$219 tig at harborfreight anybody use this POS

so i saw a tig at HF for $219 any body used this thing? i had to do a triple-take.. looks to be a stand alone unit.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=91811

 

i dont know but if its anything like the $99 mig my dad bought from them its worth it... older than me and still works!!! and in tv years im dead

 

Looks exactly like the no-name brand plasma / Tig combined unit I bought here in NZ. It works great.!!

 

yea, looked at this one about three months ago when HF had them on sale. . . seems like all ya need is a bottle and regulator to TIG... not a high frequency job so it'll be scratch start and use a lot of tungsten but for that price what the hell.

 

I'm thinking of getting a welder, would that be a good starter unit? It wouldn't see a lot of heavy use, mostly for patch panels and rust repair. The only welding experience I have is with a wire feed at a shop I used to work at, and that was several years ago. Sorry for the high jacking with a question.

 

Its even mo better at $199. Clearance item.

 

Man, I try to stay away from that Chinese **** as much as possible...everytime I used to buy that ****, I wasn't happy with it and wound up buying a quality piece later...lots is made in slave labor prisons...what isn't, is made in factorys with no pollution control equipment, no worker safety equipment (tens of thousands of workers are killed on the job every year...thousands more are injured and maimed leaving them with no way to make a living), the people are making $60 per month (if they are lucky), working 7 days a week, 12 hours a day...if saving a few bucks is that important, go ahead and buy it...are you going to Bejing Welding Supply for parts when it fizzles?...All I'm saying is for every one of those cheap pieces you buy you help put one more hard working American out of work..now, as I leave my soapbox....

 

PLUS... all the profits go directly into their military, which has undergone a m***ive buildup of late. And if thats not enough they just attempted an 18.5 billion dollar hostile takeover of one of our petroleum companies, Unocol. This is scary ****.

 

Kroozer, My thoughts EXACTLY! I hate it when people buy this foreign ****. Keep our money here, put an american to work. It might cost more but there will be a day when those people will come knocking on our door and we will be working for them FULL time.


Frank

 

The Chinese already own the old Naval Base in San Pedro, CA...now they are going to buy UNOCAL and Maytag? I just sold a Chinese air conditioner that I bought a few years ago....didn't read the label....I've still got a few Chink tools but I'm slowly phasing them out...I was going to buy one of those cheap small mills but instead I bought a USA-made WWII vintage military surplus mill for $400.00.....bigger, meaner and much tougher....Now Malcom Bricklin (of Bricklin, Subaru and Yugo fame) is going to import Chinese cars that sell for $6K...those should be of ultra high quality!!!

 

Bejing!......... Bejing! ..........Bejing!...... .......thats not the name of a city....thats the sound of richocheting rounds as they knock on me and Franks door to get us to work for THEM.........

 

Since this post has been hijacked for the second time, we've all got to be careful of hypocrisy regarding China. Can't fool yourself that buying a 10-year-old American car is helping the economy, because it's not (just puts dollars in the used car dealer's pocket). If you sold your A/C because it was made in China, then you better hurry to get off this board and sell your computer (along with your TV, VCR, cell phone, clothes on your back, etc.)
At least Zgear identified the welder as a POS. He's like everybody shopping at WalMart today -- just looking for the best value for their hard-earned money.

 

Everybody buys **** from china, it can hardly be avoided. But, I dont buy china **** because its cheaper and I DO NOT SHOP AT WALMART!!!

 

I still read lables when I shop....I bought two shirts at Wally World the other day....made in some Central American country of US fabric...one outta two is as good as you get sometimes...We are all forced to buy foreign goods as many of the industries here at home that formerly made this stuff are long gone (for many reasons)....but I won't buy a Dell computer 'cuz their tech support people are in India...I bought US made bearings for my HEMI instead of King bearings from Israel..it's the little stuff that makes a difference...I cancelled two credit cards because the bank that issued them moved their card operations offshore...A lot of people don't think it matters if they buy all imported goods...until their job disappears, their town dies off, their future is in doubt...Plus you'll buy two or three of those cheap grinders/welders/visegrips/etc. before you finally figure out that you could have bought ONE good tool and have been done...

 

It's a new market now so you have to be careful to buy quality. I'd p*** on a HF welder. I bought their grinder and promptly returned it and bought a Jet. However I think a global economy is a good thing. If you had to buy American made shoes they'd cost you over $300. But as we settle into a global economy, we have to realize the standard of living is going to be a lot lower than it is now. Looking at my folks, who grew up in the depression, there's no doubt I have it a hundred times better. And hearing them talk of their folks fleeing the dust bowl and losing the farm, there's no doubt they had it better. And that's the way it should be. But for the first time the next generation will be saddled with a debt that that is going to make their life harder and are going to earn less because they are competing with overseas workers. This is too much of a political subject to drag into a hot rod forum so I'll just say again as the voice of experience only buy HF products that don't move or get stressed heavily.

 

well learning a new skill some things are ok to learn cheap ,

i would say if TIG is somtething you want to do,getting frustrated with a low power, hard to do quality and safe weldswith welder might just turn you away from the skill, low power no option MIG is somewhat diferent you can learn the function,get used to the way it works, and the results show themselves
but TIG requires hours of practice,not that you couldn't show success ,but i would move up to a better unit even to start with,


just my 2 cents worth

 

P.S. China now makes 70% of the world's *** toys -- better check your closet.
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2005/06/26/2003260797

 

O.K.--So has anybody here ACTUALLY bought one of these things? And has anybody ACTUALLY welded anything with it? DANZEE

 

and just what do you plan on welding with it???

Frames?? Suspension????

If so I certainly dont want you driving anywhere near me!!

 

Just trying to see if anyone can answer the original question!

 

I'd also like to hear an honest answer.

I think I'd rather buy a welder made by a Chinese guy that takes pride in his work than a welder made by some drunk (or at least hungover) American that is too lazy to do the job right.

If you think I sound bitter, you're damn right... just ask me what the UAW has done for the economy in Flint!

 

I have one ($189.00 with internet coupons @ store) and I use it for sheet metal work. It is an inverter unit like the $399.00 units on eBay. It does what I need to do and I bought a 2 year extended swap out warranty. I have many HF tools and for the most part am very happy with them. we have 2 stores in Jax, fl. and the return policy is very liberal.

 

Does this mean the Maytag man will look different now? Oh jeez I don't think I can take it.

 

Thanks for your honest input! DAN

 

Sorry, I couldnt answer it in high school wording....

Harbor Freight tools are ****!!!

If you want to weld something and it be worth a ****, buy a good welder, Lincoln, Miller etc; You'll be doing yourself and others around you a favor. It kills me that people want to be cheap on everything they do and build.

But to answer your question, No I have never used it nor would I. We dont waste our time with junk equipment.

 

I'm going to firmly straddle the fence again and say that I've bought HF stuff, but when the stuff that is supposed to be better, ie "American" is the same quality and cost twice as much, why should a "hobbyist" pay more?

I'd buy Snap-on and the Mac tools if I knew my paycheck depended on it, but the world doesn't come to an end if I break a tool.. or does it.

The Unocal thing wasn't the first salvo from the Western front of the great U.S. economic war, just as 911 wasn't the first on the Eastern front... nobody else but us wants, or can win a military war anymore. Hopefully our economy outlives me!

So some of us are going to be ****ed by the Chinese sonner than others

On that cheery note, back to the hot rods!

I have an used 110v DUO MIG welder I bought 10 years ago, it ****s, power stays on the wire even without the trigger being pushed. It looks just like the HF one they sell today. I wouldn't buy anything complicated or anything that uses consumables from HF.

Buddy has a Hobart 145, works great for about 15 minutes, then it needs to cool off. less than $250. Anybody need a cheap MIG?

 

**** China and definately **** Harbor Freight. Last month I had my press that I got from Harbor Freight snap the press plate and the platform while pressing a 40 frontend apart. It's a great feeling having a 80 or so pound frontend spinning around you. If I wasn't down watching my progress, it probably would have killed me. Kicked the ****er outside, going to the s****yard so the ****s can buy it back.

Also had a prybar snap on me and end up IN the precast wall behind me that came from HF

Whats wrong with buying American? Whats wrong with buying a product from a company who can stand behind it, My Tig is 20 years old and still works like a champ and its a Miller.

What I really care about is a quality product, **** buy it from Germany, buy it from France, Australia, Buy Jet tools( there from Taiwan, and there great tools!) But I try my damndest not to buy from China because I don't see quality when I see that Made In China stamp on anything!

 

I have wet dreams at night thinking about a Miller Aerowave TIG setup. What I don't have is the 6K+ it would take to make those dreams a reality. I might give one of these a try for $199. I'll keep it on a ground-fault outlet and if it breaks, I'm only out 2 bills. Big deal.

As far as all the Made-in-China bashing, to say that all Chinese products are garbage and all Chinese manufacturing facilities are borderline slave labor camps is inches away from all-out racism. I might have went for the patriotic product argument 10 years ago, but not now, when Dodge trucks are built in Mexico for a German owned company and the Nissan ***an is built in the USA with the most local content of any full size truck for sale in the states.

It's a global economy out there and it's not going away. The lumber and steel producers won't be complaining as they reap the rewards of higher prices as China buys up s**** steel and wood products. But a tool made outside the US is automatically garbage? I don't think so. If the TIG unit is really a piece of **** I'd like to know about it, but not if the only reasoning behind it is because of where it's made.

 

Ive had that welder in for eval as I sell a lot of import tools. Its a true POS. My cost is $115 so you can imagine whats inside.
Go to ebay and look for Firepower Migs. The FP120 is their top of the line 120V unit and sells around $300. Old line American company.

 

not what UAW did for Flint but what GM did in Flint and the broke what off in Flint. then you have to ask what happened to the govt backing the workers in Flint by...nada. hard to back workers when you also give $30K per employee hired across the border tax breaks through Fas-Track legislation and the Nafta agreements.
a union is only as strong as it's members. if its members elect representation that doesnt support them, then they have no hope of keeping much of anything. go ahead and buy your gook ****. one day you'll be using it again, but most likely in a sweat shop in the states run by a handfull of yellow devils with red armbands.
americas global dominance came from its industrial might, which comes from the soul of the american people. destroy this soul and you destroy and you destroy this nation and make it ready for plunder.
never kid yourself, china is still a communist state, just with our money now.
it only takes a snap of the finger and they can call in all their chips, nationalize everything weve built there (through growth, growth and income, mutual, overseas, etc. funds), call in all the bonds weve sold them and we'd own absolutely nothing anymore.
china should scare the living hell out of you if you are an american. grit your teeth and get ready.