For mild steel, stainless steel, and aluminum. Weld with gas or perform flux cored gasless operations.
Welding current range: 25 to 87 amps
Input: single phase 115 volts, 60 Hz
Open voltage: 19 to 30
Duty cycle: 20% @ 75 amps, 45% @ 50 amps
Draws 21 amps @ 120 volts
Weldable wires: 0.023'' to 0.035'' steel and stainless steel, 0.030'' to 0.035'' aluminum, 0.030'' flux-cored
Includes: 2 lb. spool of flux cored wire, handheld face shield, brush hammer, fuse power line; Weight: 55.8 lbs.

$174.99

what do you guys think of this mig welder? is it a good deal? im a DIY kinda of guy and i would like to make my own exhaust system. is this mig welder good enough for what i want to do?

btw, im glad this forum was created

 

I would put some extra money into it, and buy either a Lincoln Electric or Hobart welder. They are more powerful, and parts are common for them. I don't know that the Harbor Freight welder is bad, but I've seen many times from Harbor Freight that you get what you pay for.

 

I have that exact welder. Its not bad for what I do, random hobby stuff, but it doesn't lay a pretty weld to say the least, but it works.

Brett

 

I've got the one step above that and I love it! I can lay a pretty nice bead w/o gas and with gas it'd be sweet for what it cost. Don't be fooled by the name. I love my HFT welder and I've made my whole turbo kit with it. Made my manifold, downpipe, chargepipes, and fixed enough things with it to pay for itself. habor freight OWNZ!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by egizzle6 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I've got the one step above that and I love it! I can lay a pretty nice bead w/o gas and with gas it'd be sweet for what it cost. Don't be fooled by the name. I love my HFT welder and I've made my whole turbo kit with it. Made my manifold, downpipe, chargepipes, and fixed enough things with it to pay for itself. habor freight OWNZ!</TD></TR></TABLE>

kool so it is a pretty good deal right?

thanks for the feedback

 

ive welded with a harbor freight before. welded up my exhaust and intercooler piping on my old car. not the prettiest welds i can lay by far but it works good. not a bad deal at all IMO

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by TrayDay2K1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">ive welded with a harbor freight before. welded up my exhaust and intercooler piping on my old car. not the prettiest welds i can lay by far but it works good. not a bad deal at all IMO</TD></TR></TABLE>

but cant you hide the "ugly" welds by grinding 'em down?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SUB-0 H23 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

but cant you hide the "ugly" welds by grinding 'em down? </TD></TR></TABLE>

exactly...i welded the piping in place. then i took it off and ground down the welds with a grinder. i used JB weld to cover up the grinding and sanded it down and painted it. looked awesome also i was using flux core wire but if you get this welder make sure and spend the money and get gas. it will be soooo much better. lemme see if i can find a pic of thses ghetto welds i did.....



as you can see the piping looks really good after i did all this and painted it. people always complemented the piping ( those who knew i did all this in my backyard)

 

These Harbor Freight welders (87 & 115 amp) don't look like you could use gas with them. Correct me if i'm wrong.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by egizzle6 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I've got the one step above that and I love it! I can lay a pretty nice bead w/o gas and with gas it'd be sweet for what it cost. Don't be fooled by the name. I love my HFT welder and I've made my whole turbo kit with it. Made my manifold, downpipe, chargepipes, and fixed enough things with it to pay for itself. habor freight OWNZ!</TD></TR></TABLE>

i have the m-100 i think its called, its the one below the shown one, it doesnt have gas. i paid 100 for it, and cant believe how well it does. i weld 304L stainless with it, and it works like a champ. its not as great as my friends lincoln gas, but for what i do (Ic piping, down pipes, exhausts, ect) it works perfect.

 

My welder is much crappier. let me tell you, a shitty welder is 1000x better than no welder. For a DYIer, a crappy welder is great.

 

I've got one for sale if you're interested.... Like everyone said, the welds don't look pretty but it gets the job done. I've only used it to make my turbo piping and never touched it again.

 

I have the exact one shown as well. Sometimes I find it lacking in power output. It seems it doesnt have enough juice to run the max heat setting along with wire speed much over 2 (wire speed goes to 10)

Works for exhuast and IC work, along with fixing small things around the house. I've had it about 8-9 months now and have done several local IC pipe installs with it, along with make mounts and brackets. Ditto on welds not being the prettiest. Every once in a while I can make a really pretty weld with it, but most deffinatly not consistantly.

Has anyone tried to weld aluminum with this welder? I was told a spool gun was pretty much required to weld aluminum with a mig, and I was under the impression one wasnt available for this welder. I was also under the impression a 115V mig wouldnt have enough juice to do any aluminum other than like coke can thickness...

PS: you can mig weld turbo manifolds? I was always told they needed TIG welding due to tig having a less heat affected area thus reducing cracking tendency at the weld.

 

back from the dead!! im looking at buying this welder for christmas, actually the mig-100, flux cored, no gas.. (also im an absolute beginner..) think you can weld up 304L SS manifolds with this beast? thanks!

 

from what i've read it wont be able to penetrate very well because of the low power, if you bevel the edges however i dont see why you wouldnt have a problem, it just might take a few tries lol

 

i have the harbor freight 130 dual mig, kinda the same welder but a tad more power. i welded up all my intercooler piping, dumptubes and exhausts plus do some friends stuff. sometimes as far as the quality of beads its NOT the machine, its the welder himself.

i couldnt do much welding wheni bought it but six months later, im not bad at all, and if i can weld with a harbor freight welder then im surei can with a miller. its alli could afford at the time

 

do you by any chance have any pictures of the welds?

 

igizzle6: please post pics of the manifold and the other pieces you made. I am curious to see how they came out with this welder.

I just purchased $5,000 worth of equipment. Miller Tig, Mig, Plasma Cutter, Bead Roller, Notcher, Bender, Sand Blaster, JET Bandsaw, Die Grinder and a bunch of accessories. Time to start learning to make all the ideas I have dreamed im my sleep...

Watchout world!!!

 

i'm not going to say anything bad about that welder but i have seen that exact welder be a total pile of **** in person; the company i used to work for bought one for their shop; it sucked. Broke the day they brought it in.
But at the same tiime i've seen a guy or two on the net use it with moderate success.

I wouldn't buy one; i bought a lincoln pro-mig 175 (sp175t non-plus basically) and that is a quailty machine; i love it. I ALSO have a harbor freight tig; that little box is quite handy!

 

bump. so you're saying you don't think its enough to weld through 1/2" flanges to piece up a manifold? I would love you get a hobart handler with a gas option, but i'd like to learn with a cheap one first... all in all, you think this welder is worth the $109.99 sale price?

p.s. - the welder im am referring to is a 90 amp and not the one pictured above..(no gas option)

thanks

 

Personally I am a big fan of Miller stuff, but for $100 its tough to pass it up. I wouldn't buy one since I have a nicer Miller, but for someone who is just gonna be welding occasionally it wouldn't be a bad buy. I would HIGHLY recommend getting the welder with the gas option.

 

I just bought a Millermatic 135amp MIG. I need to find a gas bottle and filling station in the vicinity before I try and teach myself this black magic

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Accurate GS-R &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">bump. so you're saying you don't think its enough to weld through 1/2" flanges to piece up a manifold? I would love you get a hobart handler with a gas option, but i'd like to learn with a cheap one first... all in all, you think this welder is worth the $109.99 sale price?

p.s. - the welder im am referring to is a 90 amp and not the one pictured above..(no gas option)

thanks </TD></TR></TABLE>

yea for $110 i dont think you can do much harm! if it works it works and if it doesn't you can go in and be the angry customer and get your money back! i've seen it done

 

I used to have one of the HF 125amp flux-core welders. I believe Chicago Electric was the brand name. I returned it a few days later...I couldn't get any good beads, and I hated how it only had two heat settings High and Low. From the looks of the OP's pic the MIG welder also has just two settings for the heat. If you were to try out the HF welder you could give it a try and if you dont like it return it and get your money back. I think it's 30 days after you purchase the item.

 

junk

nufff said