wanting to learn

[r97]

thats what i do when i can do it.

 

[oscaryu1]

If he has the funds for a Lincoln why do you recomend a HF?

Easier to dial in, dirt cheap warranty... price.

I thought about the HF but considering I don't know how to work on a welder or modify one to work better, I thought it to be a better financial investment if I pick up a better quality welder. The last thing I want to do is spend the money on a machine (even as little as a couple of hundred dollars) just to get discouraged and give up. I have a tendency to be a perfectionist, even to a point that my expectations exceed my abilities. I’ve been told by many people that learning on higher quality equipment will produce better results. Not that anything is wrong with the HF brand but I’ve been told that it has a tendency to have some quarks not associated with the more mainstream brands.

If I decide that welding isn’t the thing for me, I’ll have a much easier time selling a brand name welder locally then the HF brand. I believe I’ll be able to recoup most if not all if my initial investment if I wait for the model I want to go on sale.

No point learning on higher quality equipment with no previous experience. The HF brand (Chicago electric) has no unbeknownst quirks. They're so popular these days (more to do with price than quality), that everybody has a review over one.

At our welding shop in school we have Miller, Lincoln, ect. All the big brands, American or European. At home I use generic HF and China stuff. Have to say, no complaints.

$499 all in one TIG/stick/plama works flawlessly, and my HF 90a FCAW wire welder has taken a beating. It's 4 years old, has been left outside raining on numerous occasions, still hasn't gone wrong yet. Never paid attention to the duty cycle, and never had the overheat light come on.

Personally, HF's are dirt easy to dial in. IMO start with them, and if you don't like it, get a refund. Our teacher was a diehard Lincoln/Miller fan... then one day a kid brought in a HF machine to let him play around with. He was impressed..

 

[kibble]

What is "diamond core technology"?? Perhaps the settings were different/wrong. And just remember, the better looking weld is not always the better one.

Apparently it has to do with the core of the output choke. See meah:

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/6930580.html

 

[The Mechtician]

Here's some pics of the Lincoln unit we have here at work, it's an older SP 175 Plus and it's a 230V machine, not a 120V like the little one the OP is looking at. Unfortunately due to an electrical fire in the building there's no power to any of the welding plugs in the welding booth, so I couldn't fire it up. I'm hoping they'll have everything fixed sometime next week, at which time I can run some sample beads.

 

[shake this]

I'd like to see how it performs. Post a few pictures when you get a chance to try it out.

 

[Doc Sprocket]

Here's some pics of the Lincoln unit we have here at work, it's an older SP 175 Plus and it's a 230V machine, not a 120V like the little one the OP is looking at. Unfortunately due to an electrical fire in the building there's no power to any of the welding plugs in the welding booth, so I couldn't fire it up. I'm hoping they'll have everything fixed sometime next week, at which time I can run some sample beads.

That is a VERY good machine. I used the 120v version of it in the field for several years. I'd snap up a used on in a heartbeat.
Now that I no longer weld for a living, I'm just down to my little personal machine, A Lincoln Weld Pak 100. Several years old, beaten and ugly, not as powerful as some of the newer offerings. But still a very good machine, and more than sufficient for any small motorsports project.

99% of my experience is with Lincolns, I have NO complaints. None. I even used one of the new Diamond Core machines and was happy with it. IIRC, it was the ProMig 140.

 

[CriticalMass]

I have a LE SP-175 Plus exactly like that, great machine. I also have a 100 hd weld pak. Both are great machines.

I am an LE fan, but if one of these decided to die on me, I would try the HF one just because of the reviews. You cant beat 119 bucks for a new welder.