Welding Tips and Tricks

Good evening.

I am new to the metal fabrication and welding arena. I am a Technology Coordinator for a career center. I have been doing the IT thing for 20 plus years and it's work. Welding is totally a hobby nothing else and probably will not be making ch else. He allows me to reduce stress while creating or fixing something.

I am just starting so money and supplies are tight so I am starting out with some stuff from Harbor Freight. Ok I hope you have stopped laughing. I hope to learn and even maybe supply some knowledge someday.

Paul
From Fredericktown Ohio

Paul, welcome to the forum.

Welcome to the Forum.
Harbour freight is what it is. I`m Here in Canada, we have a similar store called Princess auto.
Ive been to both stores, just be selective what you buy. The tig rods that i have purchased from Prinsess Auto work okay.
I know some You Tubers have done reviews on Harbour freight stuff, and found the mig wire not to be as good as a name brand. But I`m not bashing, for the price, you get to practice and the stuff will work.
Ive bought , and I was lucky to fine, a used Everlast 140st. Dc only tig/stick machine. No fancy options but Ive done so much with it. I think I paid $200 Canadian for it New it is about 350. CD.
For the extra few dollars Id recomend the Everlast 160. A friend bought it and I tried it. Nice 2 steps up from mine.
I think around 650 Canadian. $489 US.
There are other good inexpensive welders, these ones I have experince with.
Lots of screaming, crying and swearing while learning, but hey it relaxes me. LOL

Thank you Danylo66 for the response. I am just working with what makes sense right now. Harbor Freight has been good to me an my little little flux core welder does a nice job. I really like the deals they have for sure. You can do some things on the cheap but still get the job done. I will do so research on your post for sure and compare and contrast.

I hear you. Flux core is pretty handy. Svaes on having to have a bottle of gas.

So those are both stick welders. I found some really good reviews on both. I am unfamiliar with stick welding though. Howe, I am willing to learn. Thanks for the knowledge

They are both considered stick welders with a tig or some prefer to call it GTAW. But thats getting to fancy
All depends on what you would like weld and how.
tig can be frustrating. But rewarding. Mig or GMAW is simpler and handy for many things.
I always wanted to learn Tig, because I was told, when I was younger, that its to hard to learn.
Well they were wrong.

The attitude I take on welding,

It's all easy to learn.
It's just easier not to...

Come and play. You'll learn a ton here, without trying.

Steve S

Thank you for your responses. Since I only have about 4 months in the books for welding, I am not too experienced. Right now, I am just continuing to learn as much as I can about flux but I do want to move on to some MIG and stick too. TIG I think will be well down the road for me.