Reply to Thread

Re: Stupid question about Lincoln Pro 155

Originally Posted by albrightree

As mentioned before , make sure you get the right type of welding rod. 308L is used on 304 stainless, but there are several types 308l-15,16&17. You'll want the E308l-16 as it's Single and multiple pass, DCEP, AC, All Position. Buy a major brand like Hobart, Lincoln, McKay, blue demon, USforge (MGindustries). Most decent welding shops have 2 lb. packages, or at least 5lb canisters. It welds much like 6013 or 7014 making a lot of slag. If you don't have a lot of experience you may want to weld as much as possible in the flat position, people often find vertical and overhead very difficult . Also don't get crazy overwelding stuff. Stainless tends to expand greatly, and warps easily.

Look at this thread for some idea of how it will react. : https://weldingweb.com/vbb/threads/7...un-shrink-this


If you find that you want to go with solid wire, many people have used the 98/2 ArCO2 mix on stainless which is much cheaper than Tri-mix. With the Lincoln you have, you can purchase smaller rolls of the stainless wire. If you're doing under 3/16" stainless your mig machine should be up to the task.

There is also the option of gas shielded flux core stainless wire, this would be the least economical, as its hard to even find in 10lb rolls. It would run with 75/25 gas, but on a low powered machine it would be very limited in what it could do.

The final option is Self shielded flux cored 308 stainless wire for about $38 for a 1 lb spool. I have used it, it performs like stick welding sort of , it makes the weird popping noise when welding. It might take about 1/2 lb of wire just to dial in the setting. Also limited in it abilities with you machine. Runs from about 120 to 150 amps .
https://usaweld.com/collections/stai...g-welding-wire

The most important thing is to set the dial to the door chart settings, and then pay attention to how it welds. Measure the voltage if you want, but reading the puddle is more important. That just comes with practice, and paying attention. You have some nice machines, and should be able to do lots of work with them, just stick with known good consumables so you can take them out of the equation if the welding doesn't come out the way you expect. If you don't have a lot of experience with a process, its simpler not having to guess what things are suspect.

BTW - I've never seen the POWERWELD brand before, did you buy them , or did they come with the machine. Are those the ones that you burned up before ?

Best of luck, keep us posted

Powerweld is a wholesaler and I believe part of Techniweld or the same as Techniweld, who are a huge distributer of many different brands. Rods are likely sourced overseas. Click on the OEM brands in the link below. They sell the highest quality products as well as a lot of stuff from overseas.

https://www.powerweldinc.com/company

Re: Stupid question about Lincoln Pro 155

Dunno why people want Voltage info on this class machine.

The welding engineers have done the work for these geerage class machines. and include a settings chart to get folks started.

Set it as instructed and start burning.

Re: Stupid question about Lincoln Pro 155

Originally Posted by TorontoJoe

if I can get away with the C25 rather than invest in tri-mix for this one project. I want to find the right balance between doing it right and spending too much money... I'll invest where it makes sense. If it's really worth it to use tri mix on the stainless then perhaps it's worth just using tri-mix all around even on mild steel projects since I'm not a fab shop?

With the cost of helium through the roof lately, I really doubt you'd want to use Tri-Mix all the time even for non-stainless welding. Have you priced out a tank of Tri-Mix at your gas supplier?

https://weldingweb.com/vbb/threads/5...nless-with-C25

Re: Stupid question about Lincoln Pro 155

As mentioned before , make sure you get the right type of welding rod. 308L is used on 304 stainless, but there are several types 308l-15,16&17. You'll want the E308l-16 as it's Single and multiple pass, DCEP, AC, All Position. Buy a major brand like Hobart, Lincoln, McKay, blue demon, USforge (MGindustries). Most decent welding shops have 2 lb. packages, or at least 5lb canisters. It welds much like 6013 or 7014 making a lot of slag. If you don't have a lot of experience you may want to weld as much as possible in the flat position, people often find vertical and overhead very difficult . Also don't get crazy overwelding stuff. Stainless tends to expand greatly, and warps easily.

Look at this thread for some idea of how it will react. : https://weldingweb.com/vbb/threads/7...un-shrink-this


If you find that you want to go with solid wire, many people have used the 98/2 ArCO2 mix on stainless which is much cheaper than Tri-mix. With the Lincoln you have, you can purchase smaller rolls of the stainless wire. If you're doing under 3/16" stainless your mig machine should be up to the task.

There is also the option of gas shielded flux core stainless wire, this would be the least economical, as its hard to even find in 10lb rolls. It would run with 75/25 gas, but on a low powered machine it would be very limited in what it could do.

The final option is Self shielded flux cored 308 stainless wire for about $38 for a 1 lb spool. I have used it, it performs like stick welding sort of , it makes the weird popping noise when welding. It might take about 1/2 lb of wire just to dial in the setting. Also limited in it abilities with you machine. Runs from about 120 to 150 amps .
https://usaweld.com/collections/stai...g-welding-wire

The most important thing is to set the dial to the door chart settings, and then pay attention to how it welds. Measure the voltage if you want, but reading the puddle is more important. That just comes with practice, and paying attention. You have some nice machines, and should be able to do lots of work with them, just stick with known good consumables so you can take them out of the equation if the welding doesn't come out the way you expect. If you don't have a lot of experience with a process, its simpler not having to guess what things are suspect.

BTW - I've never seen the POWERWELD brand before, did you buy them , or did they come with the machine. Are those the ones that you burned up before ?

Best of luck, keep us posted

Re: Stupid question about Lincoln Pro 155

Originally Posted by TorontoJoe

@Welder Dave - Are these the ones you mention?

https://www.airliquide.ca/la-7018-sm...oryId=A0274397

Hmm... Should I look into a US distribution deal?

I don't see SS in their lineup..

Yes, those are the 7018. Blueshield (Air Liquide) doesn't get into stainless rods much but if you just need a few stainless rods for your BBQ, you could use some Blueshield Xtreme that are high strength rods that are stainless based. They come in small packages (.25kg or .5kg depending on size)and the nice thing is they can be used for many different applications, broken bolts, difficult to weld steels, etc. What really sucks is Air Liquide's website. It doesn't show the different sizes and packaging in a quick search. Most welding supplies carry specialty electrodes in small packages so you may find a small pack of true stainless rods. If you're only welding the 304 bars to each other, use 308 rods. If you're welding the 304 stainless to steel parts of the BBQ, use 309 rods. A BBQ is not a critical application so rods like the Xtreme could be used. There are several rods from specialty suppliers that are similar to Blueshield Xtreme rods. Anything listed for removing broken bolts, difficult to weld steels, spring steel, unknown steel, etc. They will show tensile strength in the 120,000 to 130,000 range. Pricey but come in small packages.

Just wanted to add that I wouldn't buy electrodes online unless it was the only way to get them. Too much chance for them to get damaged. Have heard too many stories where someone buys a 50lb can of rods and 25% or more the flux is chipped and/or broken off.

Re: Stupid question about Lincoln Pro 155

Here is some 308L, don't know where they are made. Blue Demon's place of business is in Illinois but that doesn't mean they make their wires there.
https://www.amazon.ca/Blue-Demon-E30...5&sr=8-10&th=1

Re: Stupid question about Lincoln Pro 155

@Welder Dave - Are these the ones you mention?

https://www.airliquide.ca/la-7018-sm...oryId=A0274397

Hmm... Should I look into a US distribution deal?

I don't see SS in their lineup..

Re: Stupid question about Lincoln Pro 155

I don't care where rods are made as long as they burn decent. As far as 7018, Canadian made Blueshield are the best and I've tried a lot of brands. Too bad they aren't available in the US. Esab OK55 made in Sweden and Atom Arc (think made in US) are pretty decent as well. Have seen people rave about Lincoln Excalibur but in Alberta they are down the list a ways as far as user preference goes.

Re: Stupid question about Lincoln Pro 155

Originally Posted by whtbaron

I'd say post nude pics of your wife, but that might get me in trouble with the mods... you know it pays to advertise. Hobart rods are generally decent quality, but as others have mentioned, there's probably cheaper ways to buy them than 5 rods at a time. When you started posting the P/A link, I thought you were looking at the brand X Chinese rods. I've actually had good luck with the 6013's and 7014's, but I bought some 7018 AC's and hated them. Stuck 10x worse than Hobarts... like every single time you had to restart you needed to scratch them off... total pain. I won't buy those ones again, but the others were ok for things that weren't really critical.

Couple years back I bought 30 lbs. of "no name" 6011. It had white flux like the Murex 6011 i like for thin wall irrigation work.... The stuff was junk, slaggy, sticky, and the arc wouldn't go where you pointed it. Off to the dumpster.

Re: Stupid question about Lincoln Pro 155

Originally Posted by whtbaron

I'd say post nude pics of your wife, but that might get me in trouble with the mods... you know it pays to advertise. Hobart rods are generally decent quality, but as others have mentioned, there's probably cheaper ways to buy them than 5 rods at a time. When you started posting the P/A link, I thought you were looking at the brand X Chinese rods. I've actually had good luck with the 6013's and 7014's, but I bought some 7018 AC's and hated them. Stuck 10x worse than Hobarts... like every single time you had to restart you needed to scratch them off... total pain. I won't buy those ones again, but the others were ok for things that weren't really critical.

�� LoL! The mods would be the least of my worries!

As much as it’s possible I have no desire to buy any made outside North America. But yes… a 5 pack is pretty stupid. I need to find a decent welding supply shop in my area. A buddy of mind owns a blasting and powder coat business. A lot of welding happens at his shop. I’ll see if he can point me in the right direction.

Re: Stupid question about Lincoln Pro 155

I'd say post nude pics of your wife, but that might get me in trouble with the mods... you know it pays to advertise. Hobart rods are generally decent quality, but as others have mentioned, there's probably cheaper ways to buy them than 5 rods at a time. When you started posting the P/A link, I thought you were looking at the brand X Chinese rods. I've actually had good luck with the 6013's and 7014's, but I bought some 7018 AC's and hated them. Stuck 10x worse than Hobarts... like every single time you had to restart you needed to scratch them off... total pain. I won't buy those ones again, but the others were ok for things that weren't really critical.

Re: Stupid question about Lincoln Pro 155

Originally Posted by Welder Dave

Worry about what the weld is like and forget what any dial or indicator says. Only use is for a reference point for setting the machine for future welds. What the actual volts are only matters if it's part of a procedure qualification. If there's a door chart it should be close and you can tweak it slightly if desired.
You need to get the right stainless electrodes and most of the time there isn't much difference between brands of electrodes. A Lincoln machine doesn't require Lincoln electrodes. It sounds to me like you just need to put in about 500 hours of practice before you attempt your project.

True that! I need the practice for sure... I just want to practice right. I really want to learn from my mistakes by understanding why thing go wrong.... I'm also going to need someone to talk to my wife about freeing up those 500 hours.... any takers?

Re: Stupid question about Lincoln Pro 155

Worry about what the weld is like and forget what any dial or indicator says. Only use is for a reference point for setting the machine for future welds. What the actual volts are only matters if it's part of a procedure qualification. If there's a door chart it should be close and you can tweak it slightly if desired.
You need to get the right stainless electrodes and most of the time there isn't much difference between brands of electrodes. A Lincoln machine doesn't require Lincoln electrodes. It sounds to me like you just need to put in about 500 hours of practice before you attempt your project.

Re: Stupid question about Lincoln Pro 155

Originally Posted by TorontoJoe

Well... Thank you for the whole wheel thing... It has made my life a lot easier

Thank you, glad I was able to help! That was a long, long time ago, possibly in another life!

Re: Stupid question about Lincoln Pro 155

Originally Posted by TorontoJoe

Again... total hack here... But would 21.5 volts not be rather high for a minimum?

If you check back on my original post I put 17 08 18 volts, I think that would be reasonable on "A", your amps will be controlled by stickout, or CTWD. My little 175 3in1 is around 18 on it's lowest setting, but it's pretty much synergic giving a set wirespeed at a given voltage, but I can tweak wirespeed some from there, using the volt dial it will increase voltage by 1/10 volt, yours is just a little tiny bit different.
Like I said just pad some beads, you'll know when you're zerping in on the sweet spot for each setting/ material situation.

Re: Stupid question about Lincoln Pro 155

I use Firefox and it's default is to block tracking. To the left of the address bar at the top of the page is a shield shaped thingy. Left of the padlock. Click it when on the Lincoln site and set the enhanced tracking to off for this(Lincoln's) site. You might have to add it as an exception. Every other browser likely has something similar. Even if you don't think so, sometimes Google is your friend.
No matter what you weld with stainless isn't cheap but there are better prices than $13.00 for 5 x 3/32 sticks. And, for me at least Princess Auto's web site sucks putter balls too. I just spent a day and a half ordering some hydraulic stuff cause the frickin pages won't finish loading. No I'm not buying a smart phone to satisfy retailers.
Find a welding supply company and price stainless electrodes there. Not 5 sticks more like 5 lbs minimum. Bring a friend to catch you when you fall. Lincoln has some really good free/cheap literature and I'm sure Hobart and others do too.
I'm not personally a fan of 6013. In the 60xx series I prefer 6011 for an AC machine but practice with whatever you've got. A lot. You may find 6011 harder to run but once you get used to it....well I like it better than 6013. You may have to swallow your pride and post some pictures so those who can help will have something to work with. Lotsa luck.

Re: Stupid question about Lincoln Pro 155

@Meltedmetal - The stick welder would certainly be more economical I suppose. Here's the thing. The first stick weld I ever tried was with the AC225 pictured above.... so very recently. I got the unit with a few boxes of 6013 electrodes and tried to lay some beads on some scrap 1/4" steel and also attempted a fillet.... The results I would be too embarrassed to post pics of here. It was pretty brutal...

... The stick welder is actually something I was going to post about separately under a different topic as I'm running into a different problem there. That is when I get going everything seems be working correctly but I find that the electrode just melts into the puddle as fast as I can push it... the whole thing disappearing in seconds. In the end the weld looked like it was done by a drunken monkey....

I was just at a Princess Auto (Canadian equivalent to Harbor Freight) and they had these

https://www.princessauto.com/en/5-pc...t/PA0008676850

At the rate I was going through the 6013's it'll cost me about $17,000m in sticks to make this Argentinian grill I'm hoping to tackle. So yeah.... I've got to get a lot more practice in on the stick welder....

Re: Stupid question about Lincoln Pro 155

Originally Posted by CAVEMANN

Are you sure that's not volts?

Again... total hack here... But would 21.5 volts not be rather high for a minimum?

Re: Stupid question about Lincoln Pro 155

Originally Posted by CAVEMANN

@CAVEMANN - Let's circle back to that "why a wheel is round" thing


Someone on QUORA asked me that question. I don't know if your familiar with quora but there's a lot of foreigners on there that are totally stupid, have been denied any knowledge from the outside world or just don't have a clue. I answered & poured on the smarta$$, telling them I was closely involved in the creation of the wheel & started with a triangle shape & moving to square & noticing that each time we added sides to the shape it seemed to be easier to roll, & finally figure out that round worked really well. I had commented here on WW about my post & someone posted up some pictures of the wheel in several configurations running on a track similar to a gear that proved my "round" theory wrong, well at least partially.

Well... Thank you for the whole wheel thing... It has made my life a lot easier

Re: Stupid question about Lincoln Pro 155

Indeed.... All I get on the literature request is a cookie error. Mine are enabled but is says they're not. Tried it on three browsers... no dice

Re: Stupid question about Lincoln Pro 155

@CAVEMANN - Let's circle back to that "why a wheel is round" thing


Someone on QUORA asked me that question. I don't know if your familiar with quora but there's a lot of foreigners on there that are totally stupid, have been denied any knowledge from the outside world or just don't have a clue. I answered & poured on the smarta$$, telling them I was closely involved in the creation of the wheel & started with a triangle shape & moving to square & noticing that each time we added sides to the shape it seemed to be easier to roll, & finally figure out that round worked really well. I had commented here on WW about my post & someone posted up some pictures of the wheel in several configurations running on a track similar to a gear that proved my "round" theory wrong, well at least partially.

Re: Stupid question about Lincoln Pro 155

Originally Posted by In Utopia

This maybe what you're looking for, I got this chart right from a tech at Lincoln.
A= 21.5 AMPS
B= 25 AMPS
C= 27 AMPS
D= 31 AMPS
E =35 AMPS

Are you sure that's not volts?

Re: Stupid question about Lincoln Pro 155

This maybe what you're looking for, I got this chart right from a tech at Lincoln.
A= 21.5 AMPS
B= 25 AMPS
C= 27 AMPS
D= 31 AMPS
E =35 AMPS

Re: Stupid question about Lincoln Pro 155

Hi,
If you go to the Lincoln web site, you have to turn cookies on for the literature request, you can order their consumables catalogue for $0.00. It is a wealth of information. Other wire manufacturers likely have one too for their products. For your stainless project I would consider stick electrode it I were doing it. No special gases needed. Stainless sticks are available in various sizes and alloys. And at least some run on AC that your 225 AC can supply.

A side note Lincoln has hired a site designer who needs a beat down, their site used to be much easier to navigate.

https://marcomcentral.app.pti.com/pr...cookiedetect=1

Or at the bottom of this page under "Support" click literature request.
https://qacd.lincolnelectric.com/en-...esource-Center

Welcome aboard from Quebec by the way.

Re: Stupid question about Lincoln Pro 155

My first day posting and I can already tell I'm going to learn a lot here

@CAVEMANN - Let's circle back to that "why a wheel is round" thing

@whtbaron - We appear to share a dislike for "knobs" ....Um... yeah... Ok...

Right then....I admit I'm kind of a detail guy so I just assumed that when Lincoln built this thing that it would have just made sense that say something like:

A = 18v B = 20v C = 22v D = 24v E = 26v or something like that..... I don't quite understand but it appears from what you say here that E is higher than A and that's about it..... and one just needs to figure out where the best voltage and wire speed combo is for the project

@CAVEMANN, I did receive the 155 kit with a 40CF (I think maybe 60) tank of C25 gas. (plus a lot of other toys and supplies) That actually leads into my next question that I was going to post on... A buddy and I want to fab one of those Argentinean BBQ's. It requires some stainless work for the grill and I was wondering if working with 304 bar with solid stainless wire... if I can get away with the C25 rather than invest in tri-mix for this one project. I want to find the right balance between doing it right and spending too much money... I'll invest where it makes sense. If it's really worth it to use tri mix on the stainless then perhaps it's worth just using tri-mix all around even on mild steel projects since I'm not a fab shop?

Here it is when I dragged it all home... I took it all down and cleaned it up. Everything seems to run perfectly. None of it got much use.

Attachment 1728496

I cleaned both units all inside and out... I'm also separating them as on the same cart they were a beast to move... The casters were destroyed.

My neighbour who owned it before stuck that little tray on top... pretty cute, I know...

Next question.... I easily found Hobart .30 solid stainless wire... I assume I can use that 2 lb spool... Not that I know the difference but I've just always used Lincoln wire... They don't seem to seem to have a solid stainless .30... perhaps I'm missing something? That would seem to me a standard item for MIG. I've seen others branded US Forge and Blue Demon... I don't know them but again... green welder here... Are they good wire?

Thanks again!