Welding Tips and Tricks

When I went to buy this machine I couldn't find any reviews or feedback from people who owned one so I decided to make my own review of the machine to help others out. The Super Ultra 205 is a DC multi process machine that does 50 amp plasma cutting, 150 stick welding, and 200 amp tig welding. It comes equipped with a 50 amp plasma torch, 200 amp clamp style electrode holder, and a 26 series 200 amp air cooled tig torch. The combo also comes with a very good heavy ground clamp. All accessories are equipped with large dinse style connectors for quick changing. It comes with extra consumables for plasma, tig comes with 1 2.4mm collet body and 2 collets, 2 number 4 cups, a long and short back cap. The flowmeter is cheap but with a little thread seal tape, effective and it comes with an air filter/ water trap for plasma. The machine does come with a foot pedal for tig and a simple finger control for tig.
PROS
It has a very smooth arc in both stick and tig mode. The machine is very easy to set up and takes very little time to switch over. It is fairly inexpensive but that does not show in the provided accessories. All of the attachments are very heavy duty and very well built. The machine is not very loud and is very light. The fact that the machine is dual voltage makes it very portable. It weighs 35 pounds, I am sorry I don't know the metric conversion but it is light. It comes with a shoulder strap to carry and I found that to be very handy. The machine can handle 1/8" 7018 rods, a little cold depending on situation but I have been welding 1/4" steel with 1/8" 7018 rods with no trouble.
CONS
There is a significant drop in amps when ran on 110v. I do have a little problem with plasma sputtering if not introduced to work piece quickly after initiating the pilot arc. I do not like the fact that to switch from plasma to tig you must remove the provided air hose from the barbed fitting on either the filter or flowmeter and slide it onto the barbed fitting of the other. The foot pedal does not have any traction at all. You cannot set max amps if foot pedal is hooked up. The male compressed air quick connect provided to hook the plasma up did not work in the standard air hose I have on my compressor.
CHANGES I MADE
I went to Lowes for $2 bought some adhesive tread strips and put on the surface of the foot pedal for tig, worked great. I changed the air quick connect and fixed that problem. A lot of thread seal tape on the flowmeter fixed the leaks. I only had 1 leak but I taped the rest of the fittings to be safe. I put a standard gas lense kit on my tig torch. I took an old mig gas hose I had laying around, cut one of the threaded ends off of it and slid onto the barbed fitting on the flowmeter and left the hose that came with it on the filter now I plan on getting a quick connect set to hook the hoses to the back of the machine quicker.
OVER ALL THOUGHTS
I think it is a great machine. I would recommend this to anyone who is looking for a great starting machine. I love it for maintenance work around the farm. This machine is the first Everlast machine I have owned and I feel it will not be my last. I cannot speak for longevity but the machine itself has been a great investment.

Some pics of machine

More pics

Even more pics

And even more.....I need to stop this.

I looked all through Tractor Supply - do you have a part number or item number? I want a few of them. I just switched from the SuperUltra205 to the PowerUltra205P. Didn't have the money right now for an AC/DC Tig machine, but the PowerUltra at least has 2 pulse settings, and I can set max amps on the panel for foot pedal. So far Everlast has been a great deal, can't beat the features and specs for the price. I changed all hoses and connections to quick disconnects instead of swapping hoses off barbs and hose clamps. If the seals leak after time in the disconnects, it's only a couple of bucks to replace them. I like the tread strips on the pedal idea, going to have to get some. Pretty sure the PowerUltra is 200amp stick, and thought theSuperUltra was 200 amp stick also maybe mine is newer. So far no problems, their Forum has alot of members offering support if you need an answer on weekends, or when Tech isnt available.

I cannot find my receipt for it at this time. I found the light on the end of one aisle hanging on a little display. I tried looking them up on line but couldn't find them. I will try and find them.

I found the website on the back of the package. They are cheaper at Tractor Supply but if your local one doesn't have them then here is an option. They are great lights. I have two of them I use them to see better plasma cutting. It will clip right onto the plasma torch and tig torch. They withstand heat decently but if they touch the metal when cutting it will melt. http://www.griponlights.com/default.asp

Did you put regular air hose quick connects on them or are those the inert gas quick connects? My manual says that it is only a 150 amp stick but until I get it hooked to 220v I won't know for sure. Tech support was very quick. I did need them when I got the machine, I wasn't getting any air pressure and that is when I found out that the air fitting was the wrong size.

The disconnect fitting they supplied wouldn't work with my air hose. It was the right diameter, but the wall thickness was too thin to depress the valve inside. Maybe european fitting? The quick disconnect fittings I used were male and female from home depot, universal size

This is my first attempt at TIG welding anything thicker than 1/8". The TIG weld is in the middle. I really like the machine!

I cannot speak for longevity but the machine itself has been a great investment.

It's now been about three years since your original review. Any further thoughts on longevity/durability of this machine?

Thanks,
Glenn