Welding Tips and Tricks

Hi all, I'm new to the forum but not necessarily new to welding. I'm in the market for a new welder since mine were stolen when my garage was broken into. So I've narrowed it down to two choices. Everlast PowerMTS250S ($1500) or the Everlast PowerMTS251SI ($1700). Basically the only real difference between these two machines that I can see is price and the fact that the SI has pulse TIG and MIG. So my question is that should I fork out the extra dough for the pulse features or not? This machine will be used for side jobs and whatever I may need it for with school. I'm retiring from the Marine Corps and going to school for welding. Thanks in advance for any input!

What kind of side jobs are you performing. If you are doing really thin material than you may want to go with the pulse or if you're doing a lot of overhead welding or vertical. If you are doing mostly thicker materials (1/8 and above) than you can probably save your $200. It may be a good investment though to get the pulse if you end up doing other projects later that require it. I would probably recommend spending the extra money on the pulse tig though.

Farmwelding wrote:What kind of side jobs are you performing. If you are doing really thin material than you may want to go with the pulse or if you're doing a lot of overhead welding or vertical. If you are doing mostly thicker materials (1/8 and above) than you can probably save your $200. It may be a good investment though to get the pulse if you end up doing other projects later that require it. I would probably recommend spending the extra money on the pulse tig though.

Really anything I can get. Work for machine shops, agriculture, off-roaders, etc... Thanks for the feedback!

I like using mine for outside corner joints on thin aluminum. I've also used it when I was welding a big aluminum piece that was a dirty cast crap shoot. To beautify it I set it to .7pps and low frequency, and it reshaped the ugly beads nicely. You can do the same with a pedal but not this consistently (ok ok, >>I<< can't, this way I just need to focus on consistent arc length and travel speed).

BigD wrote:I like using mine for outside corner joints on thin aluminum. I've also used it when I was welding a big aluminum piece that was a dirty cast crap shoot. To beautify it I set it to .7pps and low frequency, and it reshaped the ugly beads nicely. You can do the same with a pedal but not this consistently (ok ok, >>I<< can't, this way I just need to focus on consistent arc length and travel speed).

Good points. And ya never say never in this industry lol.

I've used pulse when building up the edges on holes through plate metal to relocate the location of the shaft going through. I have done this on a chop saw to get it to cut square and on a bolt hole on a tractor.

I would say no. With mig you can pusle it yourself and same with tig. Unless you run scratch start which you won't need it for either.

Pulse is great if your doing work thinner than 20 ga.

As others have said, depends what type of jobs you are taking on - pulse may give you just a bit more flexibility.

For jobs where you need to fill a hole or build up on a thin edge, pulse is gold. I had to add material to the edge of a piece of 1mm wall steel tube recently and pulse just let me continue to go around in circles, stacking a neat bead right on the lip of the tube...the result was exactly what I needed.



Kym

TIG high speed pulse on stainless is very nice to have. Esp for controlling heat input. Not really necessary on most MIG. I would recommend getting a dedicated AC/DC TIG welder do you can do.aluminum TIG, then get a separate dual voltage MIG welder. My recommendation would be an AHP200x TIG and a Tweco 211I, Lincoln 210mp or ESAB rebel

paul_s wrote:I've used pulse when building up the edges on holes through plate metal to relocate the location of the shaft going through. I have done this on a chop saw to get it to cut square and on a bolt hole on a tractor.

Can you expand a little? Im not quite following you. For a buildup wouldn't you just be trying to get down as much filler as possible and have no need for pulse???

soutthpaw wrote:TIG high speed pulse on stainless is very nice to have. Esp for controlling heat input. Not really necessary on most MIG. I would recommend getting a dedicated AC/DC TIG welder do you can do.aluminum TIG, then get a separate dual voltage MIG welder. My recommendation would be an AHP200x TIG and a Tweco 211I, Lincoln 210mp or ESAB rebel

I would love to be able to get separate machines but right now with my budget the way it is im looking at a multiprocess. But if I can swing it im gonna definitely get dedicated machines.

I was just told about AHP machines as well... I could get the AHP200X for about 800 shipped to my door. And that is an AC/DC machine which would leave me money to get a MIG from the as well. Does anybody have any experience with AHP? It doesn't have as many bells and whistles as the Everlast ones but theyre pretty much half the price. Input is appreciated!!!

thatoneguy wrote:I was just told about AHP machines as well... I could get the AHP200X for about 800 shipped to my door. And that is an AC/DC machine which would leave me money to get a MIG from the as well. Does anybody have any experience with AHP? It doesn't have as many bells and whistles as the Everlast ones but theyre pretty much half the price. Input is appreciated!!!

Being an AHP and Everlast distributor, i can tell you that if you are not really familiar with the extra features of the Everlast, then I'd bet that you don't need them and won't miss them.
Adjustable up and down slope time on the Everlast, arc force control for the stick side and ability to go down to 5 amps on the AC side. That's about it. Extra 50 amps with the 250ex, that's the main big differences.

Now if you compared the AHP to a Lincoln SW200 you will see some differences primarily related to the pulse. For example the AHP will allow you to follow Jody's 333 rule. (Fully adjustable pulse from 0.5 to 200pps) Can't do that on the Lincoln because the pulse is fixed at 50% on time and 50% background current. I think Lincoln has a max and or fixed pulse of 20 or 50pps.
Also you are stuck with Lincoln's 16 seconds post flow gas waster. AHP can be zero to 10 sec.
The advantage of the Lincoln is obviously local service centers.

When I was 'moving the location' of those holes, the bead would stay on the edge of the thin metal rather than go over the edge. The buildup was quite minimal by the requirements of the task.

I ended up being able to get the Power I-Mig275S and the Power TIG 250EX. THanks for the input!

It doesn't cost anything extra to have pulse if you have a predetermined notion that you need it in the first place. Then it just becomes a basic life necessity and thus easily justifiable.

Well it does up the game of see what I got.
I have and read and watched vids 40+ years of doing things wrong in todays world might be holding me back.
and never caught on,guess it is beyond my learning cure. Spent a coupla weeks with pulse,never got it right.
Oscar I do read your comments,you have much insight into how things work,

rick9345 wrote:Oscar I do read your comments,you have much insight into how things work,

either that, or I suffer from mindless self-indulgence and thus happy with my delusions.

My thoughts on pulse are pretty straightforward. This crap got done for years before it existed, and can be done into the infinite future without it.

Personally, having used it in some challenging situations, I love it and would have it as one more tool in the box every time. Do I Need it? No. But I'll gladly take it.

Steve S

Oscar/Steve
I doubt if either of you suffer from self indulgence, but rather encounter others that are uncomfortable around a large knowledge base.
I doubt that reading is lost art with either of you.
Your comments have sent me to the library more than once.

rick9345 wrote:Oscar/Steve
I doubt if either of you suffer from self indulgence, but rather encounter others that are uncomfortable around a large knowledge base.
I doubt that reading is lost art with either of you.
Your comments have sent me to the library more than once.

I can't speak for Oscar, but in my case, that's remarkably perceptive. I read and study all the time, sometimes stuff I'll never touch, just for the fun of it. And, yes, there's one guy at work I simply don't associate with except for pure necessity, because it challenges his manhood that I'm so much more broadly experienced than him. It drives him apeshit that everyone else is always asking me questions about damn near everything.

Knowledge has no value, if you don't share it. The way I see it, my employer buys it from me.

Steve S

Same here, but not all welding stuff. I look up stuff when I have to---but when I do, I look up scientific "white papers" whenever possible. I've found A LOT of good stuff on slideshare.net. My other reading material consists of re-reading my old college textbooks that cost me a fortune at the time. Advanced Google searching can reveal many "interesting" PDF files, if you know how to structure the search fields/function.

Oh yeah! There are some great dissertation papers from some of the engineering schools that have amazing details for free. If your willing just look a bit. I like to referance some stuff through engineeringtoolbox.com too.

I like hard copy in my hands.Local library will do university(most all them in USA) book transfer for checkout.