90 amp flux core welder

[140rider]

Anyone use this welder? - http://www.harborfreight.com/welding...der-98871.html

I'm new to welding and was wondering how good it would be for a first wire feed welder? It gets 93 reviews with an average of 4 2/3 stars so apparently it works great for most people but I wanted to know if it would be a decent starter and if it has decent capabilities. I plan on making a go-kart so it would see for the frame at worst probably 1/8" thick walled tubing. I was wondering about this one because it's really cheap and I was afraid if I got say a Lincoln 140 or Hobart handler 140 I'd regret spending so much for a 110V unit that wouldn't handle later welding(once I gain experience and an SUV I'll probably be doing some frame work, which I know is a bit much for a 110V and I can't go 220 at the moment due to lack of funds and no 220V outlets yet). If I buy it I'd get better wire for it because according to the reviews the HF wire is dirty and splatters.

Thanks!

[California]

Take a look back through this HF forum. There have been several threads on that welder and it's twin, #94056. If you post in those threads and revive them, you will get a lot of advice. Search on those two numbers.

I'll summarize my opinion: #94056 is sufficient for my occasional small farm repairs - shovels etc, and welding with bed-frame angle iron. And the present wire is finally good enough.

Since welding a gocart has safety aspects you might want to spend more and buy a welder that a pro would use.

[smawgmaw]

I had one of those welders for approximately 1 day, and sold it the next day to guy who "absolutely had to have one" just like it. I didnt care for it. Reasons: welding wire was hot at all times regardless if triger depressed or not, cheaply made wire feed and drive mechansim, low duty cycle rating. You do get all this at a much reduced price when compared to quality machines from Lincoln, Miller, Hobart, etc. You are getting what you pay for. Buy cheap, get cheap. They do have their place though, just not at my place. I was used to having and using better quality/performing units, so, it had no place in my scope of welding. Your choice. It may do for what you need now and maybe later. But, I think you would probably do better in the long run by applying the cost of that machine to a more capable unit. Good luck in your decision.

[d11b]

i had one of those for awhile. To make ANY sort of decent weld i had to crank the wire speed and heat ALL the way up. Im not going to bag on Harbor Freight welders. I would recomend the Dual MIG 151 (pn 06271) you can run flux core with it, its 220v. with a 20% off coupon and when its on sale for $180 or so its no a bad set up. Ive had mine for a year plus and it works great. Id recomend using gas with it but flux core works fine.

[valley ranch]

I have one of these it does good things for me. I can put it in the tractor bucket and take it anywhere on the ranch that has 110v and stick things together. I haven't used the big welder sence I got it. If I need to weld heavy plate I would take the part to my shop and weld it there.
I have enjoyed it.

Richard

[JDM]

would this welder be good for body work?

[dugndeep]

would this welder be good for body work?

Probably not,I have had no luck trying to weld thin material with it,for me,16 gauge is about as thin of a material I have had any luck welding a continuous bead,you might could do some spot welding letting it cool off between spots if it doesn't burn thru on initial weld.
This welder only goes down to 58 amps,so really thin stuff is out of the question.

[California]

That was my experience with #94056 too, it wanted to burn holes in any thin material.

[Spar-X]

Dual MIG 151 (pn 06271) you can run flux core with it, its 220v. with a 20% off coupon and when its on sale for $180 or so its no a bad set up.

The Dual mig 151's SKU is 97503 and you can no longer use the 20% coupon on ANY welder, sale or no sale...........BOOO0000ooooo

[Fegenbush]

I'm glad I used my coupon the other day, then. I had no intention of buying a wire welder in the near future, but I had a little change in my pocket and figured I would make the leap. They honored the coupon, so it looks like I had good timing on that one.

[jksstar]

Probably not,I have had no luck trying to weld thin material with it,for me,16 gauge is about as thin of a material I have had any luck welding a continuous bead,you might could do some spot welding letting it cool off between spots if it doesn't burn thru on initial weld.
This welder only goes down to 58 amps,so really thin stuff is out of the question.

I can't do anything under a 1/8" with any good results. Where do you have the settings to weld that thin? I put in on min and wirespeed 2 or 3 and it will burn thru, maybe its just me going to slow. I have welded a lot of 1/4" with good results, the welds are not always the best looking but they hold.

[dugndeep]

Turn your wire feed speed up to say 4 or 5 and maybe 6 and move your gun fast.It takes a little getting use to moving that fast but you have to have your wire feed speed turn up enough to lay down some metal as you are going that fast.Just try and not heat up one spot to much or it will burn thru.It's either go fast or 1 spot weld at a time which takes forever.If you see it starting to burn thru stop.That's why I say these welders aren't much good for thin material.

[dugndeep]

If I was wanting to spend just a little more money on a flux core welder,I would go to tractor supply and buy that campbell hausfeld WF 2150 flux core welder.It goes for $170 dollars and has 4 heat settings,I think the amp range is 30 -85 amps.Alot of people are spending 100 dollars plus,why not spend another 50 or 60 dollars and get one of them .At least you would have 4 heat settings.I don't know about parts or what not but couldn't be no worse than trying to get parts for one of these welders.I got mine for cheap so I'm not complaining.

[Bluewelders]

Parts for the HF welders are dead cheap,but if it is a non stocked item it will be slow to get.

[dbales]

i owned this welder for about a year or so until someone stole it out the back of my car. this is my overall take on it:

it welds good on 1/8 - 3/16 metal.

it burns through almost any kind of sheet metal.

with only two heat settings (88 and 90) it doesn't have alot of range that you can use it with.

the hf flux core wire is crap, go to lowe's or home depot and pic up a roll of lincoln wire.

overall, it is what it is, it'll weld and you might can get it to do what you want but a better welder would of course work alot better.

[dugndeep]

Here's trying to weld 24 gauge with the harbor freight 90 amp flux core,I tried everything,wire feed speed up and down,move fast or slow,it don't matter.I might go to radio shack and get a capacitor for the wire feed motor,everybody say's it will slow the wire speed down some plus smooth it out some,might help on thinner material just not on 24 gauge(lol) It just with flux core you have to hold it on there so long just to get the arc going and then it has done burnt thru,I would have tried it on thicker but I don't have any thin material laying around except for some 1/8" stuff.The wire feed on mine gets jerky at the real low settings say 1 or 2,maybe capactor would help with that.

[dugndeep]

overall, it is what it is, it'll weld and you might can get it to do what you want but a better welder would of course work alot better


I agree with dbales

[dugndeep]

I took bluewelders advice and went to radio shack and got a 100uf 35 volt capacitor.I am going to solder it across my wire feed motor terminals and see if it smooths and slows the motor down some.It won't help on lowering the amps none but it might make the wire feed a little smoother,get to putting it on after supper.

[serious_lee]

You can stack two of those 100s to make a 200. I noticed that the motor smoothed out significantly on my 151 when I added a second one.

[dugndeep]

Well I got the cap installed,noticed just a slight slow down in speed and a little less noisy wire feed motor.Like serious_lee said I might have to add another to really be able to tell a difference.I took a white paint marker and put a line on my drive roller so as to be able to count the turns.It came out to about 4 turns less per minute.I took the cap and soldered on some spade plugs and a couple of piggy back connectors so I could undo it if I didn't like it.I will try and weld some with it tomorrow to see what a difference it made if any.If not I might add another,just have to try it out and see.

[dugndeep]

more pics,I switched it around and put the cap closer to motor on piggyback instead of the way it is in last pic.I thought maybe that is why I couldn't tell much difference.

[dbales]

have you tried to weld on thin metal since adding the cap to the motor?

[dugndeep]

Not thin yet but I did just stick a 1/2" diameter steel rod in the vise and clamped the ground clamp onto it and layed a bead,I swear it seemed more smooth and robust of a weld,it was a smoother wire feed which in turn seemed to allow it to weld better.Instead of adding another 100uf 35 volt capacitor I might just add a 220uf 35 volt capacitor instead because I didn't see a 200 uf capacitor at radio shack.

[Bluewelders]

If you don't use two 100uf capacitors,a single 220uf is the standard size.
If you get too much capacitance, the motor will run on a little,

[dugndeep]

I was wanting to ask you Bluewelders,is it okay the way I done it with the piggyback connectors?I didn't want to solder it on permanent and then find out it wouldn't work and have all that to try and get off of my motors spade connectors.