Quote Originally Posted by vicrc View Post
Is it that difficult to fire up a machine before it goes to a customer? This way most will get machines working from the get go, being proactive will with your business, IMHO.

How do I know if the point gap is not perfectly set on my machine? Is it one of those things that it either works or it does not? Also if it is slightly off will it show on the operation of the machine? Have never tig welded before or use any other machine, how will I know if the gap is set correctly?
It would take setting up a place to do the testing, along with unboxing and reboxing. Form other posts it sounds like they are often reshipped right from clearing customs after import, so it might not be that practical. Also I expect that the real damage comes not from riding on a boat in a huge shipping container, but from UPS tossing things around. So testing here would not likely help much.

The only way you will know if the point gap is set right is to measure it. It will have to be off pretty good to be able to see it in the arc starts. Point adjustment is a standard TIG thing and lots of machines have the instructions for that in the manual. Older transformer machines often had a little door just to access the points, because they often used them continuously on AC, not just for starting. With only starting you will probably never need to adjust them, unless the machine gets a banged around, so they don't need the easy access anymore.