My business partner just blew up his Everlast 250 tig again on the weekend. It seems like every time he’s doing a project pushing a lot of quarter inch aluminum that machine calves.
We each have a Miller dynasty 200DX at the two shops but it’s just not enough power for some of these thicker aluminum jobs. He had been looking at the dynasty 400 for a while but they’re over $10,000 so on Monday he ended up ordering the primeweld 325x, lots of amps for the money.
Should show up late this week or early next.
And he’ll see if we can get Everlast to either send us parts or fix this broke machine again then sell it.
Once he starts running some beads with the new machine I’ll post an update on how it works out.
I think what I might do is just get a spool gun for my MIG welder for the thicker aluminum. I’ve used that in the past on other projects and it’s held up pretty good.
It’s the thin aluminum that is always been a pain in the butt for me, and now the ability to do stainless.
I got about 50 lb of argon left in my bottle, so i did a quick stick together on some 316. No filler rod, but the fusion weld did pretty good.
Let us know his opinion since he is professional. I’m low skilled on TIG, but I really like my PW 225X.
I like the analog nature of the controls vs menu driven. I feel like I am learning more using those than scrolling. Plus I figure repair costs, should they ever be needed, should be much lower if it’s just a rheostat failing vs a menu board.
And man, that SMAW is so smooth and easy to strike.
I have welded a lot of 1/4" and 3/8" aluminum with welders from 200 to 225 amps. The trick is clean it well and getting it hot before you try and weld it. Once aluminum gets hot it will take a lot less amps to weld it then you would think. You get a piece of 1/4" hot and start welding keep moving or it will melt way to fast for you to keep up. As you add filler wire it cools the puddle helping the aluminum from melting away on you.
I use LaYZr tungsten from CK Worlwide (only tungsten I use for all my tig welding). You need to clean your metal, and then clean it again, and then wipe it down with acetone. Up your gas to at least 20cfh, and yes, your amps need to be at least 200. I have an Everlast 255ext and have welded razor blades, pop cans and up to 1/2" thick aluminum for trailer ramps.
I can recall back in the day, trying to tig 3/16" aluminum for a live well. Cleaned, cleaned, and cleaned, then struck an arc. Tried to get a puddle formed (took forever), then bam - puddle fell thew the metal. In retrospect, I was probably way under amperage at the time.
However, now a days, if I have 3/16" + aluminum to weld, I choose Spool Gun!
and GOOD gloves and tig fingers to back it up to protect you from burns. Al takes a lot of heat, because it spreads it out (sinks) very well, but that means ALL of the material is going to get hot, QUICK, unlike steel, where the heat stays localized and you can keep your hands away from the HAZ.
Yup. My TIG finger gets a workout when I’m welding aluminum. I don’t usually put it on my finger, though. I just put it on the metal and rest my hand on it.
Been running my coolers with tap water were I am now for 21 years and have never had any blockages. But I do have a water filtration system because of the sand.
What is the trick here, ease off the pedal once you get the puddle formed? I can’t seem to get over the burning through the metal stage, then everything is a hot mess. I start to burn a nice puddle, get the frost, wait till its a wet puddle, then start to move, before I know it, I have a huge hole. It must be pedal hand coordination ?
What type are you welding? How thick? Is it Clean?
Do you have the welder on A/C? What setting amps?
Are you on 2T, not 4T? Is your argon flow sufficient?
Arcforce setting? Aluminum welding is a whole different animal than MIG welding.
What brand of welder do you have?
There are lots of questions that we need answers to help you.
