My name is Terry. I'm from East Central IL. I have a Harbor Freight 180 Amp DC MIG unit and a Mid-States arc unit from the 1940's. I've welded a couple of things so I'm pretty new to the idea of attaching metal to metal with hot metal so to speak. I bought the HF unit to use as a learning tool so please don't hold that against me.
So far I like it. I have yet to add a tank to the back of the cart but that is coming soon. In the meantime, I grind my joints smooth.I attended an auction in June that happened to be across the street from my shop. I purchased a 1940's era Mid States Arc Welder that is rated for 150 amps at continuous duty. It came with around 50 Lbs of sticks that I can use to learn with. They were kept in an old refrigerator with a lightbulb in order to keep them dry. I was there to purchase some other things. Seeing that I had a budget for the other items and bought them for much less, I still had some scratch left over. When this came up, I offered $25.00 and won it. I thought that it would have gone for more. The son of the man who was holding the auction told me that he used it to build up demo derby cars and other welding tasks. He said that it worked the last time that he used it which was only a couple of years ago. He is a professional welder and a friend. So I figure that I could trust him. He too was amazed that it went so low. He said that he would come over to my shop and show me how best to use it.
Hopefully I can learn a lot about stick and MIG from you guys too. I really want to learn how to weld aluminum.
Thanks,
Terry
Let us know how it goes!