Subject: ARC Welder advice

From: [email-masked] (Mike Palmer)
Date: Fri, 11 Feb 1994 20:12:38 GMT

The local BJ's has a 75AMP ARC Welder on Clearance at $98.  I've always
fancied getting something like this for the "odd job".   Is 75AMP too
wimpy for any real work?

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From: [email-masked] (Gordon W J Sorensen)
Date: Fri, 11 Feb 1994 23:45:54 GMT

Mike Palmer ([email-masked]) wrote:
: The local BJ's has a 75AMP ARC Welder on Clearance at $98.  I've always
: fancied getting something like this for the "odd job".   Is 75AMP too
: wimpy for any real work?

It sounds pretty light duty. I would assume it is AC only and 75 amps isn't
all that much. 1/4 in material would probably be max.  I would also wonder
about arc stability and ease of starting the arc.  I would look for an
older used Lincoln Arc buzz box. That will cost you more than $98.  Harbor
Freight has them for $230 so I would guess that used ones should be about
1/2 that.  I used one of them in a factory that made metal farrowing 
crates for hogs (keeps the sow pig from crushing the babies). It pretty much
ran continuously, the welder that is, except for rod changes and reloading the 
fixture, coffee breaks, lunch, goof off, etc.  Granted it wasn't at 225
amps, more like 90-100 amps, but they didn't seem to have any problems with it.