Bought a Harbor Freight welder

[Stelth]

I am not a welder. Or at least, not a trained welder. I've done some oxy-acetylene cutting and welding, but I wanted to try my hand at arc welding. Harbor Freight has a wire-feed flux core welder on sale right now for $109, so I bought one, along with some wire brushes, and a self-darkening helmet.

So far, so good. Some of the reviews on the Harbor Freight website said to get some Lincoln wire and use it instead of the stuff that comes with the welder, so I did that. Practiced for a couple of hours today, and found that I can actually weld stuff together in such a way that it doesn't come apart. Some of the welds actually don't look too bad, although I've got a long way to go before they look good. Tomorrow afternoon, maybe I'll grind some of them down a bit and see how they look below the surface.

 

[tig1]

Actually the wire HF sells is pretty good. I am talking about the .030. solid core wire used with a shielding gas.

 

[NHGUY]

I have one of those HF MIGs.The bad part is its a thermal overload shutoff,no cooling fan.Run high amps and it cuts out rather quickly.In other words,low duty cycle.Otherwise,it welds great.

 

[Chris142]

Could a guy louver the box and use a fan to help cool it?

 

[KD0AXS]

A couple years ago I had to make some repairs on my trailer that I use to haul our ATVs, so I needed a welder. I just about bought one of those from HF, but then I saw that Northern Tool had this one on sale for $149, which was the same price as the HF one because is wasn't on sale. Now I see that Northern has it on sale for $129.

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200403263_200403263

I'm no professional welder either, but this thing seems to work pretty good and it definitely paid for itself the first time I used it. It's come in handy for a few other projects here and there, too.

 

[chevrofreak]

Originally Posted By: tig1
Actually the wire HF sells is pretty good. I am talking about the .030. solid core wire used with a shielding gas.


It is actually pretty decent Italian made wire.

 

[KD0AXS]

Originally Posted By: Chris142
Could a guy louver the box and use a fan to help cool it?


I believe I read in the reviews on HF's website that a couple guys did just that.

 

[JimPghPA]

V cut or V grind any deep joints before you weld them and you will get full penetration of the weld, instead of a weld on the surface with a non weld crack below it.