250ex & water cooler

[toolman]

just purchased the 250ex, water cooler & cart this week.the boxing they came is very adequate and no shipping damage was evident. but have a few suggestions, the torch looks to be well made and the button feature worked very well when welding up in the boat, but it would be nice if the added about 2' of hose so you don't need to add extensions to hook up to the cooler.the cart is a good product for the money but I had to grind out the bottle support to get the large argon to fit. the box the cooler came in and cooler was wet on the inside from water in the tank (probably from testing)took cover off and blew everything off and while in there installed 2 bulkhead fittings with 2 std. left hand female fittings for my ck 20 torch.speaking of torches the cover of the wp 18 is heavy and the rubber cover drags and is not very flexible so went down to my hyd. store and bought 15' of 1''Kevlar hose cover took my electricans snake feed it through taped on the hose ends pulled them back tucked about 2 inches in on the torch end and zip tied now it is lighter, flexible and easily pulls over railings and is almost indestructible.I took the cover off the 250ex to install a bulkhead fitting and a std.female hose end for my ck 20 torch and every thing looked good except for some brown wire ends and some small plastic stuff blew it all out put it back together with out the handle,(makes a good spot for the consumable box).have about 20 arc hours and runs great

[sschefer]

I'm running a WeldTec Cooler on mine just because I already had it but the problem is the same with the short water lines. I agree, it's not really that big of a deal if you've been around a few welders but for the first timers it might be an intimidating problem.

I changed my torches over with quick connect harnesses that I made up. That way if I go to another machine I can just take the harness off.

The 18 torch that comes with the machine is a big torch for sure and a little bizzare to handle if you're use to a much lighter 20. Your 20 may be rated at 250 amps (not sure) but in A/C it'll probably only handle 180 amps. The 18 that came with the machine will go all the way so keep that in mind if you get into some 1/4" or thicker Al on that boat.

At first I didn't think I'd like that torch but in short order I had to contend with an upside down and backwards (me) welding position. That 2T/4T option is a blessing in disquise. Instead of grabbing the MIG I just flipped a couple of switches and twisted a few knobs and got it done.

Probably the biggest thing I like about this welder is that it is a energy mizer compared to my Lincoln Precision TIG 225. I would bet that I'll see at least 100.00 a month difference in my electricity bill.