Getting the right welder

Harbor Freight ain't all junk, but I bought a suspension pickle fork from them once, and the first time I used it, the fork spread open as easy a few of the women I've known.

Patience and Craigslist can help you out sometimes. I bought a Century 185 continuous duty welder off craigslist. It was old and not that pretty but works perfectly and I've run over 70 pounds of wire through it (mig .035) without a glitch. Real nice steady even arc. Total cost:$400

As for Harbor Freight, I haven't used one of their welders, but I do have their larger plasma cutter. It gets kind of squirrely at about 1/2" plate, But how often do you do that in your garage?

I do admit, it's kind of a walk on the wild side spending money on anything electrical there. You never know what you'll wake up with in the morning.

jjdwoodman wrote:

I do admit, it's kind of a walk on the wild side spending money on anything electrical there. You never know what you'll wake up with in the morning.

I find it very exciting. Like gambling. You might come out way ahead, or you might lose your shirt.

JC Whitney parts were like that too. When I was a kid I used to go to the store on the south side of Chicago. Anything electrical had a 50% chance of working out of the box, but it only cost about 50% of what other stores would charge. I rolled the dice quite a few times. Came out about even in the long run. :laugh: