Has anyone purchased and used a 110v welder on sheet metal.
I was at harbor freight and they have 2 types one 110v and a 240v. I am wondering if the 110v will weld sheet metal. I will be replacing the lower valance and the front left corner around the head light. Also will be welding patches where rusted out spots need to be fixed.
Thanks
Tom

i have the 110v harbor freight welder. It is difficult to use because the wire drive mechanism is weak and the hose and trigger are poor quality leading to an inconsistent wire feed. I wish i had bought a more expensive welder. I have used a 110v miller and it is an absolute delight to use. big difference in price. Whatever you choose, get the gas bottle option.

better to spend a little more and get a name brand one Trust me, BTDT. Miller and Lincoln both make good 110V ones.

the self darkening helmets at HF work fine though.

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/ ... fgodvPQJ1A]

Thanks!

For a novice it might not make that much of a difference for stitch welding a repair panel onto old metal. You will still be doing cleanup with a grinder and spot putty work afterwards.

I know a number of welders with high end DC Shield Gas Welders who will use the Harbor Freight 90 Amp Gasless Flux Core welders for home shop/driveway welding since a breeze can negate the effect of the shield gas wasting it anyways. The impurities in old sheet metal sometimes make it a moot point too.

If there is a Harbor Freight in your area (there are a few within a ten mile radius here in Tampa Bay) you may want to give the 90 Amp unit a try for stitch welding some scrap sheet metal and see if it will do the job. Save the box and packaging so If you don't find it suitable you can return it.

Here are some videos of a person using a Harbor Freight 90 Amp Wire Feed Welder that costs about $100. He also has Miller and other top end equipment but will choose the Harbor Freight unit for working with old metal.

Welding some rims together:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfioT3R ... detailpage

Some thin box tubing (really bad Chinese stuff from disposable shipping frames):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vrw-dpI ... detailpage

Some will recommend using INE wire for best results which to me works since it is an Italian company with a US presence:

http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywor ... 94sqqiqz_e

http://www.ine.it/contact_us.asp

Had that one and perhaps it was me, but I found that it would blow holes even on the low setting ( mine only had two, high and low) sold it and bought a Handler 130 with gas. Much happier and much less clean up,from spatter.

seabeelt wrote:Had that one and perhaps it was me, but I found that it would blow holes even on the low setting ( mine only had two, high and low) sold it and bought a Handler 130 with gas. Much happier and much less clean up,from spatter.

At 4 to 5 times the cost the Hobart should be a whole lot better but its not in my budget however a used one from Craigs list might be found for a more reasonable price.

If you can afford it and it makes you happy why not however the Hobart wire may also have a lot to do with it.

Many folks find with the entry level welders the upgrade with the greatest impact is just switching to a higher quality flux wire such as the INE and many times just upgrading the ground clamp.

A friend mentioned to me that I could have an issue with the body filler sticking properly to a weld made with the wire with flux.
I was thinking the flux should not be a problem if the weld is ground.

Just needs to be well cleaned prior to application

a bondo to metal bond is a pure mechanical connection, so anything that contaminates the metal surface needs to be removed.

in the event no urchase has been made. Get a LE from lowes. great quality.

toml wrote:A friend mentioned to me that I could have an issue with the body filler sticking properly to a weld made with the wire with flux.
I was thinking the flux should not be a problem if the weld is ground.

If you don't remove the flux and dress the weld then yes the paint and filler won't adhere properly. Those folks who can't work with out a shielding gas would probably freak out if they had to wrap damp newspaper on bare arc welding rods or just have to have a very steady hand and a good eye like in the old days.

I learned on an old GE Franklin Style Chimney Arc Welder and at the end of the day you would take yesterdays newspaper and wrap the bare steel welding rods to prepare them for tomorrows work. After you were done welding and dressing things with a grinder then you would use an acid flux and solder the welded area using large copper irons heated over a gas burner to fill in any imperfections, sand smooth and clean up pristinely to prep for paint.

Ah life before Bondo and all these modern conveniences. You always kept some milk in the cooler just in case you got into a cadmium or vanadium allow to help with the nausea and headaches. Don't forget the pints of Gentian Violet 2% Aqueous Solution either in case you caught a grape or otherwise got burned.

I use a Hobart Handler 140 that's 2-3 years old and it works really well for single pass up to about 3/16". I've done some multipass work with some 1/4" brackets to axle tubes, etc. for my Jeep and never had an issue with anything.

I wouldn't go too generic on the welder because you will need to replace tips a lot at first if new to welding, and stuff like liners maybe every year or two assuming you aren't doing a ton of welding with it. I can actually find this stuff locally on a shelf at Farm & Fleet, etc.

I used to use a small tank of shielding gas for sheet metal work but found a specialized flux core wire that works almost as well and doesn't burn through constantly like normal flux core wire. You actually run it reverse polarity vs. normal flux wire so its definitely kind of a unique product. I can't remember the name for the life of me but I can check when I get home if anyone is interested.

The auto-darkening helmets from HF work good but it gives me a headache after about an hour because I have to make it so tight. I've never found a way to adjust it comfortably and still have it stay in place esp. at awkward positions so I try not to leave it on very long. I'm sure better helmets don't have this issue.

Thanks all.

A little added padding on the head band will usually cure the helmet adjustment issue.