Everlast Welders - Welders and Plasma Cutters by Everlast

Kyle_in_Tex · Jul 24, 2022

And Mark, count me in as one, who's glad for your contributions on this site.

cqaigy2 · Jul 24, 2022

Same here Mark, and thanks for my welder. My nephew is certified welder and was really impressed with it.

Hersheyfarm · Jul 24, 2022

Mark @ Everlast said:
Would this would be a better place to manufacture in?

View attachment 755487

Oops, missed this post wile we were discussing why everlast chose to build in china and why its better than manufacturing here. That pic is of LA…but that is from 2020 and its because wild fires. Not the industrial smog from your colleagues pics of what I guess is where your welders are made.

This is the pic from your colleague. Is this where your located? Its very interesting.

yomax4 · Jul 24, 2022

Who builds welding equipment in the USA?

Hersheyfarm · Jul 24, 2022

yomax4 said:
Who builds welding equipment in the USA?

I’m hearing nobody, or at least some are assembled here with Chinese parts. Think that is what is being said here.

Mark @ Everlast · Jul 25, 2022

Kyle_in_Tex said:
China has come a loooong way...very capitalistic but heavy handed gov't, with limited liberties (with such a huge population, there comes drawbacks).

OK, now back on the thread.

I have a friend that has a generator/welder repair business. He is Lincoln/Miller certified, as well as generac. Been doing it for about 10 years now. He still doesn't like inverters and recommends transformers for the long haul. I just bought (for some chicken feed), an older Miller 250 that I have yet to use. It came as a hand me down from my work, but since I just started my job, I don't have any background experience with it. I was told it will overheat and stop. I still need a bottle of argon to get some testing done. I want to say it is about 20 years old, and Miller does not offer a transformer for it. IF they did, it would probably cost in the neighborhood of $1300, based on how much they sell one for a Miller 252 costs. OUCH. I'm hoping it might be something as simple as a loose wire, or bad cooling fan. My welding needs are usually short and repair oriented. Our weld shop has now gone totally Red, with about 12 units. 1 hypertherm plasma on a 2 axis table.

But $1300 would go a long ways to buy a nice inverter welder. So, there are 2 sides to every story. My friend says the inverter models (miller/lincoln) are very costly to repair too.

Time will tell if I made a bad investment (chicken feed).

Inverters don't have to be expensive to repair. The reason that inverters from other manufacturers are expensive is the "planned obsolescence" aspect. It's not that expensive to make a main board, but they price it so that the cost of repair and part is 2/3 to 3/4 the cost of a new unit, which forces a customer to consider purchasing a new one. Our most expensive board is about 400.00. Miller's boards are around 1800.00 for the equivalent board. Plus most of our major boards are plug and play so it takes just a few minutes to snap a new one in.

Hersheyfarm · Jul 25, 2022

So what model would be closest to an Ironman 240?

Mark @ Everlast · Jul 26, 2022

Well, the Power i MIG 230i was the best equivalent to the previous Ironman 230. But it had way more duty cycle with 50% @ 230A. The new, replacement for the 230i will be the Cyclone 262, due out in a couple months. It's been on the drawing board for a couple years, and should have come out last year, but Covid slowed development. But I digress...anyway... the new 262 is a max 275A, and the new Ironman is listed at 280A. The Cyclone 262 will have 35% duty cycle at 275A. And it should have around 60% duty cycle around 225A. The Ironman duty cycle is listed as 30%@ 280A and 60% @ 200A. The Cyclone 262 is a much more efficient inverter, and has a digital display. This is a sneak peak at it when they were finished in the factory production run. By the way it also features stick welding, which the ironman cannot do. It also has the Power set mode.