Welding Tips and Tricks

Are there any other SA 200 guys on here? I'm thinking of trading off my ranger 305 for a shorthood. Looking for some input. My 1960 red face does everything i need it to do and I love the way it welds with any rod. I havent tig welded with it yet but I'm sure it will do fine. I have no need for 10,000 watts of AC but would like to have a spare machine in case the red face breaks down.

You must be desperate to get rig of that 305.
Can you just not afford to keep it, or what?
I wouldn't consider switching it out with a SA200, But if the Sa does your work, and you have the extra cash in your pocket. win.

~John

AKweldshop wrote:You must be desperate to get rig of that 305.
Can you just not afford to keep it, or what?
I wouldn't consider switching it out with a SA200, But if the Sa does your work, and you have the extra cash in your pocket. win.

~John

I'm not desperate to get rid of it by no means. I like the machine ok but IMHO its nowhere near as good as the SA200. I found a guy that was going to give me a 57 shorthood and a grand cash for the ranger. The shorthood ran and welded great but the cosmetics were not great. I mean really its an original 57, not gonna look great. Looking on ebay and CL the old redfaces like my 60 are selling for over 6,000 redone. Shorthoods are even more. Another thing is the ranger has all the modern bs on it that i cant fix and the sa i can troubleshoot and fix with a set of standard wrenches and a volt/ohm meeter.

What makes a SA200 Good? they don't have a gen?

This can turn in to a long discussion. Just warning you. The SA200 is a pure DC generator machine and has no AC output. Any power tools with brushes IE grinders will still run off it. A ranger is a rectified AC machine. DC welding current on the ranger has been run thru a rectifier that changes arc characteristics. Thats just the start of it. A "redface" and the "shorthoods" have solid copper windings in the generator whereas the ranger is copper clad aluminum windings. This also changes arc characteristics. The ranger has the chopper feature that changes arc characteristics some but I'm still not as pleased with it as i am my 200.

Around here I see more of the older Lincolns on the pipe line rigs than anything else. I have only ran Millers and will say they are good especially the diesel ones. I agree this argument can go on forever. If I ever find a good deal I will have to pick one up and give it a shot.
I guess one way to look at it is these welders are still around today and we probably won't say the same of the welders sold today. That has to speak for something in these old beasts favor.

Superiorwelding wrote:
I guess one way to look at it is these welders are still around today and we probably won't say the same of the welders sold today. That has to speak for something in these old beasts favor.

I guess that's as true as it gets.

I love my 200 and i will say that welding with it is a lot different than anything else. It alomost seems to mild but when the slag peels back its perfect. My ranger i can set to 113-117 with 1/8 7018 and be fine all position, with the 200 i need to change it a bit but the welds look so much better i cant beat it. With the ditch box, fine current control is easy. I'll see if i can get some pictures of both machines welds this weekend.