HOW TO UPGRADE YOUR SA-200 AND MAKE IT LAST A LIFETIME!
Why should you keep your SA-200?
1. What will you replace it with? You can no longer buy a water-cooled gasoline engine welder, thanks to the EPA.
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2. In my opinion, both Lincoln and Miller are manufacturing machines that are designed to be efficiently manufactured, not effectively repaired. They both have a vested interest in you not being able to fix their machines; the effective profit comes from selling new machines, not repair parts. It's difficult to believe when you see the prices for simple items.
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3. Even though Lincoln is obsoleting many of the original replacement parts for the SA-200, the aftermarket has come to your rescue with replacement items. The best ones are far superior to OEM. Always check the warranty on everything you buy—no warranty; (get it in writing) no sale. We sell our aftermarket exciter coils (L8707). Lincoln has obsoleted them. Thirty-five years of installing and selling them- no failures! When I install them in our shop, I give a lifetime warranty (parts and labor) and a 10-year warranty on the coils we sell.
4. Both Lincoln and Miller are producing PC boards that are manufactured to be non-repairable. Your board fails; they have no replacements. What do you do? I guarantee you're going to have a bad day when your repairman calls to tell you that you are the proud owner of a $25000.00 boat anchor with a Perkins diesel!
5. At this time, everything on the SA-200 and SA-250 can be replaced, rewound, rebuilt, or fabricated. More importantly, these machines are so simple that we can easily troubleshoot them. We have been in his industry since 1971. Do I know everything about these machines? Hell no! I learn something new every day, but I have a good understanding of what and how these machines work. I am not a welder, but I listen to everyone.
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SA200-F162 K6090 CODE NUMBERS 3417-7242 K-6090
Orginal "Bellows Idler"
Let's start your Continental F-series engine.
The Continental engine (F series) was first introduced to the market in 1929. It was designed in a different era. It was intended for applications that require a high-torque, low-RPM engine, such as a car with a three-speed manual transmission. When I was courting my wife, I could only afford a 1957 four-door Chevy sedan. If memory serves me, I bought it for $75, and it had a six-cylinder engine with a three-speed on-the-column shifter. I taught my then-girlfriend how to drive a manual. It had a good clutch, and the engine had so much low-RPM torque that you could start in first or second gear.
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Here is a question to ask your local SA-200 expert: How much horsepower does it take to produce 200 amps? You don't need to guess. The nameplate tells you. You need 200 amps at a 40-volt resistive (arc power) load. Power equals voltage x amps (200 amps x 40 volts = 8,000 watts of power).
A quick way to estimate horsepower in terms of electrical power is to multiply by approximately two horsepower per kilowatt. (2 x 8= 16hp at 1500 rpm). This is why a twenty-horsepower small engine will produce 200 amps - not for very long, but it will in the short term.
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The SA-200 was designed for stick welding pipe and was introduced to the market in approximately 1939, remaining in production until the 1980s. The original SA-200 was welded at 1400 RPMs, and the Continental F-162 had a compression ratio of 6.5 to 1. These engines were introduced to the market in the late 1920s, featuring a long stroke (the ratio of the piston diameter to the stroke length). I believe it was designed initially as a motorcar engine. There were many "car" companies in this era, but no automatic transmission. There were and still are those who made clutches, transmissions, differentials, and brakes, but designing and manufacturing a reliable engine was a steep and expensive hill to climb. Find one you can buy at a reasonable price and install it in whatever machine you are building.
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2nd generation "R-57" vacuum idler
obsolete
The Lincoln SA-200 K6090
In this section, we are going to discuss the original K6090 (round barrel) welders, starting with code 3417 through 7242. The first machines were "transition" machines. They used everything from the previous production run that could be applied to the new machines. That's why you sometimes see something different on machines, like the old-style bellows idler, until they switched to the R-57 style idler. Sometimes the document reflects these changes, and sometimes not.
Welders, call these Redface, Bluedial, Pipeliner; these names mean nothing to me, because welders swap engines and other parts. Let's start with the code number, usually a four or five-digit number that identifies the machine parts list. Sorry, no tech manuals.
The early models had six-volt generators, some + ground machines; today, most have been converted to 12-volt ground systems. Almost all had Continental F-162 engines, but I saw them with F-163, from the factory.
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I am not a welder; my expertise is in what is inside the stator housing and making the engines last as long as possible. There is a myth that they weld better, whatever that means. Copper shunt coils, yes, they were copper, but insulated with paper!
Round barrel SA200, F-162 engine and low-mount" Delco shaved side starter"
What no one will tell you about the Octagon barrel SA200. Basically, the SA200, SA250, 3.152, Classic series, and 300 series diesels have almost identical designs. There are different armature lengths and bearings: different shunt coils, and other differences. With one design, a whole new line of machines was created, featuring more powerful engines, more torque, and higher current output.
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These units came with the "PC board" idler system, almost all Continental F-163 engines, and a different starter mounting (high mount).
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-------------OPINION-------------------------------------------------------
The only reason you have windings, armature, and coil failures is due to cheap external manufacturing. They never improved their insulation procedure till the end of the production run, approximately 1992.
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We can update the original design.
1. Rewound armatures installed in our shop, with a lifetime warranty
2. Serial and shunt coils in our shop, with a lifetime warranty.
3. Exciter windings and rewound exciter armatures, with a lifetime warranty when installed in our shop
