A dedicated area for reviews, thoughts, and feedback on shop/welding products
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When the machines weld.....they work exceptionally well. When they take a crap on you like my Powertig 255EXT did, then it can take some real time and hassle to get it fixed (in my case they just replaced it with a brand new one after two months and multiple failures on their part via sending me replacement parts). I have nearly $4K tied up in that machine, including the water cooler - argon bottle and miscellaneous consumables so i was very unhappy for those two months. On the plus side the new machine welds even better than the old one did.....before it took a crap.
Do yourself a favor and heed the advice of the guy who said to get the one with a foot peddle. You'll never really learn what tig welding is all about otherwise.
I love my everlast machines and they do make good on their guarantees but it can be a painfully slow process. There also seems to be some quality control issues at the factory. I developed an internal gas leak on the mig welder that i bought from them. Took it apart to fix it and found that one of the circuit boards hadn't even been screwed down. I didn't even bother contacting them about that and just decided to zip tie the board in place. All in all that mig welder has the sweetest, most crisp arc of any mig i have ever used - regardless of manufacturer.
Everlast makes good kit but i only give them 3 1/2 stars for all of the runaround monkey business that I've had to endure.
Raymond
Everlast PowerTIG 255EXT
The_Bishop
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Ok, point taken. I'll just keep piling up the pennies until I can swing a good machine, I guess.
Bsmith
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RamboBaby wrote:When the machines weld.....they work exceptionally well. When they take a crap on you like my Powertig 255EXT did, then it can take some real time and hassle to get it fixed (in my case they just replaced it with a brand new one after two months and multiple failures on their part via sending me replacement parts). I have nearly $4K tied up in that machine, including the water cooler - argon bottle and miscellaneous consumables so i was very unhappy for those two months. On the plus side the new machine welds even better than the old one did.....before it took a crap.
Do yourself a favor and heed the advice of the guy who said to get the one with a foot peddle. You'll never really learn what tig welding is all about otherwise.
I love my everlast machines and they do make good on their guarantees but it can be a painfully slow process. There also seems to be some quality control issues at the factory. I developed an internal gas leak on the mig welder that i bought from them. Took it apart to fix it and found that one of the circuit boards hadn't even been screwed down. I didn't even bother contacting them about that and just decided to zip tie the board in place. All in all that mig welder has the sweetest, most crisp arc of any mig i have ever used - regardless of manufacturer.
Everlast makes good kit but i only give them 3 1/2 stars for all of the runaround monkey business that I've had to endure.
So if you did it again, what would you buy?

I'm looking at the 140st for strictly stick practicing. I have access to bigger machines at work if needed.

Thanks
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If I had it to do over again then I would spend the extra $300 and buy the powertig 325EXT and have an additional 70 amps on tap. But I don't think that's what you're asking.
If you only want to stick weld then get something that has enough continuous duty cycle to handle any 1/8" rod without ever petering out. That would put you in this range:

http://www.everlastgenerators.com/produ ... rarc-200st
Raymond
Everlast PowerTIG 255EXT
Bsmith
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RamboBaby wrote:If I had it to do over again then I would spend the extra $300 and buy the powertig 325EXT and have an additional 70 amps on tap. But I don't think that's what you're asking.
If you only want to stick weld then get something that has enough continuous duty cycle to handle any 1/8" rod without ever petering out. That would put you in this range:

http://www.everlastgenerators.com/produ ... rarc-200st


So the 140st won't burn 1/8" 6010 and 7018?
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If all you want to do is practice and weld TIG on carbon steel and SS with a little SMAW in your garage just go to a farm sale or something an get an old single phase Lincoln IdealArc or equivalent. You will have more money wrapped up in Torch, Leads, Stinger,Ground Clamp and Gas than you do in the welder. From 1/8" material on up I can equal the quality with that setup with either my Dynasty or SA. I honestly don't know how anything got welded in the last 100 years before there were 10 knobs on the front of a welder.
AWS D1.1 / ASME IX / CWB / API / EWI / RWMA / BSEE
Scientists have substituted mathematics for experiments, and they wander off through equation after equation, and eventually build a structure which has no relation to reality." Nikola Tesla
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It will weld with 1/8" rods just fine but you're only gonna burn about four of them beforethe thermal protection kicks in from that machine and it leaves you sitting for the next ten minutes while it cools down.
You will more than likely decide at some point in the not too distant future that you should have spent a few more bucks on a machine which won't leave you stranded like that.
Raymond
Everlast PowerTIG 255EXT
Bsmith
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DLewis0289 wrote:If all you want to do is practice and weld TIG on carbon steel and SS with a little SMAW in your garage just go to a farm sale or something an get an old single phase Lincoln IdealArc or equivalent. You will have more money wrapped up in Torch, Leads, Stinger,Ground Clamp and Gas than you do in the welder. From 1/8" material on up I can equal the quality with that setup with either my Dynasty or SA. I honestly don't know how anything got welded in the last 100 years before there were 10 knobs on the front of a welder.

I can't plug those into 110 though.
Bsmith
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RamboBaby wrote:It will weld with 1/8" rods just fine but you're only gonna burn about four of them beforethe thermal protection kicks in from that machine and it leaves you sitting for the next ten minutes while it cools down.
You will more than likely decide at some point in the not too distant future that you should have spent a few more bucks on a machine which won't leave you stranded like that.
I have access to a bobcat 250 if I need. I just have to go get it versus pluging in a inverter with 110.

Not trying to seem like a know it all. I just font have 220 at one location.
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Ok, now I am curious.....where in the US do you have a service entrance that is only one phase and one neutral? Not saying they didn't exist, they did but in 2016?
AWS D1.1 / ASME IX / CWB / API / EWI / RWMA / BSEE
Scientists have substituted mathematics for experiments, and they wander off through equation after equation, and eventually build a structure which has no relation to reality." Nikola Tesla
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DLewis:
Some people just aren't cut out for working with electricity but in this case.......I believe this guy is just looking for someone to argue with.
Let him go on and find out things for himself (the hard way).
Raymond
Everlast PowerTIG 255EXT
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Well I can't judge, I learned the hard way in marriage and the cost of that was multiple truck loads of little 120v welders in terms of value. :lol:
AWS D1.1 / ASME IX / CWB / API / EWI / RWMA / BSEE
Scientists have substituted mathematics for experiments, and they wander off through equation after equation, and eventually build a structure which has no relation to reality." Nikola Tesla
Poland308
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There are a lot of houses built around the late 40's that have original screw type fuses that had only 110 circuits. Even though they had 220 feeding them they would require a changeout or a rewireing of the panel to get a 220 circuit.
I have more questions than answers

Josh
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Yep, seen them years ago 60amp was the standard and even seen a few 30amp entrances, but not for over 20 years. Collected a few pennies from the back of those fuses too lol
AWS D1.1 / ASME IX / CWB / API / EWI / RWMA / BSEE
Scientists have substituted mathematics for experiments, and they wander off through equation after equation, and eventually build a structure which has no relation to reality." Nikola Tesla
Poland308
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And nickles !
I have more questions than answers

Josh
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DLewis0289 wrote:Ok, now I am curious.....where in the US do you have a service entrance that is only one phase and one neutral? Not saying they didn't exist, they did but in 2016?

My mother in-laws house has 220 in their shop.

Where live I have 220 for my dryer but I don't want to use a extension cord from my dryer.

I rotate between locations, I wanna use it at both.

Does that make sense?
Bsmith
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RamboBaby wrote:DLewis:
Some people just aren't cut out for working with electricity but in this case.......I believe this guy is just looking for someone to argue with.
Let him go on and find out things for himself (the hard way).


Argue, not hardly. Save some money Yes!

I work in a fab shop with plenty Miller's, that I can use everyday. These do me no good at home when I want to practice.

And you did sell me on the everlast 200 it has a much better duty cycle and is dual voltage.

Its just hard for me to justify 400 for just Practicing stick welding. I have 3 young daughters that I support by myself. So I cant just buy whatever I want.

So hopefully you understand why I am frugal.

I am sorry I bothered you with my questions.

Have a nice day.
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Yeah that makes sense (application wise not scope wise) Good luck!
AWS D1.1 / ASME IX / CWB / API / EWI / RWMA / BSEE
Scientists have substituted mathematics for experiments, and they wander off through equation after equation, and eventually build a structure which has no relation to reality." Nikola Tesla
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