The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Tool Chest mig welder

This is a mig welder from harbor freight. Has any one bought one and how good are they. I don't want a flux core welder I want one that uses gas and this one is both. Any imput would be great. My mini mig that I've had over 20 years just crapped out. I don't have a lot of money to spend and yes I know you get what you pay for. http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=55250

The thing to remember is you normaly get what you pay for,If you don't care if when it breaks that finding parts may be an issue than it should be ok, if not you may want to look at HD, lowes or other places that have more name brand welders.

Ed

dad6timz,

I can't vouch for the quality of this welder, I will merely say this. Make sure you actually see the guts of the machine to verify that it truly does have a gas valve and will operate with shielding gas.

I have seen Harbor Freight advertise incorrectly.

Gun liners and contact tips are thought of as consumables...make sure you can find these items to fit your welder. Without them, it is a table with wheels.

With Harbor Freights liberal return policy, I would certainly give this welder a road test!

Stuart

Maybe the liberal return policy doesn't apply to "Factory Reconditioned" items...if this were the case, I would get religion, as robin58 did, and shop elsewhere.


Stuart

I have one, it has been thru 2 rolls of wire w/no troubles, yes it will operate w/gas but you have to buy a regulator($35). yes it is a cheap welder, but I cannot afford a real one. I paid $40 for mine, it was a returned unit that did not feed wire-it had a piece of wire broken off inside the liner, once removed it has worked fine. brian

Thanks for the imput but after messing around with my old one it now works. I now get to spent the money on an exhaust system for my truck. Money better spent for sure.

I bought a recon clarke off ebay last year, its a dual mig, for less that 150. That thing penetrates like crazy, really easy to use and has been a workhorse. We weld some beefy stuff on our project truck. Anyway just two cents on the subject.

The problem most people have with a wire feed welder is the "feed" part. You have to make sure that the spool can rotate freely-but not too freely. Also ensure that the drive rollers are adjusted correctly. If you have machine that uses plastic drive rollers (most all do) you should keep spares with you replacement tips as these are consumables as well.

I ditched my 220 lincoln mig for a clarke. The clarke better handles the heavier work where the lincoln preferred the light welding.

Oh, I started shopping for the replacement because I tired of replacing the plastic drive wheels in the Lincoln. Welded every day and the roller might have lasted a few weeks.

My century 125 GL has steel feed wheels. It only acted up once, when the wire birdnested before I knew what was going on and caused the welder to shutdown. Removed the nest and the thing was fine.

My migs only draw back is that sometimes the inner spiral liner shifts and will make those birdnests and then I have to take it apart and reset it. Other than that, its great.

If money grew on trees, well, I'd replace it.

Anyone had any experience with the HTP rigs? they look impressive enough...