Everybody loves to hate on Harbor Freight on these threads--- usually followed up by what kind of Lincoln or Miller they have. Most hobby rodders cant blow 2k on a welder. Harbor Freight stuff is was it is. I've run miles and miles of wire through my Harbor 220 mig and it never messed up once. I just got one of their TIGs and I like it alot. I converted the dial on it to a foot pedal control from a casio organ volume pedal, it really makes a big difference. If you do get it, before you even try using it throw away the crappy tungsten that it comes with and get some 2% thoriated tungsten, it works way better.
I only have a Lincoln mig. I can't afford a Lincoln or Miller tig that's why I wanted some input from the HAMB boys about the HF tig.
My wife's uncle bought one and built a topolino bodied altered with it from scratch.Passed nhra inspection for advanced et.
Try looking for a miller econotig. I have one and it works great on sheet metal and it will run on A/C also. I picked mine up a couple years ago for 600 bucks.
I'd definitely go used Miller or Lincoln first. Been seeing some smoking deals on them. Parts are gonna be a bitch for the HF, and you will need them.
Learning to TIG on a full-manual scratch-start machine will be difficult at best. It's very likely that a $200 TIG welder may suck much ass, but it's only $200. You may be able to do something with it, and if you can't, take it back and bitch till they refund your money. My two cents: Like you, I wanted to learn TIG. I enrolled in a class at the local VoTech center and did a few basic class projects to get my get-down on. Cost for the class was a little less than $200 for a semester. I'll be in there again in August, not enough people signed up for summer. I've been scrimping and saving money for the last few months to get my own machine (oatmeal and cold sandwiches are getting old) but I almost got enough banked up for a brand-new Syncrowave 200, they have them on eBay for $1995. A cheaper option is the Miller Diversion 165, IIRC those go for about $1400 with a foot pedal controller. Good luck, and let us know how it works out.
Not for nothing guys, a good American made tig can last 50 years, not a thing wrong with a used one, will probably last longer than you will.
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