Invertec 350 pro test drive

[David R]

OK, it came in on Monday. I took it back to the shop and put a plug on the 8 guage 4 conductor cord. Book sez change it to 6 for 350 amps @ 60% output on single phase. Its 100% @ 300 amps and goes up to 425. Pretty good for single phase. NO derating.

Hooked it up, did some 5/32 7018 verticle up. 3/4 plate to 3/8 plate T joint. Welded great. Turned the arc force knob up and down. Turn it up and you get fast freeze with a taller narrower bead. Turn it down, smoooth. Turn it all the way down and the arc is hard to control. It wanders all over the place. Bead is verry flat with wet edges. I could weld vertricle up at 135 amps. Anything over that and I lost control of the puddle. Verticle up bead looked nicest at arc force set at +2. Lower and the puddle would sag, higher and it wasn't as smooth.

On the flat, beads were flawless. smooth, almost no ripple and no spatter. I tried some 1/8 7018 and 1/8 6013. All worked great.

Next I hooked up my LN-25 with some .035 wire. This was sweet once I got a little used to it. Beads were great. With a circular weave, they almost looked like a tig weld. Verticle up was a piece of cake. Next for some small stuff. I had a piece of 2" exhause pipe. Turned the voltage on the 350 to 10, wire feed to 100 ipm. Nice little beads. Next down to 50 ipm, still nice teeny beads. At 25 ipm, it would just barely weld. The wire was burning off just as it met the pipe.

It has amp and volt meters that hold the actual readings for 5 seconds after you weld. Its interesting what happens if the wire speed is too slow for the set voltage. Amps are low, but it looks like its welding great. It seems to tolerate mis settings much better than any other machine I have ever used. More about that in the next post of the "quirks" I found.

[David R]

Some Quirks

As I said, the voltage and amps read ACTUAL welding for 5 seconds after you are done. First I noticed when turning the arc force to +10 with the welder set on 110 amps, It went NUTS. I struck the are and EEeeHaaa! I had some amps there. I could have burned through the 3/8 plate. I looked at the amp meter and it said 210. I thought what the ??. So I tried it a couple of more times. Set the arc force from -10 (low) to +9 and the OCV reads 60. Move it past 9 and the OCV reads 70. I set the amps to 50 and welded again. Meter read 174 amps. I thought maybe its broke. Maybe its for arc gouging. So I called Lincoln. It took a few (12) people before I got a straight answer. Its for gouging. They claim you can push 6010 through 1/2" plate on that setting. I believe it.

The other thing I found. When I set it to 10 volts and ran the mig, it welded at 18.5 volts, but the bead looked great. If I turned the wire speed up, it just welded another nice bigger bead. At 50 ipm, it welded around 34 amps, at 100 ipm, it welded around 54 amps, but still 18.5 to 20 volts. I could run beads almost as small as my SP 100. SO I asked Lincoln about that one too. He told me its a software thing. Anything below 18 volts, it will do what it has to in order to make a nice bead. Once its on 18 or above (its normal range) it holds the voltage like I expected. I had to turn the wire speed up to 200 ipm to get it to stub.

That is all I have. The machine is only 2 days old and today I was out of town, but it has run about 5 or 6 lbs of rod just trying it out.

I have not tigged with it yet, but you can buy a gas valve that hooks into the - terminal and have ONE connection for the Lift start torch. It has postflow. I do not know how long it stays on. I already have the Lincoln foot pedal. Maybe this weekend.
5 to 425 amps, 10 to 45 volts. This thing ought to be a blast.

CC soft stick (7018) Arc force -10 buttery soft to +10 (EeeeHhaa!) and Hot start, 0 to 100% of welding current for the first second of the weld.

CC crisp stick (6010) Arc force -10 to +10 including EeeHhaa. Hot start + or - up to 25% of welding current.

GMAW soft (Mig) No hot start, adjustable inductance (pinch) -10 to +10

FCAW crisp Same as Gmaw soft, except crisp is really crisp. It won't weld bare wire even on soft.

Lift start TIg. 5 to 425 amps, and I have not tried it yet.

David

[smithboy]

This is really good info. Anyone who is in the market should get a lot out of your impressions of this machine. Keep it coming.

[Doolittle]

Im so jelous.. Rub it in why dont ya :p

[David R]

Pics posted in the Pictures and projects section.

David......One happy camper.

[broadhead0706]

so ,can i ask, when welding 6010 or 7010 rods all day for 12 inch pipe what do think.HERE in the city its running the rod down ,not vertical up.

[David R]

I know very little about 6010 or 7010 and nothing about pipe.

David

[F40]

I have the same machine and have used it for mostly tig and some mig through a magnum sg spoolgun. I like the machine a lot. I'm having some challenges with another sg spoolgun with aluminum - still trying to sort that out and have posted some more information under the tig, mig, stick topic.

[David R]

Now that I have had it for a few weeks, ITS THE BALLS. You can dial in any arc you want with MIG. Big wire, small weld, set the inductance and away you go. Tig DC is similar to anything else. Good touch starts, nice arc. Plenty of kahuna's. Stick, with 7018, works great. Arc force works well and changes profile of the bead like I would expect. I have only gouged with it once, 1/8 carbon on 60 amps with arc force turned all the way up. Next month I hope to get my demand meter removed and then I can turn her loose. With Mig, its awesome. Best control of the arc. I was welding 75 ipm with .035 wire getting nice teeny beads. Turn it up and away it goes. Beautiful Mig beads in the 100 to 200 amp zone with almost NO ripple at all. They look like a machine did the work, not me. I still have an LN9-GMA on its way to use the bigger cored wire and .045 wire on this machine.

Friday my son and I built a shrine around it. ( Cart with all the do dads )

F40 I posted in your other topic.

This thing is paid for and NO regrets.
David