New tools you've bought recently?

[ryan]

Right now I have a little lincoln 100a 110v flux core welder, and learning on it has been a huge pain. It just doesnt have the juice, and after trying out a friends 220v i decided to take the plunge and get a cheapo 200amp+ 220V welder. I know it'll be half junk, but decided to try out the vevor 250amp. Was able to snag it right at $200, and for how little i'll use it I feel pretty comfortable with the decision. Will be here tomorrow and I'm looking forward to getting it set up

 

[Shran]

You'll have to let us know how you like the welder. I have fondled a few cheap ones like that and the stinger & leads always seem to be too short and very cheaply made. The digital screens make me nervous too, how long till that dies? I don't hear people bitching about their Amazon welders dying left & right though so maybe they are just fine!

I bought one of the Titanium 125 flux core welders recently for $60 at the pawn shop, that little fella actually works very well. I was hoping to be able to run it off my 3200 watt generator but it trips the breaker after about 10 seconds. I can weld continuously if I plug it into my Miller welder/generator... so I guess it wasn't a total waste, there might be a time where I need to do flux wire MIG in the field instead of stick.

 

[ryan]

You'll have to let us know how you like the welder. I have fondled a few cheap ones like that and the stinger & leads always seem to be too short and very cheaply made. The digital screens make me nervous too, how long till that dies? I don't hear people bitching about their Amazon welders dying left & right though so maybe they are just fine!

I bought one of the Titanium 125 flux core welders recently for $60 at the pawn shop, that little fella actually works very well. I was hoping to be able to run it off my 3200 watt generator but it trips the breaker after about 10 seconds. I can weld continuously if I plug it into my Miller welder/generator... so I guess it wasn't a total waste, there might be a time where I need to do flux wire MIG in the field instead of stick.

The length of the leads are the one thing i've consistently seen complaints about. Vevor also sells an improved version for a fair price, so I might make that upgrade and still come in below other budget brands. I'm excited to give it a whirl soon and see how it compares to my little lincoln

 

[Rick W]

I still work with a 40 yr old Sears stick welder. It’s mounted on a special shelf about 8 feet in the air to the upper right of my garage door over the garage door track. I adjust it with a stick with a zip tie looped on the end.

I have about 60 or 70 feet of hot lead which reaches about anywhere I want to go from the shop to the back of my house. But I only have about 15 or 20 feet of the ground lead. When I was doing the step trailer for the Road Ranger, I clipped the ground clamp to a 20’ piece of aluminum angle iron, and laid it across a sawhorse where it touched another piece of aluminum angle iron, which then laid on the back of the trailer, held on with C-clamp.

If you don’t believe me, just
Look at some of my welds. Some people think I’m cheap when I tell these stories….

 

[Shran]

@Rick W if you run across short-ish pieces of welding cable you can get quick connects and make several pieces that you can assemble into whatever length you want.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BXD6HNLW?tag=959media-20 <--- that's what I used, I bought a bunch of them

I have two stick welders, an old Century, and a Miller gas engine welder/generator. They have tapered female outputs but are not the same size so I made two sets of 2' pigtails with those quick connects on one end and the tapered end on the other. Then I took my existing leads and put quick connects on those too, so at minimum I have a 30' stinger and 20' ground. I ran across some more 10/15/20ft pieces of cable so I made a few more extensions. If I need to, I can go about 80-100ft out now but I don't have to have a very long, heavy, hard to handle cable.

 

[scotts90ranger]

You'll have to let us know how you like the welder. I have fondled a few cheap ones like that and the stinger & leads always seem to be too short and very cheaply made. The digital screens make me nervous too, how long till that dies? I don't hear people bitching about their Amazon welders dying left & right though so maybe they are just fine!

I bought one of the Titanium 125 flux core welders recently for $60 at the pawn shop, that little fella actually works very well. I was hoping to be able to run it off my 3200 watt generator but it trips the breaker after about 10 seconds. I can weld continuously if I plug it into my Miller welder/generator... so I guess it wasn't a total waste, there might be a time where I need to do flux wire MIG in the field instead of stick.

I've welded a fair amount with mine using a 4000W Champion generator (3600W continuous I think) and just stick to around the 1/8" recommended settings and it seems to keep them happy...