I'm curious if any one here has ever used one of the Harbour Freight Mig welders, I need a welder to finish the chop on my coupe and i really dont want to shell out the cash for a good welder and then have it sit in the shop collecting dust. My plans is to buy one of theres that is good for 160 amps and get the extended warranty plan so if anything happens to it i am covered at least till i finish the job, after that I dont care, I know the stuff is cut rate at best but I could use some insight Thanx J M
the harbor freight welders are junk you will waste more time triing to get the thing to work then if you would have bought something better. try the hobart handler its a decent little welder plus once you own a decent welder you will be suprised at how much you use it. Or find one you can borrow to do your chop because you do need gas to weld right you don't want to use flux core especially on your roof it will be nothing but problems down the line. I'm not bagging on HF i have plenty of tools from there its just this tool isn't worth it.
Check the thing out: Lots of cheap wire welders will have the wire ALWAYS hot. The button only feeds the wire. You will cuss this thing from the moment you pull it out of the box. The welders like this from HF are not bad for what you pay for them, but you may haev to "buy up" even at HF to get one worth using. Make sure that the stinger operates like a regular mig (Feeds and fires when the trigger is pulled) and you'll be fine. Here's what I bought at TSC For under $350. (Lots of Christmas coupons out now, too...) I've had it four years now, and I use it nearly every day. http://www.tractorsupply.com/weldin...-welders/hobart-handler-125-ez-welder-3806489
Check with some of your local tool rental places they may have one for rent. If you do decide to buy one buy a name brand as in Lincoln,Miller,Hobart I would suggest buying from a local welding supply store too because you can get parts if you ever need them and if you have any problems you can take them back for repairs etc.
For just a little more, you can get the one with the gas kit. I wish I had, because like mark said, you'd be suprised how much you'll use it once you've got it. A 115V welder with a handle on top is WAY convienient!
instead why wouldnt you buy a good name brand welder used or craigslist or eBay or something . instead of buying chinese made crap tools
If you really want go bare bones get yourself a set of mini bottles and an oxy acetylene torch kit, inexpensive, durable, and the quality will be good, it will be a pain to have the small bottles but you will still be able to get good life span out of the product. You will also be able to cut, the little bottles will drain fast, but you still will have 2 tools, and minis are very portable. I had a set of mini's at a job, cut 35 2 foot square boxes out of 12 gauge steel, not bad mileage.
Harbor freight is bad, just plain bad. We have also had quite a bit of bad luck w/ Lincoln wire welders (feed mechanisms are pretty hokey, service people aren't much good). Also stay away from 110v welders. On sheetmetal they would work probably work ok (read half-assed, good enough). But, you will use it twice as much as you think you will. Like Mark there, we have a Hobart. Specifically a Handle 187 (220 v). Don't cheap out, and buy the gas... NOT flux core. That welder is my favorite tool on the whole place. Its big enough to do car / light truck frames and it cools off enough for thin sheetmetal. Miller welders are good, they and Hobart actually come from the same parent company, but they cost more. I had a smart man tell me once that he would rather put stuff together w/ bailing wire rather than flux core wire. Its really, really smoky. Smoky to the point you won't be able to see the bead, and it makes lots and lots of slag. De-spat helps, but not enough. Hobart 187 or 210 + Gas = happy man Adam Edit: here you go, bud http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=435047&highlight=welder all about harbor freight welders
Flux core makes solid welds, but they look like shit. When you add gas to a 110 welder they won't get hot enough to penetrate. They make really cold welds. they make 220 welders w/ handles. Adam
The subject has been beat to death here on the board and the answer is always the same. For working on cars stay away from the HF welders. They may be ok for someone who isn't worried how nice the work looks as long as it sticks together and doesn't use the welder often but you will get laughed out of most welding equipment repair shops when you need service on it. Hobart such as BSC suggested, Lincoln or Miller. The Hobarts are usually sold in AG related stores such as Tractor Supply and Big R. The Millers and Lincolns are usually at welding supply companies or you can find Lincolns at Lowes or Home Depot. Those three you can find parts and get repairs done at any welding supply company in the country. One of my buddies has an old Miller Sidekick 110V welder and that thing is tougher than an old combat boot and some heavy duty welds he did 25 years ago are still as good as the day he welded them. Have the cash ready and watch the little nickle paper and craigslist. Wire welders show up all the time in most areas on them for decent prices but you have to be ready to jump on them when they show up. Another place to check right now is pawn shops. I've seen some pretty decent stuff listed by a local one and a wire feed was one of those items. Just get it in writing from them that it is guaranteed to work the way it should. I bought my Lincoln 175 for 450 last year from a guy who had bought it and used it a bit then decided he wanted a bigger welder. It looked brand new when I went and looked at it and I had a hard time telling that it had been used at all. Deals are out there if you look a bit.
Don't go HF. I run a fab shop for a living, 1st choice- Miller, 2nd choice Lincoln, 3rd choice Hobart. Having a crappy troublesome welder is very frustrating You will always be able to get parts and service for a name brand machine. As one of the above posts said, keep an eye on Craigslist, there is usually some nice welders to pick from. Good luck, John
put a 'want to buy' ad on craigslist and watch the offers roll in, if you have something good to trade you'll find somebody willing. pick up a name brand 110v welder and upgrade later if you wish. I love my Hobart 187, not sure how I got by without it.
Well this does reinforce a lot of my exact thoughts, I know the stuff there is mostly junk but I have been trying to talk myself into this for awhile and really needed to hear some other thoughts, I used to use a Hobart Handler at work all the time and it was a fairly reliable machine. Some time ago I bought a huge Hobart TIG used from the railroad and wanted to add a wire feed to it and the Hobart rep actually told me to contact miller, he felt they made a better wire feed for my application, unfortunatly that machine ended up under a few feet of water here a few years ago when the river decided to come indoors and I got rid of it. I think I will visit Tractor Supply and see what I can find or see what i can find used
the thing to look out for on mig welders are the cheaper the price, the cheaper the quality, its that simple.... tap setting machines will be the cheaper.. infinite voltage machines will be more expensive but i think are much better machines... only welders i would consider now after owning several of the cheap brands would be lincoln and miller... dont gamble with your money, thats what your doing if you buy the lesser brands. i own a lincoln 180c, its a sweet compact machine... but i have also owned a miller 252 in the past which was a very nice machine and i kick myself in the ass for getting rid of it, but i got a lincoln 180c/25amp plasma/ and fair bit of cash down on a tig welder for it. i got a deal i couldnt pass up and i wanted a tig welder and it made it possible.... now that i look back at the welders i've owned, i've pissed a bit of money away on them... snap-on 130amp pretty much gave this to my brother, its actually been a good welder for him its about 20 yrs old and he uses it every week but on body work which is very light duty in my book, century 150amp it was a great little welder actually could recommend it, hobart 160, hobart 187 not happy with hobart, miller 252, and now a lincoln 180c... if i would have saved and bought say a lincoln 255xt or just stuck with the miller 252 i would probably have been better off.. alot of people like hobarts, i myself didnt have any luck with them, i wont own another hobart as long as i live, had problems with both of the ones i owned.. i want a lincoln 255xt, or a miller 252..i'm using the lincoln 180c for a stepping stone while saving my money to step back up to a 250amp.. the bigger machines just weld better, theyre built better, and stouter.. just no comparison.
I hesitate to say all, but all houses/shops/garages should have 220v coming into the box, from there it goes to 110 and into outlets. To put in 220 you need an appropriate breaker, wire it up, run it from there into a new outlet on the wall. You don't really "change" a 110 to a 220, but I guess you could re-use the wiring in the wall if it is sufficient. Be careful, and make sure you wire in the right outlet, because unlike 110 outlets, there are different kinds of 220 outlets. Make sure you get the right pattern for your plug-in. Adam
i did just what ur talking about....to finish a chop on my 55 lincoln....it wasn't easy...i think i pulled more wire thru the gun than i spooled...shielding tips ....burnt up fast but i just kept grinding them clean, went thru many,many tips and use 2 or 3 times the wire i should have. every once in a while you could get a nice sounding bead but it was mostly tack and move tack and move then come back and start over again and again....which in fact was ok because i didn't get much warp but the trade off was it took me 3 times longer and a 55 linc. has a big roof plus i also pancaked it......anyways i got it done and use the h.f. for about a year doing odds and ends before it died. i did learn that a mig is the only way to go....i replaced the h.f. with a hobart...and then kicked myself in the ass hard !!!!!! i should have bought the hobart in the first place......i've had the hobart 4 years and it's great to have around even to do odds and ends jobs for others or myself,,,,,,,,i just welded some seat frames yesterday,chopped/welded a windshield frame last week...etc. one other thing is i'm still not a great welder but i can/do tack togeather things to fit/shape etc. and then have a friend do the finish welding.......BUY A GOOD MACHINE !!!!!!
I have a Lincoln from Lowes that works great. It welds up to 3/16" just fine with a bottle of 75/25 mixed gas. I also have a Hobart handler 180 that welds good too. It is a 220vac machine, the Lincoln is a 110vac.
i think a lincoln from the big box store will do what you want, and then sell it when you are done with it,if you dont need it any longer. i have a very nice miller 211 but it cost alot but i use all the time and plan on keeping it forever
If your into this building and maintaining these types of cars, dont short change the future by wasting time and money on a cheap welder. for the extra money to buy something you can have and use until they throw dirt on you, there are a ton of jobs for a Nice welder, and not so many jobs for a shitty welder..you will grow to hate the POS welder. I like my Miller 180..best money i ever spent on a home shop Mig welder.. My Crapsman sits dejected in the corner, and thats where it belongs
I have one of these and it has treated me pretty well. http://www.harborfreight.com/weldin...0-amp-230-volt-mig-and-flux-welder-97503.html I can't speak to anything other than the experience i have had. I use it with gas, pure CO2 in my case, and it makes a pretty nice bead. It has lasted almost 2 years and has never missed a beat. I'm not sure if a brand name welder would be better but for the money i think it would be hard to get a better welder. Just my experience.
Before you go with hf, try negotiating at your local welding supplier, where list price is like a new car's list price, it's negotiable. I took an egay "buy it now" ad page from a large brick and mortar Indianapolis welding supply who also hosts a large egay online store, as a bargaining chip into 2 local suppliers, one was willing to meet the price and the other came pretty close. Both were willing to deal, and both knew I could become a gas/consumables customer. Freight from Indy was $58 to Illinois, but there no sales tax, which would have been sizeable on the unit I was buying in-state here in Illinois. I decided to go with the Indy company to save taxes and purchased it directly outside ebay channels on the phone, to save the vendor egay fees. It turns out he can sell them so cheaply because as a Lincoln distributor, he just had my machine drop-shipped from the nearest Lincoln wharehouse which was here in Illinois, he never even touched my machine, only the paperwork and my money. As stated by matts37chev above in post #21, you can always sell a name brand machine, if you take care of it. I was able to sell a 20 year old Miller AC/DC unit for whithin $20 of what I paid for it originally.
I agree with the consensus on here buy quality tool and if you find out you don't use it much when you are done with your car you have something someone else will want and you can sell it. I have a lincoln weldpak that I bought for my first car in high school 15 years ago and am still using it today. Pretty good for a $300-$350 purchase I think. good equipment makes stuff fun instead of frustrating!!!! have fun!!!
Let your fingers do the walking. Check with every major welding supplier in your area, especially industrials who lease the things. Those lease units get sold off and they recieve a complete service before they go for sale. You'll save 40% or more over new for simple cosmetic reasons. I've had my Miller 250 for almost 20yrs and I paid way less than retail, less than 1/2 even because it had some scratches and a number stenciled on it. Then there's Craigslist, local classifieds, online ads. Search around for good stuff. It's always worth the effort. I won't suggest auctions like shop closings and such. I've seen junk welders with paint spilled on em, burned up ends, and tattered ground cables sell for retail plus at auctions. Don't know why but the one thing that incites auction fever at those sales is a mig welder. Your results may vary, tax and title extra, void where prohibited...
I have a Miller 180 and man do I love that thing. I bought it new from a welding shop in Nashville about 3 years ago. Worth every penny I spent. Buying the right tool for the job, sure makes the job easier to do. Laine.
I agree, if I only had one or the other it would be my oxy-acetylene. I just bought a Miller 140 a few months ago. I had a grand into it with the bottle rent. If there's any way you can use 220, get the 220 volt. Mine is 110 and it's fine for light stuff but the weld seems to kind of pile up compared to the bigger welders.
i bought a Miller 135 15 years ago.It's been no trouble and welds 1/8 steel properly if you use the right gauge wire. As far as 120 or 240 volt welders,the welder doesn't care about input voltage,but it does care about watts.240 volt requires half the amps and smaller wire to supply the same watts.Otherwords,40 amps of 120 volt does the same work more or less as 20 amps of 240 volt.And yes,99 percent of residential voltage is 120/240
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