Everlast PowerTig 255 EXT - Performance beyond expectation, exceptional machine...

[JimMinKent]

Jim for the last photo set, you might need the new compliment, the 325ext for that one. Same features, more power, but 3 phase.

I've got my money on the 255! Perhaps it will take a little pre-heating. The point is that the 255 EXT is More machine than most guys, or companies even, will ever need. My local fab shop owner dropped his jaw, and two of his welders just stared at the 3/4" T-joint in awe. He wants one, and they run on single phase power.

Here we can get in the game without another mortgage payment, or buying the power company another wind turbine.

This is the machine for us mortals.

[Mr120]

I've got my money on the 255! Perhaps it will take a little pre-heating. The point is that the 255 EXT is More machine than most guys, or companies even, will ever need. My local fab shop owner dropped his jaw, and two of his welders just stared at the 3/4" T-joint in awe. He wants one, and they run on single phase power.

Here we can get in the game without another mortgage payment, or buying the power company another wind turbine.

This is the machine for us mortals.

Jim, I think some of us are questioning whether you are mortal. You have done us all a great service with your highly entertaining and informative pursuit of what your welder can do. I was literally on the edge of my seat waiting to see the next picture, the next paragraph, the next installment. Very impressive and thank-you.

[JimMinKent]

Gentlemen, Thank You all for the kind words, I am glad that you enjoyed the report.

Jakeru - I did find the new packaging to be impressive, too. I was really surprised how clean and straight it was upon arrival.
The 250 EXT is indeed a really great looking machine, and is impressive in size and weight. I wondered if the smaller size of the 255 would be any detriment to performance, but as you can see, it lacks nothing. This compact machine is the new workhorse of the shop.

DaveO - I am glad that I finally Did answer your question. I laughed reading about you going through the pictures, wondering if "the next one" would provide your answer.

Kempy - Thanks for the nice comments, I also look forward, on your behalf, for yours to arrive, too. You will not regret your purchase, good luck with it.

Mark - You can imagine the amount of molten material involved here. It looks like this will be a flat position process for the time being. I do think if I orient the plates, a little flatter for the vertical piece, those weld nuggets will indeed touch in the middle. I'll try that soon, these are just my first experiments. I'll try a little pre-heat, too, but I will stick to my single-phase process, Thank You!

Mr120 - I am glad you liked the pedal mod, it really does work well now. Thanks also for the very kind comments, I'll try to keep the future updates up to the caliber you have come to enjoy Truly though, just a mere mortal.

[fdcmiami]

great thread. i think the photo that grabbed my attention the most (though they were all good) was the one of the perfectly formed dollop of aluminum sitting below the hole in the plate above it. how the heck did that happen. lol

[Mr120]

great thread. i think the photo that grabbed my attention the most (though they were all good) was the one of the perfectly formed dollop of aluminum sitting below the hole in the plate above it. how the heck did that happen. lol

Seeing that hole WAS pretty impressive. Mind you, the whole review was impressive. I'm going back to the other thread to look at Duncan's specs to see if I can figure out the settings.

[jakeru]

Jim, nice work. That is very intersting effect on the thick plate melt-through. Haven't seen anything like it.

Can you add how long it took to get a puddle on those thick pieces? If you say "right away as fast as can be, I wasn't even flooring it", for pure argon, I will be VERY impressed (although that is probably not a realistic expectation).

Eventually, I'd like to know or see how the 255EXT with your "magic settings" might work on a truly large weldment. Here is the massive flatbed alumium trailer that kicked my Super 200P's butt:

It's the biggest and thickest aluminum "thing" I ever tried welding. I think those cast side rails (with a cast-in beam shape) had upper and lower flanges about 2"x1.5" (you can see the 2" dimension being measured above). But the massive size weldment really made it impossibe to pre-heat or even really to sit there with the arc letting the heat build up, even. The massive weldment just conducted the heat away too fast for anything to work. (This was before I got Helium, and I still wonder if even with Helium I could have done it with the Super200P.)

Do you think your 255EXT could have done it with pure argon?

I'm curious if you've thought of a way to test the 255EXT's different A/C waveforms to make sure they're working properly? I tried them (only briefly and once, so far) on my 255EXT, and my first reaction was, I didn't notice the softening in the AC arc sound qualities that I was expecting. (I've welded a transformer machine and it definitely had a softer arc sound, but it wasn't running 120Hz so maybe I'm just not used to the higher frequency yet.) My Super200P that I'm most used to is a 60Hz inverter. On my first run on my 255EXT, I was using the default 120Hz and 25% (I think?) EP. Short beads, relatively low power since I'm still getting my torch setup sorted out on this new machine and don't yet have aircooled or a watercooler going. I did notice that the triangle wave needed more current to run a puddle in same material than the other waveforms did. So I do believe they are doing something. I was just surprised the sine wave wasn't more "mellow" sounding. (And to a lesser degree, also the soft square)

Initially, I found all the different 2T/4T/footpedal/nopedal options of the 255EXT to be quite dizzying. And I was surprised setting the "footpedal" didn't take off the downslope. (But it was nothing that couldn't quickly be fixed, just adds a bit to the initial learning curve of this particular machine design.)

I still have very little arc time on my 255EXT. (I've just been busy with other stuff!) But hope to get more time to focus on it soon. Thanks for the best 255EXT review on the Web yet, though (takes some pressure off of me from having to get mine done so quickly ).

[JimMinKent]

Jakeru, the 1/2" plate took only about 30 seconds to start, run across the plate, AND melt through. The 3/4" T-joint took about a minute for each side from a cold start. So, it gets going right away, and I only have argon.

It would be interesting to see how it handles your trailer work. Where exactly does it need welding? Does it break, or wear down?

Don't feel bad about your Super 200P, neither my Syncrowave 250 or the legacy 250EXT could stand a chance against that size material. That's another clue about the 255, it does something other welders do not do. But I think you will have some success on that large stuff with your 255, I think I could make a repair on it, and yes using argon.

I did try all the waveforms, and think they are working fine. Try the sine wave at 40-50hz, 30%ep, and 120 amps on 1/8" 6061. It should run soft and wet in nicely. I'll try that tomorrow, too. The triangle is for thin stuff, where you want to get in and out of the peak current quickly on each cycle.

I used all options of 2T/4T/Pedal/2TPedal/4TPedal. They run as I had hoped for. For a simple example, Set amps to 200, in 2T the pedal switch is used to start the arc at the panel amps setting, useful for hot tacking. Push the button to Pedal mode and now you control the amps from 0 - 200 by the pedal, without needing to swap out the 7-wire connector for the torch switch.

So, keep at it, we'll be getting our proper accessories pretty soon, and thanks for the interesting post of your own.