In the early days of multiprocess machines, they were not very reliable. The welders broke down quite often and usually it was some kind of catastrophic failure.
By “catastrophic,” Kevin doesn’t mean that the welder burst into flames or exploded. It’s just those few specific components inside the welder – the power supply, the main motherboard, the on / off switch, something that controlled all the functions – would go bad.
Then the machine is dead. Now you don’t have any welders. You’re out there with two pieces of metal trying to rub them together to get them to stick.
The new models, though, are a different story. Kevin has been using multiprocess machines for three or four years and has had no problems at all.
With newer parts inside of them – the Everlast ProMTS 221STi next to him, which actually has German as well as some Chinese components – reliability and functionality of these machines has really improved.
Kevin cautions, however, that there are two different types of multiprocess machines. There is the MTS, which has a MIG welder, TIG welder and stick welder (arc welder), and also a TSP, which has a TIG welder, stick welder (arc welder) and plasma cutter.
Kevin has never used one, but he has heard that people have had a lot of problems with the TIG / stick / plasma multiprocess machines because of the high-frequency start on the plasma cutters, which had a tendency to take out the machines.
Everlast addressed the problem by making the torch a blowback torch, Kevin thinks, which is out at the end of the cable. That put the high frequency away from the components inside the welder case. He hasn’t used one yet, but that’s what he understands.
So the answer is, no, you don’t have to worry about multiprocess machines anymore – they’ve become quite reliable.
Kevin is going to go back to learning more about this welder, but you you might stick around one more moment and see him try to handle a wicked curve ball ….