Harbor Freight Flux Welder

[brrman]

There's no reason for a hobbyist to own a $1000 welder unless they have the money to burn. You can weld up a brew stand with the unit in the original post.

No offense BrewBeemer, but you are not a hobbyist - you are a retired professional. You demand the best because during your time as a pro you aspired for the best. Most of use DIYers don't aspire for that. We just want a damned brew rig and wanna be able to tack stuff together around the house.

 

[BrewBeemer]

I think I have to call B.S on this.
. I can weld up to 1/2" thick materials one pass with the Miller Millermatic 251 that's rated 250 amps output besides

Well polecreek, you must be a hell of a lot smarter than the Miller welder manufacture, hell you should have them sued for false advertising of their products with the specs that are posted for their 252 Millermatic.
Between the Millermatic 251 and the newer 252 is the handles and the exit of the torch cable angled downward vs the 251, identical internal parts, transformer and output specs. Just a face lift to promote sales of a new model.

Go to http://www.millerwelds.com/products/mig/millermatic_252/

Miller 252 specs state 30 to 300 amps, that 300 amps is down to a 27% duty cycle which is below the 40% to 60%or 100% that Miller, Hobart and Lincoln rate their welders as well the "standard" for welder output ratings. Those made in China will get high amp outputs down to 20% or 10% duty cycle. Miller 452 mild steel; 22 gauge to 1/2"max , aluminum; 14 gauge to 1/2" max, w/Spoolmatic 15A or 30A spool gun still with 28 volts output.
Look on this Miller forum and go to their "Product Literature (PDF)", look below this section and click on "English" for the welders Performance Data charts of the 252 welders output in amps, volts and duty cycle. Even pushed to 300 amps your at 26 volts output.

I have Tigged and Migged with both Miller welders up to 1/2" steel and aluminum with welds that have passed under certification inspection just to see if these welders would do what they advertise. Position of the weld will make a difference. Tig heat at these high amps will go thru your gloves rather quickly besides without power factor capacitors the input will reach 131 amps, with the capacitors in line 101 amps, rather hard even on a 200 amp service. The bad part with the capacitors in line the idle amps was 55 with the efficency positive cross-over only begining around 215 amps output.
Hats off to you ploecreek to be a person smarter than the Miller welding manufacture. I should tell Miller Tech that their engineers have a person smarter than them and their products. Maybe you should be employed by them and straighten them out on thir products.
Again hats off to as i'm honored to have run across a brewing member smarter than a manufacture than Miller. I must contact Miller and tell them they are all wet and know squat about their products. That I was fooled into purchasing welders to do 1/2" as they were rated at and they will not do what their advertised specs stated.
This is a reply to what Millers spes their equipement at not the start of a pissing war I just wanted to get facts out to you and others if needed with this reply. CJ............

 

[springer]

I own a miller cricket flux welder I wouldn't be the least bit apprehensive in making a brew stand with it . The HF would also work and has proven it does by Beerthirty

Thanks guys. Its amazing what you can do with a $250 trailer, a $100 Harbor Freight wire feed, die grinder and 20 years worth of accumulated sh!t from the garage.

So lets just get on with building rigs.

 

[BrewBeemer]

There's no reason for a hobbyist to own a $1000 welder unless they have the money to burn. You can weld up a brew stand with the unit in the original post.

No offense BrewBeemer, but you are not a hobbyist - you are a retired professional. You demand the best because during your time as a pro you aspired for the best. Most of use DIYers don't aspire for that. We just want a damned brew rig and wanna be able to tack stuff together around the house.

No other words need be added, you zeroed in on me with your above reply.
I must thank you for your kind reply. I was lucky with good timing in life. I used my past knowlege of working in a machine shop, licensed A&P mechanic for the airlines as well a union electrician hence a big time DIY person at home and shop this making myself more valuable in the electrial trade being a certified welder. I was working while many wiremen were out of work in the hall in the winter time. This over the years has made less wear and tear on the body in the construction trades. This kept me employed longer on jobs not alone foreman's pay vs journeyman's besides company side jobs on weekends or after work building brackets for large cable pulling rigs. The added cream topping was a company truck with gas card to haul materials to my home and shop. Less wear on my vehicles. This extra money besides placing my welders on a 3 year tax write off allowed these machines to pay for themselves within two years with the rest as a positive income. This allowed me at that time to purchase larger Tig and Mig machines I wanted that are rated as "Heavy Industrial". I had a chance in life to purchase them as now the price for replacement is out of my cash range. Mig alone with 30A/ Spoolgun before tax is $3779 by Miller, the Tig machine replacement I recall was around $7800 before adding bottles, lines, gauges and feed cords.
Yes way over the top but I had the chance to get big machines that is larger than many small operated "Welding Shops". I know a few as friends that would kill to have my machines especially the Tig that's fully loaded. Sad part the new Miller 350 Synchrowaves have fewer features, switches and controls than my 1991 Synchrowave, made to be comsumer friendly these days.
I got lucky and took the leap plus the best part got it past the "War Department" aka wife while raising a family.
Enough about me as now i'm disabled and need spinal surgery so all hobby work is dead stopped and forced early retirement.

My opinions what I have found because I hang around a couple muffler shops.

On the smaller machines be it Miller (first choice) lincoln or Hobart one must be careful as these homeowner welders have more feed roll control problems and use heat selector switching vs a infinite control dial and knobs. This is where manufactures including Miller have cut corners to keep the price down to compete with other manufactures.
This is where you should try different machines, hands on, at your local welding supply before purchasing. Cyberweld.com - Welding Supplies - Miller, Hobart & More is one place that will have the best prices on name brand welders. I believe I have posted their addess on a early reply above. My thinking if you can get a Millermatic 210, 212 is the same welder for Mig that is a great machine. The lower amp machines are not as flexible to use, the 175 works ok. Tig is a totally different world with sticker shock the first thing even with Miller's lower amp machines. Some are plug and go without the ability to control the arc as much vs a loaded beast like the 350 Synchrowave I have. It weighs 986 pounds bare before adding the wet torch cooler, stick cables and all the ouick disconnect fittings that stub out under the machine.
The best one is those replies that welding is easy, true if it's Mig but will it pas a cerification test? Tig, if you tell me tat is easy I will be impressed as I have spent many years wit Tig and still learning. Practice, practice , practice but under the proper training as bad habits are hard to unlearn.

Done rambling, weld on.....CJ......

 

[BrewBeemer]

I own a miller cricket flux welder I wouldn't be the least bit apprehensive in making a brew stand with it . The HF would also work and has proven it does by Beerthirty



So lets just get on with building rigs.

springer, you got it boss, back to building rigs as you replied.

You just have to make sure not only a pretty bead but good penetration
for a stuctually sound stand. Working with hot rolled steel vs cold rolled that is clean the slag on hot rolled must be removed before you begin to weld not burning thru the slag finish. I would bet 90% of stands are out of hot rolled due to the price increase of cold rolled steel.
Don't be afraid to crank up the heat, I would safely say 75% of first time or new welder owners run too cold. There is a big difference between sticking metal together and fusing metal together. Start out with a tight fit up no big gaps filling them up with weld.
Nuff said.

 

[Trenchant]

I just actually attended a welding clinic put on by our university racing team. A recommended technique for judging the appearance of a weld was whether it was concave, convex or flat. Of course it does depend on how much more metal you add in while welding. They said the welds should either be flat or slightly curved in with wetting on both pieces of metal.

 

[springer]

springer, you got it boss, back to building rigs as you replied.

You just have to make sure not only a pretty bead but good penetration
for a stuctually sound stand. Working with hot rooled steel the slag must be removed before you begin to weld not burning thru the slag finish.
Don't be afraid to crank up the heat, I would safely say 75% of first time or new welder owners run too cold. There is a big difference with sticking metal together and fusing metal together. Start out with a tight fit not big gaps and filling in with weld.
Nuff said.

I do have some experience with Mig welders. Worked in my uncles body shop full time for 10 years then part time for 15 more. We had a large 3 phase Miller argon mig and a plasma cutter besides cars we did heavy truck and motor home repairs. I agree turning the heat up and the wire speed is a must on these smaller units. always start with clean metal and clean the welds with a wire wheel as you go

 

[kirscp]

I have the lincoln 320HD, it's nice, but if I were to do it again, I'd get a 220v version. Not a Harbor Freight one either. My 110v will weld almost anything that I want and you can add Argon gas.

The reason I'd go with 220v, I've wanted to weld some aluminum, as my 110 wasn't large enough to weld it. Of course the 110 is nice, as a lot of places don't have 220v plugs.

Another bad thing, once you get a welder, everyone wants you to come over and weld stuff.