My new welder...

Jim Sullivan

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 10
Just thinking outload. You may be pushing the small inverter welder pass it's duty cycle. :dunno2
Some of these even Lincoln market these for the hobby shop not a production machine.
Well, the majority of my aluminum welding is done with 50-75 amps. The 1/8" I'm welding now, I'm running up to 130 amps and not running for any long periods at a time. I'll bend up some parts, tack them the weld a foot or so. Stop bend some more, weld a little more. If the torch get warm, I do something else until every cools down. So I would hope it doesn't get anywhere near it's duty cycle. But who knows, it's lasted almost five years welding this way.
 

Jim Sullivan

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 10
My new Everlast welder was delivered Monday. Just had time to try it this morning. Thought I had an issue with the high frequency start, right out of the box. But turns out I had the pre-flow up a little too high and the arc wasn't starting soon enough for me. A quick turn of the dial and I'm good to go. Now to try all of the different settings to see what works best.:weld
 

bobs409

 
Administrator
Jim, not sure what your old welder settings were like but with the Everlast, the balance or cleaning action is different than on a Miller or similar machine. I think they refer to it as EN or Electrode negative where the Everlast I think is EP or Electrode positive. Not sure what the Eastwood is that you had so that's why I mention it.

Just mentioning so if you see someone say to set it to 75% for aluminum, don't use that for the Everlast. For aluminum you will want about 35% give or take a little. You'll know by how much cleaning action there is off to the sides. Don't want more than is needed as it's tough on tungstens and can affect penetration if I recall.

I just did a few passes on some 1/8" aluminum and tried about 150 amps but it was a tad hot so your 130-135 is probably a good place to be. For frequency I use 90-100. I hadn't welded aluminum for about a year so I'm very rusty! :D I did manage to make some nice looking beads and not dip the tungsten so that's something anyway. ;)
 

Jim Sullivan

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 10
For the couple minutes I tried the welder, I found I am liking 120 amps max for the 1/8" aluminum. The minimum setting for cleaning(all my aluminum is new) and a little over 100-120 frequency. Now I have to build a shed, so my time in the garage will be limited. But when I get back to it, I'll be able to try some different settings. The torch that came with this welder is a #26, largest air cooled torch I guess. Luckily it shares all of the consumables with my old #17.
 
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