New 256 so far GREAT machine

[Gary]

I picked up my new 256 today ,,have only done a few minutes with it so it is hard to right a whole bunch of good things about it . BUT for the few minutes I used it on .125 aluminum scrap that I had in the truck . it took a few minutes to get the amps dialed in because I do not use a foot pedal and I used the 2T mode it was great. Plenty of heat when dialed in and nice arc control even though the tungsten was balled up on the end even off to the side it was still a very controlled arc nice cleaning action and stable to use.
I tried the 4T but without time to spend on trying to get dialed in I just used 2T for the most part.
I will be hooking it up this weekend at the house when I get another job finished with my Miller then the fun of a new machine starts. That job needs to be out the door saturday night so I will definately be doing some playing on sunday getting used to it....
I will try to get pictures of results posted ( If my camera has batteries) I have an old digital that goes through batteries like peanuts..
Cant wait to play on sunday..
Gary

[Oleg]

Hey Gary ...

Mike called me told me all about you picking up a unit .... please do enjoy it !
Dont forget to post some pictures of your choppppppers

[Gary]

Thanks Oleg,
going to try and get it hooked up later today after I finish another small job.
Marine work keeps me going on weekends most of the time they are rush jobs and they get changed last minute and need to be done yesterday ..

[Gary]

Ok, got the welder connected later this afternoon and did a little experimenting with some beads , Did not take pictures because they are on a big piece of scrap that has been welded on by my old MIG and the miller TIG as well pretty much full of beads but I will pull out a piece of new material and get photos later on this week.
Well it is pretty much a straight forward macine in the 2T mode set amps and pre and post flow and go , cleaning and freq was adjusted after a few beads and nice cleaning could get it turned down to pretty close to the puddle so that looked nice then dumb ole me decided to just go right on to 4T ,,, well after blowing a few holes in some 3/16 and 1/8 I went back to the 2T to just try out the welder a bit.It does a nice job .better than the weldor could do
So the best beads where in the 2T but after some trial and lots of error I was able to get in a few beads with the 4T settings working pretty good. I have not tried any other functions of the welder like plasma or stick but will try tommorrow to get better control in TIG and some pics of how they come out..
The only thing I do have to say is the etching from the cleaning does get deep into the material though.Not sure if that can be fine tuned with balance and freq settings . But great welder so far.Oh had to add that in my chrismatas presant hurry up and run mode I thought the argon hose to the back of the welder was a pretty tight fit so I did not put on a clamp Sooooooo after letting the welder cool down for awhile then shut down the welder I here a hisss of argon because I did not put a clamp on the hose in my excitement so there went a few hunder lbs or argon.....Gotta make a gas run in the morning now..
Gary

[Gary]

Here are a few setting and pictures of a few welds I just did with basic 2T settings , the picture of the front panel are the setting that where used but I did vary the pulse time and rod size I used .062 and .125 5356 rod on a few of the welds near the bottom but basically the same settings .The picture I think shows 74 amps but it was on the low cycle when it took the picture . This was .125 thick 6061 aluminum , Main top amps where about 110 amps.The reason for the black marks was seems like the wind would just start to blow when I was starting up the welds. Sorry the pictures of the welds are not the best but my camera is older and does not like to get detail of the weld beads in good focus.And just noticed I posted the picture upside down , I am right handed so the start is where I was getting an erratic arc for just a second as well..

[Gary]

Here are a few more pics but set in 4T mode basically the same settings that gives about 2 pulses a second maybey a touch slower like 1.5 pulses. Didnt need to change anything other than the 4T switch.. One picture was the backside with no rod just pulsing a square or something getting used to the pulse then in that picture was 1/16" rod bead. Then the second picture was different travel speeds and 1/8" rod..
Gary