[Homestead] welding
Rob
becida at comcast.net
Tue Dec 23 14:50:19 EST 2008
I have to agree about the auto darking helmet, that made a WORLD of
difference in my learning.
I did a survey on the Vanagon list about the Harbor Freight auto
darking helmet and no one who was using it (several people) had
anything bad to say about it.
A welder is one of those tools that I had to think about, if it's a
once in awhile tool (once I learn to weld) a Harbor Freight welder
would work fine. If I turn out to use it more than that or get into a
big project then a better quality would have been the way to go.
That gets back to Don's advice about getting the best you can afford.
HF is good for a lot of things, USUALLY low usage or low budget
(right now) tools. A wire welder might fit that criteria or give to a
price range to look for a used 'brand name' one.
Rob
becida at comcast.net
At 12/23/2008 11:03 AM,Don Bowen wrote:
> > My biggest suggestion, no matter what kind of welder/welding you decide
> > on, is to buy an auto-darkening welding helmet.
>
>They are nice but don't go for the cheapest ones. The response speed on
>many of the cheaper ones is a bit low. Another problem is that you may not
>be able to get replacement covers or batteries in the future. I have a
>decent quality auto darkening and at the time I also bought a kit with
>several plastic covers so I will always have one on hand.
>
> > Inexpensive wire welder
> > http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=94056
> >
> > Inexpensive helmet
> > http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=91214
>
>I am not a fan of the cheap Chinese junk sold by HF. On a wire feed the
>mechanism is very important. So far from what I have seen the feed on the
>units sold by HF does not look very good and I have been told that they are
>prone to snarls. Like any tool, buy the best you can afford so it will
>provide good service and you only have to buy it once.
>
>Don Bowen KI6DIU
>http://www.braingarage.com/Dons/Travels/journal/Journal.html
More information about the Homestead
mailing list