Harbor Freight Flux Core welders

[HomeBrew2]

... bird turds ...

Following California's lead, here are a few pix of my results with the bird turd el cheapo trash worthless dangerous crap HF 90A wire welder.

Disclaimer:
All of these pix were taken after I got home from work today.
I tried to pick the crappiest material that I had in the bin, ie, rusty, dirty, etc.
The first pic was taken after 4 diet beers.
The last pic was taken after about 8 or so.
I intentionally did not include pix of things that I welded with the HF welder that I really cared about and actually had beads that looked decent and that I actually prepared the material, and I hadn't been drinking much.
I couldn't care less if anyone buys a HF welder or not.

Questions?

 

[California]

a few pix of my results

Wow! If I could do that it would be my favorite toy.

I can see why you like it!

 

[Dargo]

I couldn't care less if anyone buys a HF welder or not.

Questions?

Not to question your drinking or welding ability, but I stick with what I said.

 

[Dargo]

How much are you paying for fuel? How much for milk?

Fuel? It seems to change by about a quarter every day! One day it's $1.99 and the next it's $2.25. Milk? With a family of 7, we go through over a gallon a day. So, we buy 5 or 6 gallons at a time at Sam's for $2.29. More?

 

[Soundguy]

No arguments here.

I have a Campbel hausfeld welder.. little 70a buzz box. I weld with it all the time. on a 1/16 rod i can stitch sheet metal. With a couple passes i can do 3/16 and 1/4 fairly well.

When i opted to get a 'real' welder, I fought off the urge to get a CE unit.. the ones I looked at just looked.. well.. underated or flimsy.. judging from cable sizes used.. etc. I'm happy with my 235ac hobart stickmate xl. It burns rods like a champ. At 100a the duty cycle is 100%. on the little Ch welder I have.. i have actually only hit the duty cycle 'time out' lamp indicator once.. while I was learning to weld.

Soundguy

Oh, CH is most certainly in a different league than CE crap. You know me, I won't beat around the bush, any money spent of a Chicago Electric welder is money that is totally wasted. Heck, if you want a really cheap flux core welder, get one of the cheap Century models. Chicago Electric welders are flat junk!!

Now, before you get too upset, remember, I have complimented some HF stuff when I felt it justified. I try to reserve the right to make my calls just as I see them. If it is a cheap product that actually performs halfway decent, I'll note that. If it is a cheap product that is simply nothing but junk, I'll call that as well. Chicago Electric welding products are nothing but trash. Any money spent on them is wasted money. Questions?

 

[HomeBrew2]

Not to question your drinking or welding ability, but I stick with what I said.

Fair enough. Wasn't trying to change your mind. Just demonstrating what can be done by an untrained, rather impaired operator, using horrible material under poor conditions with a cheap wire welder.
I don't question your ability either because I'm convinced you know exactly what you're talking about and have much more experience than I will ever have. My purpose was just to balance this thread with a practical example.
Cheers!

 

[HomeBrew2]

Wow! If I could do that it would be my favorite toy.

I can see why you like it!

My welds looked just like yours until I changed the wire, cleaned the rollers and tightened the tension thingy. Possibly I just got a "good" one though. You never know about HF. Good luck with whatever you wind up with.

 

[RobJ]

I've got both HF migs....

$99(mail flyer) 110v unit. Not much penetration on the thick stuff. Works ok for 16ga tubing and such. But hey $99!!

$179(mail flyer) 220v unit that you can attach gas to. Turn the power up and she will burn some 1/4" stuff. Turn it down and it'll go the tubing.

I've tried several different wires and they all seem about the same. All .035. Hey it's a cheap welder but it works. I still use the Lincoln stick a lot of time when the mig starts to jam up.

 

[Soundguy]

Has anyone here used the Campbel hausfeld 110v wire welder? I have the 110v stick.. and it's good for the 89$ I paid for it. Looking for opinions on it.. ( w/flux wire.. etc.. )

Soundguy

 

[Tom_Veatch]

Has anyone here used the Campbel hausfeld 110v wire welder? I have the 110v stick.. and it's good for the 89$ I paid for it. Looking for opinions on it.. ( w/flux wire.. etc.. )

Soundguy

I've got one - 80amp - and it might be ok if I knew what I was doing. I've run the spool of .035 flux core that came with it. Just been playing around with some light gauge scraps, trying to turn myself, a raw, incompetent, never done this before, into a master of the art. Haven't succeeded. Haven't succeeded in breaking the welder either. About all I can say that might be meaningful to anyone is that the complete spool went through without any jams.

A competent welder just might be able to do something with it. Even I have been able to stick some pieces together that, at least, didn't fall apart when I picked them up. The beads didn't look professional, but some are better than I expected. Some bird droppings early on, but some later ones looked pretty good, or at least acceptable for my extremely high level of expertise.

Just got a bottle of 75/25 to see if I can do any better with the solid core and gas.