Here's the situation. Both of these units were in an online auction. They're Campbell Hausfeld units, and the only model designation I can see is the Mig/Flux 105, visible on the top. The better looking one in the pictures also looked better in person. (The second one.) The one where you can only see the top (the first one), appeared to have the side panel missing, and the wire spool that was inside was sort of tangled. The other one looked pretty good. All the items for sale in the whole auction supposedly were in working condition, but there was no opportunity to test them at all. What would you have paid? I'd like to see whether my instincts were correct...
These go for around $100 new and have limited use but, ok for home use so i would have only offered $50 for the pair. thats if i was looking for a welder.
I wouldn't have bought either, too small for me. I believe they are both 120v machines that use flux core wire. They are not powerful enough to weld thicker steel and the flux core is not good for welding the thin body metal on cars. You want/need a 240V machine. Enough power to weld thicker steel using flux core, solenoid gas valve for solid wire mig (bodywork) and ability to add a spoolgun for welding aluminum if required. Go over to weldingweb.com and you'll see all the newbie questions about small, entry level mig welders and the advice they get. Hope you got a great deal, sell them and get a real welder, you'll be much happier. By the way, great signature line you have, makes me chuckle everytime I see it.
Yep, those look like 120V units. 50 bucks at the max for each, even then I'd have to use one arm to make the other arm raise up.
Yeah, they're the 120 volt units. I have a 220 buzz box in the garage, plus my Miller gas powered unit. I was just interested in something to handle the real light work, since I tend to burn right through that with the other ones. I didn't buy either of these. I'll leave everybody in suspense a little longer before I tell you what they brought. Thanks. It took me a long time to realize it, but I think that's exactly what I'm doing.
Wait a minute, you prefaced this with "what would you pay..." What one would pay and what some nut jobs actually pay at auctions can be astounding! Talk about scratch ur head kinda stuff! :tong A mig to handle the light stuff? Man, you can't possibly separate me from my MIG welders. An arc welder is for structural welds, joining serious iron. A MIG, will do the same, but will do the tasks that are a PITA for an arc melter. Just this week welded an exhaust outlet on an SK480 muffler that had major rust holes in it. Patient welding, but got it seamed up. Wouldn't even attempt that task with an arc welder.
GOOD Call on your part Digger ! ....... buying one of those is like buying a gray market machine .... you never know until something goes wrong, then look out ! parts ? what parts ? ..... LOL ... good-luck cheaper to buy new than repair those pos ...... as for new at least you can take it back if it screws up ..... as for what norite says you want to have the ability to use argon or argon-co2 mix ....... again good call ....... :drinkup
This was a liquidation auction of a local contractor. Yeah, and I said I wanted to be sure my instincts were correct. I really wanted one. I'm still keeping my eyes open for a good deal on one. The good looking one was bid up to $185 even before the preview which was Friday. That leads me to believe that it was somebody who was already familiar with that particular unit. In the end, it went for $225. The beat up one went for $60. There's one on Ebay that looks like the same thing, just about. New, buy it now, for $420. http://compare.ebay.com/like/160501272966?ltyp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar (I didn't find that one til after I'd posted this thread.)
If I wanted them, maybe $50-60 for the pair. My guess is, if the right dolts showed up, they brought at least $200 each. Crud, I looked before your last post, then posted after, a similar rated campbell hausfeld goes for just over $200 at walmart.com.
I got one for Christmas one year. its best on 14 gauge steel with the flux or gas. I kept mine as mom got it for me. I can weld alot thinner stuff with my old Miller Matic Wire welder with the same wire. THe CH welder only has a a high and low setting on heat and a variable wire feed. I welded several things with it and carried it in my service truck to run off the Miller Bobcat to fix exhaust pipes. Miller ,lLncoln, Hobartr and Esab make a good 120 WW
save yourself ALOT of headaches buy a name brand as in Lincoln,Miller,Esab or Hobart just for the peace of mind of easy to come by parts and acc just my view i would give scrap weight for the CH
I agree FSERVICE. You can't beat the performance of a quality welding machine. I've been welding for over 30 years, used good machines, and also machines that the current isn't dependable. I don't like having to back up and re-do welds.
I have very limited MIG experience--only used a friend's Miller a couple of times, but I'd really like to get some more. Thanks, guys, for all of your insights. These two machine were both kind of a 'pig in a poke'. The way money is right now, I'm glad I didn't take the chance on wasting any of it...
OCR said "probably on the same part for thiry years". bah ha ha h ha ha
Re-do weld? What the heck is a "re-do" weld.?:tong Hey digger, I ended up with a Miller "Thunder Bolt" 240v AC buzzbox. I thought I'd never use it but now use it all the time. I think it gets better penatration than the small migs you were looking at. Besides, mig welders are for girls who can't strike an arc (Just kidding!). I like my miller suitcase because it's point and shoot which makes it great for really tight spaces. I think migs shine in tight space and high production. Just my observation.
I've burned boxes of 7018's doing structural iron, glad I don't do that anymore. :tong But used MIG more often since being in a shop over the last twenty some years, very versatile machines. I hope you get a chance to purchase one digger, you'll find they're far more friendly for general welding work and repairs. Ummm, no, me smart enough to do it on two pieces. That way if I muck one up, ain't a total loss. See, I'm smarter than a tossed salad. :naughty
I would have walked away from them both. I have a friend who had one once...... cheap junk. Better welders have been scraped than those are.
I have a stick welder, wire welder, bobcat stick and also wire feeder suitcase for the bobcat, love them all, but grab the suitcase first powered by my bobcat, use flux wire with it and just bought it spur of the moment and its the best investment I've ever made. I have used the 120v machines a few times, wasn't real impressed, first the duty cycle isn't there, only can run them on low settings for a few minutes an hour, my suitcase is almost a 100% duty so I don't need to stop welding for anything, the covered wire makes welding in the wind over gas a snap. Its lightweight and can be carried up on top of machines and go anywhere, literally. If your going to buy a 120v machine buy quality that has repair parts available and also value so it can be traded back in for something bigger when you need and want something bigger and better, the other problem is they are not water or moisture tight and that causes a lot of problems over a suitcase feeder which are moisture proof, more so than any other welder, something I never thought of before buying but is a must I find later on [even a blind sow can find an acorn once in a while and get lucky]. As for buying used, well it better come from a dealer who specializes in fixing and working on them before I'd ever consider it, the duty cycle thing is big, most don't realize they can't weld with one for 15 minutes straight and need to wait almost a half hour before striking an arc again and eventually burn up the welder and thus some unsuspecting sap comes along and buys a welder that won't weld or does funky things when hot, been there done that as well, learned my lesson and don't want someone else to get taken like I once did. I've also burned up a welder when time wasn't on my side and we needed to repair something and couldn't wait for the duty cycle time for cooling, it got so hot the electrode holder burned my hand through gloves but it did work, at least until I was done, never again, but got the job done. If your having problems with your wire welder burning through small material, try smaller diameter wire and turn the heat down, done that a lot over the years and had good luck, its just a matter of changing the tips and putting in smaller diameter wire and maybe different feed rollers, no big deal at all. I've got a hobart 250 and we have no problem welding tin with it if we use small wire, done a lot for body work. For that matter I've also got a torch and use it for light tin type work also, either brazing or using a coat hanger and go that route with some patience and time but that needs to be inside to make it work best, or out of the wind anyhow. Don't mean to preach just passing along some things I've learned over years so take it for what its worth.
I had a cheapie walmart welder for a day, took it back because the gun was always on.. a lot of flashes. I took it back after about 30 minutes .. I now have a weldpak something
Those arnt worth their weight in scrap. The coolest welder i have seen yet is a essab mig tig and stick. I have the 240v set up with everything including a spool gun and it works great even for a little gouging ! I think they make a smaller 120v one if you were to be interested in buying one theyre realy reasonable
posted on wrong thread! sorry!
I agree with the comments on getting a good name-brand MIG, there is no (positive) comparison! However, when money is an object and you just need a MIG for light stuff, Harbor Freight is your friend! They have a 90 amp 110v Flux-core unit for $99 and a 110 amp 220v Flux/MIG for $180 right now. (they are at least as good as C-H! In fact if they aren't made in the same village in China, they are better) http://www.harborfreight.com/welding/mig-flux-welders.html I have had good luck with their return/extended warranty policies when my luck has been poor on the tools themselves (which is rare). Ben~