Welding Tips and Tricks

I bought the longevity mulit unit the 200pi I am wanting to weld tiny focused beads on aluminum penetration isn't a concern it is more for looks (custom jetski parts) super clean new aluminum so the cleaning needs to be at a minimum. But Jody talks about the everlast in his videos having more ac parameters. Are they needed?? here is the comparison I highlighted the difference. Will these make a difference in welding aluminum. That is all that i will be doing with the unit. Well that and the plasma. If I need some big stuff done I have a mig and another arc welder.

longevity has
ac freq. .5 to 25
ac balance 30 to 70 %
Pulse freq. .5 to 25

and everlast 205 has
ac freq. .5 to 250
ac balance 10 to 90 %
pulse freq. .5 to 500

I need help by someone with more experience that I have..Which most of you have since I have been tig welding for 3 days.

I'd like to hear the answer myself. I would eventually like to tig aluminum. The machine he demos on the website looks pretty interesting. The price isn't bad either.

I have the everlast 225LX. I don't know the difference in settings, but on mine, the higher you set the AC balance, the more positive to the torch which minimizes cleaning but increases the temp of the tungsten.

While playing around with settings, I could get the tungsten to ball up an vibrate like it was alive...and get hotter 'n sh*t.

pasted from the longevity site concerning the WeldAll 200PI

5-200AMP AC/DC TIG Features:
Up Slope, Down Slop Control: 0-10 Seconds
Post Flow Control: 0-25 Seconds
Base Current Control: 5-250 Amps
Peak Pulse Current Control: 5- 250 Amps
Pulse Frequency Control: .5-25 Hz
Pulse Width Control: 10%-90%
AC Frequency Control: 20-100 Hz
AC Balance Control: 30-70% (for Aluminum)
Aluminum Weld Up to 1/2"


the 2 settings that will let you weld narrower beads are... ac frequency and ac balance.

ac frequency set to 100 hz is a good all purpose setting and will pinpoint the arc more than an old transformer machine but not quite as much as an inverter that goes higher. I personally think anything withover 150 hz you reach diminishing returns anyway.


ac balance adjusts the ammount of dcen and dcep . the more dcen you have the less cleaning and the tungsten does not get as hot....and stays tapered allowing for a more pinpointed arc.

The Everlast AC balance knob is configured opposite from other machines i have used. setting it counter clockwise increases the dcen and lessens the cleaning.


hope this helps a little

jody