Inherited Welder

[VandyBart]

Hello All,
I inherited this welder from the wife's grandparents. Wondering if anyone had an update on what to set it on. I been burning some rods on 3, but being I have never welded, I just put it on the middle setting. Grandmother-in-law was 81 a couple of years ago and she had me in her late husbands shop burning some rods. She had it on 3 as well.

It is a Hobart Brothers from Troy Ohio, but when I called them and gave them the model number from the data plate, they could not find any kind of user manual even from their microfish. From what I can figure using the data plate, the 1 - 5 settings is how many amps it welds, but the A - D does not mean anything to me or have anything on the data plate. It must be an AC only welder as their is no data on the DC settings side. The fine adjustment wheel must let you adjust the amps in each setting.

Data Plate:
1 - 20 to 45
2 - 37 to 80
3 - 60 to 110
4 - 90 to 140
5 - 120 to 180

I see it is single phase, 60 cycle, and 20% duty cycle. How long can I weld before letting it cool?

I wired it with a 50 amp breaker using 6-2 wire.

Any help would be appreciated as I would like to play with this as a hobby. I have been reading and learning for some time from the postings.

thanks,
VandyBart

[84ZMike]

VB I couldn't tell from the data tag what setting the duty cycle is for but the 20% is 2 minutes out of 10...so for 2 min. you can weld at that setting then the welder must cool for 8 minutes.......as for the letters on the dial I have no idea...also the 45 amps as stated on the data plate it probably for the older breakers and you could probably run that machine from a 30 amp just fine......and you are correct about the fine adjustment being used to adjust within each 1-5 setting.....

[vicegrip]

What a Gorgeous Machine !!

20 % duty cycle back then was conservative.
Up to 2/3s of it's power rating, figure weld all day long,
if the inards are dust-free, and fan is in good order.

Confusing about the DC , hard to say, seems like it should have it,
but the info plate is empty....in the DC side.

You should remove the cover and clean it anyway, look for
rectifiers (square plates).....diodes after a certain age.

Great Welder !!

vg

[JimDon]

Fan

Phil,
I'd bet you money that that old welder does not have a fan attached. Like my old Miller, they just didn't do fans in those days. Pull a couple of those CPU fans out of a computer case, hook them up to any AC or DC wall plug for an old telephone, radio, etc. or get a new one at Radio Shack. Run the two fans off the wall plug and you've got yourself an updated welder complete with high speed fans pumping a ton of cool air over the transformers. BTW, it works great on mine.
Jim Don

[VandyBart]

Thanks for the inputs

84Z - I will take a look at the data plate and check the setting for the duty cycle setting.

vicegrip - thanks for the kind words. I took the covers off when I got the welder and used the air compressor to blow out the cobwebs and dust. I have not had any issues with duty cycle to my knowledge. 2 minutes is a long time welding really.

JimDon - that is a good input and I will keep that info for future addon if I get efficient enough to affect duty cycle.

Question for anyone - What do you look for when reaching the duty cycle limit? Does the welder shut down, not arc, etc? Do I risk damaging the welder if I do not adhere to the duty cycle? Thanks in advance for any replies.

[cope]

84Z - I will take a look at the data plate and check the setting for the duty cycle setting.



Question for anyone - What do you look for when reaching the duty cycle limit? Does the welder shut down, not arc, etc? Do I risk damaging the welder if I do not adhere to the duty cycle? Thanks in advance for any replies.

Don't worry about exceeding the duty cycle, you will have to stop and change rods, and probably won't be running continuous welds long enough to make any difference.

[vicegrip]

84Z -
Question for anyone - What do you look for when reaching the duty cycle limit? Does the welder shut down, not arc, etc? Do I risk damaging the welder if I do not adhere to the duty cycle? Thanks in advance for any replies.

In general, it begins to heat up, and loose eficiency, and generate more heat,

to the point the aditional draw will pop your wall-braker.
Like cope said, you probably won't ever hit it.

Cheers

VG