I'm confused with the Pedal -vs- Panel controls...

I recently purchased a PP256 (last yrs mdl) and, during some pre-purchase discussions with Everlast I had, was told "But if you are welding with the foot pedal, the only thing you are really getting much more with the 250ex (over the 200) is a lower AC start, a little more cleaning range, and 50 more amps. All those other knobs and controls are not used with the pedal."

So, wasn't I surprised when using the TIG w/pedal for the first time, and I rolled-back to OFF the machine followed the downslope settings. It seems to me the Up/Down Slope, Start/End Amps, and All the Pulse functions are in the picture when I use the pedal. I can't figure what it is that's different...

Am I missing something or did I just misunderstand???

I think I've gotten comfortable with most of these parameters, the only thing that still seems somewhat mysterious to me is when/how to determine when I would want to change the Balance & Ratio of the Pulse (I'm leaving them in the middle for now ;)). Is there somewhere where I can find a good explanation?

What is your function switch set too, 2T or 4T. Technically it should be set to 2T. Not sure what it does in 4T with the peddle.

You typically turn down the start amps, end amps, and up and downslope controls when using a pedal. The whole point of the pedal is to give you control of those things on the fly. The one thing that is used with the pedal is pulse, and even then for slow pulsing some people do that with the pedal, too.

Pulse settings usually fall into two ranges. Slow pulse around .5 to 4 pulses per second is used to maintain a steady feed and travel rhythm and can be done with the pulser or pedal. Higher pulses from 30 and up are used to help control heat, and focus the arc to narrow the bead. Jody has some videos on pulse on WT&T that show the effects when welding near an edge. A lot is a personal style thing, and pulse is not needed for most welds. It's just another tool that can help in some situations. The best way to get a feel for the effects is to get some scrap and practice with different settings. The pulse time on and ratio of pulse amps to background amps effects how much heat reduction you get and the frequency affects how much more focus you get. Jody's rule of thirds is a good starting point. 33Hz, 33% background amps, 33% pulse time.

http://www.weldingtipsandtricks.com/...ent-pulse.html

As Rambozo said, these setting should be put at the minimum. They are not needed or used with the foot pedal. The foot pedal does all this for you, and yes, the original statement made is true...although you may have misunderstood the intent of the statement. Using a foot pedal makes these features a MOOT point. They can operate with the foot pedal because the foot pedal circuit runs THROUGH the same circuit as these features and these features will override the foot pedal IF left turned up. In other words, you want the machine to ignore these features while you have a foot pedal connected. Setting them at the lowest setting allows the foot pedal to have full control over the range.

As for the pulse, I don't like a 33% on time for general use, especially on a slow pulse setting. Keeping things even, helps timing of the dips and reduces heat input even further, allowing a better "chill" on the puddle for more separation. Everyone has to find their own settings though. Don't be afraid to experiment with it. When it comes to pulse, there is no right or wrong, but it can be a disaster IF you aren't technically up to it...so practice makes perfect.

Thanks for all the responses, I'm in 2T I just expected those controls were going to be overridden with the pedal. I did Zero them all to give the pedal full control (although stopping and allowing the downslope to complete is kinda interesting with repetitive welds of the same type. One less thing to think about!).

I have watched WT&T's videos on the machine, they're Invaluable ;) (I ordered 3 Tig Fingers just because I figured Owed him something for all that and am sure they'll be useful...) I understand the purpose of the Pulse, just not so sure on the fine-tuning of the ratio. Pulse width I get, but when do I want the ratio modified? Is it a setting to control the amount of "chill" or is it more about penetration? The link was helpful, "background -vs- on time", just trying to understand what would make me say well, "Upping the % will help with this" :) As I said, still seems a little mysterious...

Thx Again