Handheld welder????

[GaryMc]

(Not exactly woodworking but related).  Over the years I have always wished for some way to join two metal pieces without resorting to screws or bolts or figuring out how to do the project with wood (for example, installing a small cleat on a tubular steel bar).  Mind you, I am no machinist!

HValley Tools, AKA MLCS, is advertising a small handheld welder for a reasonable price (currently on sale for $135):

https://www.hvalleytools.com/product/z52...er/welders

Does anyone have any experience with this device or something similar, or have any thoughts about how useful the tool might be for light welding?

Gary

[tomsteve]

no experience with it but it can be found cheaper elsewhere

[stav]

I'm no welder, but I have been looking into it a little out of curiosity over the years. That tool is an arc welder.  From what I have read, mig is the easiest welding to get into for a novice. You can get a mig or other wire welder at Harbor Freight for about the same price, some even less.  I would be inclined to go that way rather than with this thing that seems extremely light duty.

[Roly]

I'm no welder, but I have been looking into it a little out of curiosity over the years. That tool is an arc welder.  From what I have read, mig is the easiest welding to get into for a novice. You can get a mig or other wire welder at Harbor Freight for about the same price, some even less.  I would be inclined to go that way rather than with this thing that seems extremely light duty.

I would look at Amazon for a flux welder.  They normally also do light stick welding.   Most if not all of the light weight welders are all made in China.   Remember a flux welder makes a lot of smoke when using so have plenty of ventilation.    I have been trying to decide on the Yeswelder 135 flux welder which is in the same price range but does quite a bit for the price.  Remember these are not a Lincoln, Miller or other brand name welder.  Roly

[barryvabeach]

I dipped a toe into welding a few years back.  If you just want to stick metal together, and you want to use stock that is around a 1/16 of an inch thick or slightly thicker - a stick welder is the cheapest way to get started.  https://yeswelder.com/collections/arc-we...elder-125a  I have a few machines from Yeswelder and IMO there are slightly better than the no name chinese imports -  This is a 120 volt machine, so it won't handle thick stock, but you would buy a helmet, gloves and a box of sticks and you are in business.  It is a bit tricky to get the stick to start welding, you scratch the surface like a match and if you move too slow, the rod sticks to the work, , but the process is pretty straightforward and you don't need to mess with tanks.  A flux core - aka wire welder is the next step up.  Instead of a stick, the wire is coiled in the machine, far easier to start the weld and continue the weld,  but the weld can be messy, and like the stick, gives off a bunch of smoke - definitely want to be outdoors or well ventilated.   Many like the HF Titantium models because of the HF warranty. https://www.harborfreight.com/welding/we...57861.html , though Yeswelder has some nice models as well  .  If you step up to 240 machines, you can handle thicker metal than with a 120 volt model, though for my use, the bigger issue was that both stick and flux weld pretty hot, so it is extremely tough to weld thin metals without burning through.  The next step up is a true mig -  which uses an inert gas to shield the weld pool as it cools - instead of flux  like stick and flux core.  Mig welds are generally cleaner than flux , much less splatter. You buy the tank of gas, then pay to have it refilled and you also need cutters to trim the wire.  Mig machines can usually use flux core wire - meaning without gas, but the benefit of the gas is that it is easier, at least for me, to work with thinner metals since there is less heat.  Flux core and Mig, at least to me, are the easiest of the common processes.  The next step up is TIG -  which reguires a ton more skill,  but allows you to be much more precise - though it requires a different shielding gas than MIG, so  you have to buy an extra tank, and it uses a different filler metal, so that is more expense.

One really great thing about welding is once you weld 2 pieces together , within a few seconds, they are stuck together and you don't have to wait forever for glue to dry.  A real downside is the metal gets really hot, and stays hot a long time - use pliers to pick up any piece for a lot longer than you think it will be hot.

Highly recommend watching videos by Jodi  https://www.weldingtipsandtricks.com/   he uses higher end machines, and welds at a high level, but a lot of you tube videos are by guys who just took it out of the box and have no idea of what they are doing or about safety.  


One interesting option is this multi process from Yeswelder -  https://yeswelder.com/collections/mig-we...elder-135a    They call it a gasless mig -  which means flux core - wire welder,  but it also gives you the option to do stick welding  ( it says Tig as well, but that is Lift Tig - which is harder than regular tig , and the torch for that is not included )   Any other questions let me know, and since this is OT,  feel free to send me a pm.

[JosephP]

I'll second YesWelder.  I bought this last fall:  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08CBCB4M5 for $350

Haven't used the stick on this yet, just MIG and fluxcore.  I've had a little 120V stick welder for a while.  This is SO much easier.  I was using flux core when I first bought it.  I finally broke down and got a C20 tank.  Welds instantly looked better again.

I claim zero expertise at welding, but I've been successfully sticking 2 pieces of metal together better now than I was before.  Frankly, they look better than my plasma cuts (
yeah for $183 Amazon had a bestarc 50A plasma cutter...if I'm gonna try to weld, that seems like a logical tool to have too!)

Be careful, a $350 welder can get you broke as quick as a lathe if you let it!

[JosephP]

...

One interesting option is this multi process from Yeswelder -  https://yeswelder.com/collections/mig-we...elder-135a    They call it a gasless mig -  which means flux core - wire welder,  but it also gives you the option to do stick welding  ( it says Tig as well, but that is Lift Tig - which is harder than regular tig , and the torch for that is not included )   Any other questions let me know, and since this is OT,  feel free to send me a pm.

that same welder is on Amazon for $140 then a $20 coupon, so $120.  I'd get that before that gadget in the OP for sure...that thing in the OP looks awkward to handle.

[Stwood_]

Get ya a couple of tanks and a torch kit. Get some flux covered brass rod and learn to braze.
You'll have a torch for cutting and can braze with brass rod.

[GaryMc]

Thanks to all for the inputs and opinions.  Barry, that is a pretty good primer on the whole subject!  For now, I will forego buying the MLCS gadget and spend a little more time boning up before abandoning the nuts n' bolts.  The alternatives you folks presented also will be helpful.

Thanks again,

Gary

[MstrCarpenter]

Whatever you decide to go with, get a decent helmet. If you can't see your weld pool clearly (as shown on professional welding videos) then you'll never get the same results they do.

My first stick welding lessons were from a Gunny in the USMC. He drew the four lines and had me make dots at the ends, then the intersections, then many more dots on the lines until it obvious that it was a tic-tac-toe grid. He said it wouldn't be any fun if I couldn't strike an arc. Then we played. Then I made another grid, again with hundreds of dots. With lots of practice you can strike an arc without thinking about it; sort of like "wax on, wax off."
 This continued for many sessions, and I felt I was progressing quite well until he stood the plate vertically. I had "O"s. I had to start at the bottom, curve upwards and, without stopping, curve back down to the starting point. And if it didn't look like an "O", I didn't get the square. He'd just weld an "X" right on top of it and I'd have to buy the beer. Thanks again Gunny T!