so i bought this welder from the infamous harbor freight
http://www.harborfreight.com/c...=6271
i bought it cuz of the price and its a 220.......i just wanna know if any why its so shitty and what i can and cant weld.....i mean i know a bit about welding (took it for a year in school) i just dont know what the bad news is about it??? thanks!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by B18TurboEF &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">so i bought this welder from the infamous harbor freight
http://www.harborfreight.com/c...=6271
i bought it cuz of the price and its a 220.......i just wanna know if any why its so shitty and what i can and cant weld.....i mean i know a bit about welding (took it for a year in school) i just dont know what the bad news is about it??? thanks!</TD></TR></TABLE>

Put it back in the box.. and take it back! Its harbor freight.. its not quality!

I bought a clarke from weldingdepot.com and even my dad got BRILLIANT welds straight out of the box! Spend another $100 and you will be much happier! You get what you pay for!

 

I don't think there's a welding machine made that has a lower duty cycle than that one from HF.

 

Are you using it w/out gas? cuz i have one i bought from ace for $99 put argon & carbon di to it and it works great

 

:edit: argon/carbon dioxide- 75/25

 

nah im not using gas right now, but i will get some soon......just bought the welder cuz it was on sale for $175....with a 5yr warranty.....

as commented above, it apparently has a shitty duty cycle.....here is what the manual says about it:

amps..........duty cycle..........volts
30 %100 15.2
50 %60 16.5
75 %27 17.7
105 %14 19.2

i was checkin out some lincoln 110v welders and they said %20 duty cycle at 90amps.....so isnt that damn near what i would be putting out? this thing is just for welding up charge pipes and misc stuff......anybody else have an opinion?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by B18TurboEF &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">anybody else have an opinion?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Get off the computer and go weld. Operator skill is 10x more important than the machine itself....

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mopar junkie &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Get off the computer and go weld. Operator skill is 10x more important than the machine itself.... </TD></TR></TABLE>
That sounds encouraging, and is true, but only to an extent. It's about like saying that if you're a better driver, your Honda will beat a Viper in the 1/8 mile. If your car is significantly slower, you most likely won't win, no matter how good a driver you are.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by B18TurboEF &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">as commented above, it apparently has a shitty duty cycle.....here is what the manual says about it:

amps..........duty cycle..........volts
30 %100 15.2
50 %60 16.5
75 %27 17.7
105 %14 19.2
</TD></TR></TABLE>
The webpage you posted says: "Duty cycle: 15% @ 115 amps" It looks that they have reversed the order that most companies will list duty cycles....such that they have 100% up on top. I don't think you will EVER be welding with 30 amps.
Most companies would have listed it with the 14% on top...but that doesn't look nearly as good.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by B18TurboEF &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">nah im not using gas right now, but i will get some soon....</TD></TR></TABLE>DING DING DING!!!

 

so where do you buy gas and what do you need with that? if i bought that welder

 

im sure any welding store, and you would just need a regulator, the welder comes with everything you need to weld.....its a pretty damn good deal for a starter, you could allways sell it to someone for the same price you paid for it lol

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by B18TurboEF &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">im sure any welding store, and you would just need a regulator, the welder comes with everything you need to weld.....its a pretty damn good deal for a starter, you could allways sell it to someone for the same price you paid for it lol</TD></TR></TABLE>Who is going to pay the same for it used as they would new? That's assuming it was in sellable condition, which given the quality, it probably won't be.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Kookz &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Who is going to pay the same for it used as they would new? That's assuming it was in sellable condition, which given the quality, it probably won't be.</TD></TR></TABLE>
people are stupid and dont know what welders and many other things are worth, so i can get it sold for 200, its not like i weld for a living so its going to be in "like new condition".....if i cant then watever, but ill have fun with it, i can definately put charge pipes together without them coming apart.....

 

The thing is, Harbor Freight stuff isn't in "like new" condition when it IS new. It is junk.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by B18TurboEF &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
people are stupid and dont know what welders and many other things are worth</TD></TR></TABLE>
Sad but true... I can go into local pawn shops and find used weed eaters for $100...and the same thing is $75 new at Lowe's. This is just one example. Pawn shops around here are full of things like that.

 

i got a cheap flux core wire feed for $100 from HF to weld up my charge pipes (this was my first time ever welding), first couple of trys where not pretty... but with practive i was able to at least get a decent bead going in a strait line. It worked great for my charge pipes b/c i just ended up using a HF $30 angle grinder to clean it all up. Later that week i went to my buddies shop where they have a nice mig set up and my buddy was really impressed with my welds... after learning how to weld on that crappy HF flux core wire feed any quality mig afterwards is cake.

moral of the story... just practice with what you have if it will serve its purpose... you can always upgrade later.