Finally tested my new PT185 and...

[sportbike]

Everything works as expected.

I have not tried the 110V and don't have a stinger to try the Stick function, but all of the rest of the functions work as expected.

At first I was a bit confused as it displayed 30-210 as the available amp range for AC welding, but once the first arc was struck, it seemed to level to 20-190-ish on the display. I did not have anything attached to measure actual output current his time.

As with my 200Dx, I gave the torch switch a good college try....not going to work out for me with aluminum and I will be ordering a foot pedal soon or will be making a fingertip slide potentiometer.

If anyone can make a long weld on aluminum (say 1" wide, .090" thick x 12" length strip of aluminum flat) with just a torch switch without manipulating the switch to switch the unit on and off to control heat, please post up the results and technique. The material just gets too hot during the weld and makes welding virtually impossible. Perhaps starting with very low amps and waiting a long time to start running the bead may work, or dramatically increasing travel / filler addition speed as the weld progresses may work.
Foot pedal, no problem at all. Torch switch, very difficult.

Overall I am impressed with the unit. Very transportable and performs well. Should be a good item to use at teh track if I have anything that needs to be welded (after I get some sort of variable control for the amps at least...)

John

[Mr120]

Great to hear the welder is working well for you as that portable welder you were looking for.

[jakeru]

Does the PT185 have any downslope, or is the arc always suddenly off when you let off the torch switch?

If it has some downslope, it could be set up to weld aluminum with the torch switch OK, although a foot pedal is always nice when welding on a table or bench, etc.

You might recall this aluminum flooring in a boat project I posted up a while back. Check out the last two pics of the first post, for example. Welded with a torch switch and manually varying the duty cycle with the torch switch, and with some downslope dialed in:
http://www.everlastgenerators.com/fo...-(jakeru-s-10)

I don't think it would work nearly as we'll on a machine that doesn't support any upslope or downslope, though.

But yeah without a means to taper off the current, you'll need to go really fast near the end. Probably best to stop, let cool, then finish in a subsequent arc lighting (and repeat as needed) in such a scenario.

[sportbike]

Does the PT185 have any downslope, or is the arc always suddenly off when you let off the torch switch?

If it has some downslope, it could be set up to weld aluminum with the torch switch OK, although a foot pedal is always nice when welding on a table or bench, etc.

You might recall this aluminum flooring in a boat project I posted up a while back. Check out the last two pics of the first post, for example. Welded with a torch switch and manually varying the duty cycle with the torch switch, and with some downslope dialed in:
http://www.everlastgenerators.com/fo...-(jakeru-s-10)

I don't think it would work nearly as we'll on a machine that doesn't support any upslope or downslope, though.

But yeah without a means to taper off the current, you'll need to go really fast near the end. Probably best to stop, let cool, then finish in a subsequent arc lighting (and repeat as needed) in such a scenario.

No downslope on the 185.

200DX, yes, 185, no.

I remember the boat welding post. Doesn't work well with an abrupt cutoff.