Duke is my 1941 or 42 Lincoln SA 200 welder, the same age as me, I feel like we are twin brothers.

There was never a better welder made. If you don’t believe it, try to buy one from someone who knows the difference. I bought this welder from my good friend Doyle Cox. So, Duke is new to me even if actually vintage equipment.

It was not running at the time because of the water pump seal leaking.

I found that you just don’t go buy a pump seal for a 1941 Hercules IXB engine at your local parts store. I could have gotten a boiler pump seal from Grainger’s Industrial Supply and made a new shaft but I have an old Motor Manual for trucks that also covers Hercules engines and it shows that not all IXB’s had water pumps.

The ones without pumps percolate like a coffee maker. Doyle found an elbow from an engine without a pump, so now I can make coffee and weld at the same time. Lincoln had a reason for using engines with water pumps but I will be welding for only short periods of time. I have used it to weld on my baler on a 90 degree day and had no problem.

When I was young my Dad had a 10 20 McCormick Deering tractor that was designed to percolate, on hot days we kept a milk can of water at one end of the field. It was 30 years old and still working.

When we first tried to start the welder, it has a hand crank, it turned a little and abruptly stopped. Mud dobbers had gotten inside the timing cover while the water pump and magneto were off. After taking it apart and cleaning out the mud dobber nest I decided to clean the whole thing up and paint it. Before the water pump started leaking Doyle had tightened the babbitt bearings, ground the valves and installed new rings, so now it not only looks good, it runs good. I still need to fine tune the governor a little, when the governor is working properly these welders are a dream to use.