Welding Tips and Tricks

I'm in the market for a new tig. I had an east tig 200a.c./dc machine it worked for 10 months them one Saturday morning I was working on a job and it blew up. I will give Eastwood credit I called them told them what happened and 24hours later I had a new one at my door. I used that one to finish the job I had started the week before. Then I sold the machine about 4 days after.

I was dead set on buying a new Lincoln square wave 200 because at one time I owned a square wave 175 and it was a good machine but struggled on thicker aluminum also it had gotten dammaged on a job then repaired then I decided to sell that machine. Later buying the Eastwood.

But I was looking around the net and found the everlast.
My question is has anyone had one of these machines for sometime. A year or more what's your experience as far as welding how do you like the machine?
The reason why I ask about your welding backround is because I find A lot of reviews on the net for welding machines are done by people that have little welding background. The everlast 250ex has A lot of nice features that you would pay A lot more for on name brand machines. But after the Eastwood bomb going off on my garage I feel a little shell shocked and nervous about buying another Chinese machine. And yes I'm aware that u.s. made machines are now using Chinese parts. So any help I thank you in advance.

250EX 3 yrs LIKE .used (amps -220amps) several times a week all materials.

Are you running a water cooler on that?

Bill w wrote:Are you running a water cooler on that?

I believe he and I both are. I love the welder as well.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

Also, I've used mine up to 250 frequently. To get an air-cooled that will handle that many amps is totally possible they are just too cumbersome for most people's liking. A water cooled 20 series torch is a little over half the size of a 17 series air cooled torch and handles 50-100 more amps depending on the manufacturer.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

GreinTime wrote:Also, I've used mine up to 250 frequently. To get an air-cooled that will handle that many amps is totally possible they are just too cumbersome for most people's liking. A water cooled 20 series torch is a little over half the size of a 17 series air cooled torch and handles 50-100 more amps depending on the manufacturer.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

How long have you owned yours?

About 2 years to the day

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

GreinTime wrote:About 2 years to the day

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

Cool thanks. That's a year longer than my eastwood made it.

I purchased a 250EX last week. Their customer service is awesome.

If you decide to buy one contact "lugweld" over on welding web. He got me the latest 250Ex, Water Cooler, CK Flexloc 230 torch with adapters shipped to my door for $2400. I had everything but the CK torch 2 days latter. It came from a different location.

They are a great machine. my buddy has had his for over a year.
Welds great, i've used it quite a bit.

Here's a few pics, including our custom cart.

http://weldingweb.com/showthread.php?58 ... highlight=

Now that optimus prime thing is lacking a good oxy accetylene set up . It would fit on the back there too !

250EX
Gas cooled CK Flexlok 9 with series 2 and 3 head
and
Water cooled CK Flexlock 230 with series 2 and 3 head(used Miller cooler)
one size does not fit all, regular cups ,gas lenses,big cups ,small cups,long cups,short cups,.040-1/8 tungsten(red,blue,gold etc NO GREEN) I like Diamond Ground tungsten and CK wedge lock collets.
2013 date of mfg runs 9 amps to 250 amps used on all types material
so far machine better than operator