Welding Tips and Tricks

Was looking at an everlast 255ext tig machine. Have heard some good things but i need more feedback. Great price on these. Please help. Are they good reliable machines or should i just put the money into a blue one??

For many if it ain't red or blue, it just won't farking do!

That said, I've personally been beating the crap out of an Everlast Powertig 200DX for three years and it's only fail was I had to replace a $ 3.00 micro switch in the foot pedal.

year and 1/2 250EX sweet. have/had 250 syncro haven't lit it up in a year

I have a 200DX and it's working perfectly after more than a year.. I'm really happy with it except that
i need more amps !

I've used an Everlast 250ex quite a bit, and I love it.


IMO, Save some money and buy the 250ex...

The 255ext is way more money, and those extra features would be of no value for me.

250EX almost two years - no problems so far.

I just purchased a 255ext last month, 6/12/2015 so here's a brain dump.

Let me back up. First I purchased the new multi process Lincoln 210 MP which is outselling the Miller equivalent 10 to 1 by the way. I was mostly interested in TIG welding but could use a MIG on occasion and thought well I'll get to have my cake and eat it too, FAIL!

So I decided to buy a real TIG welder. The Miller Dynasty 280dx (the 255ext equivalent) will cost you $7,000 and that's what I set my sights on. Okay $7,000 but I thought hey its a Miller and its Made in USA right...bzzzzt wrong! The guts are made in China like a lot of welders. That took the wind right out of my sails. In researching the Dynasty 280dx I found it had its share of complaints and failures its not 100% reliable. I got the feeling I would be paying a lot more money for the Miller name. So I started researching the Everlast 255ext at someone's suggestion.

If I relied on the welder in my business, if it was critical to earning a living I would buy the Miller hands down. Their network of dealers, service, in stock parts and replacement machines dwarfs Everlast. Everlast is a small company, if your Everlast welder goes belly up it could be weeks even months before the issue is resolved. Part of the reason the Miller cost more to be fair to them is this network of support.

I was buying TIG filler rods and tungsten at my Airgas LWS shortly after buying the Everlast. The counter guy said one of his customers had been waiting on Everlast for 7 months to repair/replace a welder he had purchased. The guy had given up and just bought another welder during that time, he just wanted his Everlast back so he could dump it in craigslist. So if you are relying on a welder for your business that's just not acceptable. I'm not suggesting that is the norm for Everlast but no way Miller leaves a business hanging like that for so long.

As I'm just using a welder for hobby purposes and certainly not daily I opted for the Everlast 255ext. I found quite a few owners of the 250ex and 255ext who were still quite happy 1-2 years in. It has a 5 year warranty. The 255ext seems to give me all the features I could ever want, it seems cutting edge I like that. I did research Everlast, there was a fair amount of complaints about Everlast quality and service starting back in 2008 but more recently 2014/2015 this seems to have improved.

First impressions of the 255ext

Likes

1. I love the front panel, its quite intuitive for computer geeks like me. One of the panel's membrane switch buttons does seem to require more effort to push that the others so I'm keeping an eye on that.

2. I invited a buddy over to do some practice welds with the machine the weekend before last, man its sweet. We are both TIG noobs yet we were laying some nice welds on stainless within 90 minutes. Most of our issues were user error, dipping the tungsten into the puddle, forgetting about post flow. The 255ext HF doesn't like striking an arc if your tungsten is polluted. The turning point for us was we stopped using the switch on the torch and started using the foot pedal, this gave us more fingers to control the torch and we were able to hold a more steady stand off. Striking an arch with HF issues vanished. The arc is very smooth and its so easy to control. We were running filet welds at one point which looked quite nice but with a magnifying glass (we are older our eyes are not what they once were) the edges of the bead were not quite wetting out, I bumped it 10 amps and it buttered in nice.

3. The machine is quiet, the Lincoln 210MP was a lot louder even though I'm running both the 255ext and the Powercool W300 cooler.

4. There was virtually no smoke or fumes. If I welded 2 inches with the Lincoln MIG I had to open the garage door and run a big fan to vent the fumes. We ran practice welds for a couple hours with the door closed as it was 96 degrees outside and there was no smoke to speak of.

5. I ordered directly from Everlast and they gave me a 5% discount, free shipping, and no sales tax.

6. The Powercool W300 is a beast. I have the largest welding cart you can buy rated for 400lbs and I had to take the top off the welding cart to fit the water cooler on the lower shelf from above.

Dislikes

1. Their water cooled torch hoses are retarded! The industry standard seems to be red for hot water return, blue for cold water out, black for gas. Everlast...hell if they just used black for all the hoses that would have been an improvement. No they use a blue hose...not for cold water out but for gas (face palm). Naturally I and quite a few other people I found connected the blue hose to the cold water out and promptly pumped antifreeze out the end of their torch. I blew it out with an air compressor and no harm done but seriously. Consider yourself warned, blue to gas, black to cold water out, thicker black braided hose to hot water return.

2. Minor issue but they positioned the gas inlet right in the center on the back of the machine. The hose and brass fittings bumped right into the gas tank with the front of the welder hanging off the front of the shelf. I had to move the top shelf of my cart forward almost 3 inches for clearance.

3. The gas hose and flow meter didn't seem to be the best quality. I'm not saying its not decent for the money just not top notch. Oddly they deviated from industry standard again here. Their hose has a male fitting on one end and a female fitting on the other where the industry standard seems to be male/male. I decided to pimp out my new welder with a made in USA Harris flow meter/regulator with the standard hose.

Here are some pictures to drool over, first the cooler. It came very well packed and arrived free of shipping damage.

Now the welder...

They should have wrapped some foam around that plug, no harm done on mine but it only traveled from CA to WA on a longer trip it might wear through the plastic and scratch the paint.









Here's the behemoth cooler!





In the background you can see the bench grinder of FAIL! I since replaced it with a Delta 6" and a (gulp) $130 diamond grinding wheel.

Good to hear good things about green and nice report Coolide. I have been eyeing the little 125 ac/dc machine from them as something to throw in the van at the track (motorcycle racing). I know I have wished I had a welder a few times after a spill, and I know I could pick up some good karma, and maybe a $ or 2 if I were to offer track side welding.

Coolidge,
Pics of the welds please.

We wired brushed all the welds, I'll have to do some more practice welding and post pics with the pretty blue and pink oxidation. Plus some have tungsten sticking out of them

Coolidge wrote:
In the background you can see the bench grinder of FAIL! I since replaced it with a Delta 6" and a (gulp) $130 diamond grinding wheel.

Please provide a source for the diamond wheel, thanks

Richard

I'd be fabbing up a custom guard for that wheel. Maybe that's just me

My dad probably has the page number in the McMaster catalog memorized with the part number. @Braehill will probably chime in in a few hours

@LtBadd,
McMaster-Carr 8725A81 for 3/4" wide and 8725A82 for 1" wide, page # 2613. No that's not from memory, it's from there online catalog, but thanks for your overblown faith in my failing memory there GreinTime.

Len

Braehill wrote:@LtBadd,
McMaster-Carr 8725A81 for 3/4" wide and 8725A82 for 1" wide, page # 2613. No that's not from memory, it's from there online catalog, but thanks for your overblown faith in my failing memory there GreinTime.

Len

Lol

LtBadd wrote:

Coolidge wrote:Please provide a source for the diamond wheel, thanks

Richard

Recommend you get the 320 grit, I ordered the 180 and wish I had gone with 320 for a smoother grind.

http://www.mcmaster.com/#diamond-plates/=y2tl44

Also note these have a 1.25 inch arbor I had to turn a brass spacer on my lathe to fit the 1/2 inch grinder shaft.

Braehill wrote:@LtBadd,
McMaster-Carr 8725A81 for 3/4" wide and 8725A82 for 1" wide, page # 2613. No that's not from memory, it's from there online catalog, but thanks for your overblown faith in my failing memory there GreinTime.

Len

Thanks Len

Coolidge wrote:
Recommend you get the 320 grit, I ordered the 180 and wish I had gone with 320 for a smoother grind.

http://www.mcmaster.com/#diamond-plates/=y2tl44

Also note these have a 1.25 inch arbor I had to turn a brass spacer on my lathe to fit the 1/2 inch grinder shaft.

Thanks for the heads up, I'll pick one up for the shop.

Coolidge wrote:
Recommend you get the 320 grit, I ordered the 180 and wish I had gone with 320 for a smoother grind.

http://www.mcmaster.com/#diamond-plates/=y2tl44

Huh?

That link took me to a page discussing diamond pattern tread plate

Trev

TRACKRANGER wrote:

Coolidge wrote:
Recommend you get the 320 grit, I ordered the 180 and wish I had gone with 320 for a smoother grind.

http://www.mcmaster.com/#diamond-plates/=y2tl44

Huh?

That link took me to a page discussing diamond pattern tread plate

Trev

Copy and paste the part number into their search bar

My question is about the perforated style of the diamond wheel, I'm guessing that at the rpm of the bench grinder you won't feel the "bumping" as the holes goes by

I think the correct link should be

http://www.mcmaster.com/#diamond-grindi ... ls/=y2zrqg

Trev

LtBadd,
You definitely don't feel the perforations while you're using it.

I must say that I like it very much for shaping lathe bits also, does a fine job. I don't remember the grit on the one I have, I think it's the middle one that they list (see, the memory isn't what it used to be).

Len

TRACKRANGER wrote:

Coolidge wrote:
Recommend you get the 320 grit, I ordered the 180 and wish I had gone with 320 for a smoother grind.

http://www.mcmaster.com/#diamond-plates/=y2tl44

Huh?

That link took me to a page discussing diamond pattern tread plate

Trev

Weird, here try this one http://www.mcmaster.com/#8725a81/=y30b1b

LtBadd wrote:

TRACKRANGER wrote:

Coolidge wrote:
Recommend you get the 320 grit, I ordered the 180 and wish I had gone with 320 for a smoother grind.

http://www.mcmaster.com/#diamond-plates/=y2tl44

Huh?

That link took me to a page discussing diamond pattern tread plate

Trev

Copy and paste the part number into their search bar

My question is about the perforated style of the diamond wheel, I'm guessing that at the rpm of the bench grinder you won't feel the "bumping" as the holes goes by

You won't BUT its not uncommon for people to grind tungsten against the rotation of the wheel so they can see what they are doing. I absolutely would not do that on this wheel I think its quite likely to catch on the perforations. I turn the grinder around so it spins away from me and grind that way.

Here's another info nugget. I purchased a 100 grit standard wheel at first, it produced a real smooth grind but this 180 grit diamond wheel is so sharp the tungsten actually looks rougher ground. Hence my recommendation to go with the 320.