Anyone have any first-hand experience with these cheap tiny stick welders on Amazon? This one in particular is $70, runs on 110v, weighs less than 5# and supposedly will weld up to 1/4” material. Just wondering if this would be suitable for tinkering in the garage, small repair jobs (mowers, trailers, etc) and stuff like that. Cheap is great, the fact that it’s tiny is even better (if it works) because my garage is a mess already.

Wondering if it’s worth $70 or if it’s flushing money down the drain. Reviews are great but you can’t always trust those…

https://a.co/d/7VTwWco

Take a look at primeweld. They have a 110/220v stick welder for $199. People rave about their welders and their customer service.

Ive bought two cheap welders. Not stick but wire. They were both absolute junk. It should be illegal for them to be sold in a box with the word welder on it. So, i spent $750 and bought a good 220 welder. I should have done that years ago. Its like night and day. Im sure glad i finally bought a good welder. I would not recommend buying a cheap welder to anyone i like at all.

Your post reminded me of this guys video/review you might be interested in.

I have several machines. Of them, one is a Miller ac/dc buzz box found at a pawn shop for $400. It runs like a new one. Might be worth calling around.

Just having a hard time with it working. One review said needed a50amp breaker but worked fine on a 15 amp.

I have a cheap 225 inverter from harbor freight that will work on 110 v. I have found when running it on 110v it doesn’t like a rod larger than 3/32”. It runs 6010 and 6011 really well but I find it hard to run 7018 with it hooked up to 110. Just doesn’t get hot enough unless you are using 220. My whole unit weighs less than 20 pounds. I’m not a professional welder but find myself welding a good bit and so far I really like the little elcheapo one I have for tinkering and fixing equipment. The whole reason I got it was the weight and portability.

Gomer…please film the first bead you lay down. Kinda slow around here these days, we need some new material.

I have literally never welded a thing in my life, and don’t really even have a lot of use for one, just want one….”just cause”

Insert Tim ToolMan Taylor grunt…. Only one way to learn.

Not to be a smartass, but get you a good welding hood and always wear it.

And a fire extinguisher

And long sleeves

And welding gloves.

Spatter is terrible with a cheap welder, buy a better welder and be happy.

There's " Welders " , and then there's " Rod-burners ".

Check the "duty cycle" before buying it...it refers to how many minutes it will run continuously in a 10 minute time frame before overheating and shutting down to cool

Example: If specs show "150A at 23.5VDC, 30% Duty Cycle" it means that it will run 3 minutes continuously at 150A, then cool off for 7 minutes. Don't expect to go to burning rods and keep going...the machine will be cooling off more than it will be welding

The $ amount of protective equipment you are going to have to buy to get started will probably exceed the cost of the welder itself. To me, I’d save up a little more and get one with decent reviews off Harbor Freight rather than one like you’re mentioning.

What about the multiprocess welders ? Yay or nay ?

My opinion on cheap equipment like this is don’t. Just don’t.

With equipment and tools buy once cry once.

Nothing more aggravating than fooling and fighting with crappy tools trying to make things work out.

Buy a quality product that will work well, last and possibly have some resale if you ever decide to get rid of it.