General welding questions that dont fit in TIG, MIG, Stick, or Certification etc.
DavidR8
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Reading these posts sure makes me glad I bought a Primeweld.


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David
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Primeweld 225
BillE.Dee
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Tell me, where you using the Neverlast ground clamp? That would make it even funnier! :P[/quote]

I have noticed that after welding AC and higher amps, that my ground/work gets warm. I will probably replace that with a different piece - start to finish.
TraditionalToolworks
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BillE.Dee wrote:I have noticed that after welding AC and higher amps, that my ground/work gets warm. I will probably replace that with a different piece - start to finish.
I replaced my green weenie clamp with one of these:

They raised the price, but still worth it. I used 2 AWG welding cable on it with a crimped lug and a Lenco Dinse.

Since my Primeweld uses the same Dinse, it was plug and play! ;)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KX ... ZQB6&psc=1
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Alan
VA-Sawyer
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When I got it, the AC worked as I expected. A few months back the arc would get unstable when tapering off. That has gotten worse, and now it is having problems starting the arc. Only does it on AC.
The DC is still working like new. Today, I was doing steel buildup with .045 ER120 filler. It went just as I planned. Too bad the AC side is acting up, I was very happy with the welder when it was working right.
At this point, I don't care if they say the warranty is void. It is worthless anyways. I will open it up soon, and see what is causing the issue.
No sense dying with unused welding rod, so light 'em up!
Thatkid2diesel
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DavidR8 wrote:Reading these posts sure makes me glad I bought a Primeweld.


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I second that.

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Hobart Ironman 210
Primeweld Tig225x
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VA-Sawyer
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I don't want to jinx anybody, but for the first 18 months that I had my NEVERLAST, I was happy as heck with it. The real disappointment was their piss poor customer service. Hope it is better with the PrimeWelds.
No sense dying with unused welding rod, so light 'em up!
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VA-Sawyer wrote:I don't want to jinx anybody, but for the first 18 months that I had my NEVERLAST, I was happy as heck with it. The real disappointment was their piss poor customer service. Hope it is better with the PrimeWelds.
We will gladly accept you to the [Italian] red brother hood, brother Sawyer! Make the leap! :D :lol:
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Thatkid2diesel
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VA-Sawyer wrote:I don't want to jinx anybody, but for the first 18 months that I had my NEVERLAST, I was happy as heck with it. The real disappointment was their piss poor customer service. Hope it is better with the PrimeWelds.
I'm hoping so too. Time will tell but from all the reviews I've read here and else where, customer service at primeweld seems to be top notch. Hopefully they don't lose that along the way.

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Hobart Ironman 210
Primeweld Tig225x
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DavidR8
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My welder is MIA courtesy of UPS (though they tell me it’s out for delivery...) so the good people at Primeweld (Dustin) are sending me another no questions asked.


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David
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Primeweld 225
Thatkid2diesel
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DavidR8 wrote:My welder is MIA courtesy of UPS (though they tell me it’s out for delivery...) so the good people at Primeweld (Dustin) are sending me another no questions asked.


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That's legit. Hopefully new one comes safe and sound.

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Hobart Ironman 210
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TraditionalToolworks
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VA-Sawyer wrote:I don't want to jinx anybody, but for the first 18 months that I had my NEVERLAST, I was happy as heck with it. The real disappointment was their piss poor customer service. Hope it is better with the PrimeWelds.
I've actually been happy with my green weenie and haven't had any problem. It's just a DC Tig machine though, but I haven't had issues with it at all.

My disappointment is also the "p!$$ poor customer service". I lump it together with service and support. I find Mark to be pretty rude to not only me, but to some other people as well. I base my views of Everlast on my interactions with Oleg and Mark directly. I have dealt with Oleg in person, I bought my machine from him.

Spartan is a bit defensive towards them, and I understand. If I was buying a 350 amp machine, there's a great deal of cost difference between a green weenie 350EXT and an HTP Invertig 400, or a <gasp> Dynasty 400. There are not a lot of options and the cost difference is drastic.
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Thatkid2diesel
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TraditionalToolworks wrote:
VA-Sawyer wrote:I don't want to jinx anybody, but for the first 18 months that I had my NEVERLAST, I was happy as heck with it. The real disappointment was their piss poor customer service. Hope it is better with the PrimeWelds.
I've actually been happy with my green weenie and haven't had any problem. It's just a DC Tig machine though, but I haven't had issues with it at all.

My disappointment is also the "p!$$ poor customer service". I lump it together with service and support. I find Mark to be pretty rude to not only me, but to some other people as well. I base my views of Everlast on my interactions with Oleg and Mark directly. I have dealt with Oleg in person, I bought my machine from him.

Spartan is a bit defensive towards them, and I understand. If I was buying a 350 amp machine, there's a great deal of cost difference between a green weenie 350EXT and an HTP Invertig 400, or a <gasp> Dynasty 400. There are not a lot of options and the cost difference is drastic.
Customer service is very important to me, but at the same time I understand that cost plays a big part in purchasing a machine. One would think that in theory, they put a 5 year warranty on a machine, they expect the unit to last 5 years without issue. If you could get that out of a machine and make money on the machine and then it dies, you could buy another machine like it and still potentially with 2 machines cost less than a competitor for 1 machine, with hopes that combined you can get a total of 10 years out of 2 machines for the price of 1 competitors machine. However, this isn't a perfect world, and things do happen while machines are under warranty, and companies need to stand by that warranty. Don't give someone the run around. If support can't diagnose it on the phone, send it up to the next level of support. Sometimes things are end user error, but they need to be able to take the time to diagnose that, have the customer try some things, if it doesn't work, it's under warranty, take it back and fix it or swap the machine.

Bad customer service almost always catches up with companies over time. If another company can hit the niche that Everlast has hit with good customer service, they will be a thing of the past if they don't change their ways. I almost bought an Everlast a year or so back. I was so unimpressed with the sales rep it turned me off right away. He was rude and did not know anything about the product. It was like I was bothering him by calling. Not to say that I wouldn't buy an Everlast or that I'm anti Everlast, because I do know that if you have a good one from them, it can perform well and can make you some money.
Hobart Ironman 210
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TraditionalToolworks
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Thatkid2diesel wrote:Bad customer service almost always catches up with companies over time. If another company can hit the niche that Everlast has hit with good customer service, they will be a thing of the past if they don't change their ways.
That's exactly what happened with the Primeweld. 2 years ago Mark said that Primeweld was just the most recent of many who have tried to do the same thing Everlast did. Do you think Primeweld hasn't had an impact on both AHP and Everlast AC/DC machines?

Primeweld doesn't have a lot of machines, but the Primeweld Tig 225x is a big seller, and in direct competition with the AHP.

One could also argue that they are in direct competition with the Everlast 200DV, it's also an analog machine for the most part, AFAICT. The 210EXT has some additional digital controls, but it's about 2x the price of the Primeweld.
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Thatkid2diesel
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TraditionalToolworks wrote:
Thatkid2diesel wrote:Bad customer service almost always catches up with companies over time. If another company can hit the niche that Everlast has hit with good customer service, they will be a thing of the past if they don't change their ways.
That's exactly what happened with the Primeweld. 2 years ago Mark said that Primeweld was just the most recent of many who have tried to do the same thing Everlast did. Do you think Primeweld hasn't had an impact on both AHP and Everlast AC/DC machines?

Primeweld doesn't have a lot of machines, but the Primeweld Tig 225x is a big seller, and in direct competition with the AHP.

One could also argue that they are in direct competition with the Everlast 200DV, it's also an analog machine for the most part, AFAICT. The 210EXT has some additional digital controls, but it's about 2x the price of the Primeweld.
Yeah AHP has most definitely taken a hit from the popularity of the primeweld tig225. I'm hoping maybe they can get big enough to start competing directly on all levels with Everlast. I'd love to see a 250 amp mig welder from primeweld. They don't have to have as many machines as Everlast but if they had 1 or so in each class that would make decisions a lot harder on people. Primewelds 60amp plasma cutter looks nice, I might be interested in it one day.

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Hobart Ironman 210
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TraditionalToolworks
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Thatkid2diesel wrote:Yeah AHP has most definitely taken a hit from the popularity of the primeweld tig225.
You do know that the owner of Everlast (Oleg) has a big stake in AHP, right?
Thatkid2diesel wrote:They don't have to have as many machines as Everlast but if they had 1 or so in each class that would make decisions a lot harder on people.
Some of the best companies only have a few offerings, they focus on them and make them good. Primeweld seems to fit into this business model. Others, like Everlast have a lot of offerings, in many ways it confuses the customer and muddies the water.

Primeweld seems to have focused on service and support. They offer not the absolute best welder but they seem to offer a pretty good value. Where I think they win over the competition like AHP and Everlast is in their packaging and service/support.

When was the last time you heard about someone sending a Primeweld machine back? This is amazing, there has to be some bad ones in 2 years, I can't hardly believe there aren't. But even in David's case they are sending out a replacement for one that was lost in shipping. I've heard of people getting strung out for weeks by Everlast in the same situation.

And VA-Sawyer's case is not isolated either, there are more than a few people that Everlast has trying to toss the blame back on the user rather than trying to service and support the customer. It's not as if I have fabricated this stuff up, this has been going on for a number of years. It is also well known that both Everlast and AHP have cleaned up their reviews on Amazon to only show favorable reviews, even if honest, you don't see negative anything on their reviews...but we do see people complain about their reviews being removed...just more red flags.

Even if you compare the box the Primeweld ships in, it's like a metal armor compared to the Everlast boxes which are akin to brown Chinese toilet paper. :roll:
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Thatkid2diesel
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TraditionalToolworks wrote:
Thatkid2diesel wrote:Yeah AHP has most definitely taken a hit from the popularity of the primeweld tig225.
You do know that the owner of Everlast (Oleg) has a big stake in AHP, right?
Thatkid2diesel wrote:They don't have to have as many machines as Everlast but if they had 1 or so in each class that would make decisions a lot harder on people.
Some of the best companies only have a few offerings, they focus on them and make them good. Primeweld seems to fit into this business model. Others, like Everlast have a lot of offerings, in many ways it confuses the customer and muddies the water.

Primeweld seems to have focused on service and support. They offer not the absolute best welder but they seem to offer a pretty good value. Where I think they win over the competition like AHP and Everlast is in their packaging and service/support.

When was the last time you heard about someone sending a Primeweld machine back? This is amazing, there has to be some bad ones in 2 years, I can't hardly believe there aren't. But even in David's case they are sending out a replacement for one that was lost in shipping. I've heard of people getting strung out for weeks by Everlast in the same situation.

And VA-Sawyer's case is not isolated either, there are more than a few people that Everlast has trying to toss the blame back on the user rather than trying to service and support the customer. It's not as if I have fabricated this stuff up, this has been going on for a number of years. It is also well known that both Everlast and AHP have cleaned up their reviews on Amazon to only show favorable reviews, even if honest, you don't see negative anything on their reviews...but we do see people complain about their reviews being removed...just more red flags.

Even if you compare the box the Primeweld ships in, it's like a metal armor compared to the Everlast boxes which are akin to brown Chinese toilet paper. :roll:
I did not realize that about Oleg. However, the only product AHP is currently selling from what I can tell is their 201xd. All other products they say are in for a redesign and have been for some time. Does that mean they will ever sell anything again other than the 201xd?

I get where primeweld is right now and with their current offerings. I would personally like to see them expand their lineup to have a heavy duty mig welder comparable to the Eastwood 250 or the older alphamig 250. Just a wish for me.

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Hobart Ironman 210
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TraditionalToolworks
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Thatkid2diesel wrote:I did not realize that about Oleg. However, the only product AHP is currently selling from what I can tell is their 201xd.
They have so many products on the Everlast line, and it's the Everlast line they have invested in the marketing with. That goes for providing people with machines for reviews, they have a fairly big investment in that.
Thatkid2diesel wrote:I get where primeweld is right now and with their current offerings. I would personally like to see them expand their lineup to have a heavy duty mig welder comparable to the Eastwood 250 or the older alphamig 250. Just a wish for me.
I'd like to see them come out with a small stick welder that does about 200-250 amps and would do 6010. Don't really need it though, so not sure I would buy it. :lol:

If anything I'd like an HTP 221. Don't really need it which is why I don't have it. I have some other expenses in my future, much bigger than a welder. :oops:
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BillE.Dee
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[
I'd like to see them come out with a small stick welder that does about 200-250 amps and would do 6010. Don't really need it though, so not sure I would buy it. :lol:

didn't htp just run thru a special deal with a small stick welder that can do 6010 ? I was really kicking that one around a bit but let it fall by ... coulda, woulda, shoulda...my loose.
Thatkid2diesel
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BillE.Dee wrote:[
I'd like to see them come out with a small stick welder that does about 200-250 amps and would do 6010. Don't really need it though, so not sure I would buy it. [emoji38]

didn't htp just run thru a special deal with a small stick welder that can do 6010 ? I was really kicking that one around a bit but let it fall by ... coulda, woulda, shoulda...my loose.
They do run there 200 TLP on sale at different times.

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TraditionalToolworks
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BillE.Dee wrote:didn't htp just run thru a special deal with a small stick welder that can do 6010 ? I was really kicking that one around a bit but let it fall by ... coulda, woulda, shoulda...my loose.
Yes, was quite a deal actually, a bit over $1k on sale, about $500 off MSRP.

I pondered it also, but it was still more than I spent on my Primeweld and I have many other things I need before another welder. ;)
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Nethergate
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tweake wrote:
Nethergate wrote:
Ah thanks for the pick up, I did think it looked like a big dollar welder, I would of been pretty disappointed if only the accessories turned up. But that one you linked looks like a winner, bit more than I wanted to spend but might have to sell my body on the street for pocket money. Thanks for your help everyone, its really helped out. No doubt after I purchase ill have a tonne of questions


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there is also BOC

https://www.boc.com.au/shop/en/au/welde ... g200acdc-p
https://www.boc.com.au/shop/en/au/welde ... 5acdc-fc-p

i have both of those.

don't forget with aluminium you will want a foot pedal as well.
You wouldn’t believe it if you read about it. I got around to buying the smootharc 185 online, get a call about an hour later saying they don’t have any left in the country and they aren’t getting more. He said there are only 3 demos, so they are going to find out what condition they are in and if I can get one of those.

I was so excited about it and now I’m hanging, Haha

I’ll keep you posted
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Nethergate wrote:You wouldn’t believe it if you read about it. I got around to buying the smootharc 185 online, get a call about an hour later saying they don’t have any left in the country and they aren’t getting more. He said there are only 3 demos, so they are going to find out what condition they are in and if I can get one of those.

I was so excited about it and now I’m hanging, Haha

I’ll keep you posted
Hope it works out for you
Richard
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Nethergate
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Did no good. They are refunding my money so I’m searching again. I was so excited for it too


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Nethergate
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https://www.totaltools.com.au/111558-mi ... er-acdc200

Hey what do you guys think of this one? It looks like it’s got a pedal option for an add on, as far as I can tell it does Ac tig. I can’t see any negatives apart from it doesn’t come with an arc welding electrode holder.


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TraditionalToolworks
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Nethergate wrote:Hey what do you guys think of this one? It looks like it’s got a pedal option for an add on, as far as I can tell it does Ac tig. I can’t see any negatives apart from it doesn’t come with an arc welding electrode holder.
I'm gonna guess that your budget is around AU $1000-$1100, since the smootharc 185 was in the same ball park, and the smotharc 200 is more like AU $1400 from the link above.

I know nothing about any of those welders, but I do have a Primeweld 225. I would contact Dustin or Mike at Primeweld and see if they can ship to AU, the price for the Primeweld is almost the same price, but there could be an extra shipping, if they would ship. They do ship to Canada which many vendors won't, so maybe they will ship to AU.

Anyway, doesn't hurt to ask them, quite a number of happy customers with Primewelds, even on this site. The Primeweld sells for $775, which is about AU $1125, you'd probably be looking at about $1200 if they would ship it to you. If DavidR sees this, he might be able to give you an idea on how much extra they charged him to ship to Canada. I don't know if this is helpful to you or not as I don't know if they will ship and don't know what the complications with customs in AU are.
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Alan
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