I've owned the 125gs and I currently have a Lincoln SP-170T. I had no
complaints whatsoever with the Century. I would still have it if I hadn't
gotten a great deal on the Lincoln at an auction.

Century was apparently bought out by Clore Automotive a couple of years ago
and they shut down the old Century Web site so that may be why you can't
find much about them. You can find a few manuals on the Clore site at:

http://www.cloreautomotive.com/site_...calservice.asp

Search for "welder" in the Technical Document Search window. Unfortunately
I can't find the 125gs in the list so they may have discontinued it.

Century welders are often rebadged with other brand names. Sears sells a
few of theirs with their own color scheme, etc. I've also seen an ESAB that
was obviously a rebadged Century, probably the 155gs.

One difference of note between the Century and other MIG's is that the
Century uses a gun with a gas valve built into the trigger instead of using
a solenoid in the welder like most others.

If the Lincoln you're looking at is the 100Amp welder (MigPak 10, WeldPak
100, etc.) it probably isn't worth the extra money for the Lincoln. The
Century uses a Tweco gun so parts are easy to find. They're both
transformer machines with a switch to select which voltage tap you're using.
There are aluminum kits available for both although the Century kit will
probably be harder to find but you need to read prior threads from this
group before you try and weld aluminum with such a small unit. All but the
thinnest of aluminum sheetmetal takes quite a bit more power than either of
these machines will put out.

Go to google.com, click on the "Groups" tab and search for "MIG welding
aluminum" and spend a bit of time reading up on the subject before you buy
something you regret.

OTOH, if the Lincoln is the SP-135T or SP-135+ (previously the SP-125
series) it's a bit more welder than the Century or the smaller Lincoln. It
still probably won't be much good for aluminum but it is a more powerful
welder. The T version has voltage taps like the Century and cheaper
Lincoln. The + version has variable voltage and is more expensive than the
T.

Best Regards,
Keith Marshall


"I'm not grown up enough to be so old!"


"Bryan Goring" wrote in message
...
Hi All,

Anyone one with experience owning and using a century 125gs, and would
like to advise a novice on its capabilities, it would be greatly
appreciated.

I have been tempted to buy a mig welder setup for some time, was looking
at the lincoln weldpak (120v feed) with gas hookup. I prefer this brand
because it is well recognized and has a web site, i can find little
information about the century online. But the lincoln with gas kit will
cost me around ~CDN800 bucks. I have the chance to buy the century unit
on clearance for CDN375 still in the box, never used.

I want to know whether it would be really worth to spend the extra money
for the lincoln, in particular:

-any significant features on the lincoln lacking on the century unit
-century's capability to weld aluminum (the lincoln datasheet mentions
this capability, no mention on the century)

Also, it looks like the century has only 4 heat settings, and a fixed
gas regulator. Not sure if this means too much.

Any tips greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Bryan