Lincoln 130-S Inverter Stick Welder.

For many years I have used this lovely little light weight Inverter arc welder. Initially my Dad who was a welder in his time laughed when he saw it and picked it up but could not believe that this could put out the Amps that it did and how smooth it worked. Well yesterday I was knocking up a small hand held 'stamper' for compacting soil back into the 60mtrs of trench I am digging out by hand for water drainage and run off. Got 3/4 through the job and I was running it at 120A which is something I have not done before but boy were those rods biting into the plate steel I was welding together. After about 30 minutes of clamping the steel together and burning a rod and changing it then rotating the metal things were going great until a large BANG and no power in the shed. This happened while changing the rod and I knew I did not do anything stupid like drop the burnt rod into the welder. So disconnected everything in the shed, reset the switch on the power board and started checking one tool at a time until the welder which tripped the power again.
So lets pull this apart and see what happened. Well there was a bit of warmth still comming from the cover but nothing too serious. Took the cover off and split one circuit board from the other and had a look inside, not good. The largest of the coils in there was a distinctive brown colour on top which is paper. All other wires looked good but maybe a rectifier or capacitor has also had enough. So after all the time and effort into trying to repair my MIG last year with no luck I have decided to write this one off after 27 years of good service. Of note was this Lincoln was made in Italy which surprised my especially knowing it is a US Company who also had a plant in Sydney where they made welders too. Long boring story cut short a replacement has been ordered, a Rossi 200A inverter model.

If it wentbang as soon as you plugged it in I 2ould mind betting the lead is melted internally

They are good little welder, I have a 170 A Lincoln like this, prefer it to the MIG for most work, better welds and very predictable

I can use it on full power hour after and it never gets hot

cost a bit but was worth it


Paul

Yes Paul, I plugged it in but when I flicked the power switch on the unit it blacked out. 15A power cord tested good and after the last welder attempt to repair and fail I just bit the bullet and ordered another welder.

New Rossi 200S arrived this morning way earlier than expected. Had to try it out and found although it is a nice little welder the rating I feel is above what it actually does put out. Carrying on with the job I was welding at 120A I set the Rossi to the same reading only to find it lacking. So next I went to 150 and was getting the same result now s the Lincoln. Usually Inverter welders strike the arc quite easily and without biting but this one was a bit bitey but soon got used to it. For the amount that I do with arc this will be fine but would rather of not lost the Lincoln.