welder

[JCutter]

Whats your thoughts on this welder?



Chicago Electric 44567 Flux Wire Welder



I might me able to pick one up CHEAP. It will only be used for little stuff. I know its not mine or probably everybodys favorite but did i cay i can get it cheap and it not hot either. Whats your thoughts.



Jeremie

 

[Turbo Tim 1]

So what is cheap? Less than $100? It is basically a disposable welder, it probably doesn't have a regulator for true MIG welding and would cost too much to buy one seperately so if you want to MIG weld it may not be a good buy.

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

That welder is available new from Harbor Freight for $129. 99 - http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=44567 . It can't be used with gas so it's a flux core welder only. What are you trying to do with it? It only has two settings - 63 to 68 amps (low), 79 to 90 amps (high). With only 90 amps you will be fairly limited in what you can do with it and with only two settings you'll probably get frustrated at times because you'll either be burning through or not have enough heat. You might be able to do 1/8" max. A better choice for a cheap welder to get start is the Dual mig 151 which goes on sale regularly for $199. 99 - but you have to have 220 for it. That one comes setup for flux core but you can buy a regulator for about $30 and run it on gas as well. I have a dual mig 151 that I use for steel when I want to bang something out quick (used to use it on aluminum as well). It's a decent welder and I've gotten a lot of use out of it for the $200 I have in it - I've put about 8 spools of wire through it. It's ok as a starter welder to get you introduced to welding and won't break the bank if you hate it or don't use it. I now have a tig welder on the cart along side it and use it for most things now but still turn on the mig as well. I'll probably replace it with a lincoln SP175+ down the road (~$700) but it's served so far.

 

[Joseph Donnelly]

About 24 years ago I bought a Lincoln AC 225 welder, affectionately known as a "buzz box" to learn enough welding to do one project. Since then I have done thousands of things with it. I can weld thick stuff with 5/32" sticks 175 amps) so you couldn't beat them apart in a week. I can use 5/64" stick (60 or 75 amps) to do a good job with . 060" thick stuff, and can go thinner if needed and if the weld doesn't have to look great. And, I don't consider myself a "good" welder, just a hobbiest. How good the welds look depends on practice and somewhat on skill. There are better welding machines for many things, but that is one versatile machine. The steel can have rust, paint, coatings, be in the wind, whatever. For thin to medium thick, clean metal out of the wind, MIG is great. DC voltage helps for some things, I'm told (I recently got a deal on Lincoln AC/DC but haven't used it yet).

 

[JCutter]

It will not be used for very much maybe sheet metal for radiator cages on big generators and little stuff like that maybe quick fixes on the 4 wheel rig (samurai).



Its on an auction so i may be able to get it for less that 100 shipped to the house and its still NIB.



Ive only use to using an arc welder and have only used a mig a few times. Just figured this one i could through in the trailer and hook it to the gen when i need it. Pretty much the throw away welder as mentioned above.



If you take the line where i mentioned what it is and copy and past it in google it will bring up a webpage for propertyroom something , something just click on it and its a website on repoed stuff.



If i want a nice one it wouldnt be this one i would probably go with tig and learn how to use it.





Jeremie

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

The problem you'll run into on sheet metal is that you have very little heat control with that one (2 settings - 60, 90) - I had the same problem with the Dual mig 151 - it has 4 settings (30, 60, 90, 120). When your trying to do sheet metal there's a fine line between welding and vaporizing/melting. For quick fixes on your samurai if your talking anything substantial at all you probably won't have enough heat with that one. I forgot in my estimate that it's a 110 welder - I doubt you'd even be able to do 1/8" thick steel with it.

 

[JCutter]

Thanks for all the info but its higher than i would pay for it. Its at $58 now.



http://www.stealitback.com/bidhisto...Electric+44567+Flux+Wire+Welder&i=0269-005419



I figured with 1 day left it would stay fairly low. 30 bucks wasnt bad if i could have got it for that.



Jeremie