Welding Tips and Tricks

Hello,
Can anyone fill me in....... on the setting of A/C Balance on an Everlast 255ext?
I have been very busy with work and a few weeks holidays, where I haven't touched
The Everlast machine for almost 4 months. I've never had to rely on welding for a living but would pick up a torch, primarily stick over the years but I have grown an interest in to welding and primarily aluminum building shelving and outfitting a couple of my vans! I do have a Lincoln square wave 200 but wanted more options with regards to settings where as you are somewhat limited to PAUL's settings and others on the Lincoln so I purchased an Everlast 255 EXT and actually became quite comfortable with it and setting the machine up as mentioned I have not pick the machine up or the torch for that matter in quite a few months! I started some shelving back in May and I wanted to complete this shelving as things have calm down somewhat and I have a little bit more time but can't seem to run a bead for the life of me!!!! I've been trying to retrain myself in feeding ride without contaminating the tungsten and did start dabbling with the torch switch as opposed to the pedal as I was in some awkward positions to be able to tap on the pedal one with think it is like riding a bike just get back on the bike after an amount of time but as mentioned it's all festering up and the welds look absolutely horrible!! It's almost as though someone else started that one particular shelving unit where the dimes were stacked unbelievably and now I'm burning through and have been trying a little bit on some scraps making an adjustment trying a little bit making an adjustment, etc..... it seems the more I start making changes with the settings the worst the wells seem to becoming....... I don't want to sound cocky but going back the beginning of spring I was actually showing off some of my welds to people I know and they were all saying wow you did that??? Now it looks like someone who is picked up a take welder for the first time I just can't seem to get my settings set up I had my hz at 120 and balance in around 70-75 but I seem to remember something where the Everlast settings are reverse (electrode negative instead of electrode positive) or something along those lines of many of the other machines.... I am going to get another bottle of argon thinking that perhaps the Argon is contaminated somehow!!!
To be honest I'm almost thinking that there's something wrong with the machine but more than likely it's me and I don't know if any of you have ever golfed but there was a period going back many years ago where I think I threw out one or two sets of golf clubs because I was so terrible !!!!! I'm ready to toss the machine into the lake and use it as an anchor..... i'm so frustrated with it
If anyone has a bit of advice it would be greatly appreciated thank you David

On my Miller the AC balance set the EN, I usually run around 70- 75 EN, I'm pretty sure a quick look in your manual verify whether your changing EN or EP, if my memory serves Everlast machines set by EP so you might want to try setting of 25 or 30. You'll know real quick if this is not the case.

Pete

Everlast Manual:
Defines the percent of Electrode Positive (EP) used during AC welding to provide cleaning action. This divides the time that the AC cycle spends in Electrode Positive or Electrode Negative during one full AC cycle. It controls the amount of cleaning and penetration via a ratio to achieve the best balance while welding on AC. Too much cleaning action will result in tungsten balling or splitting. Too little cleaning can result in dirty, sooty welds and even a dull weld appearance. Simply put, as the percent increases, greater cleaning will occur, but less penetration will be achieved. NOTE: This is expressed as a percent of full Electrode Positive polarity. This unit uses 100% Electrode Positive as the reference, which is opposite (a reciprocal value) from some other brands of TIG welders with this adjustment. Using the welder in excess of 50% EP can ball and vaporize the tungsten. For most welds, no more than 45% cleaning is needed. Ideally, start with 30% EP for a refer- ence point and then fine tune the cleaning by adjusting up or down in increments of 5%.

Hey David , I have the 210 EXT and set my balance around 25 to 35 % depending on the material . 25% on new ally 35% on older dirtier stuff . This is only a ballpark figure but somewhere in that range should get you started. I have had my machine for about 2 years now and still adjust balance to suit as with ally it is always something different. Hope this helps .
Cheers Troy

Some are calibrated as % EN others % EP. I believe yours is EP. Start at 40%. This gives lots of etching, but your tungsten may overheat. Work from there. With very clean metal, and filler you will end up near 30%.