mgoblue93

Depends on what your welding. Thickness meterial ect....Spend the money and get a good\starter welder. Best bet is to get a mig welder at homedepot which is a small Lincoln electric 120 amp welder. Good price which does small body work and general repair. Stay away from cheap welders.

Lyferxb9s

The entire exhaust system on my Titan was welded with my HF welder over a year ago and is holding up very well. This entire bike was built from ground up with my HF welder over 2years ago and is also holding up perfectly fine. It doesn't take a 5000 welder to do good welds, it takes a good Welder. I weld just fine with my HF. No they aren't up to par with my Tig welds as far as being pretty but they penetrate just fine with a little practice. I prefer eastwood welders for quality on a budget if The upper end is out of budget but you don't want something from HF or home depot.

Flux core welds( not mine, but shows quality can be obtained)

XJwonders

I think the people here are advising against the cheaper welders not because of the quality of the welds, but because of the quality of the machines itself.

Sure cheap welders can do same quality of the welders as the big name welders, but they just don't last as long. And often they are limited in choice of voltage and amperes. They also have lower duty cycles, which mean if you do a lot of welding in short time, you actually can shorten the life of the welders.

Big name welders have better duty cycles and they are known for lasting decades.

Sure they are expensive at first but 30 years later, they save a lot of money. With cheaper welders, they may last few years or even more, depending on how much you push it to produce higher amperes at extended period of weld time.

I'm just saying that if u go down the big name route, you won't regret it.


With each individual, it doesn't matter what brand of welder you are using, you CAN be the best welder in the world using cheapest welder or the expensive welder, as long as you have plenty of practice.

Lyferxb9s

I see your point for sure. However, I paid 89 bucks for my harbor freight flux core only because I needed something really small and living in base housing we were not allowed to have any compressed gas bottles. That was almost 5years ago and I just used it to weld up the bracing on my speaker box a few weekends ago. I wouldn't be surprised to get 15years of use from it. I also wouldn't be surprised to get 20-30 out of an Eastwood Tig either. The low duty cycles I can see as a concern, but then again I've never had mine shut off on me. I know I did 15-18minutes of nearly constant welding when I redid the floors of my blazer. However, if you can afford to spend 500+ I would not even consider a harbor freight welder. At that time I was an e3 supporting my family. But I'm damn glad I bought that welder, its perfect for my needs.

Lyferxb9s

Hell I take that back. I would buy this http://www.eastwood.com/mig-welder-1...=mig135_welder

XJwonders

Then you, my friend, took care of it well. I have seen people adding extra computer fan on back to help co it down to extend the duty cycle.

I'm not saying that all cheap welders are gonna crap after few years, I'm just saying its highly likely to happen due to the quality of parts that manufacturers use.

Lyferxb9s

Everything that has a motor or is electric I buy the extended warranty from harbor freight. I've used it twice. Once I spilled a beer into the motor of my table saw, and 2nd my air compressor locked up.

me223656

Ive had a 80amp flux core machine from HF for about 8 years now. I use it all the time and havent had a problem yet. I might have just got a good one. Best $100 ive spent.

P.S. I make a living fabricating and welding. If Lincoln was the only brand out there. I wouldnt weld at all. Lol

BNJeepsta

You make a living off of an 80 amp HF welder?

BIGONTS

You get what you paid for. I'm sure you can get a nicely used Miller Auto for a few bucks more. Had one one for years now and it's great. Easy to use.

I must admit I buy tools from HF that I know I'm goint to abuse, but I'm always going back returning/exchanging when they always break.