Article/Blogs

Welding related question 8 for this month is a common one that arises on our forums and other places, and it has to deal with not being able to see the molten puddle. Often they wonder if it’s the machine or their helmet.  One of the causes for this of course is inexperience. Learning to train your eyes to focus on what is going on in the puddle behind the bright arc takes practice for some individuals. But most people can learn to rapidly recognize the puddle and differentiate between the arc, the puddle and the trailing slag covering (if any) as it coalesces.

Question 7 for the month, regarding common welding related questions: What is the best way to learn to weld? Can I learn on my own? To be able to answer that, you really need to know for yourself, what kind of learner you are. Before deciding on jumping in and trying to learn on your own, you should evaluate your learning strengths and weaknesses. By this I mean, how do you learn? Are you visual? Are you hand on?

Question 6 for this month: Do I weave or not weave? A lot of modern welding material frowns upon any manipulation of the welding rod while making a pass. These texts refer to using stringer beads to make welds, particularly in the stick and MIG welding processes. Yet, if you go back a few years, you’ll find many texts teaching correct weaving and rod manipulation techniques. Notice the emphasis on “correct”! There are right ways to weave and wrong ways obviously.

More so now than in the past, there is renewed interest in DC TIG welding of aluminum. Without a doubt, a quick online search will yield dozens of forum threads, and videos documenting this practice. You’ll see both DC negative and DC positive used, and with highly variable results. Is it possible to weld with DC? Yes, of course. Early forms of TIG welding before HF stabilized AC current was used, employed DC only welding.

New customers always are curious about what they need to weld aluminum. MIG is one of the best solutions outside of AC TIG, of course, as it offers speed and economy. But in many situations, MIG is not practical, nor is TIG, so another process must be found to handle certain repairs and fabrication projects, particularly if they are out in the open where breezes prevail. In this case, stick welding would make a viable choice.

Question 5 for the month revolves around customers trying to find the one unit that can do everything without spending major money: What do I need to weld aluminum? Can I do it with DC TIG, MIG or Stick? The answer to all three processes is Yes! But to clarify further, all processes above are valid ways to weld aluminum, but not all are practical.

A fourth, but rather common question that we hear, usually before the sale, is how long will these new inverter welders last compared to a transformer? The truthful answer is: No one knows really. But let’s get something straight about that question. Inverters in the welding industry are not new and are basically reliable. They’ve been around for 30 years or so. Many of them are still around. Bur even so, you will always hear stories of a transformer welder sitting in the corner of some garage or barn that has been running since the 1950’s…or earlier.

Question 3 about our company and the welding industry in general is rather a broad question: There are a lot of different import welder brands out there, aren’t yours just the same and come from the same company in China?  You are just a reseller of off-the-shelf product aren’t you? Answer: No. The truth is there are a lot of import companies operating out there, many direct shipping welders direct from the factory in multiple names and colors.

Continuing with our list of common questions about our product and welding in general, the second question we commonly receive is: How long has Everlast been in business?  In the grand scheme of welding history, not long. But if you consider the fact that we were founded in 2004, well, to date that makes 12 years. While that certainly is not as long as other companies in the welder manufacturing business, it is long enough to have establish a significant toe hold in the industry, and definitely long enough for us to set trends.

At Everlast, we get a lot of questions about our product and about welding in general. Many come up quite often and are asked over and over. Often, they are quite simple, some are more advanced.  
Before, we’ve opened up and discussed some of them. Over the next few set of blogs, we will take a look at the most common questions we have about welding and our products.

These questions hopefully will answer some of your own, whether you are a beginner or an budding professional as they will cover basic and more complex questions.