Dynasty 350 upgrade to newer 350?

[con_fuse9]

I have a 'old' (if 1 year old is old) Dynasty 350. I'm intrigued by the addition of the "blue lightning" option on the newest 350s.

My issue is that sometimes I don't get the arc to start (welding steel - even super clean 304 stainless). I have learned that a quick tap on the tungsten seems to clean off whatever was preventing the start and it then fires up just fine. Freshly ground electrodes never seem to have the problem. I'm making an assumption that it is a surface contamination or oxidation on the electrode.

Most of my welding is relatively short duration. Weld a couple of inches, then stop etc. I have not correlated anything I'm doing with the arc not starting on the next try.

I've had the same results with 2% thoriated, ceriated, and 'rare earth' electrods. Some days it feels like 50% of the starts are failures. Particularly last night when welding on a small thin piece of 304. I was trying not to overheat it.

Anyway - would "blue lightning" of the latest 350 address this? Is there a possibility of upgrading an older 350? Is it worth it or should I be doing something else?

Thanks

[cruizer]

Have you inspected the HF gap? And no there is no update kit other than programming for your machine.

[con_fuse9]

Where is the HF gap on a dynasty?

I've been re-reading the manual of late. I know my old Dialarc had a HF gap just below the main panel (behind the panel). It was set with feeler gauge.

I don't see any mention of similiar item on the Dynasty 350. I assumed it was done with electronics, not a physical gap.
Where is it and how do I check it?

[Stillwelding]

HF points on inverter power source

I've been re-reading the manual of late. I know my old Dialarc had a HF gap just below the main panel (behind the panel). It was set with feeler gauge.

I don't see any mention of similiar item on the Dynasty 350. I assumed it was done with electronics, not a physical gap.
Where is it and how do I check it?

I'd be interested in the information on HF for an Inverter power source also. I'm interested in getting away from a transformer based machine, but when I tried an Inverter based power source on one of my regular jobs (tig welding of dip brazed aluminum radiators) I was really struggling to maintain an arc. The inverter based power source I was using relied on the switching ability of the power source to simulate HF and it was always rectifying and re-balling the tungsten. Thanks