You finally think you've found that beautiful refurbished SA200 you've been looking for. Should you buy her?

To bring you up to speed, I am 78 years old and have been working in the welding equipment business since 1971. I am a machine man, I love technology. I like to fix things.

I surfed these forums to see if I could help people. And some of the answers I see from these supposed experts are unbelievably stupid. I deeply believe we have entered the age of incompetence. The images below are of a machine I saw on a forum today. The guy is asking $6,000 for it. Is it worth $6,000? I don't have a clue. In my tax bracket, I figure for every buck I put in my pocket, I gotta make two, taxes, fees, license, everything in the world.

So let's take a look at this jewel. I have a few questions about this machine:

1. When you look at the faceplate, there is no Code or Serial Number. You have a younger technician who's not familiar with these machines. How's he going to look up any information on them?

2. Those retro knobs on the controls may look great until you try to start moving them. They're not my style.

3. Notice it has Murphy gauges on the machine, but there's no tattle tail. I can see one anywhere. This is a common trick among rebuilders. The problem is, if those switches do close and it kills the machine one or two times, it will burn that little needle off on the inside. But it's cheaper than installing a $150 tattle tail the right way.

4. The machine appears to be set up for a remote control, but I do not see a remote cord plug-in anywhere. If you plug your remote here, where are you going to plug in a grinder?

5. This aluminum nose cone for the exciter looks great, but what does it do for you? Except it screams, "Steal me, steal me."

Let's take a quick look-see at the business side of this machine.

1. The first thing that concerns me most is this PCV valve on the side; that's the lower red circle just to the right of the crossed-out air cleaner. This is a PCV valve. You can see this connected to the vent tube coming off the engine, and on the other side, there's a hose that goes from it up to the little red circle on the manifold. That's your manifold intake. This is a dead giveaway that you've got bad seals on this engine. The negative crankcase pressure sucks air from the inside through the worn seals. Then it is sucked up through the PCV valve and burned in the engine. It will work for a while, but it is wearing your engine out even faster because it is sucking dirty air into the oil and contaminating it. If you buy a machine like this, understand you'll surely be paying a lot of pesos to have this engine rebuilt or replaced.

2. If you notice, the red on the exhaust manifold is still there, but the "seal engine" lettering has rusted away. This machine has put in a lot of hard hours, and for some reason, cylinders two and three seem to be running hotter than the rest of the engine. When you pull the engine down for repair, don't be surprised if you don't have a cracked block and/or cracked head. Heat accelerates corrosion. Expect to replace the valve seats, valve guides, and exhaust valves when you rebuild this engine.
   

3. Whoever's put this together looks like they've got a real el cheapo PC board, probably an eBay special. The dent circled in red in the hood is a dead giveaway. Somebody was in a real hurry to get this machine out. A good body man could pound that dent out smooth in about ten minutes.

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Would I buy this machine for $6,000? No. First off, in my tax bracket, I have to make two dollars for every dollar I put in my pocket. That means I would have to earn $12,000 just to buy this machine, and what have I bought? I know nothing about the condition of the armature, brushes, series, and shunt coils. On a machine this old, you're going to have to replace at least one of them.

I recommend, no matter what you buy, look at it hard. Take it to someone who really knows these machines and get an honest opinion.

if you really want to learn how to diagnose and repair these machines, check out this web page. You'll find more comprehensive, complete information on this one page than in any other single source on the Net.

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