tyson Posted October 25, 2013 Share Posted October 25, 2013 (edited) I was going to chime in earlier and suggest Northern for a cheap welder. Their MIGs actually get really, really good reviews. I owned one previously and it did a fine job. Not as good as a nice 220v one, but for the price I absolutely could not argue. My current welder is a Hobart 140 (i think). I got it off craigslist with 2 full spools of wire, cart, tank and auto-helmet for only $300. Yep, steal of a deal. I'd say it welds very similar to the Northern unit, heck it may be the same guts. Edited October 25, 2013 by tyson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LLave Posted October 25, 2013 Share Posted October 25, 2013 I have seen some nice little Lincolns on craigslist cheap lately... Take a look. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tecreatta Posted October 25, 2013 Share Posted October 25, 2013 I have a 220V HF MIG with argon. It gets the job done I can't bitch about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaparral2f Posted October 27, 2013 Share Posted October 27, 2013 I have an ESAB Migmaster 250 and I love it. It'll do anything, but it wasn't even in the same neighborhood as inexpensive. If you can find one used and have 220, try to find a used Millermatic 35. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nismosilvia Posted November 4, 2013 Share Posted November 4, 2013 Haters always guna hate. I love my 100 dollar flux core wire welder its better then not having one at all. You can easily do anything you need to get done with one. People buy them have no skill no rime or reason and start blasting them because ohh the welds suck or there's slag. Don't even have a clue about basic foundations of welding but its the machine fault. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony D Posted November 24, 2013 Share Posted November 24, 2013 (edited) Haters always guna hate. I love my 100 dollar flux core wire welder its better then not having one at all. You can easily do anything you need to get done with one. People buy them have no skill no rime or reason and start blasting them because ohh the welds suck or there's slag. Don't even have a clue about basic foundations of welding but its the machine fault. With all due respect due given your above comment, screw you sir! Opinion is one thing, what you are stating is something altogether different. And, in fact, flies DIRECTLY in the face of what many have said "proper welds, penetration correct, but setup and adjustment is a PITA"... The skills level here is a bit higher than most Honda Boards. An example to be found in Post #16: "Naptown Dave-Always Here -Members-188 posts-Location Indianapolis IN-Posted 20 August 2013 - 02:35 PM I've been involved in the welding industry for more than 20 years (man that makes me feel old)." Your dismissive comment is a bit insulting when more than one poster on the thread has similar qualifications. When a machine can't feed without repeated birds nesting, it's a POS. With the price difference between the machines, the smart bet (as most have agreed) is to spend the nominal amount more to get something that works reliably. I'm a fan of HF, and will rebuild most of their stuff so it works. But the wire feed welder I got was not really worth what I paid... I would have been money ahead buying a Lincoln,Marquette, or ESAB... For less than $200 more than the POS Birdsnest Special, I ended up buying a 300A Hobart Cyber-TIG with a Spool Gun Attachment from a welder friend who retired. Know what? It's 1,000% better. And hasn't Birdsnested once. You want my old HF Unit? You can HAVE it...I will gladly GIVE it to YOU exclusively... You deserve it's quality for the comments you made. The 220V units MAY be better than their 110V stuff...but I will not chance it when I've seen the competition's stuff with better fit, finish, & functionality. Edited November 24, 2013 by Tony D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slowpoke Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 Just got a wire feed HF welder (the black one) as a xmas present. I don't have much experience welding but the mechanicals work fine. I don't get any bird nesting. Not many ways to adjust it. I get some burn through and tons of splatter, but i kinda suck at welding, so... If you have a big job ahead of you i would not recommend it, if you are just playing around with it for fun and wasting metal, it works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djbit Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 (edited) I got the Eastwood 135 for 299.00 and a CO2 + Argon mix bottle. Works great for sheetmetal. The HF 90amp flux welder was making holes left and right for me but did an okay job for muffler pipes and heavier metals. Once I get the a bit more experience I'm shooting for a the Eastwood 175 that comes with a gun for aluminum. Edited January 2, 2014 by djbit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nismosilvia Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 Tony D I think you need to get off your imagimary high horse and read what I said. Your a straight fool. I'm supprised your able to write a sentence because you odviously can't comprehend basic speech. What I said is very reasonable. People that generally buy hf welders dont know shit about welding how is that hard to grasp? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seattlejester Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 Tony D, I think you need to get off your imagimary high horse and read what I said. You're a straight fool. I'm supprised you're able to write a sentence because you odviously obviously can't comprehend basic speech. What I said is very reasonable. People that who generally buy hf welders don't know shit about welding, how is that hard to grasp? Haters are always guna going to hate. I love my 100 dollar flux core wire welder. its It's better then not having one a welder at all. You can easily do anything you need to get done do with one. Many People who buy them have no skill, no rime rhyme, or reason and start blasting them because, saying phrases such as "ohh the welds suck," or "there's slag." They Don't even have a clue about basic foundations of welding and yet, but its the machine fault they blame the machine. Accusing someone of a lack of "basic speech" and then asking someone to re-read something that actually points out your lack of mastery of "basic speech" is kind of silly to be honest. The 100$ flux core harborfreight welder is a flux welder. That means it will cause slag. People complaining about slag is perfectly valid, flux wire causes slag and splatter. I will say, I didn't have a problem with birdnesting with mine either, I was using lincoln wire though. And it is really limited to what you can do with a flux 90 amp welder. Welding long beads is difficult as you have to periodically clean splatter, and slag can adhere to brand new panels which means you have to chisel/brush/grind around the area you welded each time. That's 3 passes over the same area compared to 1 pass with a mig. Plus the range of a 2 setting welder is pretty darn low. Thin metal is pretty much out of the question, unless you are truly truly truly skilled with a torch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nismosilvia Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Ohh wow your super cool jester. Go out of your way to correct something I typed in a minute on a smart phone. Sooo damn awesome of you. So awesome in fact one gold star for you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avernier Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 Who has a banhammer around here? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m1ghtymaxXx Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 Who has a banhammer around here? Agreed. This clown clearly has nothing to contribute. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stlbmxking Posted February 24, 2014 Share Posted February 24, 2014 Man, am I glad I found this thread! This is my first post but I have been reading through the sight for several months now coming up with ideas for my 240z build. I have some frame repair needed to I was looking for some welding info and reviews on welders. Thanks for all the info guys! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony D Posted March 9, 2014 Share Posted March 9, 2014 The fact that experienced welders decided to 'try out' the cheap stuff and were not impressed blasts the ignorance of the comment "(sic) haters guna hate" comment, which was precisely my point. It had nothing to do with that, and the dismissive nature of the screeching chimp jumping in claiming "high horse" and all was just.... useless. He came not to further the discourse, nor to be helpful in any way...just to (paraphrase) "Be a hater and hate on those who posted." What do you expect from someone who can't spell 'county' and blames everything on a smartphone. Smarter than he is, obviously...it puts red lines under the stuff I punch into it (like "guna" above) and I have to consciously ignore the phone's spelling corrections to post tripe that resembles his... (Sent from my iPhone, in a rush, from the front seat of a Suzuki Carry bouncing down potholed secondary coastal roads in Batangas Philippines on 3G....if that makes any difference -- or perhaps lofts me up into that High Horse position again showing my Ubermensch Propensity towards superior grammar and punctuation regardless of input vehicle...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psdenno Posted March 9, 2014 Share Posted March 9, 2014 This thread appears to have run its course. What started out as a simple request for information about the capabilities of a HF welder has now degenerated to name calling, mocking, and bullying. I think the early responses made it clear that the HF unit wasn't a good choice and that there were better options for not too much more money from a variety of sources. Then the superiority complex kicked in. Any disagreement was met name calling, lack of writing skills bashing, and put downs. Tony's message above was really the icing on the cake. He managed to fit name calling, grammar bashing, a little German, and a superiority complex all into one message that really added nothing to answering the original question. Responding with an iPhone "from the front seat of a Suzuki Carry bouncing down potholed secondary coastal roads in Batangas Philippines on 3G....if that makes any difference -- or perhaps lofts me up into that High Horse position again showing my Ubermensch Propensity towards superior grammar and punctuation regardless of input vehicle..." apparently makes it all OK and adds to the discussion on the value of the HF welder. This topic is now dead to me. Dennis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seattlejester Posted March 10, 2014 Share Posted March 10, 2014 (edited) To be fair, coming into this thread and informing everyone how much it upsets you with a recap of how you perceived the happenings really doesn't add value towards answering the original question either. Pointing out someone's mistake is not bashing/bullying/ or mocking. If someone's fly is unzipped, informing him of it does not make you a bully. If they take it that way that is their prerogative. You can be seen as an a-hole for doing it bluntly in the wrong situation, but that's about it. You are not forcing them into a certain behavior, making fun of them, or hating them without reason. Tony may have been a bit outspoken, but I had a sense of him peppering his statements with jovial remarks to try and cushion direct statements. Regardless of how it may have been perceived, the truth is he is doing something important, which is preventing the spread of misinformation. If the next person came around and saw the post that one can do anything with the 90amp flux welder they may end up spending their budget on a cheap welder and end up ruining expensive body panels. It is better to prevent this from happening at all and point someone towards a quality tool that will help down the road. Now, someone suggesting that all welders other than ____ are crap and that you would be considered nothing more than an amateur or something of that nature would indeed be on a high horse and a bully. Bottom line, a flux core welder is not the ideal tool unless you don't have access to gas or you work in a windy location. If that is the only condition you can work in and you have to do thinnish metal, it will be the ideal choice for that situation. A mig will deliver good clean welds when welding to well prepped materials and shielded from strong gusts and will throw off minimal sparks if you maintain the right distance. A Tig will be even better in the low propagation of sparks, but does require two hands to use correctly as well as changing out rods frequently for longer welding sessions. I do agree this thread seems to have run it's course. Edited March 10, 2014 by seattlejester Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony D Posted March 11, 2014 Share Posted March 11, 2014 I think I said the same thing PS Denno did, without being whiny or butthurt. There's a whole LOT of uselessness in this thread that can be culled... Some people see the nature of irony I use...others do not. I care not either way. Bashing experienced welders by dismissing their qualifications doesn't seem good form in my book, especially when nothing is added...and that was the core point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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