At Harbor Freight's Parking Lot Sale on March 8, 9, & 10th.

MIG (Metal Inert Gas) welding is sometimes referred to as the "hot glue gun"
of the welding world and is generally regarded as one of the easiest type of
welding to learn.

The "inert gas" has been replaced by inert gas trapped in the flux wire (I
guess). That is, gas is no longer required.

This is the same gizmo I bought (from a Craigslist ad) a week or so ago.
I've done one "project", welding a leg back in place on the fireplace
andiron, and experimented on a few metal scraps. Using the device requires
more skill than a glue gun, but the welder itself does a perfectly
acceptable job on steel from 3/16" to 18 gauge.

Anyway, this HF kit, #68887, contains all you need to get started. There ARE
some additional items you'd probably start lusting after:

* 0.035 wire from Northern Tool. The HF 0.030 wire that comes with the HF
kit does not rate highly.
* A self-darkening helmet
* Leather Gloves
* Leather apron
* Welding/chipping hammer (#66389)
* Large & small wire brushes
* Spare welding tips (#98108)
* MIG welding pliers (# 33836) for cleaning tip, cutting wire, etc.
* Welding cart (# 90305)
* Welding blanket (#67833)

Other stuff, according to the parking lot sale flyer:

Multimeter $2
Cable ties, white/black, pack of 100 $2
1/4 AND 3/8 socket set (40 pieces) $3
Wire stripper/cutter $3
500W Halogen bulbs - 2 pack $1
7-piece plier set - $9
Multifunction Miracle Twitching Tool - $15

As an aside: After discovering Harbor Freight how many of you have, um,
"upgraded" to THREE sets of tools: workshop, house, and car? The sets may,
of course, differ, but having a tool where it's needed sure is handy.

Sure it's a good price, but what would I do with a "Multifunction Miracle Twitching Tool"?

It'd just clutter up my garage when I'm not twitching miracles.

On Sun, 17 Feb 2013 13:40:22 -0600, "HeyBub"
wrote:

At Harbor Freight's Parking Lot Sale on March 8, 9, & 10th.

I guess that's why the online ad still has a higher price, 110 marked
down from 150.

Two...that is, four concerns. How much does it weigh? I dl'd the
manual and even it doesn't say.

I don't need it right now, but the first review I read said the wire
feed broke in 30 seconds**. I guess this means I have to find
something to weld, if I buy it???

**This doesn't bother me. Over all it got very good ratings. I
didnt print anything with my new computer printer, for 3 months, long
after the store warranty expired. But everything so far has worked,
and I've tried almost every option. (There sure are a lot.)

Another problem. I really want a welder, but every time I've needed
something welded, I took it to one guy or another and they were all so
cheap. $10 or 15. At that rate, it's going to take a long time
to warrant buying one. And I think one of those jobs was beyond the
capacity of this welder. On one occasion, it was a fence and I
couldn't take it in, but I used SolidOx and that worked. It seemed to
use a lot of the fuel pellets, but still.

One can weld AND cut with acetylene

I didn't mean to be so negative. I started out thinking how great it
would be to have this, and I still think so.

MIG (Metal Inert Gas) welding is sometimes referred to as the "hot glue gun"
of the welding world and is generally regarded as one of the easiest type of
welding to learn.

The "inert gas" has been replaced by inert gas trapped in the flux wire (I
guess). That is, gas is no longer required.

This is the same gizmo I bought (from a Craigslist ad) a week or so ago.
I've done one "project", welding a leg back in place on the fireplace
andiron, and experimented on a few metal scraps. Using the device requires
more skill than a glue gun, but the welder itself does a perfectly
acceptable job on steel from 3/16" to 18 gauge.

Anyway, this HF kit, #68887, contains all you need to get started. There ARE
some additional items you'd probably start lusting after:

* 0.035 wire from Northern Tool. The HF 0.030 wire that comes with the HF
kit does not rate highly.
* A self-darkening helmet
* Leather Gloves
* Leather apron
* Welding/chipping hammer (#66389)
* Large & small wire brushes
* Spare welding tips (#98108)
* MIG welding pliers (# 33836) for cleaning tip, cutting wire, etc.
* Welding cart (# 90305)
* Welding blanket (#67833)

Other stuff, according to the parking lot sale flyer:

Multimeter $2
Cable ties, white/black, pack of 100 $2
1/4 AND 3/8 socket set (40 pieces) $3
Wire stripper/cutter $3
500W Halogen bulbs - 2 pack $1
7-piece plier set - $9
Multifunction Miracle Twitching Tool - $15

As an aside: After discovering Harbor Freight how many of you have, um,
"upgraded" to THREE sets of tools: workshop, house, and car? The sets may,
of course, differ, but having a tool where it's needed sure is handy.

micky wrote:
On Sun, 17 Feb 2013 13:40:22 -0600, "HeyBub"
wrote:

At Harbor Freight's Parking Lot Sale on March 8, 9, & 10th.

I guess that's why the online ad still has a higher price, 110 marked
down from 150.

Two...that is, four concerns. How much does it weigh? I dl'd the
manual and even it doesn't say.

Thirty-one pounds, not counting the cables.


I don't need it right now, but the first review I read said the wire
feed broke in 30 seconds**. I guess this means I have to find
something to weld, if I buy it???

The problem, I think, is with the supplied wire. Many reviews said it is
sub-par.

On 02/18/2013 12:30 AM, micky wrote:
On Sun, 17 Feb 2013 13:40:22 -0600, "HeyBub"
wrote:

At Harbor Freight's Parking Lot Sale on March 8, 9, & 10th.

I guess that's why the online ad still has a higher price, 110 marked
down from 150.

That's the 90 amp welder, not the 70 amp welder that HeyBub described.

Both of those are rather under powered IMHO, so if you had to get one of
the two I'd get the 90A unit, but it would be better to save up for the
170A unit that can take a bottle if you want to go that route.

Jon

On Feb 17, 2:40*pm, "HeyBub" wrote:
At Harbor Freight's Parking Lot Sale on March 8, 9, & 10th.

MIG (Metal Inert Gas) welding is sometimes referred to as the "hot glue gun"
of the welding world and is generally regarded as one of the easiest type of
welding to learn.

Can metal be cut with this type of welder?

On Sun, 17 Feb 2013 13:40:22 -0600, "HeyBub"
wrote:

As an aside: After discovering Harbor Freight how many of you have, um,
"upgraded" to THREE sets of tools: workshop, house, and car? The sets may,
of course, differ, but having a tool where it's needed sure is handy.


I have a lot of items from HF and overall am very happy with them for
the amount of use I give them. The good ones are too many to list. The
exceptions a

*Dado Set - leaves terrible ridges at the bottom of the cut.
*Their cheap Impact Wrench - basically worthless
*Digital Angle Measuring Tool - it was off .2 degrees with no way to
calibrate

Maybe the single HF item I have used most are their spray guns. I have
about 6-7 of them. I have sprayed many gallons of poly and paint and
have always been very pleased with the results.