Great Find At Harbor Freight!

[luvmy40]

I just got a fantastic deal on a Vulcan ProTig 165 welder at Harbor Freight.

 

I was just killing time while doing my laundry at the laundramat down the road from the hotel I'm staying in so I was looking around at the HF around the corner. I wasn't really looking for anything in particular. I always check the clearance rack first thing. There was an "Open Box" ProTig 165 for $350.00. They sell regularly for $699.99.

 

The manager said it was just an open box and not a return and I have five days to return it if it doesn't work. I called my local branch and the manager there told me she would extend the five days to 5 days upon my return to Ohio as I would not be able to test it until then.

 

I opened everything up and there are a couple things missing, one of the three tungsten elctrodes and the shoulder/carrying strap. All the boxes and bags had been opened, but none of the wire zip ties had been removed. It powers up and the selector switch works, but that's as far as I can test it here. I'm keeping my fingers crossed as this is a sweet deal.

 

I had been holding out to save enough discretionary cash to get the Vulcan OmniPro 220, multi process welder but at 1/3 the price tag, I'll make do without the Mig capability.

Edited August 23, 2020 by luvmy40

[bpate4home]

I just got a fantastic deal on a Vulcan ProTig 165 welder at Harbor Freight.

 

I was just killing time while doing my laundry at the laundramat down the road from the hotel I'm staying in so I was looking around at the HF around the corner. I wasn't really looking for anything in particular. I always check the clearance rack first thing. There was an "Open Box" ProTig 165 for $350.00. They sell regularly for $699.99.

 

The manager said it was just an open box and not a return and I have five days to return it if it doesn't work. I called my local branch and the manager there told me she would extend the five days to 5 days upon my return to Ohio as I would not be able to test it until then.

 

I opened everything up and there are a couple things missing, one of the three tungsten elctrodes and the shoulder/carrying strap. All the boxes and bags had been opened, but none of the wire zip ties had been removed. It powers up and the selector switch works, but that's as far as I can test it here. I'm keeping my fingers crossed as this is a sweet deal.

 

I had been holding out to save enough discresionary cash to get the Vulcan OmniPro 220, multi process welder but at 1/3 the price tag, I'll make do without the Mig capability.

 

I've been eyeballing a low end non-gas titanum brand just for some small craft type welding. Things just keep getting in the way like a $700 repair bill on our Tahoe.

[SilveradoCA]

I sure wish I knew how to weld. I could build you anything you want from wood, but joining metal with lightning is obviously sorcery of some sort.

[bpate4home]

I sure wish I knew how to weld. I could build you anything you want from wood, but joining metal with lightning is obviously sorcery of some sort.

 

I'm right there with you on the wood part but I haven't welded since I was 17. My wife saw a lawn ornament cowboy with 6 shooters drawn and now wants me to make one. It's a good excuse to buy a low end unit now and 'practice'.

[luvmy40]

I'm far from an experienced, expert welder, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last month.

 

In my limited experience, High School metal shop 35 years ago, one adult education basic welding course about 15 years ago and 35 years of making do for myself when I needed to, I have found that preperation is the key to solid welding. That and understanding where and why the heat is going where it goes makes getting good, strong welds a bit easier to achieve. I still have to waste some rod or wire and scrap metal everytime I need to weld anything. It is a perishable skill.

 

PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!

 

My last welder was a Silver Beauty MIG box. Bsically the same welder as the very bottom tier Chicago Electric MIG. A real piece of junk. But even with that, with the proper metal preperation and patience I could get mechanically strong welds if not pretty, smooth beads. Lots of slag splater regardless of technique.

 

From all the reviews I've read and watched of the Vulcan series, They are very far above the average cheap welders out there.

Edited August 24, 2020 by luvmy40

[N3FOL]

I have not tried welding anything. As a young boy 4 decades ago, I still vividly remember looking at our electric meter while my dad was working with his friend welding metal parts together. Needless to say, the electric meter spun like a top every time they were welding...it appears to eat a lot of electricity.

Anyway, for half the price, it is a good find.

[RDawson]

I'm right there with you on the wood part but I haven't welded since I was 17. My wife saw a lawn ornament cowboy with 6 shooters drawn and now wants me to make one. It's a good excuse to buy a low end unit now and 'practice'.

Don’t go too cheap. The cheap flux core welders are a pain. Try to upgrade to a gas unit and learning is pretty easy. Use the right wire and heat, a cold mig can make a decent looking weld that has no penetration.

[cowpuc]

As in all things associated with my world,, this is coming from an old school world of back yard mechanickan dating all the way back to the late 60's so I am sure a lot has changed in the welding world but here is how it happened to me:

4 years of High School "Hard Materials" (without those classes I would have never graduated high school cause those are basically the only glasses I consistently went to and actually got good grades in = straight A's ) with a good part of those years/classes involving welding in one form or another.. I was working in a shop as a Machinist (got that job right out of high school because of those shop classes ) for 5 years when our power company decided to build another huge coal fired power plant on Lake Michigan about 40 minutes south of my home and the Trades were instantly all looking for help.. I drove over to Detroit and applied with Boilermakers Local 169.. Few weeks later and I increased my weekly income x4 of what I was making in the shop and was well on my way into one of the most fantastic adventures of employment a man could have - IMHO..

About 6 months in while I was riggin,, the Push came up to me and said he had heard I had some welding skills,, asked if I would be interested in going to welding school on 169/Consumers dime,, in the evenings after work. I looked at him and told him from my prospective that would be like someone giving me FREE tools for my tool box - I said ohhhh heck YES right then and there..

A pipe fitter from Midland Mi named Terry Bishop taught the welding classes for Consumers.. It was a marvelous experience with no expense spared on Consumers part as it was held at their Service Center in my home town of Muskegon..

Terry and I hit it off big time.. He was not only an extremely skilled welder and wonderful teacher,, he was also a biker:bowdown:.. We ended up best friends... One day in school I was doing some uphill stick with some 7018.. For as far back as I can remember I could make steel fuse,, it never really looked that good but I could weld,, matter of fact I actually thought I was a good welder.. Anyway,, here I am welding these coupons together and was looking forward to how they x-rayed when Terry spoke into my hood and said "Scott,, you know what your problem is? You are not seeing the puddle.." I stopped,, flipped my hood up (was a time long ago before instant darkening hoods ) and said what do you mean??.. Terry set out on an adventure to teach me to really weld and the key to that was teaching me to see the puddle.. It took a few nights,, it did not instantly hit me,, in my case it was almost supernatural when it happened... My welds went for ok into a world of zero failed xrays on the job.. Being able to see the puddle also led me into the wonderful world of Tig under Terry's leadership where I learned things like walking the cup,, how to grind a tungsten at the correct angle for what ever weld type I was doing and how to consistently set my tungsten length.. What a good weld looks like when its being applied and what perosity looks like when its happening.. WOW that was fun!!

I earned my certification and welded with the Boilermakers for years and then,, when I started raising my family and no longer wanted to travel I landed a job with a company as a Supervisor which required both my skills as welder and machinist (lot of Stainless = food processing equipment).. All because a Pipe Fitter turned welding teacher took the time to teach me to see the puddle..

So,, from all that,, here is my advice.. If you really want to learn to weld, IMHO,, the best way to begin is get a good set of Oxy/Acetylene torches with Cutting tips but also get brazing tips.. Take the brazing tips, get a good "cone" shape of flame going,, take hunk of steel and just start pushing the puddle around.. Hold the cone tip on the steel and watch carefully what takes place.. Watch as you see a small puddle develop.. When the puddle gets to 1/4 inch in diameter move the cone tip slowly and let the puddle increase in size to match its original size.. Controlling your movement forward speed is what will keep the puddle one consistant size.. When you get to where you can write your name and maintain the puddle size enough that when you lift your hood what you see will look like someone wrote it with an ink pen with no bulges or changing in the line that forms your name your getting the hang of it.. Now graduate to brazing.. Now learn to cut steel with your torch set.. In the end,, you will have purchased one of the best tools a backyard mechanic can own (Torch set) and will not only know how to use it,, you will have learned to weld and will be ready to progress into arc/Tig?Mig fairly easily..

Yes,, prep and cleanliness and of course a steady hand are the basis for good welds but I gotta tell ya,, IMHO,, actually seeing that little puddle is a game changer IMHO.. Also,, if you really want to learn it and you are young with good eyes,, get started and do it now!! Getting old and loosing eyesight,, even having to use reading glasses, is a huge handicap IMHO..

Rich,, I think that is an AWESOME deal my brother!! Just awesome!! ENJOY!!

Puc

[RDawson]

Ahhhh @cowpuc you brought back some memories. My first welding I learned in high school was in an auto body vocational class. We learned with the torches on flat sheet metal, migs were just coming about and cost more than a good used truck. We pushed that puddle around until I was welding quarter panels in wrecks without thinking about it. The next year they started a welding class but the shop wasn’t ready until Christmas. I had worked in a sheet metal shop over the summer so I’d expanded on my welding there. I was the only one in class with any experience so once I did my coupons with stick and mig I got to play with a brand new Miller tig the rest of the year while everybody else learned from the beginning. As a joke somebody handed me two Pepsi cans stacked and challenged me to weld em, teacher said it couldn’t be done. As a 17 year old that knew everything I took it as a challenge, a few weeks later I presented the teach with two stacked cans fused all the way around with a continuous bead. No telling how many cans I burned up trying 2-3 hours a day until I got it. Wish I’d kept those cans. I have a pretty well stocked welding shop that since I decided to semi-retire last year is just there for my personal repairs or playing, the only thing missing is a high freq tig to do aluminum. That is probably coming next summer just because I want one to play with again. I haven’t tigged aluminum in 20-25 years so I doubt I’ll ever do cans again but I turn down work every week on aluminum boats that just fixing a few a year would be profitable enough to buy more Yamaha parts.

[djh3]

I learned with Oxy Acetylene and coat hangers. My buddy had torches and he taught me on our first race car how to weld with gas. Then a neighbor traded me some of my services for a lincol 220 AC barn box. I still have it. Burned a ton of rod with that thing. Built several race cars and cages with that. Then here in Fla I bought a Legends Race Car and needed to weld up some stuff and Sears had a wire feed on sale for like $100. I bought it and had to learn all over. I did take a welding course or 2 at the local college in Oklahoma when I was stationed out there. Instructor put me on some scrap and a AC/DC barn box. Here put this together, after the junk I had been welding no problemo. He's "not bad", then he takes me over to a wire feed. I never saw nothing like that before. My welds looked like bubble gum, he made me weld with the dang thing for weeks.

[luvmy40]

Puc,

WOW! See the Puddle! Wow! That is exactly what I meant when I was talking about knowing what the heat is doing and where it's going. As usual, you stated it better and just helped everyone who stumbles onto this thread that I started as a Brag/Boast/Look What I found thing. I have always been told"Learn Gas before Arc. Learn AC stick before MIG. Learn Mig before TIG. As I said, I'm far from expert at any of them but can be periodically competent when I need to. I'm hoping that having a quality welder will encourage me to practice more and grow as a fabricator. I know having the forge has been a great learning experience in the few short weeks since I fired it up.

 

Ahhhh cowpuc you brought back some memories. My first welding I learned in high school was in an auto body vocational class. We learned with the torches on flat sheet metal, migs were just coming about and cost more than a good used truck. We pushed that puddle around until I was welding quarter panels in wrecks without thinking about it. The next year they started a welding class but the shop wasn’t ready until Christmas. I had worked in a sheet metal shop over the summer so I’d expanded on my welding there. I was the only one in class with any experience so once I did my coupons with stick and mig I got to play with a brand new Miller tig the rest of the year while everybody else learned from the beginning. As a joke somebody handed me two Pepsi cans stacked and challenged me to weld em, teacher said it couldn’t be done. As a 17 year old that knew everything I took it as a challenge, a few weeks later I presented the teach with two stacked cans fused all the way around with a continuous bead. No telling how many cans I burned up trying 2-3 hours a day until I got it. Wish I’d kept those cans. I have a pretty well stocked welding shop that since I decided to semi-retire last year is just there for my personal repairs or playing, the only thing missing is a high freq tig to do aluminum. That is probably coming next summer just because I want one to play with again. I haven’t tigged aluminum in 20-25 years so I doubt I’ll ever do cans again but I turn down work every week on aluminum boats that just fixing a few a year would be profitable enough to buy more Yamaha parts.

 

The one thing I don't like about the TigPro is that it does not have AC TIG so, no aluminum. I then did a little more reaserch on the Omni Pro welder and found it doesn't have AC TIG either. You have to use an aluminum wire feed gun with it. I'm glad I didn't pass this up for the Omni now.

[MonsterBiker]

I don't have any experience welding......yet....but as a former HVAC/R technician I do have experience brazing. Yes indeed brazing, like welding, is all about good prep and making the puddle of silver solder go where you want it. I am planning to purchase some acreage in about a year and a half. If I don't buy something with a workshop already on it I will build one. That should be all the excuse I need to buy a welding rig and learn. Still have my oxy/acetylene rig (with cutting torch) from my technician days.

[bpate4home]

My dad taught me to weld when I was 13 and he was a pipefitter at the Ford foundary near Cleveland. I could solder copper pipe when I was 9. My 'lessons' were on farm equipment at first and he always said if I could weld a plow tip back on and it stayed I was doing good. Well I got it to stay, after about 10 times. Then we picked up a 65 Mustang coupe with a straight 6 in it. I spent he entire summer when I was 15 rebuilding that body and frame all with Ox-Sedeline. Rebuilt the entire trunk rear quaters, new gas tank and had the rear end ready and primed when we pushed it into an old barn that fall. Then in the spring that 'stang broke my heart. We came to push it out of the barn and the entire front shock towers had given out and 1 shock busted through the hood. I did get to use our ARC welder on some stuff after that but never really got back into the welding. I got into wood after that, strickly as a hobby though. I've done a lot there, everything from toys to rocking horses to furniture. Actually working at a muphy bed / desk combo right now that I made. It's way heavy but it does what it's supposed to do LOL. This is the piece my wife and I like the most.

 

[Flyinfool]

Man I wish I had that kind of talent. I have NO artistic ability. I can make things that will be strong and functional but never pretty. That goes for both wood and metal.

 

I agree with what has been posted above, learn O/A first, then stick then MIG and finally TIG.

 

They all have there place as the right one to use for a specific job. I am still waiting for such a deal on a TIG with HF AC for aluminum. Then my collection of welders will be complete. It has been at least 30 years since I used a TIG. It will take some relearning.

[RDawson]

This is my favorite aluminum fab. Glass shop brought me a brand new dodge truck and a picture of what they wanted. Spool gun used on this one.

[luvmy40]

I picked up bottle of argon, a small portable welding table, some filler rod and got it all set up this evening. After a half hour of playing around with a #5 cup, 3/32 red electrode and a couple 1/4" mild steel coupons, I have determined I need a lot more practice!

 

This is the very first time I have ever attempted TIG. It's more difficult to maintain the arc length than I thought it would be. I also tend to get a little too much lean going from time to time. I did pretty good with adding filler. That isn't too different from oxyacetylene technique.

 

I think I need to up my amperage a bit and speed my travel up a smidge. A couple times, my coupon was glowing cherry at the end of my run.

 

GOOD TIMES!!!

[Freebird]

LOL...NO PICTURES of your welds.

[luvmy40]

 

I'll let you guess which are the first and which are the last beads. A couple are just puddle runs, no filler. The real ugly ones are with no shield as I had the regulator turned off.

[RDawson]

I would practice with 1/8 or thinner so you don’t have to burn as hot. You’ll be “stacking dimes” before you know it.

[Freebird]

Better than I could do.

[cowpuc]

Heyyy,, IMHO,, not bad:happy34:!! Not bad at all for the 1st time out of chute 9 riding a bull that you aint never rid before ya lop eared varmint!! !!! Looks like if you took the coupon and tipped it over and smacked it on the work bench the bead wouldn't fall off = A+ IMHO:banana:!!

It's been a longggg time since I even touched a tig torch and my advice would be some real old school stuff from a real tired memory but,, would you like to hear it anyway Rich?? I kinda thought you would:680:..

1st,, the "flame" coming off the tungsten is an invert of the angle of the grind you put on it.. The wider the angle, the wider the flame.. For real quick, small puddle welding a real sharp angle with a fine point always worked best for me.. For bigger puddle, slower speed welding,, try opening the grind angle some..

See that dot at the end of the weld? In the old days we called that a "Fish Eye".. Again,, this is just an opinion at best cause its been a long time but I believe you will find out that that fish eye is caused from the long arc that happens when your pulling out of the weld. Fish Eyes were HUGELY important to us trades welders years ago cause the pocket they create are the weakest part of the weld.. In fabricating,, if an otherwise good weld is going to fail it is going to fail by tearing starting with that point.. I personally know of several otherwise good welders who were ran off a job just because they did not know how to handle/avoid fish eyes.. I was taught,, and used daily, the art of instead of just pulling out of the weld when Tiggin,, to make a quick trip off to the side of the weld and pulling out in an area out of the weld path,, a "tail" so to speak.. In an xray,, it was not unusual for the xray techs to approve welds with tails as acceptable without the tradesman even having to clean the tail up BUT,, they see the remains of a fish eye inside of a capped weld,, couple of those and you brass out for your final time..

You speaking of forgetting to turn on your flow meter made me smile,, isn't that a pretty fireworks display when welding with no cover gas:Laugh:.. I am sure this is definitely old school stuff but years ago,, up on the steel tiggin steam pipe (only us Boilermakers had to call em Tubes) we always had issues with disappearing cover gas.. Could be welding along,, minding your own business,, focused on tieing in a puddle and running a wedding band weld and POOFFF,, just like that it would lite up.. Come to find out,, the natural flow (even on a calm day) of air flowing thru steam pipes would be enough to suck away the cover gas,, tiggin was that fragile.. We ended up having to stuff rice paper (approved on most job sites) into the tubes to get decent welds.. I only mention this cause in a shop it is very common to run fans for cooling down,, fans can easily move cover gas away when tiggin too..

In Tig,, you have filler rod.. It appears that you were trying to add filler rod into an area that was already filled.. Thusly the large hump of puddled filler rod.. Try moving around a puddle of the existing coupon steel without adding filler.. See if you can just moved a straight line while maintaining the puddle size at you go.. Maybe get the feel and sight of the puddle as it forms and as quickly as it forms move forward so you are seeing the edge of the puddle eat at its forward edge and moving forward as quickly as the edge disappears..

Now I may have this backwards but I will take a shot at this just cause I love you like a brother Rich,, anyone who really knows this stuff PLEASE feel free to jump in and correct me here.. If you want to play with filler,, take a coupon, grind a 45 degree beveled edge on it.. For Tigging I would always leave a feathered edge on the coupon to run my Tig root pass with.. . Then I would place a piece of rod at the ends of the coupon and tack the ends so the coupon would have its feathered edges just touching each other. Now when you are adding filler rod you lay the filler rod in the V ontop of the mating feathered edges and make passes of the top of it rod with your puddle breaking down the feathered edge on each side of the filler rod and tieing it all together in the v, tieing in the sides as you progress from one tack to the next.. This will make a really nice, almost flat surface to begin the the capping process from. A really good trick that I used a LOT in maintaining xrayable and fairly pretty welds when tiggin roots like this was to "walk" the ceramic cup around the pipe.. Doing so adds amazing stability for all day long welding as the cup itself is supported by the steel instead depending on your hand not to shake (it is amazing how even the smallest amount of hand movement can be seen in the puddle,, Tig is all about control IMHO.. To accomplish this trick its just a matter of resting the cup at an angel against the walls of the "V" and rocking it back and forth in a movement that gives it a small forward movement as you rock,, a walking movement.. Once you determine what angle you want the cup to walk in, you set the depth of your tungsten to match the angle and not create a long arc or a flame out.. Once you have that depth figured,, I always would place the tungsten set to depth against my thumb nail and make a mark on my thumb nail with the freshely ground tungsten so when I lost my tungsten edge and did a change out with one of the fresh ground tungstens I carried all I had to do was drop the dull one out, put a new one in and measure its depth against the mark on my thumbnail and BINGO,, perfectly adjusted!!

 

Wowzy wow wow wow @luvmy40!! THANK YOU for grabbing that Tigger and starting this thread!! This sure is bringing back some bits and pieces of wonderful memories of days long gone by for me ... Those were some xtra special days filled with great times!! Have fun with it all Rich!! Enjoy my friend and thank you for sharing with us!! And,, for putting up with me!!

Puc

[Flyinfool]

It has been about 30 years since I played with a TIG. I bet I could make some real ugly welds to.

 

That brings back memories from many years ago. I had a car trailer that had C channels for the tires to ride in. the metal was so smooth that if the tires were wet at all there was no way to drive up on the trailer. SO I was going to lay some beads of weld across for extra traction. But try as I might I could not lay down an ugly rough high traction weld. So I gave the welder to my brother who has never tried to weld anything in his life. He laid down a bunch of perfect chicken poop beads and my tires never slipped again. We still laugh about that one.