Thread: Restoring a Lincoln 400AS-50

My initial thought is that this will be a very costly excercise, perhaps not worth undertaking, (the conversion to 3 phase supply, not the restoration of the welder itself).
My recollection is that some lincoln mobile welders had an inbuilt 3 phase supply capability and perhaps it would be wiser to source one of these units.
I don't know what equipment you will need to run in your workshop, but I seem to recall that welders with the 3 phase option had one 20 amp outlet. Aux power is inversely proportional to welding current i.e. the more welding current you draw, the less aux power you can supply.
Perhaps a dedicated generator may be more what is required.

Hi Michael,

I understand your crazy idea. I too had a similar idea years ago when I purchased an APU for a Hercules aircraft which I wanted to mod. It output 400Hz and I went as far as purchasing a 7Kva alternator but both were mothballed. My unit here, hercules APU

What you will need to do is determine the normal operating RPM of the engine as this will dictate the windings required for the alternator to ensure you get 50 Hz AC. I would suggest instead to consider purchasing a 3 phase inverter and adding this to your DC generator (capacity dependant) as it will give you the AC supply without the headaches of modding the generator to an alternator. Consider however the most cost effective way to go is to just get a genset on ebay, I was surpised to see 8Kva diesel units going on the flea bay for $1100, link here

Regards
Pete

Originally Posted by Karl Robbers

My initial thought is that this will be a very costly excercise, perhaps not worth undertaking, (the conversion to 3 phase supply, not the restoration of the welder itself).
My recollection is that some lincoln mobile welders had an inbuilt 3 phase supply capability and perhaps it would be wiser to source one of these units.
I don't know what equipment you will need to run in your workshop, but I seem to recall that welders with the 3 phase option had one 20 amp outlet. Aux power is inversely proportional to welding current i.e. the more welding current you draw, the less aux power you can supply.
Perhaps a dedicated generator may be more what is required.

I wont be converting the generator to thre phase ,the intention is to remove the DC exciter and replace it with a 5kVa three phase alternator , useing 1 pahse for excitation of the DC generator ,.
The unit was purchased for an amount which will allow meto repair and modify it , ending up with a versatile unit for field work and a backup set for the workshop.

No intention of running both systems under full load at any time ,this machine will run 450 amps continuous and can deliver 600 amp for short periods.
Most of the later units wont work full on for 4-6 hours at a time .

I was hoping that someone may have rebuilt a perkins engine previously , the electrical side of things is not the problem .

I was trying to find out if the seals on this motor could be relaced with more modern ones to improve its service life .

Thanks for the replies so far .

Michael

I was hoping that someone may have rebuilt a perkins engine previously , the electrical side of things is not the problem .

I was trying to find out if the seals on this motor could be relaced with more modern ones to improve its service life .

Thanks for the replies so far .

Michael[/QUOTE]
I am not aware of a particular weakness in the rear main seal of a Perkins. I would simply replace it with a new seal, genuine or aftermarket, it could be worth checking bearing clearances as this can contribute to seal failures.

Originally Posted by Karl Robbers

I was hoping that someone may have rebuilt a perkins engine previously , the electrical side of things is not the problem .

I was trying to find out if the seals on this motor could be relaced with more modern ones to improve its service life .

Thanks for the replies so far .

Michael

I am not aware of a particular weakness in the rear main seal of a Perkins. I would simply replace it with a new seal, genuine or aftermarket, it could be worth checking bearing clearances as this can contribute to seal failures.[/QUOTE]

There is no problem with the Bearings as the oil pressure is ok and the problem is that the seal is worn or has gone stiff from age .

It appears that I am on my own as to the repairs , I was hoping for some assistance not a dont do it attitude.
That is what will actually make me persist , just to prove the naysayers wrong.
These welders were made to work all day and not go fizzle pop after a couple of hours like many of the current models seem to .
I dont junk something because it's not he latest or is bristleing with a lot of bells and whistles.
Reliability is more important than "having the latest model".

Thanks to those who did offer sensible replies.
Michael

I believe if you had to restore a welder than Lincoln is your best choice.
I have dealt with them in the past and they were able to source things like a face plate for a 40 year old machine.
Lincoln are a very helpful company and I'm sure they could advise you on the 3 Ph matter.

Grahame

Originally Posted by inverter_weld

I was surpised to see 8Kva diesel units going on the flea bay for $1100, link here
Regards
Pete

Peter,
Sorry to see the APU project shelved. That's a lovely piece of equipment...

Don't be too easily fooled by the eBay advertising that is rampant about genrating sets! When you read all of it, it is in fact a 4kw generator. The diesel is an 8kW max output engine.
I had one of these and it would go into overload status (and had to be shut down and restarted to get it to generate again!) when it hit 8A on any 240V outlet. The starting current of our waterpump was 8A (for a 1.5kW pump). It packed up under warranty and I got the same size single phase gen set to replace it and it goes to 20A before it shuts the generator down - same deal: shut down - restart. At 4.8kW, at least it will start my pump and runs the household (carefully) when the power goes out.
Cheers,
Joe

Originally Posted by Mike4

No intention of running both systems under full load at any time ,this machine will run 450 amps continuous and can deliver 600 amp for short periods.
Most of the later units wont work full on for 4-6 hours at a time .

Unless you have a SAM400 the 400AS-50 is only 450amps max output with a duty cycle of 60% @360 amps according to the brochure...

I am not sure how you would excite a DC armature with AC power.... From what I understand and if it works the same way as my AS400 the small DC exciter generator excites the field coils of the main generator through a rheostat that varies the voltage... Although mine is a butchered AS400 that has had a fair bit of componentry removed.

I don't know what 3 cylinder perkins you have but if its a 3.152 perkins motor it a piece of cake first of all you got to know the series if it is a 3.152 perkins that is all you need and the engine number to purchase a rear oil seal .

A photo of the rear of the engine will give a idea of what you need to do .

If when the old seal is removed and there is a wear grove on the land that is on the crank where the lip of the seal seals on then you can do a quick fix to that worn grove with a speedy seal ,putting in a new rear oil seal is quite easy just take your time dismantling the rear housing that holds the seal and i cant see you having any problems.

If original it is a 3.152..

Those 3.152 perkins are a lovely gutsy motor ,if i remember they were in the 35xmassy ferguson tractors when i was a teen ager ,lovely sounding motor with heaps of torque at low revs.

They also were minus the front axle and steering, put into the early cane harvester and owers had a 4.107 perkins up top to run the choppers and hydrolics. Getting a bit of the track here but when someone starts talking about something that close to me.........