This is the truth. I bought a Campbell hausfeld wire feed welder from a dirty tweaker about a year ago for 65 dollars. I had never welded before. Today I do a lot of aluminum TIG and make a good living in fabrication. You can't win if you don't play.

@@InchFab Hey! That was me! Josh, is that you? Yo, check this out, check this out! Yo man, I got a C5 Corvette I am willing to let go of for $300. $300 (!). It's in pristine condition. Well, pretty much... The ignition lock cylinder is damaged, and the airbags have deployed :(

@@theephemeralglade1935 I'll take it.

@@InchFab LOL! You called my bluff?! Damnit!

@@InchFab Yea I also buy stolen goods all the time... Can't beat the price and then my homeless friends can get high!

I think it works really well. I also have 2 other titanium welders that I have been pretty impressed with, especially for the price.

Thanks Mike! Appreciate it! Watching your videos makes me want to build up a kei truck welding rig with a rack on top :)

Hey Tim is there a Flux Core welder you would recommend for up to 3/8th. Looking to repair trailers i have and build a smoker..

I was in the same boat 1 1/2 years ago. I was considering the Dekko but ended up with the Amico 165 which included a TIG torch. I learned from KZfaq videos also. Welding is heading towards laser welding and less of a learning curve is required.

Don't give the deko the time of day. It's straight garbage. I'm with you on the save up and get something a little better than bottom of the barrel.

Much appreciated!

I've had two Lincoln 225s over the years. They're great!

How do you like the welder, just ordered one yesterday.

15% is low. Man that would be a dog to weld with

@@andyf1235 yep. My son asked me to help him with a project he was doing, after an hour struggling with his el cheapo welder and its 15% duty cycle, I threw it in the bin and took him down and bought him one with a decent duty cycle!

@@jackdawg4579 but saying that not all budget welders are bad with duty cycles. It's like anything got to do your research before you buy.

It’s a south of the equator thing. Not much good happens there.

@@andyf1235 yep, definitely the case, the one I bought him was pretty much the same price, but with a 35% duty cycle.

I think we are talking about doability here, and not efficiency. Non of them are any good for the professional.

@@elbuggo That is sort of my point, sure you can strike an arc but what sort of weld can you make?

I agree.

"Please notify me"? You expect a busy KZfaqr to write your name on the side and remember to call you? Subscribe to this channel, set the bell on for notification and follow his videos. 👍

im with you man. ive got three fronius and wont buy anything else

Yea, I'm wanting to buy one and don't know whether to get the Lincoln (used) or get a new cheaper, smaller unit.

@@keithwiebe1787 -- Those old AC-225 units can be had dirt cheap on Craigslist and there is no little that can go wrong with them, they last forever... Basically, just a big transformer and some switches... If you are comparing welders on your channel, it would be a good baseline since so many people have experience with how it works since it has been around so long... Kind of like how the M1911 is a baseline for how a handgun's trigger should be... Even the crappiest M1911 from overseas still has a better trigger than you can get when spending a lot of money trying to upgrade the trigger on a Glock...

@@seanseoltoir I see he did have a video on the 225 unit. I'll probably just get one of those as those I won't lose much money. Found them for around 200 in my area. Some look good and some are real crappy looking.

I don't have one yet, but it's on my list to make soon. Thanks for the suggestion!

That sounds like a nice setup, especially for the price!

Is the quality of the weld better?

@@shovelheadseven well I think that's all on the skill of the welder. I have found that the higher end welding machines are usually truer in their settings and the ability to weld longer keeping a steady and controlled arc.

​@@shovelheadseven Don't let anyone bs you. Yes, in most instances the higher quality welders perform better. Even a Lincoln 225ac buzz box puts that cheap deko pro dc inverter welder to shame. Makes MUCH nicer welds. I would discourage any beginner from getting the bottom of the barrel. It could possibly turn someone off from welding all together. Pay a little extra because most of the time you get what you pay for.

The two processes to look at for aluminum are MIG and TIG welding. MIG is good if you are doing a whole lot of the same joint, because it is faster. However, it takes some messing with to get the settings dialed in on MIG, so it's not awesome for one off stuff. MIG generally requires a spool gun and is also a pain for aluminum under 1/8" thick. I almost always use TIG for aluminum. TIG is great because it can be used on very thin to thick material and it is very controllable. In order to TIG weld aluminum, you'll need an AC/DC machine. TIG is also nice because the same machine can weld pretty much any metal with the same shielding gas, straight argon. MIG requires different gasses for different materials. Most likely, TIG is going to be the way to go for you. I have videos on TIG basics and Aluminum TIG on the channel which may be helpful. Wow, this is getting long, so I better actually get to the answer of your question :) As far as machines go, the price range will be higher than the stick machines in this video. Check out the Primeweld TIG 225X. It is a great entry level machine near the low end of the price range. I have one and it works very well. The machine comes with a CK torch (which is the best in my opinion), a great quality pedal and they have great customer service and stand behind their machines. It's not the only good option, but one that I have had a good personal experience with.

I have 2 multiprocess machines that I use almost exclusively for MIG. My experience with them is that they usually are great at MIG, good stick, but not the best for TIG. Some of the highest end multiprocess machines (Rebel 205 & Multimatic 220) are also good at TIG, though you definitely have to pay a lot for it. The specific TIG features that are missing in many multiprocess machines are AC/DC output, high frequency arc starting and pulse. I hope you enjoy the courses! If you have any questions or feedback, you can reply to the confirmation email to get in touch. Thanks, Tim

Thanks for the feedback, I really appreciate it, great channel and I look forward to the course 👍👍

Thanks! Great question. The arc force setting just increases the amperage from the set amount when the arc length becomes really short. This keeps the arc from going out by giving a bump in output. It has the most significant effect on cellulosic electrodes, like a 6010. My experience is that it doesn't make much difference with 7018.

@@TimWelds Thanks for the info! I was honestly hoping it is a miracle setting -- Ha

The first question is what process you want to run, which will depend on the type of work you want to do. For a lot of people, flux core is a better option than stick welding and I'd probably recommend starting there. The harbor freight titanium flux 125 (the little green one) is a nice little machine for the money. There are several other similar units as well, but getting an inverter with DC output is a lot better for flux cored welding.

@@TimWelds The 160 dual voltage unit is stick. Not having done any welding I initially wanted to do general repair with no idea of what method is best, 110/ 220? Not having a clear vision of stick vs, flux but having the ability to weld whatever including some iron, stainless and maybe a little aluminum. I'm rebuilding an old wood trawler which has all 3. Mostly woodwork but welding skills certainly come in handy. Thanks Tim! Great instructionals, I appreciate the feedback.

Thanks for the suggestion! I try to do that in general, but forgot today.

Hang in there! It takes some intentional practice, but you'll get it. A better machine does help, but it's not a night and day difference.

Great question! They were all rated similarly, but I'm not set up to really test that, so I left it out. The cheap one was rated highest, which I'm not sure I believe.

The problem is usually just the lower open circuit voltage, but also the inductance of a transformer or engine drive is really hard to beat for those rods. Many of the newer inverters are better than the first ones, though.

@@TimWelds Yeah, lower open circuit voltage can reduced the ability to maintain an arc.

I have been really impressed with HTP machines in general and I would assume it has high quality components. As interesting as it would be to open them up, I don't have the expertise to comment on the differences in the electronics.

It was all on 240, except for the one test where I ran them all on 120v with the 3/32" 7018.

I love those old buzz boxes, and they are nearly bulletproof. I’ve had 3 over the years. With metal costs rising and electronics becoming cheaper, inverters have really become the new standard. In my shop, I have 9 inverters for the various processes and none have failed me yet. That being said, there’s no way they’ll outlast a Lincoln tombstone.

Thanks! I've had more Millers than any other brand, really like them. Just don't have one in this same category.

What made you think a compressor could weld? 😊

@@T3glider : They offer very basic and outdated welder machines..

Thanks for the feedback! I'm looking into a better audio setup.

I’m not trying to push any type of electrode, use what you want. It’s just what I used in the video. They don’t “go bad”, they just deposit a little more hydrogen (due to moisture content) than they do when stored or reconditioned in an oven, but no more than any other type of rod stored in the atmosphere. This can cause cracking on thick sections in high strength steel, but all 3 conditions are necessary for hydrogen embrittlement and using a 6013/6011/6010 would actually be worse. I made a whole video about it.

@@TimWelds hang on , so youre telling me that a 7018 rod will "outlast" (for lack of a better term) a 6013 in a standard rod container??