Opinions invited regarding MIG Welders

[JoeS]

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=6271

I spotted this for sale. I was wondering if it would be worth a hoot. I have been looking into getting a small MIG welder for awhile but can justify dropping $500 on a lincoln or even worse a miller. I would only probably use it 2 -3 times a year for small projects, so tieing up a ton of cash is a hard pill to swallow.

I have purchased cheapy "chicago electric" stuff from HaborFreight before and had good luck. They are not lifetime tools under heavy use, for hobby use they should last awhile. (right?)

Chime in - fellas ( and gals)

[Chris'91'525i]

I'm very happy with my HF dual MIG welder.
I got the 115 Volt version, of the one you are looking at. Mine does a very good job up to 1/8" steel with flux core wire. And a little thicker if I use solid .030" with with Co2 shielding gas.
For hobby use it can't be beat IMO.
Most of these HF MIGs are made in Italy, and very well made.
The only real weak point is the parts that hold the wire feed wheels( the feed wheels are steel, not plastic) are a heavy plastic material. So you have to be carefull of not over tightening wire feed wheels and stressing the mechanism.
If you are going to get the 230V MIG, and use your clothes drier outlet to power it. Make sure you have the correct Amp curcuit breaker ,in your breaker box, or you could fry the wiring in your house.
I say go for it Joe . It's a great hobby MIG.
I would recommend you get HF's auto darkening helmet too. I've been using the $50 (on sale) helmet and MIG welder for 5-6 years now with no problems at all....

HTH

[Rigmaster]

Hard to say, but it's probably a "you get what you pay for" kind of thing.

It looks like that welder does not include the gas regulator, hose, etc- so you would need to purchase those separately if you want to do any true MIG welding. You can weld flux core wire with it as-is, and that's fine for many things, but it does not make the clean welds that MIG welding does (with shielding gas). It's also alot harder to weld thin metals with flux core wire- you'll want to get the gas kit for sheet metal (body parts, etc).

You might want to look at the Hobart welders that HF sells, they look a bit nicer than the chicago tools stuff, though they are a bit more expensive.

If you are doing mostly light stuff, you could probably get by with a 110v welder- Lowe's and Home Depot sell decent looking stuff under the Lincoln or Campbell Hausfield names.....

Bret.

[Bill R.]

miller and hobart machines... The cheapie works so much worse and frequently has wire feed problems that the frustration experienced when using it for any length of time more than offsets the savings in price. Buy a decent miller or hobart, get a gas bottle and the solid wire reels for it and you'll be much happier in the long run if you use it much at all.... This as Bret says is one of those cases where you really do get what you pay for.

Edit, As a rule i don't have a problem with a lot of the products from harbor freight and buy many tools from them but this tool is not one of them
And yes , i did buy one from them and i now have a miller wire feed instead which really wasn't that much more











http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=6271

I spotted this for sale. I was wondering if it would be worth a hoot. I have been looking into getting a small MIG welder for awhile but can justify dropping $500 on a lincoln or even worse a miller. I would only probably use it 2 -3 times a year for small projects, so tieing up a ton of cash is a hard pill to swallow.

I have purchased cheapy "chicago electric" stuff from HaborFreight before and had good luck. They are not lifetime tools under heavy use, for hobby use they should last awhile. (right?)

Chime in - fellas ( and gals)

[Kalevera]

Millermatic or Lincoln for me, each for various reasons.

best, whit

[pyro]

i have to agree with whit. i have a lincolin electric sp 135 and it is frigin amazing my firends always come over asking me to weld up there exhust and it works perfactly... i have to say the 3 year parts garente is PERFACT.

[632 Regal]

Joe the appearance of that machine is cool, but as most have said you get what you pay for. I had something like that a long time ago and the frustration if getting it to work far out weighed the performance. I eventually gave it away and bought a real one from a shop that upgraded to a larger one...night and day difference. You cant even practice with them cheapies, at least I couldnt. Learn what you need and what size welder before spending ANY money at all.

http://www.millermotorsports.com/mboard/forumdisplay.php?f=3