It’s a stick welder that is also a TIG welder, and it has some nice features for a little machine like this. One cool feature that you don’t often find on small welders is that it has both lift start and high frequency start for the TIG.
Also on the front panel is the stick / TIG switch, amperage control knob and post-flow adjustment. Across the bottom of the front of the welder are the connections for the gas outlet for the TIG torch, negative and positive grounds, and a control so you can hook the welder up to the TIG torch trigger.
On the back of the machine you have an on / off switch, a gas outlet to connect to your welding gas bottle and a power cable. Kevin has the power cable already plugged into the 110 / 220 voltage adapter, which is included, so this is a dual voltage welder. On 220, its maximum output is 160 amps. At 110 volts, you have 89 amps of power.
The rod holder, or stinger, for the stick welder is solid and heavy. It’s rated at 300 amps and is going to last a long time.
On the ground clamp, Everlast replaced the braided wire that used to connect the two sides of the clamp with a solid piece of metal that should last a lot longer!
On the TIG welding side, Everlast includes a WP17 torch. It has a medium sized body with a torch trigger already attached to the top of the torch. It also has a nice denim cable protectin sleeve – which matches Kevin’s jeans.
The welder comes in a plastic case that protects the machine and makes it easy to transport. Also in the package are some consumables and a hose to connect to the welding gas bottle, and a flowmeter for your gas bottle. There are instructions, too. “These are fun to read,” says Kevin. “Have a beer first.”
Now it’s time to make some sparks!
Kevin has clamped some 1/8″ cold rolled steel plate to his workbench. He’s using the stick welder with a 7018 rod. He has it set up on 110 volts and spins the dial to see what the minimum and maximum amperage is on 110. Minimum is 4 amps – which should be true for the TIG welder, too – and maximum for 110 is 89 amps. For this project, he sets the machine at 75 amps.
He welds together the two pieces of 1/8″ steel plate. After cleaning off the slag, Kevin is impressed. The weld looks good on the front side and came through enough on the back side to stick it to the table a little.
Kevin found this welder online for about $350, which is a good deal for a welder that can stick weld and TIG weld.
Before you go looking for it, though, you might stick around to see what the “H” in 160STH stands for ….