StickWeld 250 Torture Test + Full Review (Video and Write-Up)

   / StickWeld 250 Torture Test + Full Review (Video and Write-Up) #1  

ChuckE2009

Silver Member
Joined
Jun 4, 2010
Messages
133
Good morning everyone!!

So a little while back (last November), the guys at Longevity sent out a nice new StickWeld 250 for me to try out, review, put in videos, etc...

I was a little skeptical at first, because I'd never welded with an inverter before, and although I really like the plasma cutter they sent out earlier, lets face it, some Longevity products get mixed reviews, but this has a very high duty cycle (100% at 200 Amps) which is great for me, and something I really wanted. I was more than happy to try it out...

Anyway, once I opened it up, I had my first problem. There wasnt a plug on it... Okay, that's not the end of the world, I'll just wire one too it. I'm not an electrician, but I've done it before and it can't be that hard, right?

Well, there were four wires that came from it's cord.. And three that go into the plug. The manual didn't help, so I posted my question online, and I got a hold of Longevity's customer support shortly later, got everything wired up, and we were set!!

The little machine came to life... The fan is a little loud (not annoying, but you defiantly know its running). It can really move some air, sucks it in the back of the machine and forces it out the front and sides...

The fan runs non-stop, which I like. I've used a handful of machines with fan-on-demand or somesuch features, and the only one of them that actually works right is my Hypertherm Powermax 45. For example, on my Precision tig, if you weld with it for 3-4 seconds making a tack, the fan will run for like ten minutes even though there's no way that got the machine warmed up. If you weld for several minites with it, and then turn it off and power it back up, the fan won't kick back on... Thus, my personal preference is that the fan just always runs...

Anyway, I got to welding with it, and really started to enjoy running it. What do I like and dislike?

Dislikes:

1) Short stick leads... I know, pretty much every new stick welder comes with dinky leads so this isn't unusual, but still... I want to say the stock leads are about 10 feet long, I highly recommend getting some 25 footers atleast for this machine, or really any stick welder.

2) Small amperage knob. You go from 20 amps to like 250-something all in 2/3 of a rotation of a small knob, thus it can be hard to pinpoint an exact amperage. I think they should go to a larger knob, or one that rotates 360 degrees and takes several turns to hit minimum or maximum amperage like what my Precision Tig has. To be fair, the Miller XMT's at school are the same way, but they have a slightly bigger knob but go from virtually nothing to 400 freakin' amps in 2/3 of a turn :rolleyes:

Okay, yeah, I don't have any serious complaints about this machine. When you give the heavy-duty breaker on the back of the machine a firm push, it roars to life and welds like a dream. Its honestly a very nice little machine... So, now, onto the likes:

1) Duty cycle, like I said it's 100% at 200 amps which is a very serious rating and let me tell you, coming from two stick machines that have a 20% and a 10% duty cycle, it's VERY, VERY nice to just not have to worry about pushing the machine anymore. If you do anything that requires the full 250 amps, it only drops to a 60% duty cycle.

2) Adjustability... The Arc Force is sweet, I really like it. Ever run a machine, and felt that "This arc is kinda soft..." or "This is a little on the violent side"?

With the adjustable arc force, you can take it from a buttery smooth 7018 arc, to a sharp, crisp, burns-through-paint and anything else 6011 arc with the turn of a knob.

3) The slag just falls away. I'm not sure if this is an inverter thing or what, but running an electrode on this machine seems to make the slag just curl up and fall off easier than anything else I've ran... Even if both electrodes are from the same batch, there is still a very noticeable difference, and it sure is nice :)

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4) The leads interchange with aforementioned Precision Tig... So yes, the Dinse plugs are a standard size.

So, there's my partial review... I show and talk about a few other things in the video...

Moving on, it's torture test time!!

I really pushed that ForceCut when I was testing it, that machine has a 40% duty cycle, so I pushed 90% on it for half an hour at a time. I love doing things like that... But, this is such an industrial machine that I really couldn't think of anything to push it that hard.

I thought long and hard about what I could do, and then bought 76 pounds of 3/4" plate and an entire box of larger 5/32" Hobart 7018 electrodes. Since I couldn't get it past it's duty cycle, all I could really do was to test it.

After getting my joint tacked up, I went at it, burning one electrode, than another, than another, than another one right after the other, only stopping when I absolutely HAD to. I pushed myself as hard as I possibly could, trying to simulate a larger weld, on a large project that HAD to get done.

My heavy duty 25' lead got hot... I almost melted my electrode holder pushing 190 amps through it almost non-stop for several hours, but the machine matched me step for step and kept up flawlessly. When it was all done, there were dozens of electrode stubs covering my table, and a 45 pass weld on 3/4" plate that took a few hours to fully cool.

To sum it all up, the StickWeld 250 without a doubt gets a thumbs-up from me. I'd really like to thank Longevity for sending it out, and I'm sure it'll be in many videos to come.

Anyway, there's more to my review and the torture test in this video, which I really hope you guys enjoy. It was fun to make for sure:


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IMG_2690-1.jpg
 
   / StickWeld 250 Torture Test + Full Review (Video and Write-Up) #2  
Lanse if it makes you feel any better about the short leads. I spent right around $5,500.00 for my Lincoln V350-Pro, not one inch of leads came with it.
 
   / StickWeld 250 Torture Test + Full Review (Video and Write-Up) #3  
Looks great, they are great machines. With the combination of calculus class, homework, and my shop having been turned into a junk storage room over the summer, I haven't done any welding or even been on this forum in about six months. Let's hope mine will still work.
 
   / StickWeld 250 Torture Test + Full Review (Video and Write-Up) #4  
deereman75 we were just talking about you. Glad to see you back!:thumbsup:
 
   / StickWeld 250 Torture Test + Full Review (Video and Write-Up) #5  
deereman75 we were just talking about you. Glad to see you back!:thumbsup:

Indeed, get on once in a while and say hi! Good to hear from you again.

James K0UA
 
   / StickWeld 250 Torture Test + Full Review (Video and Write-Up) #6  
Sorry it took so long, between school, not having a proper computer, not having access to my shop, and a puppy, I haven't had the chance to get on here. I will be trying to get back to posting regularly from now on, and if I can't, I will at least drop by once a week. I have really missed this forum, and now that I am getting my shop cleaned out, I will have lots of projects to talk about. Glad to be back.
 
   / StickWeld 250 Torture Test + Full Review (Video and Write-Up) #7  
Sorry it took so long, between school, not having a proper computer, not having access to my shop, and a puppy, I haven't had the chance to get on here. I will be trying to get back to posting regularly from now on, and if I can't, I will at least drop by once a week. I have really missed this forum, and now that I am getting my shop cleaned out, I will have lots of projects to talk about. Glad to be back.

Yo bud glad to see ya! I was gonna pm shield arc to see if your ok!
 
 
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