Opinions

Well, the machine arrived today. FedEx ground. No damage whatsoever. Everything in the box appears to be decent quality, and ready to connect. The machine itself weighs about 35 pounds, I'd guess. Accessories additional. Fit and finish on the sheetmetal look good, paint is good. They sent one tungsten electrode. I haven't measured it, but it appears to be 3/32". Color code is red, which I believe is 2% Thoriated. General purpose ferrous and non Ferrous. There are different sized collets and lenses, as well as a couple of different back caps.

I don't know, but there was one welding supply that was open half a day on Saturday, so if they still are I'll pick up a bottle of Argon in the morning. Funny thing so far, there is no flowmeter that I can find in the packaging, only a regulator. I have one that I believe will work for it, but I find it odd that it is not included.

The power cord is a standard 3 pole 50 amp 240 volt male, but there is a pigtail adapter to a single 20 amp 120 volt plug. I believe there is smart circuitry to automatically change over to whatever you plug into. I will be using the 240, at least at first.

More to follow.
 
Wow, that was fast delivery. If you can't dig-up a flow meter, here's the best deal in town: http://www.ebay.com/itm/HTP-Argon-C...508?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20b74c4d3c. These are all brass and well made.

Tony, probably you know this but here goes anyhow for the purpose of safety. If you have auto-darkening helmets, not all of them work when doing DC TIG. Some helmets trigger only off of pulsed (AC) flashes.
 
Tony Wells said:
Well, the machine arrived today. FedEx ground. No damage whatsoever. Everything in the box appears to be decent quality, and ready to connect. The machine itself weighs about 35 pounds, I'd guess. Accessories additional. Fit and finish on the sheetmetal look good, paint is good. They sent one tungsten electrode. I haven't measured it, but it appears to be 3/32". Color code is red, which I believe is 2% Thoriated. General purpose ferrous and non Ferrous. There are different sized collets and lenses, as well as a couple of different back caps.

I don't know, but there was one welding supply that was open half a day on Saturday, so if they still are I'll pick up a bottle of Argon in the morning. Funny thing so far, there is no flowmeter that I can find in the packaging, only a regulator. I have one that I believe will work for it, but I find it odd that it is not included.

The power cord is a standard 3 pole 50 amp 240 volt male, but there is a pigtail adapter to a single 20 amp 120 volt plug. I believe there is smart circuitry to automatically change over to whatever you plug into. I will be using the 240, at least at first.

More to follow.
Click to expand...

Red is Thoriated. Note: Thoriated comes from Thorium which is radioactive. When you sharpen the tips you may inhaling some of the grinding dust. Some consider the risks low. But, it is important that you know there is a risk.

Flowmeters or Regulator you don't need both. Two different approaches to managing the gas flow. Both work. Like everything else, many welders have a clear preference and opinion about which is best. Regardless, be sure to follow standard procedure when transporting/moving cylinders, and pressuring/depressurizing.

You are gonna have a great time!
 
BTW, the flow meter I pointed you to has a built-in regulator (most do) that's set to either 20 or 50 PSI. Those type usually have a set screw to adjust pressure but don't mess with it unless you have another pressure gauge to know where you're setting it. All modern equipment can deal with 50 PSI. If the unit you have does plasma cutting, you need to regulate your supply air between 50 and 60 if the machine does not have it's own regulator. If it has it's own regulator, you can keep your supply air at the usual 90 or so and regulate at the machine. If you don't have enough PSI for plasma, you'll go through tips in a heartbeat.

... And for the benefit of all, the previous poster is dead on. Once the cover cap is unscrewed from the tank, treat it like a dangerous bomb, strap it upright and make sure nothing heavy falls near the fittings.

Ray
 
Tony,
How has that welder worked so far? I re-read the specs on that machine and they are pretty impressive. What is the duty cycle at say 150 amps? That seems about the middle of the fat part of the welding curve for amps so I was interested in how long it could run continously at that level.
Bob
 
Guys, my testing is interrupted right now by some volunteer work I do, but should wrap up this weekend for the most part, and maybe a little next weekend. I'll continue the testing then. So far, the little machine has performed well. Once I get used to it, I believe it will receive a favorable report, but there is lot of testing yet to do.
 
Don't know about that. I'll put up some close ups of the innards, and if someone has a Longevity, we can compare them. I haven't looked at the Longevity machines at all.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top