Lincoln Square Wave 275

CMSRacing · Fri Apr 17, 2015 9:16 am

I found one on CL listed for $1500. I have more experience with Blue, but no real affinity. It's an old transformer with out the bells and whistles of the little modern inverters, but what do you think?
My goal is to add a bigger welder to the shop at work, we only have a Syncrowave 180DS.
As we are a Makerspace, open to the public, my goals are as follows:

Add a second TIG so I can do classes with more students working at once.

Get a machine capable of doing thicker material than the Syncrowave.

Simple face for ease of set up so it is not over intimidating for new welders.

Capable of moderate daily use. Some days it may not be turned on, others maybe 4+ hours.

Is this a good machine? Anything I should look out for? My hope is to get it cheaper as it has been up for a month, requires more power and not easy to move. None of these are real drawbacks to me.
Thanks.

Fri Apr 17, 2015 7:41 pm

I can't speak specifically to the 275, but I've used the hell out of the Lincoln PrecisionTig 375, and it was a fine machine. It was a bit weak at the low end of it's range, but I expected that versus a lower-powered machine.

$1500 is a good deal. If you can demonstrate the machine, I'd say, "jump".

If it's a teaching tool, you need to expose your students to more than one color, anyway.

Steve S

AKweldshop · Sat Apr 18, 2015 12:50 am

Do you have a breaker big enough for it?

I believe you'll need a 100 amp line to run it up to full welding output.
230v that is.

GreinTime · Sat Apr 18, 2015 2:45 am

John, I'd say he does, just based on what I read in his introductory post, and if they don't have one already, I'm sure it would be no big deal to wire one in.

kiwi2wheels · Sat Apr 18, 2015 8:06 am

Otto Nobedder wrote:I can't speak specifically to the 275, but I've used the hell out of the Lincoln PrecisionTig 375, and it was a fine machine. It was a bit weak at the low end of it's range, but I expected that versus a lower-powered machine.

Steve S

Steve,

Could you please explain what you mean regarding the low end of it's range. Thanks.

Sat Apr 18, 2015 4:01 pm

I meant specifically AC TIG. It had challenges keeping a focused arc when welding thin materials below about 25 A.

The task I was doing would have been better suited by an inverter machine with adjustable frequency, or at least a smaller machine with a lower operating range.

Steve S

kiwi2wheels · Sat Apr 18, 2015 5:02 pm

OK , thank you Steve.

CMSRacing · Sun Apr 19, 2015 2:13 pm

Thanks for the input guys. Yes, we have plenty of power for this machine, we even have 3 phase. If I find something bigger. The space we are in was empty warehouse before we started. We did all the wiring.
I'm setting up a test of the machine this week and will tell you how it goes.