New welder... probably multimatic 215 but not sure

[BukitCase]

Oh, here's the cart I built for the mm211, can be hoisted/towed/rolled/tipped back like a hand truck -

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/build-yourself/387658-container-weld-shop-build-21.html

Feel free to steal any ideas that work for you; I'm pretty sure the 215 is the same case size... Steve

 

[Mark @ Everlast]

Looks to me like the 215 might have a bit more "grunt" than the 211 (one of my wire machines) - if you're ANYTHING like me, do NOT let 'em "toss in" a 10' gun - the feed on BOTH the new machines can handle a 15' one, to me that's the MINIMUM I'd want. My mm252 has a 15' gun and a 30A spool gun (30 feet), and there are times when I'll put a 2# spool of hard wire in the 30A just for the reach.

When I bought the mm211 I had to take it "as is", which is ONLY shipped with a 10' gun - so I paid extra for a M150 gun/15'. Just my $.02, I'd definitely let 'em gimme a 15" Bernard over the Miller guns... Steve

I agree with the gun. Also a thing about Bernard...I just found out. They seem to have constantly changed part numbers and parts so often that in the tech school where I teach part-time as an instructor, Airgas had to actually send someone out to inspect the Bernard Gun I inherited in my classroom as a "pass me down" to get the right part and it wasn't all that old...and they still didn't/couldn't get the exact same part.

 

[Evan03]

Offer 850 for the used 215.

Order your own 15ft gun

 

[JimRB]

I watch a number of welding videos on youtube. I have seen Jodi welding with a green welder before. I see Bob from weld.com using green welders in his classrooms. I have seen another few guys using the green Everlast wleders in their classrooms. I may have seen green welders at the nyccnc training lab, but it might have been one of the guys out in Arizona that has tig classes. These are guys who also love the blue and red welders that sometime run green welders.

I have run some sticks with my green welder and it was a fun experience. Tig functions better than my skill level. I occasionally get something good looking from tig but I dove in attempting some aluminum and stainless steel. Not the easiest beginner metals to work with. Stainless steel is a beast requiring some skills I have not mastered. I really should spend an hour a day practicing the tig stuff.

 

[yomax4]

Gents, There are no secrets out ther any longer. No-One makes a USA welder any longer and have not for years.. i wish i had a beer for every time i have posted that. The asians own the market. They have ruled the auto darkening world since the 80's too. Miller hasn't built a welder in the USA for at least 6 years. Don't believe it? go to your LWS and ask to look at the box it came in. Says Assembled in USA. 115v - Bobcat and more. My 35 years of being a Rep says to look at the new Everlast Twin Pulsed mig unit. If you want cutting edge you got it for an incredible price. What I own in that class costs 8K. You can also as Mark, We are not affiliates. We have been competitors for many years and yes we have had words but we have never met. I'm a technical guy and I wish someone would bring in one of these new rigs and invite me over to run it.

 

[swines]

Here's a LINK to an ESAB publication with an explanation of inductance.

My ESAB 300i provides inductance control. I have only used it to tweak inductance for welding tubing. For material 11-gauge and thicker, I use the machine's automatic settings. The 300i is a very early (1997) semi-synergic machine where you pick the metal type, thickness, wire size, and shielding gas and the machine adjusts the welder to the recommended settings. If you want to tweak the recommended settings you go back into the program and manually change the settings.

Unless you're doing a lot of thin material at low settings, I'm not sure you'd find inductance control to be all that important.

 

[Evan03]

Thosd youtube channels make money look at the esab plugs everlast plugs.
Its also easy to see all the welders they use weld metal together.

Kinda comes down to a ford and chevy debate. All drive down the road they all make more power then we can use all are over priced and all break down.

I honestly am in the market to buy a plasma ive looked into everlast just slighly hypotherm i have experince running so theyre my go to choice but that is 1800 bucks .ill keep researching

 

[jgriffin1720]

My latest welder purchase was an ESAB Rebel 235, went with it over the miller or everlast offerings. It is more expensive than the 215 class offerings but I have put it through it's paces and I will say it's an awesome package. It has all the controls you're looking for, has enough power to run .045 wire, weld thick materials, and do spray transfer, it runs 6010 like a champ, and despite what people say (calling it noob mode or whatever) the Smig function is great, even for an experienced welder, for quick projects or weird welding situations, it will compensate on the fly for a lot of things and produce decent looking, and structurally sound welds without having to even really think about settings. As far as tig goes with it, it's nice, this class machine actually has a separate gas solenoid for Tig instead of a gas valve torch. I have done some stainless pipe and sheet metal work with it and I was very pleased. This machine also has plenty of power to do aluminum either DC Tig with helium or with the spool gun. The other thing I like about it over everlast is that with esab your dealing with name brand guns, parts, and consumables that you can get at almost any local welding store and warranty issues can be handled locally by airgas. The miller is a great machine, and you get the local support, but it just not as well featured as the esab and to get into a 250 amp machine in Miller you're talking big bucks. Everlast, I've heard mostly good things, I've tried a couple of their machines that a buddy of mine has and they seem to weld great, but you are dealing with shipping the machine back if there is a problem and if you walk into your local welding store and ask if they have any consumables that will fit your everlast you will get the eye roll. Until everlast steps up their game with a dealer network and more local support I can't say I'd be a confident buyer of their equipment, although I have had my eye on some of their machines, especially the new multiprocess that does ac tig.

 

[Mark @ Everlast]

jgriffin,

Sorry you've been terribly misinformed about availability of consumables. Consumables on the TIG torch are 100% interchangeable with any other brand of TIG torch with the same series. As for MIG, Binzel and Trafimet are available from nearly everywhere, even airgas...and are used on many different brand machines and have been or years, even Miller used one on their old "cricket" MIG. Tell them Binzel, and they'll immediately recognize it. Companies like HTP, and others carry them as OEM on their machines as well as some tool company MIGs and many high end units as well.

IF they give you an eyeroll, it's either 1) Prejudice based off of plain ignorance 2) Willful ignorance or lack of training to go out of their way to even bother to help all potential customers 3) They don't get a "kick back" to push our brand (often called a spiff). Many regional airgas stores are distributors for our products. 4.) They just aren't trustworthy.

And on service, most local welding stores don't service ESAB. So you still have to ship to the nearest service center.

 

[mikehaugen]

The esab distributor near me said they have an in-house repair guy that can do majority of miller work. But he also later said that they can't do much of anything with esab as most parts aren't serviceable. Said they once has a unit delivered with a cracked plastic face plate and they couldn't even get that part and had to just send in whole welder for replacement. Seems that's how they handle much of their warranty work... just replace with new. I guess it's nice in a way but not exactly convenient.

But who knows... he was a sales guy afterall

 

[Mark @ Everlast]

As far as ESAB, yes, that is what I've been told as well. I own ESAB and have been told by a well known remanufacturer of electronic welder boards, that ESAB refuses to cooperate and supply parts. Now that has been a while back, but it sounds like since they've ceased production here in the US, it is nothing but a stripped down marketing company bent on acquiring other companies, stripping them down and cheapening up their product line. Giving a look at some of the latest Victor torches yesterday, I was shocked at how far down they've gone. The edge regulators that I have to deal with on a daily basis are deplorable. Hard to read gauges, with constantly sticking gauges, and won't fit a normal acetylene cylinder without hitting the fitting and hose on the top of the tank, when mounted. Also they cannot be used very easily for brazing or welding because of the oxygen markings are so imprecise that you simply have to guess where lower pressure settings required by the process are. The gauges are set so far in the black bezel, that you have to nearly shine a flash light on the gauges to see them. And for some reason, the PSI readings are printed over a medium gray marking which makes it that much more difficult to read.

 

[Evan03]

Esab tweco wtf.

Im someone that researches alot.

Can you tell me if theres any everlast facilities in Boise idaho?

 

[Evan03]

I was curious so i looked sometimes location says alot.

 

[swines]

I own ESAB and have been told by a well known remanufacturer of electronic welder boards, that ESAB refuses to cooperate and supply parts.

I have a 21 year old ESAB welder. I can still get most parts for it and have had no problem ordering the parts. I also have a 20 year old ESAB plasma cutter. I have had a problem getting a board repaired, but, I don't expect 100% parts availability on 20 year old equipment. The repair service was able to repair the plasma cutter because of the number of units sold, and the ability to find used parts from other sources.

Second party stories are just that - stories. You have no idea of the entire set of circumstances like the age of the equipment that's being repaired, where the parts were being ordered from, etc. The statement "refusing to supply parts" is an example. If they're trying to get parts for 15-20 year old equipment and simply told, "That part is no longer available" - that could be construed as "refusing to supply parts."

I don't think it's reasonable to expect manufacturers to supply parts in perpetuity for equipment. That would require an enormous monetary investment in static inventory and is an unreasonable expectation. Would you expect to Intel to be able to supply an 8088 processor for a 30 year old computer? Probably not. At some point, the equipment can be classified as outdated and you simply have to replace it.

My interactions with ESAB have been both with their technical service people and one of their major parts suppliers. They have answered promptly and I have been able to get parts for my welder when needed. I don't expect the parts supply to be available forever, and at some point, I'm sure I'll have to replace the welder. But, at this point I've used it for 21 years. That's a pretty good life for any piece of equipment.

As a side note. I can't get parts from Smith and Wesson for a 25 year old pistol because they've changed the design of the trigger mechanism. I have a choice of paying a gunsmith to make the part or retiring the pistol from use. It isn't just welding equipment that becomes outdated by manufacturing changes to products or product lines - and manufacturers "refusing to supply parts."

 

[Mark @ Everlast]

Esab tweco wtf.

Im someone that researches alot.

Can you tell me if theres any everlast facilities in Boise idaho?

We had repair facilities outside of Boise at one time. Repairs now take place either in TN or depending upon the nature, some in our CA facility.

 

[Mark @ Everlast]

BTW, if you want to learn about everlast, go to our site, and read our info. It tells you everything you need to know about us. South San Francisco based. everlastwelders.com

 

[yomax4]

Not sure 20 year old equipment can be compared in this thread. ESAB was an ok company that actually just tanked about 3-4 years ago and that's why Colfax bought Victor for more than 2X what it was worth. It was supposed to bail ESAB out. Instead, They went with the ESAB management style and quickly watched Victor start to tank too and it continues. I was in the Florence S.C ESAB plant 3 years ago and it was empty. You could have 3 soccer games going on in there at the same time. It's now locked up due to a new affiliation with a reputable chinese manufacturer where most welding parts and many machines come from.
When it comes to dealer network and coverage it should be taken into consideration how old the company is. Lincoln, Miller and ESAB to a lesser degree have been established for decades and there are tons of dusty parts laying around on shelves all over the country and no-one could sell Miller or Lincoln in their stores without factory trained techs. No-one should expect a newer startup company of any kind to have a full blown network of service and sales centers in a few short years.. It's just not a good comparison.

 

[mikehaugen]

no-one could sell Miller or Lincoln in their stores without factory trained techs.

Well Lincoln has definitely changed their philosophy on that.

 

[yomax4]

Well Lincoln has definitely changed their philosophy on that.

Yes Sir, I agree. Lincoln will go direct on a favored distributor in a heart beat and cut them right out. Sadly, The distributor welcomes them back after a period of time only to have it happen again. We call it the Lincoln Sun Burn. First you get the burn but after a while it turns to a tan and Lincoln is back in. ESAb does this too but both do it with wire mainly. Lincoln is now doing it with Power Migs and Engin Drives occasionally as well.

We are in the midst of a global economy and everyone wants a piece of the pie. All manufactures are selling their goods on the web and through brokerage houses like Amazon. Lincoln used to turn down a lot of distributors and only had flagship locations who had to buy long and be trained in sales and repair.

When you bought a welder back in the early 80's you could expect to put it in your will. Buy a welder now and you better get a good warranty.

 

[Arc weld]

I don't think Esab or Colfax has a clue what they're doing. I remember back in in 1981 when Purox were as popular a torch as anything else on the market and dealers had stock of all the tips and rosebuds etc. Then Linde became L-Tec and then part of Esab and it's been going downhill ever since. Then they bought Victor, cancelled 99% of the Purox and Oxweld lines, made some of their own torches and cancelled them shortly after leaving customers pizzed when they wanted a rosebud or accessory for their brand new torch. If a customer bought a few of the new torches, they had an exchange program for Victor. Then they went to these 411 series torches that can use the medium or heavy duty cutting attachment. Trying to read one of their charts for which rosebud or welding tip to use leaves you more confused than when you started. Their website is even worse and now it appears they are cancelling all the popular Victor torches which one would think is the reason they purchased Victor in the first place. I don't think they have any concept of marketing (in N. America anyway) or realizing you need to have product support and spare parts if you want to get more sales and keep customers. The only person doing a good job at Esab that I deal with is the lady who gets certs. for me. Their website for certs. sucks too and doesn't have certs. for OK55 which is common in Canada. It's sad because they do have some good products... at least for the time being.