90A HF flux core welder for 89 dollars

Oldschool

Oldschool

New Member
#1
#1
Off to vissit the USA is a week and I have a coupon for this welder.

Looks to be the same Chinee clone that Tool town and PA sell here double the money.

Anyone have any second thoughts on this unit?

Anyone mod this welder?
I am not a welder, I'm an electrician so its contrary to my nature to cause arcs with electricity. But I am not adverse to doing things to improve the performance of the welder. I hear you can add a Rectifier to these and some caps to improve it. Not sure I understand the advantage of running dc or some of the other tricks like different wire sizes.

Been a vert long time since I did any welding.
Thats what welders at work were always for, but times changed and now there are no more guys around to stick things together for me...
 
M

metal man

New Member
#2
#2
well looking around on youtube there is a few reviews on them . there cheap little spark makers , ya wont weld a bridge way in one shot but ya can stick things together . there is no cooling fan in these little welders so they can hit the thermal overload if you push them hard . they are not good for lots of welding time in one run . some are like 2-3 min in 10 do to the no cooling fan ,adding a fan can help .

on the Rectifier and caps . well running the rectifier for dc lets you do dc strait and reversed .i dont remember it all but its basically more heat in the rod(fast fill shallow ) or the work ( deep penetration slower fill ) depending on how its setup

wire size brings 2 things ones is how much metal you can throw in one shot and how hot you can get the weld . like a big wire it can carry lots of amps before it blows ,making lots of heat where a litlle one not so much .
 
Big Jim

Big Jim

Active Member
#3
#3
I bought one last week. I have been a welder.
For the price it is a very good machine, not a Miller, but for a 110v it puts it down. The wire likes to splatter, typical flux core. I am using the .030 up then buy a spool of different wire, in .035. It doesn't have too many features high, low and wire speed. Just enough to get it done. I run mine on the high side full speed on the wire, play around with it to get it adjusted to your style.
Get some scrap clean it with a grinding wheel get used to some simple welds, flat butt and an angle weld.
I have welded a bracket to put my TAV on my Murray with a Clone, turned out nice! Filled in the holes on my Wards project bike and welded a TAV bracket for it also.

They do have a short duty cycle, the amount of time using it to the amount of cool down time. 2 and ahalf minutes of welding to 7 minutes of cool down. 2.5 doesn't sound like alot of time but 3-5 inches of weld doesn't take too much time!

Get a different hood!! The auto darken that HF sells is good, decent welding gloves and a good chipping hammer and wire brush.
For $100 it will do the job. How much will you use it? If you were welding trailers to make money, don't buy it! But, for this hobby, it's alright.
If you have welded before ( been 15++++ years for me) very easy to get back in the groove!
 
Oldschool

Oldschool

New Member
#4
#4
Thanks you all basicly echoe what I have been told.

My Brother has the Canadian version of this machine ( close as I can tell ). He welds everything with it aropund the house and even parts for me.

But I loath to go over and use it because he can be a crusty old SOB lol. I wire his house and he grumbles about time I ask for his help lol.

So....
Add a cooling fan and tinker from there.

Thanks guys.
This is just for the mini bikes, not building ships here.
 
suprf1y

suprf1y

Member
#8
#8
I've heard that just replacing the original flux core wire with quality stuff from the well known manufacturers makes a big difference.
 
Big Jim

Big Jim

Active Member
#10
#10
I am sure that a "quality" wire will make a difference, I am going to use all of the Hf splattering crap up, I'm cheap like that....
 
oldphocker

oldphocker

New Member
#11
#11
I was working yesterday and the guy had a Harbor freight flux core welder that had never been used (never even put together) He asked me to see if it would work .5 minutes later I was welding away :) It had a lot of splatter but seemed to work pretty good. Real simple machine and will do small jobs ...Just thought i'd throw that out there .
 
Oldschool

Oldschool

New Member
#12
#12
97 dollars with tax in Buffalo.

Cost to cross the boarder nothing.....

I LOVE SHOPPING IN AMERICA!
No screwing around just deals and people who want to deal.....

Also 2 bottles of Gibsons' Finest at duty free for 17 dollars....
And a copuple of cartons of Marlies. I prefer a Canadian smoke but for 1/2 price I will choke them down lol.

I had a lovely vissit to America.
A little Florida sun and Southwest managed to keep the top on my 737.
Bought some parts from a few venders in the USA ( Also saved about 50% by dealing with them direct ).

I have yet to weld anything....
I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed my trip to your country.
Been over 25 years since I was there last and I need to make more trips.
 
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