way James T Lincoln ran his company. Hobart Bros was still family owned too. There is a big difference between the way business was done back then with how it's done today.

[bperk45]

wholly cow here guys.. when I said short a gun and cable.. I meant it doesn't have one. You guys are debating how good it is... it's a damn fine welder for home garage stuff and autobody work... i'm not welding "I" beam or anything..i just need a gun, liner and hose assy.. the problem i'm seeing is that this welder has an external fitting for the Argon gas hookup. it doesn't mix behind the panel.. the gun will have to have a little hose near the end that can hook to the frt of the machine. My big problem here is that I don't want to put $200 into this thing in case it doesn't work.. a $100 well maybe but not $200.. i already have a small Lincoln just got this one for free... the body shop was having problems with it and instead of fixing it some jerk took it all apart and then the shop bought a brand new welder. So in the mess of it all the old gun was lost.

[W-Cummins]

Originally Posted by bperk45

wholly cow here guys.. when I said short a gun and cable.. I meant it doesn't have one. You guys are debating how good it is... it's a damn fine welder for home garage stuff and autobody work...

So did you read any of it?? Did you click on the link I posted to the auction for the gun? Did you write the seller and ask him about the adapter/s you need to hook it up to your machine?? He says he might have them. I'm almost sure that the 150 takes the same adapter as my 200 does.

William...

[bperk45]

yeah i wrote him, no reply yet. I did some searching and found some @ weldingdirect.com and couple other places, but I need to go home and figure out which adapter I guess. I found a picture of one that shows the external gas line and one that doesn't. One side lists a gun for a Lincoln SP and a gun for a Lincoln. The gun for the reg Lincoln shows the external gas line and other doesn't. So I'm waiting for resposes. Thanks Alot guys. I was just commenting on the welder comparison that I started, thats all.

[W-Cummins]

Here is a picture of mine I believe that I have the older style tweco gun end. you can see the part number on the adapter ( I also needed the plug part and that came with the adapter kit)


William...

[Franz©]

What you discovered is that weldors tend to be opinionated and can get cantankerous. It's the nature of the beast. Just watch two weldors switch off on a machine, same job, same rod, the guy coming on will always have to tweak an adjustment or 2 if he's a weldor.

[Gary6415]

I have every thing you need but I live in Washington

[jay50]

Originally Posted by Gary6415

I have every thing you need but I live in Washington

Holy thread resurection gary; I hope the OP got the part he needed since this thread was last updated 12/07