Anyone have one or know where they are made? There are a lot of posts on other boards about them and a guy from Eastwood named Matt who has responded to them (probably his job), but I've never found out where exactly they are made and with whose parts. Eastwood seems to be very secretive about this. The price and warrantee are tempting on them but it would be nice to know that there are parts readily available if something breaks after the warrantee expires. Also I would prefer not to support the Chinese economy by buying one of these. I figure we need all the help with jobs we can get right now in the US. China seems to be doing fine.
Do these welders have plastic drive mechanisms. Eastwood always wants to compare these to Lincolns and Lincoln recently switched their drive mechanisms to metal (looks like diecast aluminum to me - slightly better than plastic).
I've bought a lot of stuff from Eastwood before with mixed results: most of it is acceptable for the restorations I do and some of it isn't worth the packaging it comes in. I tried returning one of these things and they wouldn't take it back. That would be another one of my concerns: very poor customer service on problems with these welders or if they didn't perform up to all the hype they give them (as they give all their products).
I was just wanting some real world input on these things just in the remote chance they are worth looking into. Thanks.
