question about an inverter flux core

[LA1]

ok it's a HFT 90a ………… its my first welding rig may is it is. I have heard that by using a 150a bridge rectifier I can make the welder a D/C welder where it will improve the welding characteristics. The only issue is a lot of people say to hook the positive of the bridge to the ground and the negative to the hand held electrode tip.. Positive to ground, to me sounds sooooo wrong.from safety to damaging my car computer if I use the welder on my car.

 

[sberry]

Given the cost of a working DC inverter why fuk around. Especially with a 90A pos. Inverters are already DC, its kind of the point. What model welder is this?

 

[Spiffers]

Google thinks it's the Harbor Freight Tools 90amp welder.

 

[Fluxion]

I have one of those 90 amp welders, I paid $15 at an auction. It was a store return with a broken latch/handle. Absolutely useless out of the box. The HF flux core wire is junk too.

I watched some videos on upgrading this POS so I decided to throw some more money at it. I bought a rectifier and a couple large capacitors. I also ground some plastic off the tension arm of the wire feed to get more pressure. It does weld much nicer now with good wire but I have a total of $60 invested now, it's not worth that to me. I would not recommend this welder to anybody even for free, it's just too frustrating to deal with.

Now after messing around with it off and on for a few years I have been able to get a decent weld once in a while on 14-11 gauge steel. It will weld as thin as 20ga but its ugly and doesn't really have enough penetration for the 11 ga. I have wore out the liner and I can't get it to feed wire anymore. I don't think it is even worth trying to fix.