Best Tig machine for home shop

Matt Lantry · Tue Apr 19, 2011 10:56 am

Hey Guys(and gals) Im new to the forum and am looking for some advice. Im in the market for a Tig machine for the home shop. Main requirements are that it can handle 1/4" Aluminum, pulse control, water cooling would be nice but not necessary. I wouldnt be afraid of used but would like to get new if affordable. By the way affordable is whatever I can convince the Mrs to let me get away with. I saw the revievws Jody did on the Everlast 225 and 256, and am not opposed to them. Thoughts anyone????They are greatly appreciated.

kermdawg · Tue Apr 19, 2011 11:40 am

The everlast machines are great for a hobbyist, and are significantly cheaper than a miller or lincoln.

Matt Lantry · Tue Apr 19, 2011 1:08 pm

Thanks Kerm. It will get a good amount of use. I do repairs out out of the house on my days off. Most of the work will surely be on steel but Im sure there will be plenty of aluminum repairs.

kermdawg · Wed Apr 20, 2011 10:38 am

The everlast machines hold up pretty good to heavier use too. Theres a couple guys on these forums that all they use is everlast inverters for their weld shops and they swear by em.

dgarnier · Wed Apr 20, 2011 2:04 pm

I have had an everlast machine on order since 2/22 an bunch of missed dates and not much info from everlast. Hopefully I do not have to send the machine back in for service since they now make you pay shipping both ways and getting the work done looks to take a few weeks.

kermdawg · Wed Apr 20, 2011 5:35 pm

Ya Ive heard some horror stories about everlasts customer support and shipping problems. Apparently the machine itself is pretty decent, the problem is getting the machine

You would think you pay several hundred or even a couple thousand dollars for a machine they could get it to you in a timely manner.

jason.hwnd · Wed Apr 20, 2011 6:55 pm

I think I'd rather pick up a used Dynasty from ebay. I might be a 'blue' fan but the machines work and dont seem to be too shabby on customer support.

dgarnier · Wed Apr 20, 2011 8:52 pm

being a weekend welder it was hard to justify the price of a 200DX, so I ordered the 250ex...I am just hoping I dont have problems, from what I have seen and read the machine seems to do a dam good job

Matt Lantry · Fri Apr 22, 2011 12:49 am

Well the shop I work out of is in need of a Tig machine, and I'm going to gave them buy the everlast 256. We'll see how it does(if it gets there) then I'll have a good idea of how she'll work and get one for the home shop. Test it on the companies dime. I'll keep y'all posted

dgarnier · Sat Apr 23, 2011 8:12 am

If that is the case I would have them call and get the order in ASAP before they run out and you stuck waiting. My welder in come in yesterday and its got a few rough spots finish wise, but the stick and tig functions seem to work ok

1080TWIST · Mon May 02, 2011 4:46 pm

I had a everlast on order for five weeks when it was supposed to be delivered in two i didnt like the feeling of having that money just hanging out there like that and got my money back but not sure what to buy. anybody here have any thing good to say about the longevitys? I like the idea of having sepperate knobs for all the different adjustment as opposed to useing a menu tree like the miller dynasty dx does

jason.hwnd · Mon May 02, 2011 7:03 pm

dgarnier wrote:being a weekend welder it was hard to justify the price of a 200DX, so I ordered the 250ex...I am just hoping I dont have problems, from what I have seen and read the machine seems to do a dam good job

How are things working out?

dgarnier · Tue May 03, 2011 1:42 pm

it took 2 months to get the machine - not the best communication from everlast. The machine seemed to survived shipping ok and work out of the box ok. I had to make a few adjustments and after opening the case I found a cap had been knocked off the board at some point. It was not cut off, you can see where the wire from another board was too close and knocked the cap off along with stripping off the insulation of the wire. I called into support and after a few call and pics back and forth a new cap is being sent out.

So far I have run 5# of 7018, and 2# of 6011 from 75amp all the way up to max(160 or 200 forgot which it is). I got it for TIG welding and I have already run 10#+ of er70s2 and close to 5# of 4043 and the welder seems to do ok, but my technique needs some work.

Support (Mark and Ray) have been helpful

The foot peddle, and the torch suck...I have a ck200 on order that should be here today. the stock torch is pretty heavy and the cable are pretty stuff. the foot peddle is too tall, and I can seem to find a position that I can get both legs comfortable in

For my needs it looks like the pt250ex will do the trick and the support is good. The wildcard is how it’s going to stand up over time. From talking with Ray it seems they change the internals from time to time. So the pt250ex form a year ago really are not the same as a 250ex form today. I really hope I don’t run into problems down the road that require the machine to be sent back in for service as Everlast change there warnente policy. When I paid for the machine the web page stats they picked up the return shipping and I would just pick up the shipping to them. It has now changed and the you pick up shipping both ways, and on an 85# welder ups shows 110$ and FedEx show 98$ each way. So after you factor in the 200$ for a new torch and if it goes in once for service I look at it as a scratch. If it has to go in more than once then the Miller DX will have been a better way to go.

Needless to say I am holding on to the original shipping box – hoping that since I am keeping it I won’t need it.

1080TWIST · Tue May 03, 2011 2:59 pm

thats great logic, I see your point about about the price . the 250 ex seemed like the safer
choice since there are alot of warnings about combination machines having a proclivity to self destruct because of the internal plasma. and the duty cycle on the 250 ex is rated really good 60 % at full output I believe thats outstanding , even better than the dynasty 200 dx seems a little hard to believe? . Have you thought about running it full out for a bit

dgarnier · Tue May 03, 2011 5:54 pm

I did run it in stick mode maxed out...with no problems, but sure made a lot of sparks. I will try running tig at 250 and see how she does tonight. Also getting a new ck200 tonight so I have lots of thing to try

dgarnier · Tue May 03, 2011 8:02 pm

ok 250amp dc tig is pretty hot stuff - The machine held up well for as long as I could go. My hands just got to hot, the #8 cup was glowing read about half way up on the wp18 torch that it came with. Going to cool down for a bit and then switch over to ac and see how she does.

jason.hwnd · Tue May 03, 2011 8:48 pm

well I hope the best for ya.
..I've had only one welder, not sure I've ever needed more from a welder. Hopefully you'll have the same luck.

dgarnier · Tue May 03, 2011 11:37 pm

seems to have also done ok with 250amp in ac...now its just a question of how it stands up to years of use

ogorir · Thu May 05, 2011 10:54 am

I think everlasts shipping issues are model-related. the 250ex and 256 are very popular and are always out of stock. I just bought an Imig-200 2 weeks ago and it was here 3 days after I ordered it because they have them in stock. great machine, cleanest MIG welds i've ever seen. I tried for an hour to make a shitty weld with it. only way I could was to turn the gas off o.o

kermdawg · Thu May 05, 2011 1:07 pm

Ill show ya how to make a shitty weld with it :p

Edit-Crap. I was tryin to find a mig video I found on this site of a guy with about 6 inchs of stickout welding with a little 115 volt chinese mig welder. Oh well.

ogorir · Fri May 06, 2011 7:25 pm

heheh, not exactly what I meant, but point taken. I was welding through paint, heavy dirt, and rust scale and as soon as you punched through it would lay down a decent bead. not pretty, per se, but not porous, either. it did alright with about 1.5" stickout welding in a 40 degree corner, too. it'd give a skip or two before it found an arc, but once you got it started it welded fine.

PickWelder · Tue Jan 20, 2015 1:19 pm

Matt Lantry wrote:Hey Guys(and gals) Im new to the forum and am looking for some advice. Im in the market for a Tig machine for the home shop. Main requirements are that it can handle 1/4" Aluminum, pulse control, water cooling would be nice but not necessary. I wouldnt be afraid of used but would like to get new if affordable. By the way affordable is whatever I can convince the Mrs to let me get away with. I saw the revievws Jody did on the Everlast 225 and 256, and am not opposed to them. Thoughts anyone????They are greatly appreciated.

I highly recommend Evelast 256.
Although, its price are a bit high.
But, This is best tig machine for home shop and worthy.

SmartDave · Tue Jan 20, 2015 8:20 pm

Why no mention of a HTP Tig Welder?

mcoe · Tue Jan 20, 2015 10:25 pm

I run the Everlast Power TIG 200 DV and it has all the requirements plus it's dual voltage. I ordered off of Amazon and got free fast shipping.

Oscar · Sun Jan 25, 2015 12:36 pm

HTP Invertig 221 with dual voltage and water-cooled CK Flex-loc 20-series torch. Best value hands down for a home hobbyist. Lots of power, great duty cycle, compact, and more settings to adjust than the space shuttle

Oh and if you want to weld 1/4" aluminum, water cooled IS necessary. Or you can learn the hard way when your 1-piece hose melts off the insanely hot air cooled torch