Harbor Freight wire welder

[Larry B. 1486]

My old wire welder quit on me last winter. It was a 120 amp. Harbor Freight had these 90 amp wire welders on sale so decided to buy one and give it a try. Chicago electric brand. A role of wire was included. Try to weld a exhaust pipe with it last night. It was like a weak sparkler on 4th of July. I don't know if this thing will weld aluminum foil. Thought about trying a different brand of wire. Its 0.35 . Anyone had any experience with one of these welders?

 

[schrade]

Boss has one. It burns hotter than my sons linclon, that being said the drive slips all the time. Have welded some large projects with it when it was new, did a good job then

 

[Stan in Oly, WA]

Larry,

A student brought one of those to an introductory welding and metalworking class I was assisting at a few years ago. He wanted to find out what the instructor and I thought of it. I used it for about five minutes and was favorably impressed. I've come close to buying one several times since then, based on it actually working and costing so little. What stops me is partly that I had previously inherited an unused Harbor Freight Chicago Electric welder called a Dual MIG 151 (which I think they don't sell any more). It worked very much as you describe---too weak an arc at any setting to actually weld anything. The wire feed was also very erratic which I felt to be at least partly on account of the cheap plastic feed rollers. Whether it could have been coaxed into working properly is something I'll never know; I packed it up and got rid of it.

Based just on my personal experience with Harbor Freight welders, it seems to me that some of them work, and some of them don't work. My advice is for you to take it back to H/F while it's still under the standard warranty. They're good about returns (because they get so much practice), and I'm sure if you tell them how it worked they'll exchange it for another one immediately. If that one is no better, just get your money back.

You'll probably have better luck with Lincoln Innershield (and I think you can run .030 with the same contact tip). I have no experience with Hobart flux core wire, but they make good welding rods, so maybe their wire is okay, too. I'd stay away from Radnor brand if that's what your Lincoln dealer tries to sell you. But first, get the welder problem straightened out. That welder should weld with the wire you've got, so don't waste money trying to fix the problem by buying better wire.

Good luck,

Stan

 

[retired farmer]

Ya. Wouldn't own one. Friend of mine got one. Wanted me to try it out first, even though he used to be a welder. Ran some wire out the end and without thinking, I laid the gun down on a piece of metal for a minute. Darn thing like to blinded me. Wire is hot all the time, not just when you pull the trigger.

 

[Butch(OH)]

I am not a basher of HF in general but you should take that welder back to HF and get your money back and then start shopping for a better unit. Miller and Lincoln will general be the easiest to obtain parts for but there are other nice ones. Shop Craigs list and or Ebay, there are lots of very lightly used welders for sale for bargain prices.

 

[mkirsch]

No, there aren't.

The "bargain priced" welders are either orphaned junk, or sold before you can dial the number.

 

[Dusty MI]

I've got 2- 120v wire welders that I don't use. One is from a Mac Tool truck, it appears to need a new liner. The other one is like "retired farmers", the wire is hot all the time.

Dusty

 

[JGayman]

I have a Hobart Handler 140 in which I use 0.035 flux core wire and it works very well. No complaints welding up to 0.25 inch material.

 

[dr sportster]

He was the guy that dialed faster than you.

 

[mozark]

I have one, I think is like the one Stan was talking about. It works great, the electrode cable is not armored, so it would be easy to damage the feed tube. Thank goodness the electrode is not hot until you pull the trigger. I use only .030 flux core. Some welds look very good, some like a mud dauber which tells you I'm not a very good welder, an angle grinder is my best friend.

 

[Stan in Oly, WA]

Butch,

I absolutely agree. Used welders represent one of the greatest bargains going---particularly if you're careful, willing to take some time, and you know at least a little bit about welders (and human nature).

I used to buy underpriced welders on eBay when they were close enough for local pickup, and later on craigslist, clean them up if necessary, replace ugly stingers and/or ground clamps, and resell them. I was always aware that it made little sense to do so much for so little money, but I was interested in seeing how different brands of welders performed. What I found was that the common wisdom is mostly true---Lincoln and Miller are almost always reliable (especially if you purchase from someone in the city who has more money to buy toys than time to use them), and no other brands seem to be reliable across the board. For instance, although ESAB and Hobart are generally considered to be on the list of reliable brands, I once got a strange little ESAB stick welder which wouldn't burn some brands of rods, and I currently own a Hobart Stickmate which I've never been entirely happy with---though I'll admit I've had several chances to keep a Lincoln AC/DC buzz box and get rid of the Hobart but I keep keeping it.

Stan

 

[Stan in Oly, WA]

Mozark,

You're right. I forgot about the plastic liners. There's no mistaking those welders for quality equipment. It's ironic that it usually takes an experienced and capable weldor to get acceptable performance from a cheap piece of equipment (cheap new, not cheap because it's used), but it's often people with little or no welding experience who buy them. I can hardly imagine the amount of frustration that must result from trying to weld with a terrible welder and thinking that's what welding is supposed to be like.

Stan

 

[JRSutton]

I've got the Hobart 140 as well.

a lot of welding snobs will tell you that you need to spend more for a really good welder. They're not wrong if you're either a pro welder, or have a lot of money burning a hole in your pocket.

But I've got zero complaints about this one. I can't see where any casual welder would regret buying it.

at $500 (plus a tank, extra size tips, etc) it's priced a little on the high side of where it should be.

But it's a great little welder for what it is.

I only use it for sheet metal up to about 1/8" or so.

I use a stick welder for 1/4 or more.

If it's your only welder, then I'd say get something that's 220v to give you more range.

I haven't used a harbor freight welder, so I can't compare. But price wise - I think it's money well spent to ensure you've got something that you can rely on.

 

[Fullers Farmalls]

I got one of them about 3 or 4 years ago and it works great. I'm no expert(far from it) but I have welded a lot with it. Worked great for me.

 

[Anonymous-0]

do not use a lite extension cord 12 g at the least

 

[W_B]

I got one on a Black Friday sale a couple of years ago. Didn't want to spend much as don't have much need for one. Usually just some light repairs to feeders and lawn mowers, etc. I hadn't used a welder in probably 35 yrs either. The first time I used it to repair one of the stays that go from the tractor top link connection to the 3 pt. arms and the drawbar on an old 9N. Worked great and didn't look to bad once I ground it down. You can't adjust the one side anymore but it works fine. The second time I tried it I got nothing. Took the cover off and discovered a connection inside had pulled loose, it probably wasn't a tight connection from the factory. Just pushed it back in and it worked fine for welding a broken bracket on a mower deck. Still getting used to a wire welder as I learned on a stick welder and used that quite a bit on the farm fixing the old junk we had for farm equipment.

I got an old Craftsman stick welder at a sale but have to change out the receptacle in the garage in order to test it. They said it works but didn't guarantee it. It's one of the "limited input" types where you have to plug the leads into a connection for the amperage you want. Didn't pay much and it has several extra leads, a helmet and gloves with it. Figure the scrap value (it is a heavy sucker, two of us could barely lift it into the back of my pickup) is about what I paid so if it doesn't work right I'll probably break even.

 

[mj]

(quoted from post at 20:57:31 05/21/14) do not use a lite extension cord 12 g at the least

THAT is a VERY good point! Even 12ga. isn't enough if the cord is very long - a good 10ga by 50 or 100 feet is spendy but well worth it 8)