Harbor Freight Flux Core welders 2

[Soundguy]

I've not done any low current welding with a lincoln.. only stuff with 1/8 rods and 90+ amps. I have done plenty of low current welding on my hobart buzzbox.. and been really happy with it. The 6013 runs like a row of dimes... I actually surprised myself.. cause i'm only a weekend welder.

Now.. I know the lincoln uses taps, and the hobart uses a moving shunt.. I'm not sure if that has any bearing on the weld quality ( ?? )

I'll agree with ys ont he electrical contacts.. etc. I think I will be upgrading the ground clamp on my hobart soon. The rod holder is good.. the ground clamp is rather flimsy... I'd agree if ya had some dirty or loose connections.. that you would have a hard time on thin material and low amps.. etc.

Soundguy

 

[HomeBrew2]

Finally broke the notorious BX turnbuckle. An obvious factory weld failure so I figured I couldn't do much worst with the hot glue gun. Works good so far.
Pic 1 is of the failure ... welds just plain broke.
Pic 2 is repaired , looks poor (I'll have to live with that for the rest of my life).

 

[BTDT]

I looked at your photo update from link and I was wondering. What is the purpose of the "c" clamp attatched to right side of your loader boom?

 

[Maine_Polack]

Hey Homebrew! Good posting and it got my mind to cogitate some. I think to weld one should stay half lit, drugged, and tired. That way, (in today's world), anything that happens to go wrong is not your fault.

Heck, because of your "condition" it just wasn't your fault! And your "condition"....? Well that is not your fault either. After all the booze and drugs are in this universe, and absolutly not an individual choice.

I think this is about what is being taught and believed today. Quite sad...

It was drugs/drink that made me reply this way to a post on welding. So.....I'm not responsible............

 

[HomeBrew2]

I looked at your photo update from link and I was wondering. What is the purpose of the "c" clamp attatched to right side of your loader boom?

Ahh, that, sir, is one of the cheeseiest and most helpful pieces of crap I have ever made. It's a bucket level. I drilled a 1/8" hole in a flange on the bucket, through which I passed a bent piece of 1/8" welding rod. I took a scrap piece of angle iron (which I c-clamped to the loade arm) and drilled a hole to accept a 1/4" piece of steel tube and brazed it in place. the welding rod was inserted into the tube, then marked when the bucket was leveled on a flat surface. Viola, 15 minute bucket level. I posted about it some time ago and was, of course, told that the brush would tear it off. It did happen that way ... many times. I just un-bent the welding rod and all was good again. I no longer use it as experience has allowed me to be acceptably proficient with the loader now.
Cheers!

 

[HomeBrew2]

Hey Homebrew! ............

Hey Al, If I interpret your post correctly, THAT was my take on the election too. Contrary to many opinions of me, I take a number of things very seriously. I am afraid though, after the election, I find many fewer things to take seriously
Keep up the good work on your attachments ... I really enjoyed the success I saw with your gauge wheels

 

[HomeBrew2]

We had nice balmy weather here in Kalifornia (35°) today so I got the cross bars welded onto the posts for my creek crossing fence. The only things that I don't like about the HF hot glue gun are: 1, the wire rolls don't load themselves and 2, the 10% duty cycle seems to have been mislabeled ... due to my poor fit-up of the cross bars, I had a lot of filling to do and, I'm sure, most of the 4 joints I had to weld took more than 5 minutes each ... with no more than 1 minute breaks in between ... the whole exercise started to feel like real work

 

[GT2]

Question, are those posts in concrete or just driven in? ( I'm new at this)

 

[HomeBrew2]

The outer 2 were driven w/ my 40# Hitachi electric demo hammer. The middle one, I backhoed down 3+' thru granite cobblestone and just packed the same material around the post ... it's locked in pretty tight.

 

[RonR]

Homebrew,

If you have other trouble with the BX turnbuckles, I'd urge you to do the mod to add the sliding links off the bigger model Kubota. I forget the model, but if you search on BX turnbuckles, it should come up. Think it cost about $60, and takes a little effort with an angle grinder to make them fit well, but they hold the lift arms very stable and eliminate side sway.

Probably the best mod I've done to mine.

Hope this helps.

ron