Harbor Freight Welder: Is this a good deal? (OT)

[JerseyHarold]

There is a new Harbor Freight opening near my job in NJ this week, and after deducting the Grand Opening "10%-off anything" coupon, this welder is around $100.

I need to do floor, rocker, and patch panel work in my cars. I've never welded anything in my life. Gotta start somewhere. Should I go for it?

Any thoughts appreciated. Thanks.

Harold

http://www.harborfreightusa.com/usa/itemdisplay/displayItem.do?itemid=44567

[greg g]

That is what i have. I split a leg off the dryer circuit to power it. works pretty good on glean sheet metal and will weld angle iron, and other stuff up to 1/4 inch thick. The wire that comes with it is junk, if you get it go to a welding shop and get some good flux core wire. It makes a lot of difference in the weld quality and appearence.

Then get a decent self darkeing helmet and a decent pair of welders gloves.

The stop by a bodyshop and see if you can get some stuff they are discarding. hoods fenders door panels etc. You can cut this stuff up to practice on.The only draw back is the duty cycle. The percentage is low compared to commercial units. 10% is 6 seconds per minute. good for spoting and plug wellds but not good for seam welding. For a few bucks more you might wat to look at the Farm Hand brand at Tractor supply if you have those in your area. They are a considerable step up and were just on sale for 159 or so.

But if all you have around is HF this is a decent hobby unit.

It is actually pretty easy to use. and it seems counter intuitive but feed wire speed goes up as metal thickness goes down.

Get yourself 3 or 4 of those triangular welding magnets. These are used to locat and hold stuff together while you weld it.

Plug welds are the easieat to do is you maerial is overlapping. you drill a small hole in the upper piece and the weld through the hole to join the pieces. when you grind them down the look like a spot weld like the foactory used.

[bob_amos]

I have one from Harbor Freight that I have had for a number of years. I have not used it as of late but it did work well on light duty items like floor pans and the like. It also did a good job on angle iron. We actually played with it a while in the shop and had a real pro do some work with it. He was impressed by it so I'd say it gave good results if he liked it.

[62rebelP23]

i have one i bought from Lowes and it's served me well for over 5 years. many a roll of 035 has gone through it, and i've built two steel framed sheds and carport along with many auto repairs. gotta recommend that automatic helmet and some good gloves.

[Joe Flanagan]

Harold,

Check out this article. It's a great basic instruction on MIG welding. I learned a lot from it. Pointers from someone who welds every day.

http://www.autobodystore.com/new_page_11.shtml

[Norm's Coupe]

I see nothing wrong with the cheap welders. Usually the only difference is with the duty cycle. The cheaper welders will normally have shorter cycles and take longer for you to do the job. I would have bought a wire welder if they were only around $100 when I bought my 110V arc welder. I only paid about $90 for it at the time. It may be a cheap welder but I can weld or cut the type of steel I use, so it's good enough for me. You just have to learn how to use whatever welder you have.

That said, I agree with a previous statement about helmets. In my book an auto dark helmet is the only way to go. Had a lot of trouble hitting the right spot to weld until I got one of those. Got it from Harbor Freight for around $60.

Keep in mind, you won't be using that welder all that often so why pay a lot for a better one.

[Captain Neon]

I've always been happy w/ the infrequent use tools that I have purchased from Harbor Freight. If I had need for a welder, I just might go down to Harbour Freight and get a welder myself. My dad has a nice Lincoln welder that he never uses. We had high hopes when he bought it, but it just sits there now. My dad is more into woodworking and refinishing old furniture now that he is retired.

[Norm's Coupe]

I've always been happy w/ the infrequent use tools that I have purchased from Harbor Freight. If I had need for a welder, I just might go down to Harbour Freight and get a welder myself. My dad has a nice Lincoln welder that he never uses. We had high hopes when he bought it, but it just sits there now. My dad is more into woodworking and refinishing old furniture now that he is retired.

Ben,

If you need a welder you wouldn't have to buy one. Just go borrow your dads. After all, it sounds like he's not using it. I bought a bench top sand blaster cabinet a few years ago. I think I've used it twice. Otherwise, my son is always coming over and hauling it back to his house to use. It spends more time there than here. He does the same thing with my pressure washer. Once or twice a year he'll come over and get it for something. I haven't seen my engine hoist in my garage for about 2 years. Its over at my brother in laws garage right now. He also has one, but mine is the folding one and takes up less room, so he used it to change engines in his 36 Ford.

[Captain Neon]

Ben' date='

If you need a welder you wouldn't have to buy one. Just go borrow your dads. After all, it sounds like he's not using it. I bought a bench top sand blaster cabinet a few years ago. I think I've used it twice. Otherwise, my son is always coming over and hauling it back to his house to use. It spends more time there than here. He does the same thing with my pressure washer. Once or twice a year he'll come over and get it for something. I haven't seen my engine hoist in my garage for about 2 years. Its over at my brother in laws garage right now. He also has one, but mine is the folding one and takes up less room, so he used it to change engines in his 36 Ford.[/quote']

My dad lives 15 hours away so it is cheaper to go buy a cheap welder than drive for 15 hours to go use his, but I never used it when I lived close by and I probably won't need a welder any time soon any ways so I will keep my $100 to buy gasoline today or tomorrow.

[mackster]

My dad lives 15 hours away so it is cheaper to go buy a cheap welder than drive for 15 hours to go use his, but I never used it when I lived close by and I probably won't need a welder any time soon any ways so I will keep my $100 to buy gasoline today or tomorrow.

You can always have your dad ship it to you and it will only cost him $30.00 bucks, and most importantly it wont cost you a thing!!!!!

[Captain Neon]

You can always have your dad ship it to you and it will only cost him $30.00 bucks, and most importantly it wont cost you a thing!!!!!

Dunno who does your shipping, but there ain't no way that welder can be shipped for $30. I don't need it, and it would be just one more thing taking up space in my garage.

[Norm's Coupe]

Ben,

Didn't realize you were so far away from your parents house. In that case if you need a welder, then you should buy one of the cheap ones.

You said your dad doesn't use the welder now because he's more into woodworking projects. I'm getting more into that myself because crawling around under a car is getting too hard with age. However, I still like my metal working tools and may even buy a few other goodies like benders, etc. in the future. You can make some really neat stuff for the yard with a welder and metal working tools. And, you can also use scrap metal to do the project with. I have a fabricating roller that really helps make things look like they are supposed to. May go with the bender to do some really neat bends in strip steel later. So.........he could still use that welder to do that sort of thing, if he wanted to that is. It's sort of fun to melt two pieces of metal together and make it stick. Don't get as much dust as you do with woodworking either.

[JerseyHarold]

Joe, thanks for the link to the welding web page. Interesting and informative site.

I took the plunge tonight. The welder and auto-dark helmet are sitting in my kitchen (Good Housekeeping magazine won't be doing a photo shoot here anytime soon....). $163. including tax out the door. Should be interesting!

I'll keep you posted.

Harold