Everlast Argon regulator upgrade

[mcleod]

Hi all. Not sure if this belongs is this forum or not, but I will start here. I bought a 250EX at the end of last year, what a great machine. So much better than my old 225LX.

Anyway, one thing that I have never liked was the water hose that comes with the welders for gas line. Using a standard hose is not really possible with the regulators that come with these machines. After looking for an adapter and not finding one, I made an adapter.

Here is what I did:

I started by removing the soft Everlast hose off the regulator fitting.


The second needed part is a standard CGA fitting, I forget what is was called but it is the standard gas hose to 1/4" pipe.


I started by removing the pipe thread off the CGA fitting. Then I just enlarged the hole with a drill bit, I can't remember what size, but I opened it by about 0.04". It is important to leave as much wall thickness as possible on both the barb (see below) and the CGA fitting. I drilled the hole about 1/2" deep. If you drill the hole all the way through you will mess up the CGA sealing surface.


This next shot should be of turning the barb down so it is nice and smooth, but I forgot to take a pic of that step. I turned it down to about .003" smaller than the bore in the CGA fitting so it was a nice slip fit. This left about 1/16" wall IIRC.

The shot below is after machining both parts.


This shot is after cutting the barb side down to about 5/8" to insert into the 1/2" deep hole.


Here it is all soldered up.


And the money shot, an adapter from the metric regulator to CGA!


I love the mod. What I probably love the most is that the huge gush of shielding gas when you first step on the pedal is almost gone. I am using a really nice Radnor hose now (Goodyear).