Welding Tips and Tricks

I just bought a Everalast Power Plasma 60 and wanted to comment on the buying experience.

I went to their website and checked out the unit that I wanted which was the Everlast SuperCut 50 for $599.99. I made them an offer of 599.99 including tax and shipping. In a few minutes I had an email response that said they no longer carried the 50 but had the 50p instead and that he could sell that to me for $600.00 to my door.

I called them and asked to talk to the sales rep. After a bit of conversation we decided that the SuperCut was really not a machine I could compare to the major brands like the Miller Spectrum 675 or 875. He told me in order to get there I would need to step up to the Power Plasma 50 for 799.00 but he said he would discount it 20% and get me closer to where I wanted to be.

He then asked me how fast I needed it and jokingly I said "How about tomorrow". He told me that they didn't have one in stock but the 2011's are enroute from China and I could have one in about 2 weeks. That always throws me on the defense so I told him I would think about it and let him know in a couple of days. And seriously, that was my intention when he said he did have a Power Plasma 60 in stock that he could ship out today so we haggled a bit about shipping and tax and I finally got it for 750.00 to my door.

So in the end I paid 150.00 more than I wanted and got a cutter with a $250.00 higher asking price. The best part is that it's about 1200.00 less than a Miller Spectrum 875 with about the same specs.

Then it got better, I asked him where he would be shipping it from and he told me South San Francisco and asked me if I needed it overnighted. I said no because anything within 75 miles of my front door is gonna get there overnight anyway. Theres a tip for you, if you don't know where the vendor is located always try to get them to eat the taxes or a portion of them anyway. It would have cost me another 75.00 if I hadn't pressed for it. And the shipping is important too, this one weighs 65lbs and it would have been 50.00 to ship.

To sum it all up, I got a great price on the Plasma Cutter that I needed, I got some great advice, they're located within an hour and a half of my front door and the deal went smoothly. I'll hold back from saying that I got a great Plasma Cutter until I get it Friday and put it to work. I will let you all know how that goes.

Got my UPS tracking number yesterday afternoon. Just tracked it and it's on the truck "Out for Delivery". I will have it by the time I get home from work tonight. O.K. so that tells me something good. They ship fast when it's in stock and I can get anything they have in stock overnight.

I will still order the Jumbo pack of their consumables after I get a chance to run the machine. For one, I don't want to run out in the middle of a job and two, I don't want to have to run out and buy a new torch should the company fold for some reason. Better to error on the side of caution.

The unit arrived on my porch at 1:40pm today and I had it up and running by 7:30pm. That includes dinner and trip to Home Depot for a 2p 50a plug.

Here's the scenario.. Got the box around to the shop and took pic's of the condition which was a non-issue item. I unpacked it and took pictures as I went.

I opened up the instructions looking for assembly diagram and found none. Thats a hit but if you don't have your head too far up your.... you'll find its really a no brainer. I think the only mistake you might make is putting the air filter on backwards. There is an arrow on one side only but if you look at the filter you'll see that it means input.

The next thing I noticed was that it only had 10ga wire for the input power. The manual says it needs 50 amps and 10 gauge isn't going to carry that. Then I realized that unlike some of the other manufacturers they were stating max input current as a total rather than a single leg. In that case, 25 amps per leg is fine on 10ga wire. My Lincoln 225 pulls a max of 49 per leg and runs on 8 gauge wire. It actually only pulls 41.3 maxed out with the tungsten stuck on the metal.

The reason I mention that is because you might be pushed away from the unit if you think it's going to pull 100 amps and only produce 60. I know I would be.

O.K. so the first thing I did was hook everything up. Again, this is a no brainer, clearly marked and simple. I checked all the switch settings, turned it on and then tested the hf start. The first couple of times I pressed the trigger, it stuttered then it smoothed out. I suspect this was an air issue since I have a series of drops, dryers and filters on my air system and I don't have any water. Whatever it was it did not repeat after it sat for 15 minutes. Next I tested the alarms by turning off the air and pressing the trigger. As soon as the air ran low, it cut off which is what it's supposed to do.

I then checked all the controls and found that the minimum current is 19 amps and the max was 65 according to the LED. But who cares really, it's just a reference until you get used to what the machine needs to cut different types of metal.

I set the machine to 20 amps and drag cut a piece of 1/8 aluminum. It left a little slag on the bottom edge so I tried a few different setting and finally got a clean drag cut. I then did a push cut and there was zero slag again. What that tells me is that it doesn't take long to learn how to use this machine.

Next I cut some 1/8" mild steel. I cut like butter and left an amazingly clean cut. I was almost going to go make a peanut butter sandwich and take a video of me cutting it with the torch but that's just a parlor trick like TIG welding tin foil so I held back. Hint, it's the tin pan under the sandwich that's actually being cut and the sandwich is just in the way. However, it is a good example why you don't want to rest your hand down on your welding table and drag the lit torch across it. Yes, it will take your fingers off!

So after a total run time of about 15 minutes, I would have to say it's a winner. I have used the Miller 875 and although it can be fitted with a drag tip that this one doesn't have, I don't know remember that it cut any better or was any easier to learn to use.

My advice on this unit.. Buy it, I got mine for 750.00 to the door and I got it overnight because of my near location to the west coast distributor and those are things that I can't guarantee you'll get but I can say that you will get a good Plasma Cutter.

What would I change? I will change to a better air filter after the warranty runs out. It's pretty whimpy and even though I have an extremely dry air system you never want to take a chance. I think I will also call them and find out if a different torch can be used with it. This one works fine but I'd like to put a little lipstick on this thing and see what she's really capable of.

So that's it. My little review of the Everlast Power Plasma 60 and Everlast customer service. I don't know which distribution point Jody deals with but if it is an east coast distributor then that's extra points because my customer service was top notch also!

Hope this helps. We can't lay it all on Jody, this isn't his only job!

In it's new home:


Steve

I gave the cutter a good work out yesterday and it performs great.. Nuff said.

hey-was that a lincoln tig275 i saw in the corner of one of your pics-how do you like it?