PA160 STH unboxing!

[joshuabardwell]

I'm super excited! My PA160 STH arrived today. I haven't had a chance to weld with it, because it's raining outside, but as soon as I do, I'll post up some pictures and experiences. In the mean time, here are some unboxing photos.



The welder comes in a plastic briefcase. There's enough room for the welder, the three leads (ground, stinger, and TIG), and a few other small items. The pedal and regulator were separate. The briefcase is not the most sturdy, but it's probably not going to be used very often or for very long, so that's hardly a deal-breaker. The welder is only 35 lbs, so you could just as easily throw it over your shoulder, with the leads in a small bag or something.



Here's everything that came with it: welder, stinger, ground clamp, TIG torch, gas hose, argon regulator/flowmeter, pedal, and 120/240v pigtail.



The pedal is nice and sturdy, but I don't have any others to compare it to, so take that with a grain of salt. It has a dial on the front of it that I can't find documentation for. As I understand it, when the pedal is plugged in, the output dial on the front of the unit is pre-empted and the pedal gives full-range control over the unit's output. Perhaps the dial on the pedal is to allow limiting the upper range of the pedal's output, as would normally be done using the front-panel dial on a pedal-controlled TIG machine. I dunno.



I was pleasantly surprised that the unit came with a 120/240v pigtail. I wasn't sure whether it would need to be rewired to be used with 120, or whether the customer would be expected to buy his or her own pigtail. The unit came pre-wired for 240v with a standard 6-50 plug.



The TIG torch has a finger switch that, if my reading of the manual is correct, can be used to start the arc with HF. I knew that the unit supported lift-start and pedal start, but I didn't realize that it also had a finger switch. I had heard about some of these welders shipping with a non-functioning finger switch, but the TIG lead has the wiring and plug, so my hunch is that it'll work.



The stinger is your standard 300v stinger. I'm glad to have gotten a clamp-style stinger instead of the screw-down type that is shown on Everlast's web site.



The ground clamp is much nicer than the stamped steel one that came with my previous welder.

 

[daugen]

Josh,
boy am I glad you got one of these too...
and I don't remember getting that pigtail, time to check the little bags or whatever.
So congrats! I have always appreciated your helpful advice and after you start welding,
I'll just copy everything you do, right? :dance1:
Drew

 

[joshuabardwell]

and I don't remember getting that pigtail, time to check the little bags or whatever.
I'll just copy everything you do, right?

I sure hope not! I am about as much of a rookie as they come. There are way smarter folks here who you should be paying attention to. But then again, as far as I can tell, I'm a few months ahead of you in experience at welding, so maybe I have one or two things to say.

EDIT: Oh, and PS, this is not Shield Arc's style of humility, where he claims to not be that good, and maybe compared to somebody working on a nuclear reactor, he's not, but compared to you and me, he's a god. This is actual, "I just started welding six months ago at most," humility. :laughing:

The pigtail was in the suitcase with the welder. Pretty hard to miss if it was included, I think. Maybe I just got lucky, or maybe they started including them after you bought yours.

 

[joshuabardwell]

Have you done any TIG with yours yet? Do you know what the dial on the pedal does? Do you know whether the finger switch on the torch works? With regard to the finger switch, I wonder whether the welder has any pre-programmed upslope and downslope, or whether it's just full-on and full-off. Even if the latter, that's still really nice, because it means you can break your arc without having to remove the gas coverage.

 

[daugen]

Josh, you're asking the wrong guy. I'm still waiting on the electrician to wire the new receptacle.
I'm sure Mark or others can answer the question. I'm still a virgin. sigh.

 

[joshuabardwell]

Josh, you're asking the wrong guy. I'm still waiting on the electrician to wire the new receptacle.
I'm sure Mark or others can answer the question. I'm still a virgin. sigh.

Ohhh... the suspense must be killing you!

 

[Shield Arc]

I haven't had a chance to weld with it, because it's raining outside

What, are you made of sugar?

 

[joshuabardwell]

I realized that I could do a little testing of my questions about the pedal and the torch switch, even if I can't weld yet. I hooked the pedal up to the unit and the readout showed the output as set by the pedal. The dial on the pedal does seem to limit the upper end of the pedal's output. At one extreme, the pedal went from 0 to 9 amps. At the other extreme, it went from 0 to 125 amps. This was a nice surprise, because I remember reading that the 160 STH pedal was always full range, with no way of dialing down the top end.

This testing was with the unit in stick mode, by the way, to avoid the HF start buzzing at me. (It startled the heck out of me the first time I touched the pedal with the unit in TIG mode.) As expected, with the pedal plugged in, the dial on the front of the unit did nothing.

I also hooked up the torch and put the unit in TIG mode to see if the switch on the torch would cause the HF to fire. It didn't. Possibly, the switch is intended only for lift-start, where it's used to break the arc and to disable the torch for safety. I'll need to actually get some tungsten and argon before testing that.

 

[joshuabardwell]

What, are you made of sugar?

Well, if you must know, yes.

Actually, I just don't have any shelter near my 220v outlet, so it would mean literally standing in the rain to weld. I know you structural weldors don't mind that, but me, I wouldn't want to get any rust spots on my nice clean welding table!

 

[Shield Arc]

I know you structural weldors don't mind that

Well I wouldn't say we don't mind. In reality it is a PITA! Can't see, and what you do see is 3 or 4 arcs at the same time. Rain running down the back of your neck all day. But, no work in the rain really cuts into the paycheck.

 

[joshuabardwell]

Well I wouldn't say we don't mind. In reality it is a PITA! Can't see, and what you do see is 3 or 4 arcs at the same time. Rain running down the back of your neck all day. But, no work in the rain really cuts into the paycheck.

What?! I'm supposed to be getting paid for this?!

 

[Shield Arc]

Sure you are! I think average pay now a days is $40.00 and hour plus benefits.

 

[k0ua]

Will sure be watching this thread! with envy as green as an Everlast welder:ashamed: Let us know what you think when you run some 7018 on that machine. And later on when you get your argon, bottle.. that's when I am really going to get interested in how well that pedal and HF start works. It should weld the same as mine, but the Pedal is really what I envy the most.

James K0UA

 

[Shield Arc]

I'm interested in how well it runs 6010.:licking:

 

[Mark @ Everlast]

The torch switch is not operational on the 140st...It works on the 160sth to start the arc with HF or with lift start. In fact it is required if you are NOT using the pedal. The power won't stay live. The switch has to be pressed to give it power. It has to be pressed first...and you need gas hooked up. When you press it, you will hear a slight buzz in the unit, and possibly see a blue spark inside the unit.

Joshua, make sure you've downloaded your manual. The addition of the amp control on the foot pedal is the very newest feature which I asked for a while back. Glad to see it accomplished. It's part of our effort to keep cost under control but offer more features. The units are entry level so to limit the amps on the panel requires a good bit more circuitry and adds cost. The knob acts as an intermediary rheostat and accomplishes the same thing. It's not high tech, but it works decently well.

 

[joshuabardwell]

Thanks, Mark. The dial on the pedal is a real treat. I don't have any TIG experience, but my expectation is that this will make lower-output welding much easier, since it won't require the operator to wiggle the pedal within a relatively narrow range of positions. Since you can see the output on the front of the panel, you should be able to easily set the dial to the max amps you desire and then work by feel from there. I did check the online manual, but I'm not sure it's been updated to reflect the knob yet.

 

[joshuabardwell]

One thing that I've realized, that I didn't notice when I was shopping, is that the unit's max output on stick is only 125 amps; the rated 160 amps is only for TIG. This may mean that it will struggle with 1/8" 7018 electrodes in some cases. My Hobart 1/8" 7018 gives an amp range of 90-150; miller's weld calculator says 110-165. With my old welder, I used to run them at 140 amps, its max output, and felt that was just about right for 1/4" to 3/8" material. The welder should be just right for 1/8" 6011, though, which runs at about 75-125 amps (per Miller).

 

[Mark @ Everlast]

Check the specifications on the top of the welder. I don't think that's right. It's limited on 110V for sure, and that's the limit on TIG on 110V.

Edit: Just checked, and it is 160 amps on stick on 220V. Where did you see that?

 

[joshuabardwell]

I'll look into it.

EDIT: Discussing via PM--will followup later with conclusions.

EDIT THE SECOND: Issue resolved. Unit outputs full 160A on both stick and TIG. Details to come.

 

[CNC Dan]

I'm interested in how well it runs 6010.:licking:

me too. The 140 that i got won't run 6011. Still want to get a dual voltage inverter that will run 6011 properly.