Lincoln Idealarc TM300/300 arc voltage

[tom fleming]

hi guys, so I just bought an Idealarc TM300/300 in really nice shape. I bought it to start doing some gouging work and also running some larger hard-facing rods. I have been trying to find the arc voltage for this model without success for the gouging work. I have the operators manual, and have searched the Lincoln web site, and yet there is no info around the arc voltage. The OCV is listed, but not the voltage for welding. Anyone have any info on this?

thanks!

[Oldendum]

Arc voltage: 40 volts

Brochure/specs here: https://archive.org/details/LincolnA...ge/n3/mode/2up

There's different view options and download options. Here's a link to the PDF: https://ia800101.us.archive.org/12/i...0Models%20.pdf

Now, ask me a hard question.

Beauty pic:

[tom fleming]

ok, so the OCV is 75v and the actual arc voltage is 40v? If that is the case, then this is not an appropriate machine for gouging, as the Arc Air documentation indicates a minimum of 60 arc volts. Disappointing, as I was hoping to do some gouging with this. Thank you very much for the quick and good response!

PS: Here's the hard question: so, how will an Arc Air K4000 torch behave on 40V arc?

[Oldendum]

ok, so the OCV is 75v and the actual arc voltage is 40v? If that is the case, then this is not an appropriate machine for gouging, as the Arc Air documentation indicates a minimum of 60 arc volts. Disappointing, as I was hoping to do some gouging with this. Thank you very much for the quick and good response!

PS: Here's the hard question: so, how will an Arc Air K4000 torch behave on 40V arc?

Saw this Red-D-Arc blurb: "Single-phase machines with low open-circuit voltage may not work for air carbon arc gouging (CAC-A). However, any three-phase welding power source of sufficient capacity may be used for air carbon arc gouging. The arc voltage used in air carbon arc gouging and cutting ranges from a low of 35 to a high of 56 volts; thus the open-circuit voltage should be at least 60 volts. The actual arc voltage is governed by arc length and the type of gouging." https://www.red-d-arc.com/pdf/Air%20...ing%20Data.pdf

Somehow I think they are rather high on the arc voltage, especially if one is holding a short arc for gouging, as noted here in the Arcair K4000 manual.



300 amps isn't much for gouging. The Miller Dimension 650 has a gouge mode - 815 A at 44 VDC and OCV of 65V or 79V depending on input voltage.

[tom fleming]

Again, thank you for the response. I don't plan on doing heavy duty gouging, more like 1/4" or 1/8" rods to clean up truck frames and such. I use a scarfing tip on the oxy-acetylene right now, and was hoping to accomplish similar or better with the gouge. I truly do appreciate the response. I guess I'll just have to try it. It will either work or it won't. I didn't pay that much for the unit, and it definitely will help out when I am doing moderate to light hardfacing. thank you!

[Oldendum]

If it works, just keep the duty cycle really low. Gouging is hard on a welder. Let us know how it works out.

I want to play with an oxygen lance (NOT)!

[ccawgc]

Just match the carbon rod size to the available amps and then keep an eye on the duty cycle limits. stop every few minutes and let the welder cool.
Should be a chart with the torch listing amps needed for different rod sizes.
I would use a 200 amp rod on a 300 amp machine. This shouldn't stress the welder much. What really kills a welder would be using a 500 amp rod on a 300 amp machine. I had a customer that used a 2000 amp rod on a 1500 amp welder.
But they were not holding the arc on very long. used it to blow extra metal off the edge of new castings before grinding. AND they still killed the diodes. until I added an extra one. The miller cp/cc 1500 has 36 diodes. 6 in parallel on 6 plates.
added one more diode to each plate. diodes didn't short out after that.