Thread: New Welder

Tweet

New Welder


Well my Harbor Freight (Chinese - Chicago Electric) MIG welder gave up the ghost the day before yesterday. This was my first MIG, it cost what I could justify at the time and I figured if it lasted a couple of years at least by then I would know what features I wanted when I bought a better unit. You can say what you want about HF (and frankly I’d probably agree) but the darn thing lasted 22 years and welded more sheetmetal, brackets and exhaust systems than I care to remember. Honestly if they still made the same unit I’d buy another in a heartbeat.

So yesterday morning was spent checking out the local welding supply store and 5 local box stores that sold welders, then coming home and checking prices on line. I settled on a Hobart 190 from one of the box stores.

This is what it looked like after 3 hours of putting the cart together and setting up the welder (and the obligatory trip back to town to pick up stuff you didn’t know you needed).


There were a few minor aggravations when I got my new welder home. My old HF unit was one that had its own wheels and built in bottle rack …..the Hobart unit requires a cart. I’m happy the style of the cart, It’s kind of low compared to others but it’s a good height for doing under car work with a vehicle up on jack stands. The only real problem with the cart was the predrilled holes for the self tapping screws were too big and the supplied screw wouldn’t tighten down……. a few larger screws solved that problem.


The welder was supplied with a new gas regulator, but when you read the fine print you find out that it’s for Argon and mixed gas and not straight CO2 like I use……so I ended up using CO2 regulator from my old unit.

My last complaint was that the power cord was only about 10 foot long and of course used a completely different plug than what I’m set up for. It was a simple problem to solve but required another trip back into town to get an appropriate receptacle so I could use the longer power cord I had added to my old welder.



I’ve run a few test welds with it and it does good. I’m reserving final judgment until I’ve used it about a year and see how well it holds up.


.

New toys is always good....................enjoy

Just noticed this is post 9966.................flip it over and it's still the same........................I think I need some more coffee......................................back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Mike, I think you'll be happy with the HH190. I've had the HH187 for over five years (may be closer to ten?) and it's done everything I've needed with no problems. I'm pretty sure that the 190 is the tried & true 187 with circuits added to make it spool gun ready.

Not meaning to high jack the thread, but speaking about Harbor Freight made this relevant.
I recently bought a new set of Craftsman end wrenches to replace some of my old ones that had disappeared over the years. The new ones looked a little off compared to my old 45+ year old set (whats left, lol). Looked closely at the box they came in and there it is, made in China (just on the box, not on the wrenches). Moral of the story, most everything is made in China now, wether we know it or not.

Let the hijacking continue...................it's all Mike's fault I'm sure........he started this thread.

Some of us are old enough to remember back in the '50s when "cheap junk" usually meant that the piece or package said "Made in Japan". But as the years progressed and the Japanese became more aware and financially able their quality improved............improved to the point where, at least in perception if not reality, their products became the world standard. Cameras, bicycles, electronic gear, automobiles, you name it. Fast forward a bit and the "Made in Taiwan" cycle began much the same. Today, the higher quality hand tools available are made in Taiwan.............if rumor is to be believed, even the vaunted Snap-On produces there (provable in their JH Williams industrial brand for sure). Some think that Taiwan and China are the same thing, but of course they are very different. So now we're to mainland China. There too if you are willing to take a closer look the cycle continues, with a proviso. My opinion is that the communist mentality will likely hamper, if not completely squelch the historical cycle that the other countries mentioned enjoyed. Perhaps not, depends on how the market pushes them.

Earlier this year I got tired of layered tools in my old 41" stacked tool box and opted for something larger to allow better organization. In the search I did plenty of online research. Those of you who have tried this realize what a mine field that can become. There's lots of good infor, mixed with lots of opinion that ranges from useful to completely useless and foolish. While I would have loved to have had one of the higher end tool truck boxes at this point in life it just didn't make sense financially. Some online brag about the good deals available on those boxes used, say through Craigslist. Well, that must be a regional thing because the ones around here that were of a size an style I wanted rarely seemed to go for under $3k. Were I more patient I might have been able to go for months in the hope of finding "that guy" who was just desperate enough to grab a lowball offer, but during the weeks I looked no such opportunity presented itself. Looking for larger size boxes then became an exercise of comparing import boxes, almost all made in mainland China. There are a ton of people who inhabit a site called Garage Journal, and many of them brag on the "quality", features and price of the large roll around at Harbor Freight. Man do they gush. Many disagree, but from an analysis point of view, they mostly seem to be the tool truck customer professionals who were perhaps snobish, perhaps trying to justify the high dollars they spent. Admittedly there's a significant difference in useage and motivation between a pro and a hobbyist, so that muddies the water too. Anyway, when I went down to HF to check out this miracle of marketing that can provide both high quality and low price reality raised it's familiar head. Those guys have different standards than I do, maybe driven by where we each are in life experiences, but different none the less. When I pull out a drawer I like to feel what I would call "substance". A certain weightiness that implies heavier grade materials. I don't want the roller slides to feel like there are tiny bits of gravel in them, they need a level of smoothness, even when the drawer is unweighted. Sorry guys, that HF box don't do it for me. I did end up with a "made in China" box that did in fact have a much higher quality feel. Smooth drawer slides (that got even smoother once the drawers were loaded), 18 gauge drawers rather than 20 or 22, and so on. As "good" as the Snap-On Epiq? Not likely, but good enough for who it's for................................which could be said of the lesser boxes as well I suppose.

The point of that longish story is that "Made in China" probably won't remain a curse term forever, but will evolve into a layered quality supply source much as the others are and were. The new demon will change, perhaps "Lower Slobolvia" or someplace like that. And the argument about supporting American jobs is pointless until we change the way and who of our election choices.

Mike, the nice thing about Hobart welders is they are made by Miller, and getting consumables is easy. Plus they are great welders. I've had an Autoarc185 for 12yrs and it's never failed me. Autoarc was another division of the Miller brand.

Originally Posted by 40FordDeluxe

Mike, the nice thing about Hobart welders is they are made by Miller, and getting consumables is easy. Plus they are great welders. I've had an Autoarc185 for 12yrs and it's never failed me. Autoarc was another division of the Miller brand.

Like Uncle Bob says, let the hijack continue.... When I bought my Hobart I spent quite a bit of time over on their welders forum, which has a LOT of information from guys who truly know welding. They pointed out that Miller and Hobart are two of several product lines from the Illinois Tool Works, and specifically from ITW Welding. They market Miller to their industrial/commercial customer base, and focus on the home/hobby/farm market for Hobart. They share lots of common pieces/parts. Link that shows their "players" - ITW Welding

Yep I too was steered to Hobart, albeit a much smaller model as my shop is wired for 110v, but the Hobart 140 works flawlessly for me, Don recommended it to me over 7 years ago now on this site. Great welder for the price too!.

Tools and cars a disease I tell you.

I've got a perfectly good welding helmet but..........last Sunday with nothing better to do I started cruising Evil Bay looking at helmets. Man they've really got some neat/flamboyant ones out there.




I still do a fair amount of under car welding with the vehicle on stands and a lot of places the full size helmet seems to hit on everything and just get in the way. On more occasions than I should admit to I’ve just grabbed a pair of dark wraparound sunglasses to get the welding done.


While I was looking I came across these.




I’ve never seen a self-darkening lens in goggles before (and it at least temporarily satisfied my need for a new toy). Anyway they came in today and I ran a couple of beads just to test them out. I still need to see how cumbersome they will be in actual use but I get a feeling I’m going to be happy with them.

.

I'll be curious how you like them after you get some time with them. Looks like a sunburn waiting to happen but I could be all wet!

I like the auto darkening helmuts as you don't have to jerk your head to get them down--takes up a lot less room not only when under cars but twisted up in a roll cage--------


Also they made it much easier to teach my boys how to weld-----No One got flashed as another struck an arc--

I love my auto darkening helmut. But those goggles leave a lot of skin exposed (I think) that would get you a sunburn.

But I've never tried them and hope will be able to give us an accurate appraisal.

"...... Looks like a sunburn waiting to happen but I could be all wet!

Under the right (wrong) circumstances you are probably right. I didn't buy these to replace my auto darkening helmet thought, just to use in those instances where I couldn't get my head and helmet into position and would use sunglasses. Those jobs have always been small like welding an exhaust hanger or tacking an exhaust pipe together.


.

.

Originally Posted by Mike P

"...... I didn't buy these to replace my auto darkening helmet thought, just to use in those instances where I couldn't get my head and helmet into position and would use sunglasses. .

Gotcha! Thanks..

Have used a pair of burning goggles w/#10 lens, welders cap, and large handkerchief to cover face many
times in a tight space.
Rich