MIG Welder - $79.99

[HeyBub]

At Harbor Freight's Parking Lot Sale on March 8, 9, & 10th.

MIG (Metal Inert Gas) welding is sometimes referred to as the "hot glue gun" of the welding world and is generally regarded as one of the easiest type of welding to learn.

The "inert gas" has been replaced by inert gas trapped in the flux wire (I guess). That is, gas is no longer required.

This is the same gizmo I bought (from a Craigslist ad) a week or so ago. I've done one "project", welding a leg back in place on the fireplace andiron, and experimented on a few metal scraps. Using the device requires more skill than a glue gun, but the welder itself does a perfectly acceptable job on steel from 3/16" to 18 gauge.

Anyway, this HF kit, #68887, contains all you need to get started. There ARE some additional items you'd probably start lusting after:

• 0.035 wire from Northern Tool. The HF 0.030 wire that comes with the HF kit does not rate highly.

• A self-darkening helmet

• Leather Gloves

• Leather apron

• Welding/chipping hammer (#66389)

• Large & small wire brushes

• Spare welding tips (#98108)

• MIG welding pliers (# 33836) for cleaning tip, cutting wire, etc.

• Welding cart (# 90305)

• Welding blanket (#67833)

Other stuff, according to the parking lot sale flyer:

Multimeter $2 Cable ties, white/black, pack of 100 $2

1/4 AND 3/8 socket set (40 pieces) $3 Wire stripper/cutter $3 500W Halogen bulbs - 2 pack $1 7-piece plier set - $9 Multifunction Miracle Twitching Tool - $15

As an aside: After discovering Harbor Freight how many of you have, um, "upgraded" to THREE sets of tools: workshop, house, and car? The sets may, of course, differ, but having a tool where it's needed sure is handy.

[micky]

I guess that's why the online ad still has a higher price, 110 marked down from 150.

Two...that is, four concerns. How much does it weigh? I dl'd the manual and even it doesn't say.

I don't need it right now, but the first review I read said the wire feed broke in 30 seconds**. I guess this means I have to find something to weld, if I buy it???

**This doesn't bother me. Over all it got very good ratings. I didnt print anything with my new computer printer, for 3 months, long after the store warranty expired. But everything so far has worked, and I've tried almost every option. (There sure are a lot.)

Another problem. I really want a welder, but every time I've needed something welded, I took it to one guy or another and they were all so cheap. $10 or 15. At that rate, it's going to take a long time to warrant buying one. And I think one of those jobs was beyond the capacity of this welder. On one occasion, it was a fence and I couldn't take it in, but I used SolidOx and that worked. It seemed to use a lot of the fuel pellets, but still.

One can weld AND cut with acetylene

I didn't mean to be so negative. I started out thinking how great it would be to have this, and I still think so.

[HeyBub]

Thirty-one pounds, not counting the cables.

The problem, I think, is with the supplied wire. Many reviews said it is sub-par.

[Jon Danniken]

That's the 90 amp welder, not the 70 amp welder that HeyBub described.

Both of those are rather under powered IMHO, so if you had to get one of the two I'd get the 90A unit, but it would be better to save up for the

170A unit that can take a bottle if you want to go that route.

Jon

[Frank Thompson]

Can metal be cut with this type of welder?

[HeyBub]

Very thin metal, and it won't be pretty. Essentially what you'll be doing is MELTING the material!

While it WILL work, for the kind of stock it works on, an angle grinder would be faster and neater.

[Ike]

I have a lot of items from HF and overall am very happy with them for the amount of use I give them. The good ones are too many to list. The exceptions are:

*Dado Set - leaves terrible ridges at the bottom of the cut. *Their cheap Impact Wrench - basically worthless *Digital Angle Measuring Tool - it was off .2 degrees with no way to calibrate

Maybe the single HF item I have used most are their spray guns. I have about 6-7 of them. I have sprayed many gallons of poly and paint and have always been very pleased with the results.