Hybridracers
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As someone who has welded professionally I'll put in my .02
The harbor freight welders are absolutely more than capable for 90% of the builders here. I have had people buy them and taught them to weld and never had anyone run harder than the machine as far as duty cycle or material capability. The majority of us aren't production welding in our garage and the majority of us aren't welding structural components.
In regards to type, none are technically any better than the other when it comes to weld strength. That's determined by the filler metal and the skill of the welder in penetration.
Flux is windy wire and what you save in prep time you get back in clean up time.
Mig can look like tig but requires cleaner metal and a still environment.
Tig is beautiful but requires near clean room at ups with clean metal and still environment. It also suffers with duty cycle for inches per minute just due to technique. Unless you're welding chromoly, most anything can done mig much faster and with skill can be every bit as pretty. The advantage is really in weld profile when called for in plans or food grade welds on stainless.
I struggle watching people who ask me to teach them falling in the trap I did.... wanting the blue box or the red box names and thinking its going to do anything to make them better.
I assure you, a welder who can actually read a puddle and has hand/eye coordination will out weld a massive amount of the hobbyists out there with a HF $180 flux welder.
Like anything is about the amount of time you do it and that means analyzing your welding and making sure you keep improving.
Long story short, I have a blue box suite of equipment and I'm just a content in given parameters with a HF welder.
The harbor freight welders are absolutely more than capable for 90% of the builders here. I have had people buy them and taught them to weld and never had anyone run harder than the machine as far as duty cycle or material capability. The majority of us aren't production welding in our garage and the majority of us aren't welding structural components.
In regards to type, none are technically any better than the other when it comes to weld strength. That's determined by the filler metal and the skill of the welder in penetration.
Flux is windy wire and what you save in prep time you get back in clean up time.
Mig can look like tig but requires cleaner metal and a still environment.
Tig is beautiful but requires near clean room at ups with clean metal and still environment. It also suffers with duty cycle for inches per minute just due to technique. Unless you're welding chromoly, most anything can done mig much faster and with skill can be every bit as pretty. The advantage is really in weld profile when called for in plans or food grade welds on stainless.
I struggle watching people who ask me to teach them falling in the trap I did.... wanting the blue box or the red box names and thinking its going to do anything to make them better.
I assure you, a welder who can actually read a puddle and has hand/eye coordination will out weld a massive amount of the hobbyists out there with a HF $180 flux welder.
Like anything is about the amount of time you do it and that means analyzing your welding and making sure you keep improving.
Long story short, I have a blue box suite of equipment and I'm just a content in given parameters with a HF welder.