I just bought my first welder

[jd_1138]

I pulled the trigger on a HF Titanium Easy Flux 125 for $179 (coupon price). Also, I bought some gloves, magnets, and an auto-darkening helmet. No more dragging projects over to a buddy's house (with a 12 pack of beer for payment).

I also bought a 2 pound roll of the Vulcan welding wire for $20. Is this wire any good? Looks like the Lincoln brand is about the same price?

 

[Nicks garage]

Is that welder just for flux cored wire or does it use gas?

 

[PBCampbell]

Looks like just flux core.

 

[Nicks garage]

That’s what I thought, I learned to weld with flux cored and you can get a great weld with one.. although so many people put them down

 

[Kenstone1]

Here's a recent thread on that HF welder, lots of good info:
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=430172

Used mine yesterday,

 

[woody6904]

These welders have been very impressive. Mine is currently residing at work as we dont have a wire welder, just a stick. Been using it on some random repairs. I wasnt sure how well it would work on the thick metal in the picture but it did surprisingly well for only one pass.

 

[mc4life27]

I’m in the harbor freight 1st time welder owner as well. I have welded before but never owned one. I was look at the same green 125 but then one of the older black 90 amp flux machines popped up on cl for 40 bucks. So I jumped on that and so far the thing is great for what it is and for what I want to do with it. Everyone told me not to and that flux was trash so I stayed away but so far everyone was wrong. Sure it’s not the prettiest looking weld and has some splatter but for what I’m doing 99% of the time it’s perfect. Plus it’s 100 % better then not having one and bolting everything together when sticking two pieces of metal together. As far as wire HF seems to have the cheapest price on it and Homedepot sells a 1 lb roll of Lincoln wire for like 14ish but have not used it yet still using what was already in the machine. People say the HF wire is junk and the Lincoln is 100 times better but then again they were wrong with the welder In the first place so I will try and see what happens


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[Kevkx125]

jd_138

Do you know to weld? Are you going to be self taught? I was always told the best thing you can do is to take a class.

 

[thickhead]

Almost bought one of those from HF but it was out of stock for a month. Glad it was on backorder because the 90 day warranty bothered me, so I picked up a Hobart Handler 100 for $230 shipped. The 5/3/1 warranty sold me on the purchase.
The small size and inverter of the HF125 still intrigues me though. The thing is tiny in person!

 

[marinusdees]

How much are you going to use this thing?? Flux core generates some lethal gases. Not a problem for an occasional welder.

 

[lolaetype]

Acquire some scrap metal and practice, practice, practice.

I bought the lowest priced HF flux wire welder about 12 years ago. As soon as the spool of wire that came with the welder ran out I bought Hobart wire. It seemed to work better, at least for me. The only reason I'm not still using that welder is that I inherited a MIG setup.

 

[woody6904]

I’m in the harbor freight 1st time welder owner as well. I have welded before but never owned one. I was look at the same green 125 but then one of the older black 90 amp flux machines popped up on cl for 40 bucks. So I jumped on that and so far the thing is great for what it is and for what I want to do with it. Everyone told me not to and that flux was trash so I stayed away but so far everyone was wrong. Sure it’s not the prettiest looking weld and has some splatter but for what I’m doing 99% of the time it’s perfect. Plus it’s 100 % better then not having one and bolting everything together when sticking two pieces of metal together. As far as wire HF seems to have the cheapest price on it and Homedepot sells a 1 lb roll of Lincoln wire for like 14ish but have not used it yet still using what was already in the machine. People say the HF wire is junk and the Lincoln is 100 times better but then again they were wrong with the welder In the first place so I will try and see what happens


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If you like the old black one, you would like the new green 125 even more as it is DC which is better for flux core. I believe the old black boxes were AC.

 

[jd_1138]

If you like the old black one, you would like the new green 125 even more as it is DC which is better for flux core. I believe the old black boxes were AC.

Plus you can change the voltage on the Titanium 125 unit.

 

[jd_1138]

How much are you going to use this thing?? Flux core generates some lethal gases. Not a problem for an occasional welder.

Thanks for the advice. It won't be used much -- mainly for simple small repairs around the place. I may get into building a minibike frame. What would help with the bad gases? I guess a respirator.

 

[jd_1138]

jd_138

Do you know to weld? Are you going to be self taught? I was always told the best thing you can do is to take a class.

I farted around a little with my dad's gas setup when I was a kid with him right there -- didn't retain much. lol. Yeah I may look into a class.

 

[IRQVET]

What I think you'll find moving forward, is that you will quickly out-grow that machine. That's what happen to me, and I made an upgrade to the Hobart 210 MPV and I've had zero regrets 5 years later.

It was like going from a Yugo to a Cadillac, at least that was my exerience.