CHEAP TIG Welder

I thought the famous Soviet quote was, "Sometimes, quantity has a quality all of it's own."

It may as well be a Chinese proverb, too. It certainly is in the dollar aisle at Harbor Freight. Broke a neon-handled 99-cent screwdriver? Just toss it, grab another from the drawer. I'll do that with George Washington, but Ben Franklins have to stick around a while longer.
 
markba633csi said:
Interesting- I'm sure the accessories are somewhat pitiful- maybe not. The service after it smokes is what I wonder about
Everlast and AHP are supposed to be good
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Everlast and AHP are terrible about service. They are owned by the same people. Oleg is listed as the owner of Everlast and his ex-wife was listed as the owner of AHP last I knew, but they are in the same building....just Suite A and Suite B sort of thing. My first Everlast developed an issue within weeks of getting it and it took a couple of months to get a replacement. There were over 50 e-mails back and forth, many phone calls, and they sent me parts at least four or five times, and twice they were for the wrong machine entirely. I finally got Oleg on the phone and he offered either a replacement machine, or full purchase price credit towards a more expensive machine. I went with more expensive machine, and it's been fine, but when that one dies I'm not going to even try getting help from them....I'll just call it a lesson.
 
I’ve got an everlast 250ex.

5B03555C-0626-4307-8A03-40B14AAFBE09.jpeg


Had it for a couple years now. Not one complaint or failure. It just works. 60% duty cycle @ 250 amps is pretty decent considering the price point.

No fancy menus or displays other than the amps:

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I’m ok with that though. Lots of dials instead of “lead you by the hand” menu options forces me to learn what each dial does and I feel that has made me better at using it. Probably a better welder in general (amateur at home) as I get to experiment with each setting independently and see what the results are. YMMV.

One thing I’m not a fan of is that it uses the CB’s as the on/off switch. It is what it is I guess.

you’re paying a LOT more than HF prices though, roughly ten times as much. But I’ve run it pretty hard and it has taken it all in stride.

I’m in Canada, so while they may get them from the usa distributer, you deal with Canadian distributing, not usa. I’ve never had to call them, so no idea if the service is different.

Get something to sharpen your tungstens besides a bench grinder. You’ll ruin the wheel in ahort order and get less rhan desirable results on your tip. I bought a diamond wheel knife sharpener and it works great. I chuck the tungsten in my cordless drill, put it on low speed and touch the diamond wheel. Easy to get whatever profile you need, doesn’t damage the diamond wheel and your tungsten has the grind marks in the proper orientation.

I also recommend a gas lens for the torch. I find it has much better shielding gas coverage and doesn’t waste gas.
 
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That's surprising as I had read quite a few good reviews about both Everlast and AHP. The office is just up a ways here in Burlingame- I knew they
shared the same building
I think nothing can beat a Syncrowave for reliability, but they are heavy and big
 
Ya rolls da dice and takes yer chances, I’m that guy with used discounted from new prices gear. But new. I do my due diligence and I don’t care about the biggest and the best, just know what the use is and don’t expect more than what it was designed for.

THE big deal with me is customer care because it is way too easy today to ghost you with phone trees to nowhere and help desks that their job is to make it your fault. I get there’s jerks and dummies abusing stuff but if a company truly cares they can figure it out.

I’m still sad sometimes I passed on my brothers synchrowave he wanted to give me. But the thing was the size of a car. So far the Primeweld is still impressing me if I ever get to where I have to get a tig.
 
I bought a torch from a local guy this last weekend and am going to try converting my super cheap Yeswelder 205 arc welder.

My former employee left me an argon tank, so a couple of cheap Amazon parts and we’ll see how it does.

Yes, I do want an AC source so I can do aluminum but I figure practicing on steel will get me started.

I’m likely to want a good machine in the future but any hood time will help.

John
 
I have a Everlast 250ex also with no complaints other than the fan noise.
 
Just for fun said:
I have a Everlast 250ex also with no complaints other than the fan noise.
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Same with my 325EXT - and I've gotten use to the fan noise. Another (huge, imo) plus with Everlast is that they come with an excellent torch and footpedal. My Synchrowave came with a junk pedal and the cheapest torch in Miller's lineup. (I bought the Everlast to get more power than my little Synchrowave. The price of a comparable Miller made it an easy choice.)

GsT
 
markba633csi said:
That's surprising as I had read quite a few good reviews about both Everlast and AHP. The office is just up a ways here in Burlingame- I knew they
shared the same building
I think nothing can beat a Syncrowave for reliability, but they are heavy and big
Click to expand...
One tricky thing Everlast does is that they have sponsored sections on welding forums. They have a long history of documented cases where they delete negative posts/threads. I know because I've had my factual posts deleted by them.

On a happy note, Primeweld is set to release their new 325X in two days (reports say 2/16) and the price I read was $1,399 and similar things to the 225X like a genuine CK torch, etc. That's a a couple hundred dollars less than what my PowerTIG 210EXT is going for and an extra 115A of power!

PW325X.jpg
 
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