Just got my 225LX and tried it out

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03-22-2011, 10:03 PM
DiabolicZ

Just got my 225LX and tried it out

Took pictures of the box. Didn't look like there was any damage. Opened it up and pulled it out all looked good. Then I stared looking at the front of the machine. It appears that the two top screws that hold the front panel on are stripped out. They were loose allowing the control board to move in and out when I went to turn knobs. I tried to tighten them down, but they just spun, no getting tighter.

Meh whatever, lets try it out. It came with some weird plug, don't know what it is for, so I pulled my plug off of my Miller plasma cutter to barrow. Hooked it up, turned it on and the fan inside was rubbing on something a little bit. No biggie...

Hooked up the gas, regulated it to 6 liters. Put in a normal green 3/32 tungsten brand new fresh sharpened. First weld went just fine on aluminum. Played with some settings... Welded some more at a different frequency and AC balance. Just fine again. Then I went to put it back to the original setting of about 100hz and put the AC balance back where it was too, and my High Frequency quit working. For anyone who doesn't know what it is like when the HF is not working, you go to start your arc and it is kind of violent and you cant really make out a spark and what you think is a spark is all over the place. If you take your tungsten and just barely touch it to your base metal, everything kicks off and you are welding like normal. HF makes it to where you don't have to touch your tungsten to the base metal.

Anyways, so it looks like I will be getting in touch with tech support to go over how to adjust the points on the HF when I get a chance. While I'm in there, I will move whatever made it's way to the fan. Maybe I'll pull off the front cover and figure out what to do about those stripped out screws...

Other than that, I'm not disappointed. Working like it is supposed to for the most part, just needs some tinkering which I am more than capable of doing. It is different than my Lincoln Precision TIG 185, that is for sure, but I will get used to it. Not in a bad way, just different. It does have a nice arc that is for sure. It seems to pack more of a punch than the Lincoln at the same amperage too.

I have not tried any of the 4t operations or the pulsing features yet. I will post up when I do.

I have an intake manifold I have to make for a customer this week, so I will probably be using this welder on that. We'll see how it goes.
03-22-2011, 10:40 PM
Wrenchtamer

Just so you know, pure tungsten is not recommended for use with everlast machines, or any inverter as far as I know.
03-22-2011, 10:57 PM
DiabolicZ

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wrenchtamer

Just so you know, pure tungsten is not recommended for use with everlast machines, or any inverter as far as I know.

That is exactly what I thought too. The day I ordered my machine, I talked to Mark who is the one who sold it to me. I asked him what tungsten I needed to go buy because all I had was the regular red and green. He informed me that those are fine and that I can use them on this machine.

So... I did.
03-22-2011, 11:43 PM
presure2

Looking forward to seeing some pics when you have some time, man.
03-23-2011, 12:36 AM
WILD BILL

Have you tried the red 2% thoriated?

Might make a difference over the pure.
03-23-2011, 01:26 AM
DiabolicZ

Quote:

Originally Posted by WILD BILL

Have you tried the red 2% thoriated?

Might make a difference over the pure.

Ok... This machine is pretty ****ing cool...

I just did. 2% thoriated makes a world of difference. I may pick up a stick of zirconiated tomorrow when I go to get more gas and filler rod.

Played with pulse a little. Played with 2t and 4t. Took a small video, but I have to figure out how to upload it on to this computer. I just got this computer yesterday so I have not gotten that far yet..

Anyways... Some quirks here and there. My pedal quit working. Turns out there is a spring to hold the geared rod tight to the potentiometer in the pedal. That spring wasn't pulling on the rod hard enough. This let it slip away from the pot. I could not get full amperage and could not figure out why till I looked closer. Had to make a small modification.

Fan issue, pulled the rear cover and jacked with the fan for a minute. Seems to be fine now.

I have a dent in the side of my case that I did not notice before. It is right at a screw head. Looks like the screw took the impact.

All in all, I like the machine. However, I could see how someone would be pissed off if they opened it, hooked it all up and #### wasn't working right. I am one of those people who can fix just about anything though, so it's not a problem for me to make the small adjustments needed here and there.
03-23-2011, 01:33 AM
dgarnier

hmm I also have a 250 on order and was told they all come in at the same time. I have not gotten a tracking number yet, nor have I herd of any one else getting 1 recently. Was this a referb unit? Did the 250's miss the boat?
03-23-2011, 02:14 AM
performance

Quote:

Originally Posted by DiabolicZ

That is exactly what I thought too. The day I ordered my machine, I talked to Mark who is the one who sold it to me. I asked him what tungsten I needed to go buy because all I had was the regular red and green. He informed me that those are fine and that I can use them on this machine.

So... I did.

OK, I wish we could rewind that conversation....Maybe you misheard me...I said NOT to use the green under any circumstances....use ANY color but green! I can't imagine saying use green...I even put it in the manual not to.It may have been a disconnect between my brain and mouth.
But in reality, I would not recommend Zirconiated either, because, it is my understanding, it was developed for Transformers for improved performance on AC...but not the best for inverters. Lanthanated will work well. Nothing wrong with thoriated.

The shipment is not in yet. We will announce it. It probably was (and this has happened before) an unit that got separated from the main batch, pulled into the office or something for a spot check or something and forgot under a desk...Not sure, but just sayin...its happened something like that before.

Diabolic.
If any thing is not right, we will make it right. We have seen some stripped screws recently and of course we have been battling that foot pedal problem. Its much better than it was, but still not perfect. Hopefully we can resolve that completely in the not too distant future...we are working on it. Its likely that the nuts are too tight...I have seen this happen. The spring might be fine, just too much resistance on the pivot will keep it from pulling it against the cog.
03-23-2011, 02:33 AM
WILD BILL

Glad to hear your running at full speed now.

I've used both the 2% thoriated and 2% lanthinated and both work well.
03-23-2011, 03:42 AM
DiabolicZ

Ok, got it... NO GREEN TUNGSTEN! No zirconiated either. I didn't get an owners manual, so I would not have seen it in there.

The thoriated works good. Then I'll grab some lanthanated tomorrow. You probably said what you meant to say. I most likely just heard you wrong. Either way, when using the correct tungsten, the HF works fine.

As far as my machine being refurbished or not... dunno, dont care. It's got the same warranty either way.

The stripped out screws don't bother me as long as I can just fix that issue myself without voiding my warranty.

As far as the spring goes, I just pulled it further and hooked it on the cut out slot that is a little further back in the base plate to give the spring more tension. Works great now.
03-23-2011, 05:01 AM
performance

Diabolic,
We have all the manuals loaded online. They are not included in the package, since we update them periodically. We will eventually get the US manuals into the packaging. But for now since they are online.

Fixing screws, or anything like that won't nullify the warranty... Just don't go making design changes to the circuitry.
03-23-2011, 06:56 AM
DiabolicZ

Can any of you guys tell me the limited low side on this machine? I thought it was either 10 or 20 amps on AL and then 5amps on DCEN.

It does get cold enough before I cut the arc on AC, but i have to wait a few seconds for that puddle to freeze. Finding it challenging to keep that fish eye out of the last bead when I cut it off.
03-23-2011, 01:06 PM
performance

AC is 20 amps. DC is 5.

Turn your down slope to minimum and turn your switch to 2T.
03-23-2011, 02:19 PM
DiabolicZ

Quote:

Originally Posted by performance

AC is 20 amps. DC is 5.

Turn your down slope to minimum and turn your switch to 2T.

Down slope is off, pulse is off. Everything is off. Only thing I use is the foot pedal. That is typically how I weld. I thinks it's just going to be me getting used to it is all. Every machine runs a little differently.
03-23-2011, 07:36 PM
DiabolicZ

Here you can see how much smaller the Everlast is compared to the Lincoln.

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j6...s/IMG_5087.jpg
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j6...s/IMG_5088.jpg
Here is my first AC weld with the Everlast. This weld was done before I figured out you are NOT supposed to run the green 100% pure tungsten. Not perfect, but not bad for just setting the knobs on the first try and going with it.
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j6...s/IMG_5080.jpg

I have a video too, but it is pretty boring.
03-23-2011, 08:52 PM
DiabolicZ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euk-OJFTfVI
03-23-2011, 09:12 PM
Salty

Pedal problem

Quote:

Originally Posted by DiabolicZ

Ok... This machine is pretty ****ing cool...

I just did. 2% thoriated makes a world of difference. I may pick up a stick of zirconiated tomorrow when I go to get more gas and filler rod.

Played with pulse a little. Played with 2t and 4t. Took a small video, but I have to figure out how to upload it on to this computer. I just got this computer yesterday so I have not gotten that far yet..

Anyways... Some quirks here and there. My pedal quit working. Turns out there is a spring to hold the geared rod tight to the potentiometer in the pedal. That spring wasn't pulling on the rod hard enough. This let it slip away from the pot. I could not get full amperage and could not figure out why till I looked closer. Had to make a small modification.

Fan issue, pulled the rear cover and jacked with the fan for a minute. Seems to be fine now.

I have a dent in the side of my case that I did not notice before. It is right at a screw head. Looks like the screw took the impact.

All in all, I like the machine. However, I could see how someone would be pissed off if they opened it, hooked it all up and #### wasn't working right. I am one of those people who can fix just about anything though, so it's not a problem for me to make the small adjustments needed here and there.

I had a similar problem with my pedal I turned it over and put a couple of drops of lube on the pivot points and its worked fine since. Just my two cents, good luck.
03-24-2011, 04:45 AM
DiabolicZ

So, I must admit. I was a little bit skeptical when I saw the size of that tiny wire coming off the back of my Everlast compared to the size coming off the back of my Lincoln. However, after welding with the Everlast for a while, that wire doesn't heat up at all. I'm impressed by this inverter technology.
03-24-2011, 05:57 PM
dgarnier

did it warm up on the lincoln?
03-24-2011, 06:08 PM
DiabolicZ

Quote:

Originally Posted by dgarnier

did it warm up on the lincoln?

No, But the cable on the Lincoln is three times the size of the Everlast. The old cable I had going to the breaker would heat up. It was 10gauge. I replaced it with a larger 6 gauge cable and no more heat. However, the cable coming out of the Everlast is probably 10 gauge. So I figured I would feel some heat on it at least a little. Not so much though.
03-24-2011, 07:27 PM
sportbike

Quote:

Originally Posted by DiabolicZ

So, I must admit. I was a little bit skeptical when I saw the size of that tiny wire coming off the back of my Everlast compared to the size coming off the back of my Lincoln. However, after welding with the Everlast for a while, that wire doesn't heat up at all. I'm impressed by this inverter technology.

That is good to know. I plan to use an amp clamp to see what relative input to output current is seen while welding, if I get an everlast unit.
03-24-2011, 09:44 PM
Rivets

Quote:

Originally Posted by DiabolicZ

........ However, the cable coming out of the Everlast is probably 10 gauge. .....

Diabolic,

That would be nice.

The wire on my PP256 is only 12 AWG.
And at 220 volts, the max amp draw is 42.

Good thing the wire insulation is rated for 105 degrees C. :)

Cheers,
rivets
03-24-2011, 10:24 PM
presure2

Good to hear your enjoying the machine!
Looks like it's Laying some sweet beads.
03-24-2011, 11:25 PM
DiabolicZ

Quote:

Originally Posted by presure2

Good to hear your enjoying the machine!
Looks like it's Laying some sweet beads.

Thank you. Those beads are the very first day I had it up and running. I have since been out there screwing around. Playing with all of the settings the machine has to offer and the amperage. I dig it.

On my old Hobart Tig mate, It would start to get hot and shut off after a while of welding 1/8" aluminum sheet. This thing just keeps going and going. It'll blast right through 1/8" too if I have it up too high.

I wasn't really going for pretty here. Just playing around seeing what did what.

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j6...s/IMG_5148.jpg
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j6...s/IMG_5149.jpg

Here is a picture of me breaking the weld. For the most part it is now breaking in the heat effected zone like it is supposed to do.
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j6...s/IMG_5150.jpg
03-25-2011, 12:43 AM
performance

Diabolic,

Admittedly we have a few gremlins we are chasing like stripped screws on panels and a few odds and ends...For the uninitiated, it can be aggravating to have happen, but by and large most customers can work with us if something like that happens. Duncan is working on things, coordinating some improved standards in the factory and has worked tirelessly. However, we know we have a good performing product, and we are fine tuning the details. But as you can see, it does live up to its reputation to weld.
03-26-2011, 01:07 AM
DiabolicZ

Made the same post over at Welding Web, so I'll just copy and paste it here.

I have had this machine now for a few days. Been screwing around with it here and there. Have been pretty impressed so far. It welds pretty good.

Today I actually had to put it to work though. I had to weld some 1/8" sheet aluminum to a cast intake manifold. I went out there and cranked down on it at 200amps so I could dig into the cast aluminum good. Cranked on it for 6 minutes, (duty cycle is 60% at 225) let it cool down for 4min then cranked on it again for about another 6 minutes. Did this three times total and not once did the welder have a glitch or a hiccup of any kind. Power cord never got warm and it wasn't even blowing warm air out the back of the machine.

Basically... It's doing what it is supposed to be doing. Had I done this with the Hobart Tigmate I used to have, A. it doesn't go to 200amps, and B. it would have over heated and tripped the protector after about 4 minutes of welding. Same thing with my Lincoln PT185.
04-02-2011, 04:24 AM
DiabolicZ

So, I was welding the inside of this plenum using the pulse controls. I used the end cap on the back of the torch and was able to get in there pretty good. Confined spaces take some getting used to that is for sure. Especially when you can't see all the way inside to see your puddle. I was trying to do the lay wire technique, but that is hard to do with aluminum anyways I think.

Anyways, I had the welder pulsing up to 150amps. After about 2-3 minutes of straight welding, the protector would trip on the welder. It did this three times and I am not sure why. I was getting pretty angry because I know I was not exceeding the duty cycle of the welder by a long shot. I am wondering if it because of the angle I had to have my torch at, just made the arc too long causing the voltage to be too high to make the jump. I would say there may have been a 1/2" gap at times.

Once I pulled it out, I retained the pulse settings even though I am still learning with the pulse. I figured I am proficient enough to be able to sell the weld. At this time I still prefer using only the foot petal to control my amperage, but I am slowly getting used to using all of the options this welder has to offer.

Here is my attempt with the pulsing. Unfortunately, I burned through some spots prior when I was welding from the inside out as you can see in the first pictures. So I had to do what I could to weld over them on the out side. Again, welding is such a tight space is no easy feat. When you have your hand, torch and filler rod in there, it is very hard to see what you are doing.
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j6...s/IMG_5204.jpg
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j6...s/IMG_5205.jpg
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j6...s/IMG_5203.jpg
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j6...s/IMG_5202.jpg
http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j6...s/IMG_5201.jpg
04-02-2011, 05:23 AM
performance

The unit has overheat, and overcurrent protection....Yes, a long arc consistently can be a cause.
04-02-2011, 03:53 PM
presure2

manifold looks good man! cant imagine how hard it must be to stay consistant and smooth welding inside there like that!
hopfully just a few more weeks and i'll be able to "attempt" to join the club!!!! lol
04-02-2011, 08:01 PM
jakeru

On my Super200P, I can't remember ever tripping the overheat protection in TIG welding mode. I have melted down my WP-17 TIG welding cable, welding at extended 180-200 amp, and the machine didn't even care. I then upgraded the TIG welding torch to a 200 amps @ 100% duty cycle rated one, and went to town welding pretty large piece of, 3/8" thick aluminum with no pre-heating, mostly just to see if my setup could do that. The machine never went into overheat protection mode, handled this "abuse" like a champ. So anyway now I've got a lot of confidence in this machine.

I can't say I do any TIG welding with anywhere near 1/2" arc length however; I probably don't even go to 1/4" arc length very often. Since the plasma gas has the majority of the resistance in the welding circuit, a really long arc would have made the machine drive potentially a really high amount of voltage. That may have done it! Voltage may be proportional to arc length. Voltage x current = power (and heat). So maybe you should find a big piece of thick aluminum, and then holding a tight arc, and try a TIG duty cycle test? See if your machine can with a tight arc, put out the advertised current / duty cycle.

One thing I noticed about my Super200P compared to a "new" 250EX I tried out, is that subjectively, it seems like the cooling airflow of my Super200P out of the vents was a significantly flow rate than the new 250EX. Like maybe twice the flow (subjectively.) The fans on the Super200P are also lot less noisy than the newer design. I was a little surprised to find that, given the impressively rated current and duty cycle of the 250EX.

If it makes you feel any better though, I have tripped my Super200P's overheat protection mode in plasma cutting mode, however. In fact I think I even tripped my 30 amp circuit breaker. That was before I learned I probably shouldn't be turning the current up to the max in plasma cutting mode.