Bought an Everlast PowerTIG 250EX

I'm good with cranky people, I am one most of the time. I still have a few more years till retirement so I remember the good old days too. I work for an OEM supplier to the automotive industry (my night job) and I know that our "made in USA" products are an accumulation of parts from all over the world and that when we receive finished product from our Japanese parent company and repackage it to go to US customers a "made in USA" label is stuck on the box. Conversely when we ship our US made products to Japan they do the same thing after changing the packaging. You tell the customers what they want to hear.

I can say that it was seeing the 250EX in a lot of Jody's videos that convinced me to go that way. It was especially apparent to me because he uses it on a lot of his videos where the brand isn't mentioned and the welder isn't the subject of the video. The other deciding factor was the lack of negative comments on the internet. There's no shortage of negative comments on everything else on the net but I couldn't find anyone complaining about anything but shipping times and most of those were during the dock workers strike in CA a year or two ago.
 
One of the top welders on youtube Jody at weldingtipsandtricks has put the Everlast up against the best Miller has in a head to head challenge and the Everlast matched or beat it. As for Made in USA the guts of the $8,000 Miller, which is 95% of an inverter welder, yeah made in Asia just like the Everlast. I know because I called up Miller and asked them. There are a lot of former made in USA products out there that are now made in Asia, but they are still charging the made in USA high price and not forthcoming about the fact that manufacturing was moved to Asia.

I was providing factual information not opinion. The Lincoln 175 can produce a quality aluminum TIG weld and I was asking why he purchased a new welder. Can you provide supporting information to support your comments? Mr Tig supports the Everlast also because he provides an upgrade package for the standard junk that comes with the welder, and it's junk too. As he said; "One out of so many foot pedals don't work correctly."
 
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I'm good with cranky people, I am one most of the time. I still have a few more years till retirement so I remember the good old days too. I work for an OEM supplier to the automotive industry (my night job) and I know that our "made in USA" products are an accumulation of parts from all over the world and that when we receive finished product from our Japanese parent company and repackage it to go to US customers a "made in USA" label is stuck on the box. Conversely when we ship our US made products to Japan they do the same thing after changing the packaging. You tell the customers what they want to hear.

I can say that it was seeing the 250EX in a lot of Jody's videos that convinced me to go that way. It was especially apparent to me because he uses it on a lot of his videos where the brand isn't mentioned and the welder isn't the subject of the video. The other deciding factor was the lack of negative comments on the internet. There's no shortage of negative comments on everything else on the net but I couldn't find anyone complaining about anything but shipping times and most of those were during the dock workers strike in CA a year or two ago.

I wasn't knocking your choice, I was addressing the *why you purchased a new welder* and you stated the reason and that's good enough. I was pointing out some technical areas. I have four welders and I never bought a new welder based on something better than what I had, the purchase was based on the welding process(es) that needed to be done. My overall point was, your Lincoln will produce a weld comparable to the Everlast.
 
The timing of this thread is spot on. Earlier today I asked a friend who is a certified welder about the differences between an inverter and a transformer machine. He didn't know but it sounds like the ability to change the frequency when welding aluminum and the weight difference are pluses.

I have a square wave 175 and it works very well for what I use it for and at best I'm a hack welder. The electronics may be dated, I think I bought my welder back in the 90's. Lincoln is also selling inverter units, I don't know where they are made.
 
I was providing factual information not opinion. The Lincoln 175 can produce a quality aluminum TIG weld and I was asking why he purchased a new welder. Can you provide supporting information to support your comments? Mr Tig supports the Everlast also because he provides an upgrade package for the standard junk that comes with the welder, and it's junk too. As he said; "One out of so many foot pedals don't work correctly."

I saw that video too. I don't remember what all was on his list of stuff he was replacing aside from attaching a $14 plug on the end of the power cord but I do remember his mentioning the foot pedal. I did note that Everlast sells "better" foot pedals on their site and provides the pinout in the manual for those that want to adapt the machine to something else. I wonder what the mark-up cost is for "Mr. TIG" to upgrade the otherwise stock welder (and slap his brand on it)? All he has to do is tell you what you want to hear (it's junk, but not the welder of course, just the stuff he's replacing) to convince you that he's doing you a favor by upping the cost. In fact, I wonder if he's having Everlast make the changes to his specs and drop shipping them?
 
My overall point was, your Lincoln will produce a weld comparable to the Everlast.

It must just be psychological then, in the last couple days of experimenting with the settings and I've produced dozens of welds that look better than I was able to produce with the Lincoln. It could just be that given all my new choices I never once turned the frequency down to 60 hz and set the balance to 50%. :D
 
I'm good with cranky people, I am one most of the time. I still have a few more years till retirement so I remember the good old days too. I work for an OEM supplier to the automotive industry (my night job) and I know that our "made in USA" products are an accumulation of parts from all over the world and that when we receive finished product from our Japanese parent company and repackage it to go to US customers a "made in USA" label is stuck on the box. Conversely when we ship our US made products to Japan they do the same thing after changing the packaging. You tell the customers what they want to hear.

I can say that it was seeing the 250EX in a lot of Jody's videos that convinced me to go that way. It was especially apparent to me because he uses it on a lot of his videos where the brand isn't mentioned and the welder isn't the subject of the video. The other deciding factor was the lack of negative comments on the internet. There's no shortage of negative comments on everything else on the net but I couldn't find anyone complaining about anything but shipping times and most of those were during the dock workers strike in CA a year or two ago.

There were some quality problems with Everlast but it was back in 2014 and prior years. On the other hand purchasing Miller or Lincoln is no guarantee you won't have issues, they have better support, quicker repair times but they are not immune to break downs either. Jody is the man, what little I have learned about TIG has mostly been from his videos.
 
It must just be psychological then, in the last couple days of experimenting with the settings and I've produced dozens of welds that look better than I was able to produce with the Lincoln. It could just be that given all my new choices I never once turned the frequency down to 60 hz and set the balance to 50%. :D

I started with a Lincoln 210MP, hated it. I was running nice beads with the Everlast 255ext in a fraction of the practice time. And we haven't even talked about the pulse features yet, here's a first time outside corner fusion join using a 1 second pulse, 50/50 power at a 1 second interval, the machine did all the hard work. My tack welds left, middle, right, but look at the pulsed beads in-between, that's with no practice, the pulse feature freezing the puddle behind me, fusion weld no filler rod.

pulse.jpg
 
The timing of this thread is spot on. Earlier today I asked a friend who is a certified welder about the differences between an inverter and a transformer machine. He didn't know but it sounds like the ability to change the frequency when welding aluminum and the weight difference are pluses.

I have a square wave 175 and it works very well for what I use it for and at best I'm a hack welder. The electronics may be dated, I think I bought my welder back in the 90's. Lincoln is also selling inverter units, I don't know where they are made.

The frequency adjustment do-hickey does the same thing as the arc balance knob. Primarily the cleaning action of A.C. current when welding aluminum is accomplished by electrons bombarding the metal and the arc balance or frequency adjustment stabilizes the arc, and a stable arc in any welding process results in a better weld. The frequency adjustment (arc balance) also takes advantage of the penetrating properties when the current cycles into what would be electrode negative in a DCEN setting. A lot of improvement can be made in welding performance if we take the time to understand the polarity settings and electron flow. I work at presenting useful information and I realize many imparting information are YouTube trained and haven't moved beyond dipping their tungsten long enough to actually weld a bead. Keep your 175 and keep practicing, you'll do okay.
 
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