Harbor Frieght Tig welder

Harbor Freight lets be honest you get what you pay for cheap for cheap! I have all but sworn them off I have gotten tired of their stuff breaking when I really need it! I save my money and get good stuff that last. I have a Lincoln mig and a Thermodynamics Tig love them both.

 

There are a lot of negatives about this unit from people who have never used one or own one.
I bought one about 2 years ago, when on sale, paid about $160 buck for it.
I am now on my 4th bottle of argon and about 10# of tig rod. I have not had a bit of tropuble out of it. It does have a short duty cycle, When welding at 80-90 amps in the TIG mode, You weld for about 3-4 minutes and let it rest for a few. I have had it kick out on me only 4-5 times and it resets on its own after 2-3 minutes.
The neat thing about it is it has "touch start", meaning you touch the tungsten to the work and the gas solenoid kicks in, allowing about 1-2 seconds to pull back and the arc starts. After finishing the weld, you pull back and the gas runs for another second or so to shield the weld.
I'm very happy with it, for what I use it for, its perfect

 

And by the way, all the comsumables that fit a small ESAB unit fit the HF welder

 

Trusting a hf welder is one thing, trusting hf's auto darkening hood is something entirely different lol

 

I have the Miller Econo Tig. Great little machine and its actually pretty cheap now compared to when they came out.

Not all that big and you could take it to a job in the back of a pickup without any issues.

But will require 50 amps and 220. Hopefully you take a generator with ya.

 

i bought a flux mig from them ... got a warranty and when it was about to run up i broke that bastard and got a new one ..but then again im not a welder by profession just a punk oi hardcore hot rod lover that does my own work .. so thats my $.02 i say buy it!! and when your warranty is up up brak it .. damn dont tell me you wont have frustrarion to take out by the time the warranty is up!

 

h.f. is the P.B.R. OF TOOLS AND I LOVE P.B.R !

 

I don't know about the welders, but i ran a fab shop for a dive company for five years that had a H.F. next door to it. I bought alot of tools from them for the shop if they break they replaced them immediately, and the hands didn't steal them like they did the name brand stuff. I personaly have a lincoln and a miler, but i would buy an H.F. if that was all i could afford. I think its funny when the guys brag on the Snap On shit they have which is just that, the snap on machines are junk made by someone like Century. If the ESAB stuff fits H.F. the same people are probably building it. I would buy one and check it out if it doesn't work out take it back, i have had good luck with their customer service. Just my .02

 

For the umteenth time don't do it.Buy cheap get cheap.Save your money and buy a Miller,Lincoln or a brand that the local welding supply can get parts for.

 

You get what you pay for. Save your money and save up for a Miller or Lincoln...2cent

 

I had good luck with mine but for little more money you can buy a 110 dc stick weld that do's the say thing with longer duty cycles. and will last longer.

 

For the price of a lincoln or miller you could probaly buy 2 or 3 harbor freight welders. Name brand is definitly superior but will you use it enough to be worth spending that kind of dough? Cheap might be worth it. Does the same thing just not as well.

 

I say get it,if thats what you can afford.I get some things from HF because sometimes I cant afford the name brand stuff.I've seen guys weld with top notch shit and still looks like a blind guy did it with his feet!!

 

not to be one of those guys but every thing in that store is made in china and i think it suck that we use those shity tools to work on cars that where made in a time when we where at war with china

 

This coming from a guy who owns a 'honda Chopper" I think we where at war with japan also at one time!!
Jimv

 

Must be some Made in China schoolbooks, given the USA hasn't been in a declared war with China at least in the last 100 years. Well, I don't remember many details on WWI, but they were on our side in WWII if anything. Then the Communists took over China and we had that Korean War deal, but that wasn't a direct declared war either.

Now, we owe our soul to the company store over there.

 

i guess you could consider the korean war being the USA fighting the chinese!! Didn't ya see "grand Torino"?? lol
jimv

 

He can't spell Camaro either.

 

Lets not forget Vietnam either. I am sad for the state of our educational system.

 

I bought a little Canadian Tire TIG welder when it was on sale for $200. Im positve its the same as the HF one. Ive had it for a year and am not useing it as much as I thought I would so Im glad I didnt spend $2000 for a fancy one. I like the little thing and when I do use it it works perfectly and is simple, small and handy because its only 110V. I repaired some stainless resturant equipment for my wifes work right in the kitchen and paid for the welder and gas bottle in an hour. It stick welds like a bugger on my 3000Wt generator which is real handy for little fence, railing and sign repairs where theres no juice close. Duty cycle hasnt been a problem, its never kicked out on me. Just have to keep in mind its 100Amps max.

 

Poop stick welder.

 

I bought the tig /stick unit and the plasma cutter with 2 year replacement warr. both work great and cost me less then $800 and in 2 years I plan on walking in and replacing both of them weather they need to or not and for an additional $100 they will give me another 2 years as well.the tig unit is only DC so you can only weld ferrous metals only. I do stainless with my tig and it works great.I hate china crap but I got what I could afford at the time.

 

i own one. i bought it to learn how to tig. i've owned it over a year. i don't use it much. i have less than 50 hrs on the machine. i tig so little that it dosen't make sense to me to spend 1300 . i would just not have one. but it does weld. of course the more skill you have the better it welds. i have picked up some skill with the tig process that i wouldn't have a chance to without the hf machine. iam happy. i weld sheet metal. the duty cycle isn't an issue for 18 ga. sheet metal ( steel). its nice to know that esab consumeables fit the torch. i wouldn't use it for structural work because of the short duty cycle. for anything that is structural i use a lincon toombstone arc welder or a hobart mig machine. you could use a arc welder with an torch and regulator to tig. that would be kinda sorta like the hf set up. the difference would be your gas wouldn't turn on and off automatically. the cost of the two setups are comparable. if you want to have a chance to put in some time learning the tig process without spending 1300 this is a way to go. hope this helps. tom

 

Amen to all that have them. I have not seen on this thread where someone who actually owns one is complaining about it.

 

I bought one on sale + %20 off coupon so I paid less than $200, havent had any problems with it. I bought it to try my hand tig welding. My mig is A Miller 175 which I love, awesome machine which I use for damn near all my welding. I dont have an extra $1400 or so laying around to buy a Miller tig. It does work and im slowly improving. I eventually would like an AC/DC machine but I figure until then I'll practice with the HF tig.

 

i bought a thermal arc little over 2 years ago, its nice compact and runs great.

http://www.weldingsuppliesfromioc.com/servlet/the-1633/THERMAL-ARC--TIG/Detail

 

Don't know if it's been mentioned yet but since HF tig welder doesn't have
high frequency start it will damage electrode upon striking an arc.
One solution is to place a piece of copper at start of your weld to start arc then continue on welding joint.
Bill.

 

No I don't have one so I can't tell you how it works. Does this make me the only person to actually answer your question?

 

ha ha yes ,your one of only a few!.good work!

 

as stated i have a Miller already and i know how it performs