Help with a welder

Going to see Santa tomorrow. Need help with a choice. Hot Rod (sheet and frame)/ General usage.
1. 132ac/200dc 10%@130amp 15%@100amp 129.99
2. ac/dc 140 amp 10%@130 15%@100 139.99
3. 130 tig / 90 arc combo 35%@130 199.99
all 220 harborfreight.com
Thanks, Wayne

 

All are priced to low to be a real welder. Wait untill you can go to the local welding shop and buy a real one. You wont be sorry you waited.

 

HF welders are all junk. Like Don said, wait until you can get a name brand. If not putting it on a card and actually have the cash, buy a used name brand over a new junk model.

 

I'm a weldor by trade for the railroad and I've been welding for over twenty years. With that said, I know some guys are gonna tear me a new one. I picked up the HF tig about a year ago for some sheet metal work. It's got some limitations, it's not high dollar machine with all the bells and whistles, but it's well worth the price. If you haven't welded before, I would recommend starting out with a mig. Or maybe you could take some tig classes, it's well worth it.

 

I would ask about their service plan/ warranty, and exactly what parts that they offer for them. Duty cycle means nothing if it don't work.
I believe that you can't buy ANY replacement parts for them- other than wire. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that neither the nozzle nor the tip (on the MIGS) are standard compliant parts, either.

Check ebay. I bought a NIB Lincoln 220 MIG for a little over $400--It will probably last me the rest of my life.

 

all of this...is true.

 

What ever you do get at least a 220 welder.- especially if doing any frame work. You can always turn it down for sheet metal..

 

Thanks for all the great advice. I thought I'd stay with a stick since these were so cheap (less moving parts to breakdown), but the tig/stick combo looked like all I'd ever need. I guess I will go with my second wish for Santa - 1928 Ford.
Thanks again

 

dudes! i have a buddy that repairs welders and he told me for a non production shop the weld-pak 275 at home depot is a all around machine. lincoln has a good warranty. he says these machine are built lighter than the one they sell at his welding supply shop but with the warranty the same they are hard to beat. i set one up for a buddy a few months back and with all the rust in the 56' chevy truck he's restoring he loves his.

 

My thing is the longevity comes into question. Do you buy yourself a cheap welder that will fry in a year or 2 for $200, or spend $1000 on one that not only will be handed off to your kids (and possably grandkids) plus always have parts available. A HF welder may get the job done, but do the parts interchange with name brands? WHEN it frys, can you get it fixed or is it landfill? HF isn't exactly known for keeping designs or for having consumables in stock. You can go to ANY of their stores and buy a sandblast cabinet,,,,, but what about screens for the glass? NOPE, so, you then get to order them and wait. With a name brand tig you can run down to almost ANY gas/welding supply shop and get whatever you need right off the shelf. I have an old Millermatic35 that I bought about 18 years ago and have beat to hell. I have NEVER had to have any type of repair done. Plus, I checked into getting a new innershield a month ago (turns out the wire was rusty from me leaving it out in the rain, new wire cured it) and they had it on the shelf for a welder that was discontinued MANY years ago. My first welder was one of the old Lincoln tombstone looking arc welders that was my grandfathers handed down when he was too blind to weld anymore.

You really think HF can claim that with ANY tool they EVER sold?

 

I agree with the above. I've got a Lincoln 175 mig and a Miller 250 syncrowave tig runner, and I've never regretted spending the extra $ to buy quality. The Miller is new and I had a slight problem with it at first, but the tech help guys were so knowlegable over the phone that we found the problem and got it working perfectly within a few minutes.

Don't think you could do that with a HF unit.

 

Do yourself a favor and don't buy the HF garbage;I myself am also a welder and the guy who posted about the HF machine being good is full of shit they are junk, like everything else they have. I have a freind also a welder who bought one and tried to use it to build something, and guess what it burned up. They are designed for hobbiest that might weld for twenty minutes a month if that is what you are looking for by all means buy some CHINESE SHIT PRODUCT. If you want a quality product save a few more bucks and buy one. Home Depot has an AC/DC machine that you can Tig and Stick with for $380.00 do the right thing and buy yourself a decent product, otherwise you will have to buy two machines. MY .02 for what it is worth

 

Lincoln, rinse, lather, repeat.
220 ac-dc
you can hook up a tig torch w/ bottle and scratch start for carbon steel and stainless.
You can run 1/8" 7018 all day long, and you won't need anything more than that for a car frame.
Parts will always be available.
AND it's RED!

 

Me too. I got one last week for $430 shipped to my door. A Lincoln 175amp, 220v MIG.

Otherwise, get the cheapest 110v wirefeed you can, and get by... it's what I did for the last three years.

Tell me about this TIG hookup to the Lincoln stick machine... sounds like something up my alley...

Ben

 

ive got a new/ used Lincoln sp175 wire feed for $500. I bought it from a guy at work that needed some money and i dont really need two. its a 220 machine, no bottle, it is vertually new, no scrathes etc..
Let me know if interested, up for grabs any Hamber for that matter!!!! i need more rod money

 

Aside from the quality issues, the duty cycles you have listed above will drive you crazy. As soon as you get a good bead going on 3/16 metal, the machine will trip on you. I personally have a Miller dialarc 250HF (Tig and stick) and a Lincoln SP175 and bought either used or as a close out deal and saved a ton of money.

 

That's funny. I'm all for using an old nissan for parts if you need to, but buying a chinese welder to build a frame that YOU will be riding in? Surely its a joke. Get a credit card and buy the real deal and some common fucking sense.

I read about a tig made from a ford 120 amp alternator and a briggs and stratton for under $150. All you need are leads and a replacement torch. the foot pedal was sourced from an industrial strength sewing machine. I'll try and find that article.

edit: found it