Harbor Freight Mig & Flux Welder ?

[TheMonkey]

HF has a 120 amp, 230 volt mig & flux welder on sale. $249 on sale from $399.

i'm looking for a weekender piece of equipment. entry level just to get to started on occasional things.



any opinions?

weird... just checked their internet site, lists it as normally $299, on sale for $199. the actual store & internet are often different prices, and the store will honor the internet price with a printout of the ad. item 6271.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...temnumber=6271

[Camaro Zach]

Even for the occasional weekend machine I wouldnt waste your money. Look around Home depot at their small Lincoln migs. I used to have a little Lincoln Pro Core 100 picked it up for about 300 i believe and it pushed through all the sheetmetal i could throw at it with no problems.

Also on that machine it looks like the voltage adjustments might be limited I see 3 switches which i assume are on/off and high and low settings and then a dial for the wire speed. You will be much happier with more versatile adjustments

[TheMonkey]

thanks CZ. good to know. also, i'll take a look around for used units. mebbe give craigslist a peek.

[PhillipM]

I think that used is the way to go. My dad picked up a used Millermatic 200 in like 1985... And I'm still using it today. I took it in to the welding shop about 3 years ago and had them go through and clean it up. Been working great eversince!!!

[mikey]

Spend your cash wisely you get what you pay for. Buy a Miller(my prference), Lincoln another well known brand.

[DeepBlue68]

Let me give you a piece of advice - do not buy the Harbor Freight MIG welder. I have a pretty decent amount of MIG experience - I've been taking night classes at a local junior college for 3 semesters now, doing all MIG and TIG. The only equipment in the welding shop is Miller and Lincoln.

My girlfriend's dad bought the same Harbor Freight 220V MIG/Flux wire welder that you're talking about. I have gotten used to using the Millers for MIG, but had to borrow his H.F. unit recently to weld a fill plate onto the firewall of my Camaro (since I don't own a welder), and let me tell you the difference is NIGHT AND DAY. I put about 15 tacks on the firewall with the H.F. welder and I'd had enough. I went to Sunbelt Rentals and rented one of their low-level Miller 110V welders, and it absolutely blew the H.F. unit away. I can promise from literally using them side by side that the Millers (and probably the Lincoln since they're very similar in build quality, etc.) are much better than anything you'll find at Harbor Freight. And, yes, I do own tools from H.F., just not anything that is used for jobs requiring precision or consistency.

Having said that, will the Harbor Freight welder stick two pieces of metal together? Yes, and if that's all you're looking for and don't mind if the machine breaks in a year, go for it.

[6'9"Witha69]

Used a Miller, Lincoln and a Chicago Electric (HF brand) and damn the Chicago one sucked!! Miller or lincoln. All I will recommend (I have a lincoln, 2 buddies have Miller).

[TheMonkey]

hmmm. good feedback, thanks.

what about this lincoln welder (weld-pak 100):
http://www.amazon.com/Volt-WELD-PAK-...737555-6467039
http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/produ...id=00920174000

sears sells for 350. used avail locally for 185.

is it reasonable to buy at these prices, or am i just going to have to spend more $$? i want to build an engine cradle, maybe rotisserie, small fab stuff for tranny mount, under hood brackets, etc.

[TheMonkey]

there may be a Millermatic Challenger 172 avail locally. has a bent tip on the welder gun (?). is that a big fix?

[shmoov69]

Guys, is a Clark(E?) any good?

[DeepBlue68]

is it reasonable to buy at these prices, or am i just going to have to spend more $$? i want to build an engine cradle, maybe rotisserie, small fab stuff for tranny mount, under hood brackets, etc.

There are a couple things you need to think about with regards to that:

- Whether or not that welder is capable of welding steel of the thickness that you'd be using for those type of projects...a small 110V welder like that won't have the amperage to penetrate very thick steel

- Is the duty cycle (the % of any given amount of time that can be spent welding before it has to have a break to cool down) adequate for the type of work you wanna do? If you were gonna build something with a lot of welding, you need a machine with a decent duty cycle so that you're not welding for 2 minutes and having to wait 8 minutes for it to cool down enough to weld more. For the stuff you're talking about, that probably won't be a big issue

- Can that machine accept gas? I know it says it's designed to weld without it, but will it accept it? Flux-cored welding (wire that doesn't require gas) is typically a lot dirtier and has a lot more spatter than using solid wire with gas. Supposedly welding with both flux-cored wire and gas creates some pretty nice results though, but I can't say for sure since I haven't done it

My guess is that for the low to low-midrange (with respect to how much output they will require from a welder) type of projects you're talking about, that machine would probably suffice. And if you can get one in decent shape for under $200, that makes it even better.

[mikey]

there may be a Millermatic Challenger 172 avail locally. has a bent tip on the welder gun (?). is that a big fix?

Not really could just be the contact tip maybe 3 min. If the gun itself not much more trouble maybe 10 min. Not sure on the prices but the contact tips are a consumable part and they come in a 10 pack. Gas caps are also semi consumable they wear out just not nearly fast as the tips.

[80proZ]

I have a Hobart 135 and have never had any problems with it.Its tha exact same machine as the Miller of same amps(as in Miller owns the Hobart name).Its basically a Miller in Hobart clothing, and cheaper to boot.

[TheMonkey]

Well, I bought the Millermatic Challenger 172. Used for 400.

Also, I signed up at the local tech college to take welding classes. Actually 16 sessions at 4hrs each. Going to learn both MIG & TIG, but figured for a home machine, MIG is a good start.

* Wide output range of 40 - 170 amps
* 4 taps and wire feed tracking offer easy setup and control
* Weld materials up to 1/4 in (6.4 mm) thick in a single pass
* Industrial-quality braking system handles 4 and 8 in (102 and 203 mm) spools, and adapts for 1 lb (0.45 kg) spool
* Wire sizes: solid or stainless steel, .023 - .035 in (0.6 - 0.9 mm); flux cored, .030 - .045 in (0.8 - 1.2 mm); aluminum, .030 - .045 in (0.8 - 1.2 mm)