Madforwelding45
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Ac stick welding has its uses it eliminates arc blow when when welding into corners and on magnetized . Plus the oil cooled plants are probably built to last
- Thread starter Arc34
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The main reason would be there is very little to go wrong with one,
ours is over 50 years old, worked 7 days a week for 25 years, then did all the site
welding off a generator.
Bought a 200 amp SWP inverter 15 years ago, it never put a foot wrong,
never cut out with over heating either, it was double the size of the competitions,
cost 420.00 back then.
The last oil cooled Pic Arc 200 amp I bought in 88 I think, sold it since though.
I refrained from saying such, but you are 100% right, and these welders are still used
today for these exact reasons.
Madforwelding45
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Arc blow can be so annoying on certain steel . Where you have cattle scratching again feed rails ect the steel becomes magnetized and causes arc blow and can cause problems when repairing them with a DC welder
I’ve encountered such, this is why I like the old AC oil cooled, you always
know you can get the job done.
Madforwelding45
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Its amazing the problems arc blow can cause sometimes rod angle can help .
Madforwelding45
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The ac stick plant will always have a place I think anway
I will be keeping mine, even though I’ve been told such items are dinosaurs.
Munkul
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Nah, that's fine, I get it 
we got rid of ours simply because it had no place left on the farm for us - we don't have great issues with arc blow anywhere, and we use a lot of 7018 which prefers DC current.
IF you haven't used a modern inverter (a decent quality one, anyways) then TRY one!
we got rid of ours simply because it had no place left on the farm for us - we don't have great issues with arc blow anywhere, and we use a lot of 7018 which prefers DC current.IF you haven't used a modern inverter (a decent quality one, anyways) then TRY one!
Madforwelding45
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The key to inverters is to buy a decent brand like kemppi ewm lorch frounis. If you do a lot of work .
I would agree, for certain rods a modern inverter that can handle 6010 and 7018 wellNah, that's fine, I get it
IF you haven't used a modern inverter (a decent quality one, anyways) then TRY one!
will make the difference in going mad and getting the job done, you won’t be happy with
AC in those cases.
because they last forever, probably
Not many stick sets (and only stick sets) sold for professional use these days.......the most common would be portable or running from a genny.......so they pick inverters because they are light.........The first inverter made by Lincoln had bricks in the bottom to make it heavier...they were afraid of theft because they could be lifted by one man
The first Mig I bought was so heavy compared to other makes I looked at,
the consensus was, it must be full of copper, and none of that aluminium rubbish,
It was widely considered to be the best mig around, all based on its weight,
funny how people think, never had a problem selling a mig by suggesting to
the buyer to go try and lift it, always went away happy.
Will be adding a brick or too for sure now that Lincoln have done it, just
to ensure happiness prevails.
Munkul
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I understand the reasoning... but they actually don't.
Water in the oil
Corroded base leaks
insulation break down around terminals
weakened spring contacts internally
Selector switch springs fail, or selectors get stiff
All faults that can and do happen with these transformers... Yes they're generally fixable, but it's a horrid experience and involves possibly carcinogenic transformer oil.
We scrapped two of them in my memory - one for leaking, one for insulation breakdown. The leaking one was fixed once or twice for another fault, but I was just a boy at the time.
The third one, the one we sold, actually had an annoying fault where it would sometimes just run cold welds. We never bothered to work out what the problem was, just chucked it in an auction since it did work still.
That's my experience. Of course, I learned to stick weld using one of these oilcooleds when it had insulation breakdown, and therefore buzzed you from the return lead with a shock. I hated it with a passion, maybe something to do with how much I still hate them
Some of them got a hard time, ours is still going after 50 years,I understand the reasoning... but they actually don't.
Water in the oil
Corroded base leaks
insulation break down around terminals
weakened spring contacts internally
All faults that can and do happen with these transformers... Yes they're generally fixable, but it's a horrid experience and involves possibly carcinogenic transformer oil.
We scrapped two of them in my memory - one for leaking, one for insulation breakdown. The leaking one was fixed once or twice, but I was just a boy at the time.
The third one, the one we sold, actually had an annoying fault where it would sometimes just run cold welds. We never bothered to work out what the problem was, just chucked it in an auction since it did work still.
That's my experience. Of course, I learned to stick weld using one of these oilcooleds when it had insulation breakdown, and therefore buzzed you from the return lead with a shock. I hated it with a passion, maybe something to do with how much I still hate them
had one oil change, that’s all it needed.
it doesn’t shock when you change the rod either, always a good sign.
This welder was left switched on for days at a time, and it still lays
consistent beads time after time, it makes the same gentle hum
it did when it was new, no vibrating like a whacked plate when you
strike the arc, due to de lamination or coils that are coming loose
due to overheating and lacquer damage.
No corroded tank either, nor did we drag it on the concrete to wear it,
it spent its whole life on a steel trolley, with wooden runners so it didn’t
wear through or heat from being covered.
And then there the other oil cooled ones I used, lift you out of it changing a rod,
heated up after a while and weld like nothing on earth.
I bought one off a neighbour, took it home, plugged it in and left the neighbourhood
in darkness! straight back it went and I bought that new Pic Arc.
I understand the reasoning... but they actually don't.
Water in the oil
Corroded base leaks
insulation break down around terminals
weakened spring contacts internally
All faults that can and do happen with these transformers... Yes they're generally fixable, but it's a horrid experience and involves possibly carcinogenic transformer oil.
We scrapped two of them in my memory - one for leaking, one for insulation breakdown. The leaking one was fixed once or twice for another fault, but I was just a boy at the time.
The third one, the one we sold, actually had an annoying fault where it would sometimes just run cold welds. We never bothered to work out what the problem was, just chucked it in an auction since it did work still.
That's my experience. Of course, I learned to stick weld using one of these oilcooleds when it had insulation breakdown, and therefore buzzed you from the return lead with a shock. I hated it with a passion, maybe something to do with how much I still hate them
You must have had the one.......Ive known them be 20 years old still original oil still running like a good un.......Shipyards used to have what was known as Pots......similar thing but 4 welders running from the same pot........the only reason they had to change is they couldnt calibrate them.....indestructable they were.......same in the MoD factories making Challenger Tanks, burning 10mm Stainless Rods all day...no-one knew the current just the settings but you had to knock it up a notch when another guy struck up.
We used to use one for testing rods. The reason being was thats all we had at one time but when the technology improved we knew if it ran on the Pot it ran on anything....we had to introduce big wall mounted ammeters.
On the other hand the first Inverters wouldnt last long at all. Lincoln couldnt apply their famous 3 year warranty to Inverters....obviously they got better.
Our Pickhill came from a ship yard on the Clyde, as probably did nearly
every other one that made it to Ireland in those days.
Munkul
Jack of some trades, Master of none
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I'd say we probably got machines right at the end of their life, to be honest... Dad and uncles were and are still great for buying junk and expecting it to do another lifetime 
All 3 machines had those metal wheeled carriages.
I was SOO happy the day they decided to scrap the shocky one... then they dragged another big old machine into its place!
All 3 machines had those metal wheeled carriages.
I was SOO happy the day they decided to scrap the shocky one... then they dragged another big old machine into its place!
I'd say we probably got machines right at the end of their life, to be honest... Dad and uncles were and are still great for buying junk and expecting it to do another lifetime
All 3 machines had those metal wheeled carriages.
I was SOO happy the day they decided to scrap the shocky one... then they dragged another big old machine into its place!
But yours probably wasnt kept in the relatively warm dry conditions that they usually were.......welders want paying more for working outside
as for the shocks that was probably another reason they lost popularity. Ive had to kick someone off a beam a few times....using themselves as earth cables
....fortunately it never happened to meI think, even now, if I needed a weld to save my life and Id got the choice, oil cooled or Inverter ....Id pick the oil cooled.
.....maybe because Im old
Memmeddu
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I used to use an AC buzz box and it was a pain
Terrific duty cycle 15 minutes to cooling down after using a 3.2mm electrode
However I still have this unit ,I don't use it anymore but it's my first real welder I got.
Today if I have to buy a transformer based unit I would like to go on a big old DC set up .
Doesn't matter which process ,both MIG or MMA but big 300+ Amp
The only vantage point I might say...
Is that transformer based units are virtually bullet proof , very reliables , all the other features are just problems on other problems
Heavy
Big
Not something you would like to carry around every day
Current consumption
power factor
Usually 3 please only
But they're worth to repair in almost every case
I don't know if over there rotary welders were popular ...
Here those units were very popular and also today someone still have one
Essentially a big three phase motor that drag a DC generator
Not exactly efficient we are talking about 200 300A welders that need at least 20kW to work
power factor?
I think about 0.5 or .4
I don't think I have never seen an oil cooled welder here in Italy
Terrific duty cycle 15 minutes to cooling down after using a 3.2mm electrode
However I still have this unit ,I don't use it anymore but it's my first real welder I got.
Today if I have to buy a transformer based unit I would like to go on a big old DC set up .
Doesn't matter which process ,both MIG or MMA but big 300+ Amp
The only vantage point I might say...
Is that transformer based units are virtually bullet proof , very reliables , all the other features are just problems on other problems
Heavy
Big
Not something you would like to carry around every day
Current consumption
power factor
Usually 3 please only
But they're worth to repair in almost every case
I don't know if over there rotary welders were popular ...
Here those units were very popular and also today someone still have one
Essentially a big three phase motor that drag a DC generator
Not exactly efficient we are talking about 200 300A welders that need at least 20kW to work
power factor?
I think about 0.5 or .4
I don't think I have never seen an oil cooled welder here in Italy
