Welding Tips and Tricks

Hi. I have been welding on and off (more off, alot of off) for the last 20 years. I have done
this as a hobby. Actually ran a business welding for some time then stopped. (Another story)

I own and have owned a Powcon SM200 with wire feed. This unit tigs DC steel. I have had no problems with this machine since the 80s.

I was wondering. There are many Mfgs of AC welders. A demo was done on this website of an Everlast product. Based on what I saw, it looked like a great machine. The price was most excellent as well.

Hobart (which I though wasn't still around) Miller, Lincoln and Esab all sell their machines around the same price. Given their machines are rather large and require a lot of input power.

Is the Everlast machine worth the price?? Are the consumables standard? I am worried that if I purchase such a machine, 2 years from now, they will be defunct and I won't be able to get it repaired if need be or I won't be able to get consumables.

BTW. I want to tig aluminum as thick as 3/8 inch.

As I have mentioned, I have the everlast 225LX which has the AC/DC specifically bought for the aluminum option.

I never TIGed aluminum before and never had HF or a foot control in a little Harbor Freight 130 amp TIG. Maybe the difficulty in learning with the Harbor Freight TIG made it fairly easy to learn on the everlast. I have already welded a marine aluminum exhaust manifold with less than a month of NO instruction in it's use. Actually. this place gave me the basics which gave me the confidence in adjusting settings that changed to look of the beads from burnt dog turds to shiny little puddles.


The manifolds are in the products section.

Hey, this is jody.

let me be clear. I know that just the fact that i have an everlast tig unit and am using it for demo's implies something of an endorsment.

thats really not the case.

I just knew there was a lot of interest in these machines, and came across a good deal so i thought i would try it out and use it on some videos....

I cant speak to how long it will last or how good the customer support is.

all i can say is so far...so good.

the good things i can say after welding for a few months is...The Everlast has a great arc and lots of power.

the only 2 real drawbacks for me are the foot pedal and the torch.

the foot pedal is kind of cheap and needs beefing up, and i will be swapping over to a smaller and more flexible torch soon.

I do think it is worth the price and thats about all the real endorsment i care to give until i have more seat time with it.

hope this helps if you are shopping for a machine,

jody