Swapped out my old Lincoln for an inverter machine last spring, night and day difference on site work

I was running an old Lincoln AC/DC stick welder for years, the kind that weighs about 200 pounds and shakes the whole truck when you fire it up. Last March I finally got an inverter machine, an Everlast 210, for a job up in Billings where we had to patch some boiler tubes in a tight crawl space. The old machine would throw so much spatter I'd spend 20 minutes chipping slag for every 5 minutes of welding, and the arc wander on dirty metal was brutal. With the inverter, I can dial in the arc force and dig into rust without all that cleanup. I still grab the Lincoln for heavy plate work where I need raw power, but for most repairs the inverter saves me maybe an hour a day on grinding alone. Has anyone else made the switch and found a big difference on tube or vessel work?

2 comments

2 Comments

ryan71912d ago

Twenty minutes chipping for five minutes of welding? That's not a weld, that's a prison sentence. I ran a Lincoln tombstone for ages and never measured it, but that math alone makes the swap worth it. An hour less grinding a day adds up fast on a long job.

caseys3012d ago

You ever try flipping the work around so you're welding downhill on those long beads? It's a game changer for speed, cuts your chipping time way down 'cause the slag peels off cleaner. I started doing that on guardrail jobs (you know, the endless stretches of it) and knocked a solid 15 minutes off every ten foot section. Plus, it keeps the heat input lower so you're not burning through the metal as fast.