Welding parameters what is needed.

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This is a longevity vs. everlast question...Not a comparison or who has bad morals or bad business ethics. I have been reading... LOL    JUST ABOUT THE WELDERS I am wanting to weld tiny focused beads about 1/8 on 1/8" aluminum penetration isn't a concern it is more for looks I am using clean, new aluminum so the cleaning ac balance needs to be at a minimum.  I don't want to grind, sand and polish...Anyhow Jody (welding tips and tricks) talks about the everlast in his videos and it has greater ac adjustments.  Are they needed??  Does anyone use these extremes.  Here is the comparisons that I found.  I highlighted the differences. Will these make a difference in welding aluminum especially for what I want.  All that I will be doing with the unit is aluminum, welding and plasma.  Longevity 200 PI ac freq. .5 to 25ac balance 30 to 70 %Pulse freq. .5 to 25Everlast Power Master 205 ac freq. .5 to 250ac balance 10 to 90 %pulse freq. .5 to 500I need help by someone with more experience that I have..  Thanks And all opinions are welcome... I have NO IDEA what I am doing just want to get the right machine.
Reply:Originally Posted by tigfanThis is a longevity vs. everlast question...Not a comparison or who has bad morals or bad business ethics. I have been reading... LOL    JUST ABOUT THE WELDERS I am wanting to weld tiny focused beads about 1/8 on 1/8" aluminum penetration isn't a concern it is more for looks I am using clean, new aluminum so the cleaning ac balance needs to be at a minimum.  I don't want to grind, sand and polish...Anyhow Jody (welding tips and tricks) talks about the everlast in his videos and it has greater ac adjustments.  Are they needed??  Does anyone use these extremes.  Here is the comparisons that I found.  I highlighted the differences. Will these make a difference in welding aluminum especially for what I want.  All that I will be doing with the unit is aluminum, welding and plasma.  Longevity 200 PI ac freq. .5 to 25ac balance 30 to 70 %Pulse freq. .5 to 25Everlast Power Master 205 ac freq. .5 to 250ac balance 10 to 90 %pulse freq. .5 to 500I need help by someone with more experience that I have..  Thanks And all opinions are welcome... I have NO IDEA what I am doing just want to get the right machine.
Reply:Briefly glancing at the specs. I would go with the Everlast. Play with different types and thickness of alum. and you'll understand why."SOUTHPAW" A wise person learns from another persons mistakes;A smart person learns from their own mistakes;But, a stupid person.............never learns.
Reply:Thanks for the response.  I am not sure that you can even do the narrow stuff that I want to.  I have been looking at pictures and they look good with the lice stack of dimes look but not as small as I want.  I guess I will have to do more research and see if there is someone in my area that can show me the ropes.
Reply:I'm looking for similar info as you. I'm trying to get just an acceptable weld on Aluminum. I've been practicing a small amount on a piece of 1" AL tubing of 3/4: thickness. It seems to be tricky. I may be backwards with the tungsten size or something but I need to change something. I'm using a 3/8 inch 2% thoriated tungsten.  Also have some 3/16 ceriated but haven't tried with that yet. I'm not familiar with the settings on my machine yet either. Its a Riland super 160p. It seems hot enough as I'm burning holes right through the tubing but cant seem to get the filler rod to easily fuse or at all.I think Ill post a new thread as this is your topic and I dont want to meander the thread off track.
Reply:Originally Posted by dave powelsonThe higher the AC freq.--the stiffer the arc isThe lower the AC balance--the hotter the arc is
Reply:Originally Posted by sn0border88I guess you could say stiffer, even though Im not entirley sure what you mean by that.  It can be more focused, but that has more to do with your tungsten holding a better point at higher AC balance than it does with the actual adjustment.However the lower the AC balance, your putting less heat into the material.  A lower AC adjustment makes the machine spend more time on the electrode positive side of the sine wave which increases the heat at the tungsten, but detracts from the heat at the base metal.
Reply:just bookmarking this thread  interesting        thermal arc 252i  -  millermatic 350P -   miller XMT, cp300ts, 30a 22a feeders, buttload of other millers, handfull of lincolns, couple of esabs  -   Hypertherm 1250 G3
Reply:Originally Posted by dave powelsonWrong-- At 10-20 AC wave balance, the point stays sharp and there is measurably more heat input to the material. Ramp up the AC wave balance all the way (for 'max' cleaning)----on a transformer or inverter....and you get melt ball on the tungsten....
Reply:Originally Posted by tigfanThat is what I was worried about.  The 10 to 29% that is not available with the Longevity welder.  The Ac balance starts at 30 and goes to 70.  I know that 70 is to much for small electrode like 1/16 because it balls almost instantly.  But I didn't know how often that cleaning under 30 is used.  And by a "stiffer" arc your meaning more of a tiny pin point then the everlast will produce that easier than the longevity.  (in the hands of a capable operator)..LOL
Reply:Originally Posted by dave powelsonPlease note in that quote above--AC freq. and AC wave balance--are 2 distinctlydifferent items. I think you're confusing the two and may not have actually runa 3 phase square wave inverter, vs. a sine wave transformer.For the machine I mention--the AC FREQUENCY (not AC BALANCE) can be varied from 20 CPS to 150 CPS. A transformer machine has a fixed AC FREQUENCY of 60 CPS.Wrong-- At 10-20 AC wave balance, the point stays sharp and there is measurably more heat input to the material. Ramp up the AC wave balance all the way (for 'max' cleaning)----on a transformer or inverter....and you get melt ball on the tungsten.....which demonstrates that the heat/energy is going thru the torch and not the workpiece.What's stated in these posts is from real world experience in my real world shop,using that unit for 13 years---and prior to that owning (3) 350-400 amp transformer machines. There are some unique differences between these two types of machines, which folkscannot comprehend, until they've run one.
Reply:Originally Posted by sn0border88You are mistaken, ive run inverters from several mfgs and am very well aware of the effects that frequency and blanace have on the arc.  I will stand by what I said that on the machines I have used, the balance dial looks something like this.Turn the balance to a lower value and you get more cleaning action, less heat into the material.  Turn it up and you get less cleaning and more heat.  I guess its possible that the machines you run have the values on the dial at opposite ends, but ive yet to see it.
Reply:Odd I though it was standardized as far as percentages of AC balance went, and which end was which.  Oh well, learn something new everyday.Have we all gone mad?
Reply:FWIW, the Lincoln Invertec dial is basically the same as the TA 300 pictured. Just digital. For Tigfan, the lowest practical setting is going to be around 40. Even that low, you need to be militant on your aluminum prep work or your welds on thin materials will need more cleaning and the distortion/ puddle quality will be not what you're going to want to see.And then, after so much work...... you have it in your hand, and you look over to your side...... and the runner has run off. Leaving you holding the prize, wondering when the runner will return.