Welding Tips and Tricks

I am looking for a stick welder, dual voltage, portable (sub 20 pounds), with an arc force adjustment... 160 amp, 200 amp max out... I am not a big fan of the cheap chinese welder — I bought one and it went back to the source as soon as I received it...

I am looking for something middle of the road, could be chinese but with some quality control... I was thinking of Klutch stick welder (but not available in Canada). Or Jasic PFC 180 — coming with a european plug that I would need to change.

There is also the small Primeweld 160 — without arc force adjustment though... I heard good comments about it (I know I can't rely too much on that...).

Any suggestions?

Sub 20# is going to be your deal breaker. That will keep you in the 150 to 180 amp range.

That would be allright... 160 AMP approx...

only problem is it's not dual voltage....






but if you wait a couple hours, I might have another suggestion that is dual-voltage

Sure... I have all my time...

What is your budget?

Fronius has some pretty nifty stick machines that don't even need leads.

So this stick welder is dual-voltage, but it does not have arc force adjustment that you require. None the less, my initial observations/testing tells me it's pretty good. HTP's customer service is 2nd to none, and I doubt that they have relaxed any quality control to get this new machine produced.

I know this wont be helpful but having quick googlate at USA stick welding offerings.......WOW
I checked at least 5 online stores the cheapest decent brand was 500 usd.
And quite heavy.
How does that happen? Why?
I use the jasic or the WIA 185i or cigweld weldskill 180. Can be used for tig, and they go alright too (just remember to flick switch over ) They are all about 300-400 aud which is maybe 20usd seriously about 250.
They are like T shirts over here, its not odd to have a few of them.
Have I missed something?
Anyhow the jasic is alright as a welder the ones over here take a few knocks in a ute and keep going. I personally have a couple of unimig jasic products myself.

Gdarc21 wrote: ↑Sun Oct 17, 2021 12:01 am I know this wont be helpful but having quick googlate at USA stick welding offerings.......WOW
I checked at least 5 online stores the cheapest decent brand was 500 usd.

That's just how it is, I suppose. A lot of times the power supplies add to the cost since they [at times] come with 120V & 240V input capability. Overseas, it's pretty much all 220V(?). Pretty sure that simplifies designs.

I found a very, very good deal on an ESAB Miniarc 161 lts... Runs all the rods that I need, including 6010 in a portable unit... I'll let you once I have tested it thoroughly... Thanks for the reply.

From Chinese welders i would place Hugong brand at the top,then Jasic and WTL.Those 3 would be in my opinion better ones,after them comes 99 other china brands,some will serve u good ,some don't,by this i mean ofc not only on welding machines,but all other thousands of tools they make.Here in Balkans we use allot of those Chinese products ,almost everything u can imagine for complete workshop at home.And honestly,if there were no for them,many peoples wouldn't even have any tools at home.For hobby and half professional purposes they can serve u very well.Ofc here we have service centers for most of their better brands,so no problem with repairing.

Hugong are excellent welders.I have a couple of em and they are really good. All my mates own at least 1 of them too, but I wont tell them that they do though, cause all of our hugong gear are WIA yellow in Austraila.

ESAB Miniarc 161 is a good machine. I am surprised no one suggested its replacement, the Miniarc Rogue 180i https://bakersgas.com/products/esab-700500070

Very good indeed! I can weld with very low amperage with a consistent arc! I am very surprised. Can't wait to do some more test...

I also had a surprise when I received the welder; full of dust, bad receptacles, bad connectors, etc. Once I took care of it, everything worked flawlessly... I bought it (blinded) from a farmer couple of hundred km from my place... When I opened it to dust it off, I realized that it has been used as a mice pantry, fridge... But noting was chewed up.

nice

I think I missed it, whichh machine was the winner?

He got an Esab miniarc 161 lts.

bap_ wrote: ↑Sat Oct 16, 2021 10:53 pm What is your budget?

Fronius has some pretty nifty stick machines that don't even need leads.

The thud you heard was him hitting the floor after seeing the price.