txdohczc

i want to start to learn how to weld, but right now i dont have money to buy a nice welder and all that ---- so i was wondering is the harbor frieght ---- any decent at all. im not looking to build a race car with the thing i just want some thing i can ---- around with and maybe weld charge piping and down pipes with. if i get a harbor fright welder which one should i get? they have alot and im looking to spend less then 150. which is better though the flux or the stick welders?

t_cel_t

go to your local tech school, give them like $150-300 and take a welding course, usually like 2-3 hours twice a week, probably at night also.
a semester of TIG was $160

some of this ---- is not to be fucked around with, welders can deliver a lot of energy that can hurt/kill you. if you have no idea what your doing its better to learn right.

txdohczc

i have stick welded before but i was never any good. im also not an idiot (for the most part) and know anything dealing with cars needs safety first .

BoostForLife

Taking a welding class for 5.5 monts now with only $35 in fees is ------- awesome. High school needs to be taken seriously, lol
Im probably going to take 2 more years of welding classes. Its awesome to spend an hour of school everyday doing whatever the ---- i want. (Know every type of welding almost, except for tig, eager to learn that ----.)

team rs2

$150 is how much my tig class costs. they give you alumunum as much as you can weld, you can come in early, get college credit, burn through argon (argon alone usally costs $150 a tank)
so pretty much they're giving you alot of ---- for free.

last semster i went for a D1.1 cert in SMAW only ran me intal about $500.

harbor freiht stuff is usally junk/thin stuff.

not enough duty cycle to get alot of welding done, and not enough amperage to do some real ---- needed for a car.

but for making and tack welding little jigs and ----
its ok.

i got the after tanksgiving sale flux core welder (even tho they said it was a GMAW it had no gas hook ups, and the include flux core wire) and the wire feed mechnism is a cofee stir stick i managed to attach to the end if the hose (where it meeds the rubber the sstock plastic piece broke. and it tends to bird nest

ran me like $90 out the door.

i only mamged to make a thin ------- mount, pretty thin mld steel. made myself an EP3 shifter mount for my 93 civic.
made a few ok welds with it.

its alright, not going to make ------- GTAW stacked coin looking welds but if you clean them and just keep going with it you can get them pretty decent.

not bad for flux core i guess

WTF

id get a cheap stick welder for less then 100 if i needed somthing that would go thick and work ok my friend bought one for like 60 new and welded a mild steel turbo flange to a cast steel turbo with it pretty good, probly would suck trying to do pipes with it though, id save another 100 and look for a used hobart or lincoln mig probly

Toysrme

HF stuff sucks. had one, it broke abunch. go take a welding class. once you go to class on time, work hard. most guys running the shop wont care if you bring a home project in. at most, case of good beer.
team rs2 where do you live? stuff sounds expencive. weld needs more volts and faster travel.


i quit liking the HF wire welders for anyone wanting anything more than birshitting things together because they dont have the power to get a job done. cant even weld the wire normally sold with them. (note they sell many with a spray wire while the welder wont have 1/3 the output needed to crack into spray)

WTF has a better solution provided you can run some 3/32-1/8" 7018 rods okay, you could do yourself an expencive sch-40 mild steel manifold. if all you're looking for is fused together and you leave yourself a good groove to work with. just beware that those rods must be hermetically sealed. once they're open to the atmosphere they need to be stored in a running oven to keep them from sucking in water and giving your welds hydrogen contamination. Kind of a one time use deal. 6010/6011's do not require that but then you get into running keyhole root passes on aweful small pipe. and most people cant run the keyhole on plate without practice first so...

Smith-02

i've got a box of 6011 3/32 i'll donate to the cause

Toysrme

funny, i just realized im accepting donations of 6011 3/32" bawahahaha took enough of that ---- while i was in school anyway lol probably got 5-10lbs of it on a shelf. makes me realize shoulda got maybe 20 or 25. no idea what id do with it, but gotta be something nice you can do with it.

HomeMadeTurboz

Dip it in water, crank the heat. Poor mans air arc.