Welding Tips and Tricks

Well, I went and did it. Went against all I have considered sacred and bought a foreign piece of equipment. I have been hearing so much about these machines that I had to see for myself. Picked up the power pro 256 for $1600.00. Got the 2011 model too. I guess it has a better torch or something like that. Well guys, chime in on whether I committed a sin or whether I chose wisely. The price comparisons between the US models and the foreign models is quite drastic. I guess for $1600.00, I couldn't go wrong, I hope.

Well Jim, I build American, so I buy American. But ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

Dude! You bought a what? Just kidding!
The only negatives I hear on the 256 is having to switch back and forth from TIG to plasma. But Ive read posts from guys that have added three way adapters of some sort to make gas/air switching less of a pain. I just added a new CK200 torch to my 250EX and its now a whole new machine. A new foot pedal will be next to complete the package. The machines are great, but where they keep the cost down is in the not so desirable torch and foot pedal. But even when you consider the cost of the upgrades, you still get a machine for half the price of a Dynasty 200, with more power and more features.

I think you'll be pleased with it. I've got the 225LX and am more than happy all around.

They also have a forum for tech and general questions about it.

http://www.everlastgenerators.com/forums/

I think so too. For $1600.00 I guess I couldn't go wrong. I'm not sure what torch comes with it, but the salesman said the 2011 models got an upgrade. Will keep you guys posted. Should be here in about a week or so.

The torch that came with mine (euro style ergonomic torch) was alright. A little big and stiff but it did work well.

They have been talking about a new 20 series torch but not sure when it's coming out.

I'm in the process of setting mine up with a weld craft WP 20.

It's one of those things you have to try and see if it's right for you. If not it's easy to make it more comfortable.

heres my take on the buy american thing- when its company related for welding equipment i always spec miller/lincoln/esab or such, but when it comes to stuff in my own shop, let your conscienece be your guide. i picked up a used miller econotig welder for my own shop and bought a new lincoln promig 180 right out of the box. now guess what i saw on the back of the new LINCOLN welder?-thats right, assembled in MEXICO so what i'm saying is you are never going to get away from some kind of foreign purchase no matter how hard you try. you can give it a good go @ it and research things to limit how much you buy. i'm in the market for a miller/lincoln engine-driven welder/generator so obviously i'm not going to buy anything other than those 2 brands, but for inverter style machines, you almost have to look at all your options due to the $$$-buy the way i drive a chevy silverado and my wife a ford escape. god bless america

Well its Decision time for me.... First off I'm either getting a 250EX (then save my pennies forever for a plasma cutter) or a PP256, but before I put in my order I want to figure a few things out. I already have a water cooler, so I'm looking for a solution for hooking up an aftermarket Water cooled (ck 200) torch to a PP256, however using an adapter block would make switching between Welding and Cutting a chore. Am I wrong or will switching between Argon/air and Torches all the time drive me nuts. Has anyone come up with a clever solution? The price difference between buying two machines and one is quite a bit, but is it worth it?

I Found the solution with help from Rugar
http://www.everlastgenerators.com/forum ... art-s.html

It looks like switching will be easy.

Well, so much for the Power Pro 256. I paid for this thing on Dec. 16th. After the first week, I called to check on the shipping status and they said it hadn't shipped yet because they were still waiting for their shipment to come in. It hadn't gone through Customs yet. So I waited another week and called them. Same thing, still waiting to pass through Customs. Well, this happened for two more weeks and their shipment still hadn't made it through Customs. So, I called them and got my money refunded, but only after an attempt to get me to wait another week. I will never attempt to buy a foreign piece of equipment again. This was the first and definitely will be the last. I could only imagine having to wait 3 or 4 or 5 weeks for a part when this thing breaks down. Oh, and I bought a Dynasty 200 DX Complete water cooled package. Paid for it on Monday Jan. 17th and will be getting it on the 24th.

jpence38,

I am glad your order was delayed so long, and you made a great second choice.
I agree with you that waiting for parts would be a big problem. And when the
electronic Circuit Card Assemblies (CCAs) fail (and they will) the time to repair
could stretch out for months.

Wob

Hi Jim, I understand your decision and agree. Apparently the product just did clear customs and is shipping tomorrow but you've got a Dynasty now so it doesn't matter. My 250EX is O.K. although I have had to do a little compensating here and there to get it to do what I want. I'm looking at the Dynasty 350 now because the majority of my Al welding is 1/4" or thicker. I don't think I can say the Everlast was a waste of money, it does what they say it does. If I do get the Dynasty I don't think the Everalst will see a lot of use in the future.

Yeah, I think things will be better this way overall. I know I paid alot more for the Dynasty, but Miller has one of the best tech supports around. I have dealt with them quite a bit and they are excellent. I also have three Authorized Miller repair centers close, so parts and repairs aren't far away.I know that there have been good reviews about Everlast machines, but I'm glad now that I went with Miller instead.
I was looking at a 350 also, but the majority of the tig I do is under a 1/4 " so I couldn't justify the money for the 350. I have heard that is is an awesome machine though.
I wonder about the deal with Everlast and the Customs issue. They are at the mercy of Customs, I know that and that is a big concern for me. That may have been an isolated incident, but then again maybe not. I can't take that chance with my customers.

I've been debating getting one of the Everlast 256's since Jody did his videos about them last year. Since this is tax-refund season, getting a TIG machine has been high on my list of "wants", and the 256, even with adding the water cooler, has a pretty good price. I hadn't thought much about parts availability, but that could be a pain, especially if Everlast can't even seem to get the welding machine itself into the country in a timely fashion. And where are the service centers when the machine has problems? At this point, I think I'm just gonna keep looking for a Dynasty 200 on fleabay.

watch out for the dealer locator - it seems like it just picks random places around your location. Looking at the web site they have 2 dealers that are based out of there house and 1 in a self storage building. That aside I took a gamble and bought a 250ex back on 2/22 still waiting for it to ship.

watch out for the dealer locator - it seems like it just picks random places around your location. Looking at the web site they have 2 dealers that are based out of there house and 1 in a self storage building. That aside I took a gamble and bought a 250ex back on 2/22 still waiting for it to ship.

Wow! This along with the customs issue has me seriously questioning my decision on everlast now. I mean, sure the welders are alright, but if they company itself has problems like this I am really skeptical. I mean miller and lincoln have been around for, how long? pushin 50 years each?

Glad I found this post.

I have an Everlast 256EX and I want to say it's been great to me I bouth it in feb 2010 and have done good stuff with it the only thing is I want to change the gun to something better and water cooled but want one that is smaller and easy to work with does anybody know what gun work with it and fits with a trigger on the gun

wish I could help ya out - but I am still waiting for my machine to show up. paid for it back in February and the ETA keeps slipping. If my refund get here before the 205ex, I might just cancel the everlast order and get the 200dx

I have a WP 20 on my 225LX and it's great. Although it doesn't have a button on it. If I'm not mistaken I think Everlast is either making one or has one that you can purchase that will Velcro onto the torch.

Here's the list of hook up parts I used to hook it up including cooler and gas fittings.

http://store.weldingdepot.com/cgi/weldingdepot/Q5W.html

The male end fits both the female quick connects as well as the gas fitting on the Everlast

http://weldingdirect.com/quicmalfitfo.html

http://weldingdirect.com/quicfemtypfo.html

I kinda messed up and put male ends on both the gas line and water lines on the torch leads so If I'm not paying attention I could accidentally hook it up wrong if I switch between my WP 20 and the Everlast torch.

Thankfully it's not very often that I need to use the Everlast torch and the button on it so I just made labels for each line and pay attention if I do change torches.

I was also thinking about getting a multi machine.....stick, tig & plasma cutter......but I was talked out of it by the salesman from Everlast.

His reasoning........the multi units have a lot more to go wrong. If one of the processes stopped working, then I would be without all the processes as it was being fixed. He said that a separate plasma cutter with a separate tig/stick would fit me better for what I do .

So I got the Power Plasma 50 and the Powertig 250 EX. Both kick butt. Very happy with the purchases.

I was also looking at the Dynasty 200DX. However, on single phase power the TIG output is 150A @ 60% duty cycle and the stick is 130A at a 20% duty cycle. And, the price of over $4k bones was getting harder to swallow. Ordered a Everlast 250EX instead.