New Jody video welding with Everlast 160STH, 7018

[undercut]

20 amps in reality, really doesn't put you much up on what you can do with the 140 amps. In practical terms, in welding, 140 and 160 amps both are in the 1/8" stick electrode category (or even 5/32), and also any weld you would do in TIG at 140 amps won't offer much more capability at 160 amps, as both will get you about 3/16 of an inch...at best it would buy you .020-.030of an inch additional which falls into never never land on plate metal (unless you find some odd metric sized plate). The 160 does give you HF, but in steel and stainless welding lift arc is acceptable and commonly used in the field. The main advantage (or disadvantage depending on what you are used to) is that it has the built in gas valve, where the torch on the 140ST has the valve on the handle and is operated manually. Both have their advantages to be sure, but the money difference is the real kicker for some.

Hence my current avatar is the 140 and not the 160. Can't seem to bridge the $ gap. One thing though is the 140 won't support a pedal.

[performance]

True, but again, in the field, where you may be doing a repair, like I will be doing soon, up on a ladder, foot pedals don't work. Nor do they if you are running a tig root on a piece of pipe out in the field. Just "set it and forget it" (to borrow a probably trademarked term from Ronco".

[undercut]

True, but again, in the field, where you may be doing a repair, like I will be doing soon, up on a ladder, foot pedals don't work. Nor do they if you are running a tig root on a piece of pipe out in the field. Just "set it and forget it" (to borrow a probably trademarked term from Ronco".

The little 140 is definitely a small and light wonder.

On the subject of pedals in the field, I thought I read another thread where people stated they had to resort to pressing the pedal with their chin, elbow, knee, etc when welding out of position .... LOL

[performance]

Not on a ladder 50 ft up in the air welding on HVAC maybe even 200 ft from the power source, nor crouched under a pipe down in a trench, or off a bank of DC tig welders. AC with a pedal, yes, mostly, but still a lot of aluminum you can't get to on a big boat with a pedal....such as this Aluminum monster thing (mostly migged with wire feed) built down across the Bay from my in laws: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGykz...eature=related

[Rambozo]

The little 140 is definitely a small and light wonder.

On the subject of pedals in the field, I thought I read another thread where people stated they had to resort to pressing the pedal with their chin, elbow, knee, etc when welding out of position .... LOL

Some welds can be done with a constant current and some can't. You do whatever the job requires. For most things you can just set it and rock on. Welding machines with programmable up and down slope can give you a quasi variable amperage by going in and out of the slope, with a torch switch. Of course you can also just get a torch mounted amperage control, too. Welding castings is one place where it can be just about impossible to do a good job without some kind of amperage control. Fixing aluminum cylinder heads where the wall thickness varies from less than 1/8" to 3/4" or more, really tests both man and machine to get a perfect job.