Need help.

[Digger]

Recently purchased MTS275 Lightning and am having trouble getting tig to arc.
I've been welding for over 35 years, mostly mig, spool gun and stick but very little tig experience.

I've tried both the foot pedal and the thumb switch.
I also tried HF and lift start. I do get an arc once in a while but it melts the tungsten and then doesn't continue arc.
I also tried manual and power set modes.
Would it be that I have a defective welder or am I doing something wrong? Parameters? Trying to tig aluminum at this point.
Any tips would be appreciated.

[christian]

Nah,

The unit is undoubtedly not the problem. Mark, the Everlast Rep will probably respond with more concise help sometime soon, but I'll mention a couple of points that may help you get off the proverbial ground.

The MTS275/225 and STi252/221 units have to have the Ground lead place in a special Dinse outlet for AC TIG welding, which may be a CV vs CC thing, as a MIG and AC TIG multi is a real innovation in which Everlast was the first to market with. So, your unit is a real nice one, and the current price of it at the Everlast website is a brilliant value.



So, read the PDF manual over a couple of times.

https://www.everlastgenerators.com/s...f01eaa6455.pdf


Otherwise, Everlast settings for AC Balance is set for the cleaning action to the Electrode Positive (EP) percentage, e.g., 30% is pretty typical on any AC TIG unit. But many AC TIG makers have the AC Balance adjusted for the Electrode Negative percentage of heat input, e.g., 70% would be a typical setting on those machines, and would equate to the 30% (EP) setting on an Everlast unit.



So, if you're used to a Miller unit and set an Everlast unit to 70% AC Balance, that will cause you to smoke a tungsten pretty quickly on AC.

Keep a well-sharpened tungsten. Regrind it whenever you accidentally dip it.

Post some pics of your panel and leads hooked up.

Let us all know how it goes.

[performance]

There's not a lot to say that Christian didn't cover. Or you've gotten bad gas, or your gas is being blown off your weld.

[Digger]

Thanks guys. Got it figured out with Mike's help.