Hello from TEXAS
Hi y'all-
Just bought a PowerMig 275p. Along with my purchase, I upgraded the gun cable length from 4m (~13 ft) to 5m (~16 ft), some contact tips and a set of FCAW double rollers. There were a few other consumables that I had my eyes on but I wanted to give things a try first to see what I liked, then go from there.
The purchase was the Friday before the 4th. I received it one week later to the day. Shipped just as advertised and expected. I'd like to offer some feedback based on what I know thus far, if I may.
First, I had a few technical questions just prior to placing my order and tried to contact Mark at x204. Left a message, no returned call. Concluded that he was too busy or perhaps on vacation, but I would have liked to have heard back from him or someone, as this disconnect would lead to a slight delay on receipt day (today). I also left a message for Kiril, who helped a good deal when he packaged and shipped my order (from what I could gather), but no reply from him either. Sasha, a customer support rep (from what I understand), was quite responsive though, correcting the spelling of my name on the order and sending me the invoice, which I hadn't received yet due to a transcribing error when I gave my email address (easy enough to do, I understood that). I'd like to make it clear to the Everlast folk that although there were other reasons I bought the 275p, the single most important aspect to me was the 5-year warranty. Second was the fact that if I didn't like it I have 30 days to return it for a full refund, no questions asked. These things are what earned you the sale, period. Otherwise I would have went elsewhere. As I told the salesperson, I hope to never need that warranty (nor the return for that matter), but if I do, I hope that Everlast will make good on it. Time will tell.
Now onto the receipt of the welder.
The packaging, apart from the box itself which was showing the usual shipping wear-n-tear, was quite good I thought. The welder was tucked away inside some hefty Styrofoam and the accessories were packaged inside a box that held up ok to the shipping experience. I was a bit surprised to see that the handle did not come pre-attached to the frame of the welder. That would have made lifting it out of the box a bit easier. However I could see why that wasn't the case, since the consumables occupied the space that the handle would have been located within the box. The handle and two bolts were supplied of course, as was a hex/allen-key to install them. Easy enough to do after I removed the welder. Admittedly, the very first thing I did after removing the contents from the outer box was to verify that I had the ~16 ft MIG cable. I did, and was glad that I paid the extra $$$ for that upgrade. After that I took a quick look at the remainder of the consumables content, but didn't do any serious verification because ... I wanted to turn my attention to powering the machine itself.
This was one of the questions that I had for Mark/whomever ... I was hesitant to buy a 240V-only welder for the simple fact that you kinda limit yourself - in a way - as to where you can work. You are also less portable in the general case. However I wanted the performance of the 275p so I decided to go with it anyway. The question that I had was in regard to supplying power to the machine ... what should the amperage be for that circuit? Before I laid down any cash, I found references that stated that the 275p has a rated input amperage of 52A and in the one YouTube video in which the 275s was demonstrated, the guy said "at least a 50A circuit breaker" as I recall, so I wasn't sure what I should have installed in my shop. Time went by after I placed the order, and naturally I forgot. Well the machine arrived today and I didn't have an outlet to plug it into 'cause I wasn't sure what I should tell the electrician. So should it be 60A? That exceeds the rated amperage, so I didn't want to go with that without confirmation. Anyway, being extra cautious with this aspect of the machine's operation lead to an inability to power it up today. Until I can get a definitive answer I suppose I'll just use my air compressor's plug; however that is an L6-30, so I'll need to go to the local box store to pick up some wire and connectors in order to fashion up a supply cable that I can use in the meantime. I don't have a need to use the machine to weld anything too thick at present, so the 30A should suffice for now. That said, does anyone know what amperage rating the CB should have for a 275p? Thanks in advance...
Then there was the manual. Oh boy. Just 8x10 printouts fastened together with staples. At least it came in a plastic bag to protect it from the elements, so that was something. Still, the grammar is not good (obviously written by a non-native English speaker), there are a considerable amount of typos and at least one item that was out-n-out incorrect. Although I don't want to bash it too much, they could spend some time with this manual...
I did look over the unit briefly, it seemed ok but now that I think about it, I was so concerned about the power issue that I even forgot to verify that it is a 275p and not a 275s! Hah! I'll do that first thing in the morning, prior to working on the power cable.
And that, unfortunately, is all I have to report at the moment. I'm knee-deep in a project at the moment and must deliver it this weekend. Only a little welding remains; I sold my red box in order to upgrade to this Everlast unit, so I need to get it powered and running tomorrow in order to meet the deadline. Wouldn't ya know that someone would want to buy it off of CL while you are smack-dab in the middle of using it.
Anyway. I will post updates as I go, though I suspect I should take them to a different forum, since this is for member introductions and I've now completed said introduction.
Thanks,
Jerry
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