Handy welder ? Maybe OT

I've been looking at a little portable 70 amp stick welder that runs off 110 from northern tool. I thought this would be handy to have for those quick little jobs, 100 dollars and has good reviews. So any opinions on this ? ( I know that's a loaded question ) and yes maybe OT to some but I do have tractors, equipment, own property in the country and use to farm.

I've got one just like it,RUN AND RUN FAST lol,seriously,you will wish you had your 100 bucks back,no joke.pd.

If it's the same as mine,it doesn't melt the rid very well at all,just sticks to the metal and leaves alot of blobs,got our the same reason as you,handy,light quick to get it to those little fix it on the spot jobs,ie welding a gate.I have seen very very good working suitcase welders,wire feed that don't use gas,only 110,for maybe like 500 bucks from lincoln and others.

my opinion,save your money and buy a higher output welder.Seems like those 110v welders don,t do the job in many cases.

If you"re have to use 110v, consider a better quality wire welder. Once you learn how to use one, you can do a whole lot with one.

Mike: check the archives of this site for many more references to this question, the vast majority of which have the same answer--you'd be MUCH better served by either buying a decent used 220-V welder (plenty of Lincoln AC225's out there for $100 or less), a decent wire feed welder (which have pretty much taken over the niche once held by 110-V stick welders) or a GOOD 110-V stick welder (Miller's in particular is popular with people that can't get 220-V or a wire-feed to locations) as a distant third choice. If you're an expert welder, you MAY be able to turn out amateur-looking work with one of these cheap units, but if you're a beginning welder, you'll turn out much more profanity than you ever will welds.

Years ago I bought a Miller 100 amp mig welder, the 110 Volt model, and I've never regretted it. I opeted for the gas (CO2/Argon) version which a welder told me was more foregiving for a beginner. Great little welder, the gas isn't cheap (but my wife's brother is in the business) and I turn out some pretty good welds if I do say so myself. One problem is time away from welding, you get rusty when you've only got a little repair to do every few months.

You can buy a big lincoln AC225 for $235.00!
It will do every thing you need.
Don't bother with a buzz box!
Look for one used, I just sold mine for $100.00.

That is a buzz box, isn"t it?

Thanks for the replies,very,very helpful. I think I'll just keep the money in my pocket and look around. You know it's great to have this forum with all the great people and knowledge that comes with it, thanks again for the help.

Bought a Lincoln ac/dc 225 arc welder from a friend a few years back for $250.00 like new. He had a gas welder so he never used the stick welder. Its made in USA and I have never had a problem with it. You buy a Northern tool, or Harbor frieght special and its made in china, and good luck finding parts for it should you need them. Miller is also a good welder. J

oh come on now Crazy Horse. Welding is kinda like riding a bicycle. Once you learn to run a good bead, you never forget how to do it.

I bought a Forney 250 amp in 1962/3 it works just fine for what I do. I have used better welders but they sure cost a lot more.

Walt
PS I got a lifetime warranty on it but they don't want to honor it now. BUMMER

Curious now, Portable welders go on sale here for 40-50 bucks quite a bit.
They are 230v 145 amp. Was thinking to send one to my Brother and a buddy. Shouldn't it be as simple as changing the plug (or sending a German recepticle to wire in) to use it in the States? You can weld up to 1/4 inch and it powers down to do a real decent job on thin stuff.

Not meaning to hijack a post, just got me thinking.


Dave

Might make a good book end or paper weight. Even that's a big might. You can get a decent stick welder to run on 110 volts but it will cost a few bucks because it will be an inverter power source with DC current. Like others have said, go with a 220 volt welder and DC current is worth the extra money. Who is giving this thing good reviews, The seller? Total junk! Dave

Not sure if I am comparing apples to oranges in regards to a small portable, carry around type welder, but I bought a Miller, one that had one end of the male plug turned horizontal, (30 amp receptacle I think) it cost about $900.00 in '03.

The reason for the purchase was to reduce labor costs, I had 14 Ironworkers on this particular job I was running and all the structural connections for the giant windows we installed had 1/4" thick square washers in the fastening detail, that required to be fully welded to the 1/2" thick steel angle/bent plate clip we used to fasten to the building. With so many of these to do, and being a high rise building, metal stud walls went up quickly, no more open decks and the temp power drops for a buzz box, just getting set up to do 1-2 floors from 1 location was a nightmare. So I bought one of these, you could carry it with you, plug in where needed, (well I think they bent the plug end so they fit all the regular plugs).

I worked out great, the welds were 1/4", single pass, maybe 1" 1-1/2" long, I put an old timer on it, easy job, done any other way, too much labor just to get an arc going. I tested this thing out, first started welding then too, it would burn 1/8" 7018 stick, and I could make a professional looking weld with it, only down side was the duty cycle, it was short, you could easily trip it off, but this was still productive with the intermittent down time between welds because they were spread out anyway.

I should have delayed these welds, they had to be inspected prior to the walls being closed in, could have raised a fuss about the electrician providing drops for a buzz box on every floor, GC/CM had some people who were being real jerks to us anyway, they owed us temp power, but I opted to avoid the conflict, would have cost em too, union wages, that little Miller, not even sure of the model, it would fit in a back pack, was well worth the labor savings for the task at hand, at that time Ironworkers cost the company $98/hour.

The Lincoln 225 will weld anything at the farm level.Plenty of used ones for 100 bucks.I bought mine new for 93.00 in 1964.Oil the fan motor bearings once in a while.I have used the little welders dont bother.

You've simply lived too long, Walt. There are obvious advantages to that, which outweigh the problems of outliving the lifetime warranties on stuff.