Harbor Freight Flux Core welders

[InlineDieselFan]

Spend a few dollars more and get one that you know will work all of the time. The hassles of wroking on your tools is not worth it.

steve

 

[HomeBrew2]

Just to clarify, my WELDER had zero bugs.
I have a vision prob that was worse by using the low amps and small wire. I simply couldn't see the puddle or the joint due to low light.
And, the WIRE I used initially was greasy. The feed mechanism on the welder was NOT greasy and worked just fine ... just not with greasy wire.
I have not fixed, fussed with, or in any way worked on this unit, except for changing wire and cleaning the feed of grease buildup.
Now that I have clean wire in it, I use it quite a bit and don't use my buzz box much.

Practical application: this summer I built a pipe fence entrance ... 6 posts and 4 horizontal cross braces in 105° heat, no shade. I ran the little glue gun off a 2000W Honda inverter generator. To combat the puny duty cycle, I put a table fan behind the welder and was able to weld all 8 360° brace welds without pausing. And, due to my lack of pipe coping ability, I was using a lot of wire at max power and feed to fill gaps.

 

[rjgogo]

...Practical application: this summer I built a pipe fence entrance ... 6 posts and 4 horizontal cross braces in 105° heat, no shade. I ran the little glue gun off a 2000W Honda inverter generator. To combat the puny duty cycle, I put a table fan behind the welder and was able to weld all 8 360° brace welds without pausing. And, due to my lack of pipe coping ability, I was using a lot of wire at max power and feed to fill gaps.

No intention to insult but if you are using wire to correct for poor fit up then you will not have a very strong joint. If this were structural work it would not stand up to heavy abuse, as ornamental work it may work okay but if you put some heavy pressure on it it will fail.

If you are welding things you are going to rely on to get work done, or could be dangerous or fatal if they failed this is a poor way to get it done and will likely result in harm. Again if it is ornamental more power to you.

 

[Soundguy]

Anything built that is using flux wire and can run off a 2000w generator isn't likely to be doing any super hard 'work'. I.E. I doubt he is building a hay wagon, or 2 bottom plow with a 70a-80a metal hot glue gun......

Soundguy

No intention to insult but if you are using wire to correct for poor fit up then you will not have a very strong joint. If this were structural work it would not stand up to heavy abuse, as ornamental work it may work okay but if you put some heavy pressure on it it will fail.

If you are welding things you are going to rely on to get work done, or could be dangerous or fatal if they failed this is a poor way to get it done and will likely result in harm. Again if it is ornamental more power to you.

 

[HomeBrew2]

No intention to insult but if you are using wire to correct for poor fit up then you will not have a very strong joint. If this were structural work it would not stand up to heavy abuse, as ornamental work it may work okay but if you put some heavy pressure on it it will fail.

If you are welding things you are going to rely on to get work done, or could be dangerous or fatal if they failed this is a poor way to get it done and will likely result in harm. Again if it is ornamental more power to you.

No insult taken. You are correct. This project was really just ornamental ... if I implied anything more, that was not my intent. Real work requires a real welder, both the equipment, and the operator, I have neither.

Cheers!

 

[rjgogo]

No insult taken. You are correct. This project was really just ornamental ... if I implied anything more, that was not my intent. Real work requires a real welder, both the equipment, and the operator, I have neither.

Cheers!

Thanks for your understanding, My only concern here is that someone with limited experience would read this and think they can rig up, say, a spare tire carrier made out of 1/4" tube and stick it together with a 110 HF welder. In the hands of an experienced person that might happen, but for a newbie my fear is the tire falling off and going though a windshield behind. And I am really not Mr. Safety. More like Mr. Try to break it

Since it seems you have a stick, I think you know what is best used where. I also think you down play your abilities, judging by your last comment, you probably have more ability than I.

I also do a little jeeping and have made a few things for my heep and have also seen some things that people have made that could be involved in recovery or armor that just won't hold up or would be down right dangerous.

When I was working with my wife on one of the cheap Migs, she had "welded" some stuff together. I looked at it and put my foot on one end and twisted it all apart. The welds looked good but were "glue gun". This has nothing to do with her being a girl, (there are a lot of girls that can kick my Azz in welding and my wife is now getting close, now that we have the miller) but all about knowing and seeing the penetration of the weld and being safe with the product you have produced. I think you understand this, just want to make sure the other readers do as well.

 

[schmism]

some more enterpriseing individuals have been known to hook there heavy duty battery chargers up to the inputs of the welder to boost the amp output of them.

 

[California]

I'm considering buying one of those Chicago Electric (or what ever they are called) 115V flux core wire welders from Harbor Freight. I already have a Lincoln stick welder for big stuff and was thinking of buying one of those small welders for using on thin metal and light work.

Anyone have experience and opinions one those things? I'd like to know if they are a complete waste of money or just a mild waste

Same question, I didn't see a clear answer to what I hope to learn.

I have a 235A a/c stick welder.

Question: is the HF 90 amp wire welder a good value AT THE PRICE ($71) to do smaller work than the big welder?

I bought a HF #94056 at the annual sale. It is listed in harborfreightusa (store catalog) and it might be #91124 in harborfreight (mailorder), which is a closeout with a single 90 amp setting. (The box for 94056 shows a dual range faceplate, but the box is overprinted with simply '10% duty cycle @ 90 amps'.)

Like HomeBrew, I don't mind having to clean or replace greasy OEM wire to make it feed smoothly, that's trivial.

Specifically is a single heat setting a severe limitation, and is 90 amps enough to get penetration on thin work where my larger welder would burn through.

Also can the duty cycle be extended on these by adding a case fan?

I'm sure a $600 Hobart/Miller/Lincoln would be better but that's not really what I'm asking. Does anyone in addition to Homebrew have experience with these little guys?

 

[GuglioLS]

I have the HF Dual 151 Flux / Gas. (re-manufactured) got it on sale for $151.00.

It works great. I have run 30#'s of .030 wire and 10#'s of .35 wire through it.

I ran one 2 # spool of the flux core wire. Then I tried the 75% argon 25% CO2 gas. I will never go back to Flux wire unless I run out of gas and it's an emergency.

If you want a cheap & affordable MIG then go fo it. When mine breaks I will get a Hobart that has 250 amps - ~ $1,800? It is real easy to get spoiled on a MIG. The HF/CM is an inexpensive way to see if you can MIG.

90 amps is good for sheet metal work. But did I say you will get spoiled REAL fast and will want to weld bigger & better on thick metal and want to do it longer (Duty Cycle). If I had known MIG's are this cool I would have got the Hobart 250 amp handler right off the bat.

Here is what it can do:



I am glad I got it.

 

[California]

90 amps is good for sheet metal work. But did I say you will get spoiled REAL fast and will want to weld bigger & better on thick metal and want to do it longer (Duty Cycle). If I had known MIG's are this cool I would have got the Hobart 250 amp handler right off the bat.

That's what I'm wondering - would I immediately want to upgrade after trying this one. Why is the gas shield so much better?