Update on my Stickweld 250

[Furu]

That is what I'm afraid of! I run 1/8-inch 6010 around 80-amps on the V350-Pro to get the same results on the Stickweld 250 I was a little over 120-amps! Furu will probably have the exact numbers. To me that is just way to big of a difference!
Lanse I really look forward to what you find out.

The Lincoln V350-Pro with ESAB 10P Plus 1/8" was at 80 amps and I think AF was around +2.4 or so.

The Stickweld with same rod (ESAB 10P Plus 1/8") was at 125 amps AF 5; thus the 45 amp difference.
My memory of the V350-Pro Arc Force setting may be off a bit as I did not log that as we were looking at several things with the range of the AF on the machine.

 

[SHORT KID]

Shield Arc
What kind of rods does your PA 200 prefer to burn well. I got a PA200 last year and am slowly getting used to it but my suppliers aren't local and I don't make special trips to them. Any input on 6011 or 7018 would be appreciated. I am limited to Lowes of TSC locally and got some 7018 hobart and Lincoln 6011 to try. I try to do all of my practice outside and the weather is not to my liking, this old body just can't handle it well !! Thanks

 

[Shield Arc]

My PA-200 really loves Hobart's 335A 6011, and ESAB's AtomArc 7018. My independent welding supply that I deal with all the time carries the Hobart 335A 6011, but I have to go to Air Gas for the AtomArc.

I don't suggest buying 7018 on line. No doubt the flux will get broken off during shipping.
Hobart 335A Mild Steel Stick Electrode - E6011 - 1/8" X 14" - 50 lb Container - S112244-031

 

[LONGEVITYsimon]

We can get Scott to test whatever rods you wish us to test and put in the videos! Let us know what you want to see. We can get the rods needed to test from the local supply store.

 

[Shield Arc]

I would say any of the 6010 rods Furu listed. Radnor, ESAB's 10P, 10P-Plus, Lincoln 5P-Plus.
Does it make any sense to you that his Stickweld 250 ran the 10P-Plus at 125-amps, where the same results with my V350-Pro was at 80-amps?:confused3: Even though 125-amps is well with in ESAB's parameters.

 

[LONGEVITYsimon]

I would say any of the 6010 rods Furu listed. Radnor, ESAB's 10P, 10P-Plus, Lincoln 5P-Plus.
Does it make any sense to you that his Stickweld 250 ran the 10P-Plus at 125-amps, where the same results with my V350-Pro was at 80-amps?:confused3: Even though 125-amps is well with in ESAB's parameters.

Im not sure. We do not have the V350-Pro here to do a side by side, but that is something we can look into. Ill have to ask Scott or David to see why there may be differences in the machines and the settings.

 

[Shield Arc]

Lanse said he was going to pickup some 6010 and try it on his Stickweld 250. I know all machines are different, but 45-amps?!
On second thought we had ESAB's 10P-Plus running beautifully, so no need to give it a test drive. Only way I could get the other rods to run was by jamming them right into the puddle. Soon as I opened the arc just a little bit I lost it, and the arc died. I just get a gut feeling something is wrong with Furu's machine.

 

[LONGEVITYsimon]

Cool, we can also do our testing later this week. If Furu wishes to get his unit checked out, i can get our guys on it. I think we should do some in house tests + with Lanse's tests to see if we get similar results on the settings.

 

[Shield Arc]

What was also strange, I ran the Lincoln Excalibur 1/8-inch 7018 vertical up at 145-amps! Trust me I'm not that good!:laughing: Also 155-amps for flat, normally I run flat around 125-amps.:confused3:

 

[CNC Dan]

Only way I could get the other rods to run was by jamming them right into the puddle. Soon as I opened the arc just a little bit I lost it, and the arc died. I just get a gut feeling something is wrong with Furu's machine.

That's the same result I had with 6011 ( Lincoln brand), on both everlast and longevity machines. Had to burry the rod below the surface. Would like to find some place to get a small quantity of other brands to try.

 

[ChuckE2009]

Yeah, Ill work on getting some electrodes together

Furu, I don't think something's right with your machine... It could be that it just REALLY needs to be calibrated, or something else isnt right with it... I'd take simon up on his offer to get it checked out... Good luck

 

[Furu]

An update on my Stickweld 250. I owe it to anyone reading the thread and to Longevity and Simon.

After the issues that my 250 seemed to have, Longevity offered to have their folks take a look at the machine. It was sent back.
They told me to send everything back so I packed it up in the original carton with cables and everything it came with just like I received it. A week after they received it, according to the tracking number, having heard nothing back I called and emailed the POC that I had been dealing with and CC'ed Simon on the email. By the end of the day I was told that a replacement unit was being shipped out. A couple of days later the box arrived.

My first response when I saw the box was not good as it was the original unit's shipping box with the original unit serial number on the box and I thought they screwed up and sent me back my broken unit. Thinking the worst I opened the box. There were my old cables/stinger and I knew it was bad but wait; the bag around the unit did not have the tears that mine did. I pulled out the 250 and there was a brand new Stickweld 250 with a new more recent serial number. It probably cost Longevity more time to remove the new unit form its shipping box and put it into the original unit's box than to just ship a completely new unit in its box. Me I did not care how they did in-house logistics, as long as I was made whole and the replacement unit worked without the problems that had been identified since I first got my original unit.

I hooked it up and tried it out. I immediately noticed a significant difference in amperage requirements using both 7018 as well as 6010. The arc even to my neophyte ears sounded different from what I had been hearing with the older unit. I did not want to say anything here on line about the replacement unit until I gave Shield Arc a chance to evaluate it with his expertise.

A week ago I got back together with Shield Arc to let him re-evaluate the unit. Bottom line, his comment was there is nothing wrong with this replacement unit. We played with the AF which he had doubted worked from the beginning and he could see incremental differences from 0 -10. For the first time I could actually see the difference in the puddle at the different AF settings which were not there before and if I can see the AF differences as well it was definitely working. We did determine that the machine still has a "preference" for Esab 10P Plus but the 6010 rods that just would not work for hill of beans before now worked pretty well. The 6010 1/8" now was running 45 amps less than before and within 4 amps of his V350-Pro so it seemed to be working really well. I can say that without Shield Arc's identification of the problems I may very well have never known anything was truly wrong but just blundered on with the defective unit. Now that I have seen how the unit is really supposed to work and seen the effect that varying the AF has all I can say is how nice it is. I do not know if it came form the factory "defective" or if the shipping company did something that created the problem but I will say that I thought Longevity (with a little bit of prodding) stood behind their product and made me whole.

I owe thanks to Shield Arc for his assistance and I must say that I thought that Simon/Longevity stood behind getting the problems resolved once it was truly and clearly identified.

The Stickweld may not have the features of a multi-thousand dollar unit but it is not a multi-thousand dollar unit. It is what it is and is very good at what it is targeted to do. I am quite satisfied and have no problem recommending folks to consider the 250 if that is the type you are considering.

 

[deereman75]

I noticed the arc force on mine didnt seem to make any noticable differnce.. I will have to check it out with an ammeter to see if mine has the same issue. I think we both got ours around the same time, it could have been a bad run. (that said it seems fine to me, and for all I know I might just not know what to look for with arcforce) I hope this doesnt sound like I am suggesting they are a bad unit, I love it, and it is great. If the arc force is down on mine, I cant imagen how nice yours is.

 

[Furu]

Yes we got ours very close in time and I would bet that our serial numbers (my original unit and yours) were not far off. I do not know if an ammeter would show the AF working or not. That is a bit over my understanding of just how it functions. I thought it modified the waveform as well. I can tell you the puddle response is detectably different now at different settings and I could not tell a difference before and even Shield Arc questioned from day one of his eval of the machine if it was working.

 

[deereman75]

I was thinking the ammeter to see if the settings were off like yours. I know the arc force had almost no effect, I will have to do some tests, and possibly call up simon..

 

[Shield Arc]

I noticed the arc force on mine didnt seem to make any noticable differnce.

On his first machine I didn't think the arc force was working at all. But it is defiantly working now! It doesn't have the range as my V350-Pro has. One way to test your machine, turn the arc force all the way up, take some 1/8-inch 6010 turn the amps up to about 90, and jam it right into the plate, try your best to snuff out the arc. Then turn the arc force all the way down and do the same thing. If it's working you'll see when the arc force is turned up it does help.

 

[deereman75]

I am actually almost out of rods right now. :ashamed: I have some 3/32 6011, 3/32 and 1/8 6013, and some wet 1/8 7018. I will give it a run through with my whole selection. If it isnt working right, I am calling simon.

 

[Shield Arc]

There is night and day difference with Furu's machines. After running his new machine last week, I'll tell you, for the money these machines are hard to beat!:thumbsup: Who knows if they'll stand up to pouring the coals with 5/32-inch 7018 all day long. But my buddy borrowed my PA-200 to rebuild a hay clamp in Montana. He said he stuffed one 5/32-inch 7018 after another for a few hours, and the machine never got hot, not even the power cord got hot!

 

[deereman75]

It isn't working... The arc force does absolutely nothing. I am messaging Simon, to see about a replacement.

 

[Shield Arc]

It isn't working... The arc force does absolutely nothing. I am messaging Simon, to see about a replacement.

Yeah there must be a bad run of these machines. When you get it replaced, you'll love it! Furu's machine runs 7018 every bit nice as my V350-Pro! And I paid $5,000.00 plus for my machine, guess who has egg on their face?