Welding Tips and Tricks

Reading through some of the posts here and searching a bit, I've seen some very mixed signals on how people feel about Everlast welders. I'm looking to expand my shop's capabilities, and have been leaning towards more Everlast products since they have worked well for me, but now I'm starting to feel a bit of doubt.

So, Everlast owners, what are your thoughts on their machines? Can you give a brief synopsis of any good or bad experiences you've had?

I have a power arc 161sth. I think they are good entry level machines. Although they do have more higher end machines I have no experience with them. I guess your should think of the down time if it goes down. A new machine can get shipped to your door in less then 5 days in some cases. If you have a blue or red machine, you might get it fixed in that time frame. I know it’s a throwaway culture and I’m talking with in hypothetical situations but food for thought.

I have had a 255EXT for almost 2 years. Used it about 4 hours today, repairing a pull out aluminum ramp for a box truck. Never had any problems except the ones I caused. (Ground not connected, gas not turned on, or collet not tight) I have welded steel, stainless, aluminum, and copper with it and, have used most of the features at one time or another.
Well worth the money in my opinion.

Spartan wrote:Reading through some of the posts here and searching a bit, I've seen some very mixed signals on how people feel about Everlast welders. I'm looking to expand my shop's capabilities, and have been leaning towards more Everlast products since they have worked well for me, but now I'm starting to feel a bit of doubt.

So, Everlast owners, what are your thoughts on their machines? Can you give a brief synopsis of any good or bad experiences you've had?

I have an Everlast i-Tig 201, this is a DC Tig machine. I think the machines are not bad, and I haven't had any problems with mine. However, if you look around online there are quite a number of people that have had issues, and many of those people seem to be unhappy about having to pay shipping both ways for service on their machines. In some ways I feel like you need to roll the dice when you buy one.

I have replaced just about every consumable on my Everlast machine, including the regulator, gas hose, ground clamp, tig torch, etc...

I live pretty close to the headquarters and bought my machine direct from the owner. We ended up having a misunderstanding over a Nova pedal I bought on Amazon after the fact which they had listed as working with my machine, but it was the wrong pedal with an incorrect plug. The owner treated me pretty poorly over this issue, considering they had misinformation on their Amazon ad, which I won't go into detail, but he later did call me and we sorted out differences out. It did leave a bad taste in my mouth.

After that I was treated pretty poorly by their online support tech, Mark, and I was never treated very well by him on the Everlast forums after that either. I don't use their forum anymore. I was treated REALLY poorly when I opened my machine and took pictures of some of the shoddy work, and I was told that companies like Lincoln and Miller have worse looking machines, but I have never owned one. I don't believe the statement in regard to Dynastys, possibly the Lincoln SW 200, but I would like to see anything comparable to what mine looks like.

I still have my Everlast machine, or the green weenie, as I refer to it. I will NEVER buy another Everlast product. Nothing to do with the machine per se, mostly to do with the service and support.

I just purchased a Primeweld Tig 225 which is an AC/DC Tig machine, just to put my money where my mouth is. Primeweld offers a 3 year warranty and pays shipping both ways if there is a problem. I was slightly concerned over the stick capability as SMAW is something I do use, and was mixed on my purchase as the machine doesn't have arc force on it, which is helpful for machines that do not support 6011, or in some cases 7018. Mike told me he would allow me to return the machine and refund all of my money if I was unhappy, and he would pay for the shipping. That sealed the deal and I pulled the trigger last week, my machine shipped yesterday and will be here next Tuesday. Primeweld does sell out quickly when they get orders in, so I got on the email list. I have never read a bad review or comment about their Primeweld machine, but it is similar to an Everlast, an inexpensive Chinese inverter. However it doesn't have any of the fancy digital electronics as some of the Everlast models do. I'm ok with that.

I will just say once again, the people that do not have issues with their Everlast machines tend to be happy with them. It's the people that don't have such a happy experience that tend to stand out on the Internet. There are unfortunately more unhappy people than one would expect.

Finally to wrap this up, AHP is also raved about for a low cost AC/DC Tig, but the owner of Everlast has a fairly large stake in the AHP company, so that eliminated them from my list of possible purchases. There are also a number of cases online that are very similar to Everlast, buyer is charged shipping both ways, a number of unhappy people, bad Amazon reviews are removed, etc...

If funds weren't limited I would get an HTP or Miller Dynasty. I don't want any old behemoth transformer machines, I need portability, so primarily interested in modern inverters, all of our mileage varies. This was probably more information that you expected someone to answer, but maybe you found some of it useful. I am an honest person and have no reason to lie about any of this, so try to be rational about it.

I have the 250ex.
It has been a good machine for 6yrs.
I am selling it locally ($1000) as i purchased the dynasty 210dx and don't need 2 tig units.
It's noticeable differences is when welding really thin stuff. I can't weld razor blades easily as an example. I had to weld a thin ss test probe and i did it but it's just harder.
Another difference is the fan is loud and runs all the time. It's a solid machine.

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I thought everlast had a option of free shipping of parts for warranty issues as long as the owner does the install.

we have 3 everlast units in the family. So far ,, no serious issues and the machines did what they were required of. I started out with a multi purpose but bought a bigger one because I needed more horses and kept the smaller one just for plasma use and as a backup should I need it. Currently going thru power cable issue and have a new cable from another mfg coming. I did have an issue with making my first order...got that straightened out.
IF I had to do over, I would order analog instead of digital due to ease of making adjustments instead of having to run thru the full menu to make adjustments. Do I connect the machine to a scope....nope. Does it have adjustments and do I tinker with them...hell yeh. Does it work as I need it to, , , yep (knock on wood).

Homemade wrote:I thought everlast had a option of free shipping of parts for warranty issues as long as the owner does the install.

Most people don't have the proper equipment or knowledge to troubleshoot their machines, so I guess if you're sure that the part they tell you is the problem it would work. There was a guy on here recently that the Everlast tech told him to turn the argon up to 25cfh for a #5 cup.... For those people that need to send their machine back as it can't be diagnosed over the wire, they need to pay shipping both ways I'm told. There are more than a few disgruntled customers on the Interwebs.

BillE.Dee wrote:IF I had to do over, I would order analog instead of digital due to ease of making adjustments instead of having to run thru the full menu to make adjustments.

BillE,

Funny you mention that, it is the reason I bought my i-Tig 201 to start with, because the i-Tig 200T which was digital had the menus. My unit is digital with analog controls, kind of a hybrid. I was kind of thinking the full digital might be a better option as those units handle 6010 stick, if that matters to anyone. Simclardy's machine has the knobs on it, AFAIK. You must have the EXT.

The Primeweld I just bought had knobs also...and as you state, I like to be able to look over and see exactly what things are set at.

As I stated, the people that get working units seem to be happy with them, you seem to be a case in point.

Thanks for all the responses!

Alan - I appreciate the detailed post...I don't think a post can be too long when talking about our gear. And come to think of it, you calling your machine the "green weenie" in some other posts was part of the reason I asked this question to the group in the first place, so I enjoyed all the details you provided. Somebody else kept calling them "neverlast" (can't remember who that was) which also got me concerned a bit.

Simclardy - Wish you were closer...the 250EX is high on my list for a model to upgrade to, also considering taking the plunge and just getting right into the 300+ amp machines. Currently have a 200DV and a 210EXT, but need a bit more juice for the thicker aluminum jobs. I also prefer the ease of the analog machines as BillE.Dee had mentioned. Just so much easier to quickly glance over to verify your settings or to make small changes.

Spartan wrote:Alan - I appreciate the detailed post...I don't think a post can be too long when talking about our gear. And come to think of it, you calling your machine the "green weenie" in some other posts was part of the reason I asked this question to the group in the first place, so I enjoyed all the details you provided. Somebody else kept calling them "neverlast" (can't remember who that was) which also got me concerned a bit.

Spartan,

As I said, there is a fair amount of disgruntled people, although many like to refer to them as Neverlast, just too easy to coin.

I wanted to add one plus to Everlast that they seem to have a niche on, and that's inexpensive E6010 capable machines. This may or may not be important to you, but there are not a lot of E6010 capable machines unless you start getting into higher priced machines. Many of them are in the $3k-$5k range, where many of the Everlast E6010 capable machines are even as low as $400 for a stick/lift-tig machine. Even the EXT (digital) machines are E6010 capable. This is not a hard fast rule, there are other exceptions like the Harbor freight Titanium Stick 225, but it's not nearly the machine that the Everlast PowerArc 200sti or Everlast PowerArc 200stl is. This may be minor as some people are not interested in SMAW these days, but I just wanted to point that out to you. The HTP 200 TLP is quite a nice looking SMAW machine, but list is $1500 (on sale now at $500 off, FWIW).

Spartan wrote:Thanks for all the responses!

Alan - I appreciate the detailed post...I don't think a post can be too long when talking about our gear. And come to think of it, you calling your machine the "green weenie" in some other posts was part of the reason I asked this question to the group in the first place, so I enjoyed all the details you provided. Somebody else kept calling them "neverlast" (can't remember who that was) which also got me concerned a bit.

Simclardy - Wish you were closer...the 250EX is high on my list for a model to upgrade to, also considering taking the plunge and just getting right into the 300+ amp machines. Currently have a 200DV and a 210EXT, but need a bit more juice for the thicker aluminum jobs. I also prefer the ease of the analog machines as BillE.Dee had mentioned. Just so much easier to quickly glance over to verify your settings or to make small changes.

I just sold it a couple of hours ago. I would have preferred to sell on here but i really wanted to deal in person.

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I have a 2013 250EX ,only replaced on/off switch ,used a OMRON amazon switch.
Have actually welded at max 250,
Fan is loud
No other problems, have a syncrowave 250 next to it,Everlast 1st choice.

Update to my earlier post. During the second day of welding on the pull out ramp, my welder began having starting issues. The arc also became unstable while tapering off at the end of the weld. I called Everlast tech support. They called back the next day while I was at lunch. They suggested the problem was the foot pedal. (It doesn't act up on DC, just AC) I said I didn't believe it was the foot pedal. I called them when I got back to the shop, had to leave a message again. Mark called back today. I explained what was happening. He ended up pegging my BS meter with the explanation of all the things I was doing wrong, and how the welder was not the problem. It was obvious that he had no intentions of trying to actually figure out the problem.
I will NEVER buy anything from NEVERLAST again. Not because the machines are so bad, but because of their terrible customer support. Having a 5 year warranty is worthless if they don't back it.
I have the skills and equipment that gives me a fair chance of finding and fixing the problem myself. I haven't yet set up the electronics bench since moving the shop, but this may give me incentive to do so.

VA-Sawyer wrote:Update to my earlier post. During the second day of welding on the pull out ramp, my welder began having starting issues. The arc also became unstable while tapering off at the end of the weld. I called Everlast tech support. They called back the next day while I was at lunch. They suggested the problem was the foot pedal. (It doesn't act up on DC, just AC) I said I didn't believe it was the foot pedal. I called them when I got back to the shop, had to leave a message again. Mark called back today. I explained what was happening. He ended up pegging my BS meter with the explanation of all the things I was doing wrong, and how the welder was not the problem. It was obvious that he had no intentions of trying to actually figure out the problem.
I will NEVER buy anything from NEVERLAST again. Not because the machines are so bad, but because of their terrible customer support. Having a 5 year warranty is worthless if they don't back it.
I have the skills and equipment that gives me a fair chance of finding and fixing the problem myself. I haven't yet set up the electronics bench since moving the shop, but this may give me incentive to do so.

That sucks, because even though they're competitively priced, they're still not super-cheap to be considered throw-aways. Hopefully it works out for you. It seems to be the case that if you baby the machines, they're fine, but when you put them to the test, then that is when things have a bigger chance malfunctioning. That's just IMO from what I gather on forums.

VA-Sawyer wrote:I will NEVER buy anything from NEVERLAST again. Not because the machines are so bad, but because of their terrible customer support.

Hmmm...seems I've heard that before somewhere... (great minds think alike )

At the end of the day, I couldn't agree with you more...what good is a warranty if you can't use it?

Last year I was almost gonna buy a Lincoln SW 200, not because it's such a great machine, but more so because my LWS would stand behind it and if there was any problems they would provide me a loaner while mine was in getting fixed. At the time Lincoln had a nice rebate and the cost would have been about $1200-$1300. Alas I was out of work and not wanting to spend the money...

Service and support means a lot.

So I wonder, will that be true of the Primeweld 225 I just bought, to arrive on Tues.? Mike does seem to go out of his way to make his customers happy, and willing to provide 3 year 7 day support/service as well as paying shipping both ways. I suspect he may test each unit out before he ships them, but that I don't know. I have not heard of people running into service/support issues with their Primeweld machines though, and at $775 for the machine they provide that says a lot about them. OTOH, Primeweld doesn't offer very many machines, so selection is small and features are not like many of the Everlast machines.

Maybe your problem will turn out to be a small issue with your Everlast, let's hope they can at least help you and resolve your problem. Making you pay shipping both ways to get it serviced wouldn't be a great solution, IMO.

TraditionalToolworks wrote:

VA-Sawyer wrote:I will NEVER buy anything from NEVERLAST again. Not because the machines are so bad, but because of their terrible customer support.

Hmmm...seems I've heard that before somewhere... (great minds think alike )

At the end of the day, I couldn't agree with you more...what good is a warranty if you can't use it?

Last year I was almost gonna buy a Lincoln SW 200, not because it's such a great machine, but more so because my LWS would stand behind it and if there was any problems they would provide me a loaner while mine was in getting fixed. At the time Lincoln had a nice rebate and the cost would have been about $1200-$1300. Alas I was out of work and not wanting to spend the money...

Service and support means a lot.

So I wonder, will that be true of the Primeweld 225 I just bought, to arrive on Tues.? Mike does seem to go out of his way to make his customers happy, and willing to provide 3 year 7 day support/service as well as paying shipping both ways. I suspect he may test each unit out before he ships them, but that I don't know. I have not heard of people running into service/support issues with their Primeweld machines though, and at $775 for the machine they provide that says a lot about them. OTOH, Primeweld doesn't offer very many machines, so selection is small and features are not like many of the Everlast machines.

Maybe your problem will turn out to be a small issue with your Everlast, let's hope they can at least help you and resolve your problem. Making you pay shipping both ways to get it serviced wouldn't be a great solution, IMO.

I've been looking at an pedal capable inverter welder to replace my big high draw buzz box and to give myself added tig capability and while I've been looking at the range of everlast machines from 400-1000 because I'd wanted arc force and 6010 capability but anything else in the price range either comes incomplete without a torch, pedal etc, has much less amperage, no pulse features, etc. I know that 9/10 if I need to stick weld all I need is something that'll manage to run a 7018 at 120-140 amps with a strong preference to be able to run a 5/32 rod if need be. But If I need to tig weld it, I might very well need the control HF start, pedal control would allow.

sbaker56 wrote:I've been looking at an pedal capable inverter welder to replace my big high draw buzz box and to give myself added tig capability and while I've been looking at the range of everlast machines from 400-1000 because I'd wanted arc force and 6010 capability but anything else in the price range either comes incomplete without a torch, pedal etc, has much less amperage, no pulse features, etc. I know that 9/10 if I need to stick weld all I need is something that'll manage to run a 7018 at 120-140 amps with a strong preference to be able to run a 5/32 rod if need be. But If I need to tig weld it, I might very well need the control HF start, pedal control would allow.

Well, as I've stated I won't buy anything else from Everlast or AHP (same company through incest).

They do have a machine, the Power i-Tig 200T which has a foot pedal and does 6010. I have a Power i-Tig 201, it doesn't do 6010, but does 6011 (I'm ok with that). Mine didn't come with a pedal as you point out, I bought one after when they had them on sale.

If you need AC you will probably need to step up to the 210EXT to get 6010, otherwise I think the others are limited to 6011.

I personally don't recommend buying an Everlast machine, it's your choice, but if you do I hope it works out for you.

The Primeweld is worth looking at, but it's not known for it's stick capabilities and I was on the fence because of that. However, the owner said he would refund and pay for shipping if I wasn't satisfied. I don't think I'll be sending it back as I want it mostly for it's tig ability. Heck of a deal considering it comes with a 3 year warranty with shipping paid for if there is a problem. That must be putting pressure on Everlast/AHP, their service and support sucks and they charge for shipping.

If you're planning to tig weld you DEFINITELY would be good to get HF *AND* a food pedal, I agree. I wouldn't want to tig without both myself. It can be done, but mostly on old transformers is where people do that with lift/scratch and no pedal.

TraditionalToolworks wrote:

sbaker56 wrote:snip

Well, as I've stated I won't buy anything else from Everlast or AHP (same company through incest).

They do have a machine, the Power i-Tig 200T which has a foot pedal and does 6010. I have a Power i-Tig 201, it doesn't do 6010, but does 6011 (I'm ok with that). Mine didn't come with a pedal as you point out, I bought one after when they had them on sale.

If you need AC you will probably need to step up to the 210EXT to get 6010, otherwise I think the others are limited to 6011.

I personally don't recommend buying an Everlast machine, it's your choice, but if you do I hope it works out for you.

The Primeweld is worth looking at, but it's not known for it's stick capabilities and I was on the fence because of that. However, the owner said he would refund and pay for shipping if I wasn't satisfied. I don't think I'll be sending it back as I want it mostly for it's tig ability. Heck of a deal considering it comes with a 3 year warranty with shipping paid for if there is a problem. That must be putting pressure on Everlast/AHP, their service and support sucks and they charge for shipping.

If you're planning to tig weld you DEFINITELY would be good to get HF *AND* a food pedal, I agree. I wouldn't want to tig without both myself. It can be done, but mostly on old transformers is where people do that with lift/scratch and no pedal.

Have you actually heard anything about less than stellar stick performance with the Primeweld? Or is it merely that it doesn't have hot start/arc force and 6010 functions in comparison to the everlast models for example. Those features are nice, and definitely something i'd at least like to have, But in comparison to having more amps, not having to pay extra for a foot pedal and even having AC they're not as important, the 210EXT would probably be preferable for also having stick features, but it's twice the money.

I'm also fairly disappointed by how you and occasional other reports I've came across say Everlast treat's their customers, regardless of it I'd need the warranty or not, I don't particularly like supporting companies that don't treat their customers with respect or patience and I've heard nothing negative in comparison about Primeweld.

sbaker56 wrote:Have you actually heard anything about less than stellar stick performance with the Primeweld? Or is it merely that it doesn't have hot start/arc force and 6010 functions in comparison to the everlast models for example. Those features are nice, and definitely something i'd at least like to have, But in comparison to having more amps, not having to pay extra for a foot pedal and even having AC they're not as important, the 210EXT would probably be preferable for also having stick features, but it's twice the money.

I typically don't do this, but I will share the email he sent to me:

The discrepency in time is because he's EST, I'm PST, they are flipped for our emails.

Mike sent me the manual earlier, before I sent this to him. Also, Mike often replies
from Dustin's email I think that's the support email.

His first response, which he sent me the manual with was the following:

> Alan
>
> You are correct you will not be able to do 6010 and 6011 with this machine.
> However I do not know any machine that can offer what with offer with 6010 and 6011.
> Yes there are some but I think they would start around $3000

After I replied below after I read through the manual and his response follows mine.

> On Apr 9, 2020, at 5:48 PM, Alan DuBoff <traditionaltoolworks@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Mike,
>
> The only rod mentioned in the manual for SMAW is a general purpose 6013.
>
> I have seen comments online of people saying the machine does weld 7018, and
> some even say that it welds 6011 and 6010.
>
> Can I expect to be able to weld 7018?
>
> Alan

> On Thursday, April 9, 2020, 3:29:24 PM PDT, Dustin Gallaher <info@primeweld.com> wrote:
>
> 6011 6013 7014 7024 It can work with these rods as well, we also have many people say that they
> do 6010 if you have a lot of experience. If for any reason the machine does not live up to what you
> want it to you can return it for a full refund and and we will pay shipping back. We will make sure
> you are happy.
>
> Just FYI the machines will sell out in the next hour. However if you want to think on it a little more
> our next 7 shipments are so in may.
>
> Mike Barnes
> CUSTOMER SERVICE

sbaker56 wrote:I'm also fairly disappointed by how you and occasional other reports I've came across say Everlast treat's their customers, regardless of it I'd need the warranty or not, I don't particularly like supporting companies that don't treat their customers with respect or patience and I've heard nothing negative in comparison about Primeweld.

All the gripes I see seems to reflect my own personal experience. There is clearly a problem with how they handle their service and support, IMO. This is just my opinion.

I have said several times on this board and will say it again, just as you I have said, I had never seen a bad thing about Primeweld, and looks at his response to me. Just so I'm clear here, there is no arc force, AFAIK, and nobody even Mike has claimed there was. When I searched online there was some people that said it will do SMAW for everything they try, but I don't place too much faith as I don't know them. I would like to see what someone that really knows stick says. There was a pic of a guy doing 7018 about a week ago on the Primeweld Instagram feed, but he wasn't using quite enough amps. The welds didn't look too bad, just not burned in enough.

Mike's response was actually good enough to convince me to pull the trigger, and a couple hours after I did they sold out just like Mike said. I had been on the waiting list and was waiting for about a month. I was alerted the day before and was on the fence. If you look through the Primeweld thread here in Product Reviews, you will see where I say I'm gonna bow out. For some reason towards the middle of the day I decided to try to contact Mike. He did get back to me promptly.

I have laid everything out on the table for you to see. Originally they put them on sale on the 9th, they said the machines would ship on the 16th-17th. My machine shipped on Monday, April 13th, so they beat their schedule by about 3-4 days. I have no stake in their company and haven't received my machine until Tues.

Here 'ya go, I grabbed it off Instagram with gnome-screenshot.

I looked a week or so ago and couldn't find any good example of stick, this was one of the first I saw. The guy got pretty heavily criticized, telling him to keep practicing and how their teacher would have never accepted a weld looking like that, etc...but he does some pretty good looking tig welds. IMO, there not the best 7018, but certainly not the worst. Looks like it could be a bit hotter to wet in, but not too bad. Others here might have a different opinion. This is a 3f, so keep that in mind, it's vertical.

The welding world either has bigger or more fragile egos than just about any other field I've seen. I'd damn well hope someone who did it for a living would be a better welder than a hobbyist. I don't see any reason why it's particularly unacceptable or deserving of harsh criticism if not asked for. I mean I'm not saying it's good, but like you said the only real t issues on a hobbyist level is that it's a bit too cold and inconsistent travel speed I don't see any slag inclusions, or severe undercut, a bit of a porosity towards the start which is common with improperly stored 7018 and re strikes but nothing bad. I don't see any thing that looks like it was the machine's fault though.

Granted I'm not that good of a stick welder myself. This was a picture I took a few months ago. I believe it was 3G unless I'm remembering wrong. But I've gotten similar welds with everything from an XMT 350 to AC/DC buzz box. I've found the brand of electrode makes more of an difference than the machine unless It just flat out won't run smoothly.

sbaker56 wrote:I've found the brand of electrode makes more of an difference than the machine unless It just flat out won't run smoothly.

Indeed, Lincoln Excalibur being the best of the lot.

My only Everlast is a 210STL. Seems great so far, but it hasn't seen that much use. Bought it for the portability which is great. I've carried it on a motorcycle, and hauled it everywhere in my car.

It welds nice and smooth, but does seem to be more finicky about settings when switching rods than bigger better welders. I don't expect it to perform like a $3000 welder so I'm not disappointed. Luckily, I haven't needed customer support.