Welding Tips and Tricks

Started welding aluminum today on a recently purchased Everlast 250ex TIG Inverter machine.

1/8" aluminum cleaned with acetone

My settings were at 150 amps/AC Balance 65%/AC Freq 125
I used 3/32 1.5% lanthanated tungsten #6 cup that came with the welder

My beads are nice but after awhile the tungsten balls up pretty bad. I thought this wasn't supposed to happen with an inverter style TIG machine. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for your time.

Make sure the earth (groud) is in the + pole. As having this in the wrong way will make the controls work backwards.

I have the Everlast 200 DV and I use primarily 3/32", 2% lanthanated tungsten with no trouble. It does ball up a little after a while or in my case when I stab it with the filler lol

Turn your Freq up to 200 Hz if you can....

I bet your ground and torch are plugged in backwards thou...

Ground is plugged into + and the torch is in the - slot.
Machine is on AC.
I'll give the 200hz a try tomorrow. For now, any other recommendations?

Switch it to 35% and it should go away. The Everlast is backwards from Miller and Lincoln if that's what you are used to. You are adjusting EP with the Everlast, not EN like the Miller. 150 is too many amps for 3/32 with greater than 50% balance.

Other than machine settings which are already covered may I add that the easy to find 1.5% Lanthanated does not hold up as well as the 2% that Jodie likes so much ( but is very hard to find here & more expensive ) - also different batches from various makes / qualities will effect this - most tungsten works on DC acceptably - AC seems to show up faults more - perhaps it's worth trying to find a reliable brand of 2% & there is nothing wrong with moving up to 1/8".

What I have found since moving to Inverter is that I am using one size larger tungsten than I did with my transfomer welder.
Pointed/sharpened ends last longer with the larger size.

MoonBuilt wrote:Started welding aluminum today on a recently purchased Everlast 250ex TIG Inverter machine.

1/8" aluminum cleaned with acetone

My settings were at 150 amps/AC Balance 65%/AC Freq 125
I used 3/32 1.5% lanthanated tungsten #6 cup that came with the welder

My beads are nice but after awhile the tungsten balls up pretty bad. I thought this wasn't supposed to happen with an inverter style TIG machine. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for your time.

Try turning your balance up some. The more cleaning action-the harder it is on tungsten. I use 1.5 lanthanated on a regular basis. Most of the LWS around here don't carry the 2%. Turn your balance up and see if it makes a difference. Hope this helps.

GreinTime wrote:Switch it to 35% and it should go away. The Everlast is backwards from Miller and Lincoln if that's what you are used to. You are adjusting EP with the Everlast, not EN like the Miller. 150 is too many amps for 3/32 with greater than 50% balance.

I wonder why they did it backwards?

Here is a pic of it.

Not sure lol. I ran into the same issue after someone else had used my welder.

Thanks MinnesotaDave. Putting it to 35% did the trick.

What!!!!!

@MinnesotaDave you're stealing my thunder!!!!!!

GreinTime wrote:What!!!!!

@MinnesotaDave you're stealing my thunder!!!!!!

Sorry man

More like #SorryNotSorry

Set it about 15-20% cleaning. It's not backwards it is just different from red and blue.
Actually, as balance is often referred to as "cleaning action" the higher percentage would imply more cleaning. So red and blue would actually be backwards.

That might be the single most valuable piece of information you've contributed thus far.

soutthpaw wrote: Actually, as balance is often referred to as "cleaning action" the higher percentage would imply more cleaning. So red and blue would actually be backwards.

Not everything aluminum needs 80-85% penetration man. He already stated that 35% cured his problem as he was adjusting the balance with the red/blue mindset. He had no issues making beads, his issue was the tungsten balling up. Read and comprehend what has already been said before posting. This topic was solved on January 29th.

GreinTime wrote:That might be the single most valuable piece of information you've contributed thus far.

soutthpaw wrote: Actually, as balance is often referred to as "cleaning action" the higher percentage would imply more cleaning. So red and blue would actually be backwards.

Not everything aluminum needs 80-85% penetration man. He already stated that 35% cured his problem as he was adjusting the balance with the red/blue mindset. He had no issues making beads, his issue was the tungsten balling up. Read and comprehend what has already been said before posting. This topic was solved on January 29th.

And in contrast, this might be the single least valuable piece of information you've contributed this far.....
There is always one on every forum I guess..
Have a nice day...

before inverters, welding aluminum was much less involved. now you have a tech that's become increasingly complex and
a user group that is totally unprepared for its use and application. what it really does is provide an arena for a lot of baseless opinion from a lot of new and unskilled users.

set it and forget it. good advice.

I don't believe the previous poster has made a living welding aluminum; mostly I see him promoting a new brand of welder on another board.

Let see, I missed one reply on a thread and you guys go on the attack. That just seemed like someone had an axe to grind and I was the sharpening stone. I've owned a 330abp, love the old transformers. Long time hobbyist welder. No I'm not the expert. Just share what works for me.
I'm not promoting squat. Merely demoing and providing input on what I think of the machine I was provided to try out.

It seems you are trying to label me or spread some kind of rumor? If not, sorry but that's the way I read your post. I also never saw anything in the site rules saying only pros can post or reply to threads....
If you knew me, you would know I'd be happy to have anyone who was interested take the machine for a spin and share their own opinions of it. Good or bad.... No skin of my back. I get no compensation for reviewing stuff , unlike many professional advertisers, err I mean "reviewers". Just the fun of getting to try something new. It actually costs me money in time, gas, materials etc.

When reviews are complete, machines either get returned, or forum rules permitting, offerd at a discount with full warranties.

I unexpectedly got to keep one machine I was sent to demo. It was already a shipping damage return and could not be resold anyway. And the offer was not made until I contacted the company to arrange return shipping after the review.

my first paragraph was not directed towards anyone in particular, It is an in general observation.

'set it and forget it', that quote is not original to me, I believe It came from one of jody's video's but I can assure you that it is not original to him.

'I don't believe the previous poster has made a living.." was for the benefit of the person that barked at you for the 80/85% remark on cleaning. it is true, you have said so yourself.

Promotion? exactly how would you describe the quote below, the fact you started the thread on another site and also on occasion resurrected it when it was falling behind?

"I'm not promoting squat. Merely demoing and providing input on what I think of the machine I was provided to try out."

chill out, of course there is promotion on this site, it is one way that products make it to market. unfortunately a lot of new users feel that they should go out and buy the latest, greatest, and not inexpensive products to compensate for what is clearly a lack of practice.

angus wrote:my first paragraph was not directed towards anyone in particular, It is an in general observation.

'set it and forget it', that quote is not original to me, I believe It came from one of jody's video's but I can assure you that it is not original to him.

'I don't believe the previous poster has made a living.." was for the benefit of the person that barked at you for the 80/85% remark on cleaning. it is true, you have said so yourself.

Promotion? exactly how would you describe the quote below, the fact you started the thread on another site and also on occasion resurrected it when it was falling behind?

"I'm not promoting squat. Merely demoing and providing input on what I think of the machine I was provided to try out."

chill out, of course there is promotion on this site, it is one way that products make it to market. unfortunately a lot of new users feel that they should go out and buy the latest, greatest, and not inexpensive products to compensate for what is clearly a lack of practice.

Thank you for clearing up the misunderstanding.
I'm the first person to recommend buying something like a Miller or Airco 330abp. If they have the room and a way to power it. I have done so many times on the other forum you mentioned. I also agree most folks think they need the latest gizmo. I scraped one working ABP after no bites for several weeks @ $150. There was over 80lb of Copper I pulled from that machine. I had half a dozen calls on a basic import, inverter stick machine in just a couple days at the same price. Also of you are using it as part of a business, buy a brand you can get repaired locally, and preferably something your LWS carries.
The slow speed pulse is basically worthless. That is a gimmick IMHO. Its there because of customer demand and it sells machines. Probably 95% of folks that would buy an $800 ac/dc tig would never have a need for it. As far as I'm concerned it hampers learning and masks lack of skill. Jody recommends using it to time your dips. That is a terrible idea, because the pulse is constant, but as the metal heats up. You need to change your speed, heat, dip rate etc. It also means they are probably not watching the puddle /toes/wet in etc.

angus wrote:...unfortunately a lot of new users feel that they should go out and buy the latest, greatest, and not inexpensive products to compensate for what is clearly a lack of practice.

Oddly, it's quite inconvenient and expensive for most welders to buy an old machine.

Many welders buying a machine today will have no choice but to buy an inverter.

Steve S

Otto Nobedder wrote:

angus wrote:...unfortunately a lot of new users feel that they should go out and buy the latest, greatest, and not inexpensive products to compensate for what is clearly a lack of practice.

Oddly, it's quite inconvenient and expensive for most welders to buy an old machine.

Many welders buying a machine today will have no choice but to buy an inverter.

Steve S

Agreed, new transformer machines are getting axed and replaced with cheaper to build inverters. A little patience and effort can yield some nice used machines.

As mentioned, that's why I wanted to try the current machine out. At its price point, it's attractive to a lot of hobby welders looking to TIG weld aluminum. Wanted to see if it was quality built and going to hold up.

When I get to writing a full review if the mods here are willing, I'd be happy to share.

Nobody is going to ban you for posting a review southpaw. We'd all be happy to hear what you have to say about it.

I disagree however that using the pulse to time your dips when first starting out is a terrible idea. Yes, you focus on that at first, but as time goes on, most realize that there are other things to consider when actually performing a weld. If you have a musical background such as myself, it's a lot easier to find a rhythm and hold it than say someone who never studied music. The pulse acts as a basic metronome. Agreed, there are other factors that influence when and how much to dip, but none of that matters if you can't move smoothly and in a coordinated manner.

Everybody has to start somewhere, and if they get the start using the pulser then more power to them. The rest of it comes with experience.