I have this welder. My training...youtube videos. My welds look like dog turds, however...my hay wagon has taken 300-400 hits from 50 lbs flying bales from my kicker and my weld is still holding. I'll consider it a win. LOL

Finally someone who makes sense and clearly explains things without talking about the weather or using a lot of ums and pauses. Thanks for the articulate instructions!!!

I bought that same welder over 7 years ago I still have it and with 100's of hours of use I'm actually impressed the little thing still works, for the money you can't beat it

I went to college for auto trades, and the administration thought that i should be able to learn how to weld within 2 1/2 weeks. I didn’t learn a damn thing, and the instructors made almost no effort to help me out. I’m really glad you made this video because I’ll be grabbing one of those flux 125 welders to try and get the education that a state university couldn’t give me.

You can tell he's an expert bc there's a sign that says it in the background. But honestly, ty for the tips. I'm a novice and this helped a bunch

I appreciate your explanations and knowledge on welding and Harbor Freight welders.

i have watch hundreds of welding videos and not one person has said to wait tell you see the weld puddle form i think this might be the trick for me i alway struggle to see the weld puddle that everyone talks about thanks man liked and subscribed.

Nice video I've been welding for 25 years . I don't do big weld jobs anymore. I do small weld jobs and this welder from harbor Freight is worth the money had mine for 5 years you did a fantastic job on your video for people that buy one of these welders and like to do their own work this will really help them out you did a fantastic job

Thank you. I really enjoyed this frank uncondescending elucidation of the finer points of working with a low end bit of kit.

Most concise and helpful guy on KZfaq. You don’t just tell me how but you also tell me why and that to me is the best way to learn. Thanks dude. I’m tired of dying from exhaust fumes in my work car so here goes nothing

Great video. Very helpful. Just picked up a 125 today for $85 + plus. This is my first time ever welding - it literary took all day to finally get somewhat of a decent weld. I can now see the pool as I weld and have a little control over it now. It'll take time to get better. Videos like these really is a big help. Thank you much!

I bought a $150 Campbell Hausfeld welder from walmart back in 2001. Worked its ASS off for 9yrs ! Only thing I did was splice in 20' piece of household romex to the wall plug cord so it was more portable around a build. This dude is spot on ! Thanks for keeping the content real .

As a welder your explanation and not making excuses on equipment was excellent and concise, well done man. Keep up the good work and I’m subscribing 👍

This was the most concise explanation - as a total noob it was exactly what I needed to hear. Thank you!!!

I was originally taught to weld in a HS shop class and was just good at it. Then I went into steel fabricating and loved it. I got out of construction type work so I have to think back but, I seem to remember being taught to push with your rod or wire tipped in the direction you're welding so you're preheating the steel ahead of you. It seems I may have held it closer to 90 degrees and used a "U" shape motion, where you spend a little more time on the steel and drag across the gap. I never cared for the circle motion because I felt it was easier to introduce garbage into the weld. Some projects required X-ray welds so that wasn't an option. It's been years since I did that work but I do miss it sometimes. Great job with your video!

Thats correct I’ve watched a lot of welding videos, but you’ve done the best most simplest explanation. Puddles back in my youth it took me a long time to master I was real good at straight up oxy acetylene welding and braising. .

Great video! I've had my HF welder for over 5 years now and have used it on many projects. Just this evening I finished welding up a stand made of heavy 4" channel iron for my 1 hp buffer. Years ago I was a certified welder, with much of my work completed in nuclear power plants. One technique I learned works very well with my HF flux core unit. When welding on heavier steels using a fillet weld, I apply a backwards "J" weave stringer. This allows the puddle to fill in for a brief second and then you carry off the excess flux using the tail of the reversed "J" and then sweep back up to do more fill in. This allows for excellent fill in and heat distribution.

Great video. I haven't welded for several years, but am thinking of getting the Easy 125. Your advice was really helpful.

Not a welder but just bought that welder to fix my fence and came to watch your video you got yourself a new subscriber. Great video

Thank you for taking the time to share! I bought this thing better than 6 months ago and looking to finally try it out on something. I will keep your tips in mind. Thanks again. Be well.

Fantastic video. You covered points that others don't mention or emphasize enough. You are very good at this so keep up the great work and thanks for sharing your knowledge.

I just bought the flux 125 welder kit couple days ago when my local HF was having the garage sale! Good timing on this vid too! Learning to weld so i went and tried to find the latest videos. And bam your upload! Thanks man

You're a really excellent teacher. I already know how to weld but I found myself captivated just listening to how you explain it.

Just bought the same welder 2 days ago, and did my first weld job yesterday, didn't look as pretty as yours, but weld is strong on my office chair, used a flapper disc to sand smooth, primer and then black paint. rock solid. I was skeptical on the price vs doing the job, but it worked beautifully. I cam to this channel to get tips and tricks to improve my skills. Awesome video, clear ,concise , practical knowledge and implementation... I really found it helpful and informative.....Great Job!!!!

Used my titanium flux 125 first time yesterday and after watching this video I understand what I was doing wrong. Thanks for your detailed explanation on controlling the pool, etc. 👍🏼

This guy helped me more in 15 minutes that hours of other videos.

I bought one of the new Titanium ones yesterday since they had them on the weekend sale for $149. I started learning to weld like 20 years ago and gave up when the guy teaching me died. I am thankful for channels like this.

Thank you for showing the general setup. You also told the key general points to welding. One thing to prevent blow out is to do joint or gap weld (I can't think of what it's called), then come back and fill in the gaps so there is one continuous weld all around. Great job.

Good video and info! 2 weld jobs and my HF 125 has paid for itself. My dog pen gate and daughters riding mower deck. Zero complaints .

I built a trailer for my mower with this welder using .030 wire on 1/8” angle and some 1/4”. It went together just fine and looks and works as intended. If you’re a home-gamer and only weld occasionally and can’t fork out the big bucks for a “name brand” then this welder and others like it in the HF line will serve you just fine. I’m going to upgrade to the Mig170 eventually and try my hand at true MiG welding. Flux core is nasty and the clean up sucks, but it will do the job.

No complaints with mine, especially for the price! Great video!

A fan blowing the smoke out of your line of sight will help your welds.

Great advice my friend! I've been having fits trying to weld with my cheapo 125. Thank you for taking the time to share your expertise with hackers like me!!

Thank you for the excellent tutorial. I did a lot of stick and some MIG years ago. Picked up one of these HF 125 to do some auto and hobby work. Your tips will get me on the right track.

Great video! Fast, No BS, clear and concise, just what us noobs need. Thanks!

You are good! Great video for a beginner. Just what I was looking for. I'm subscribed. I am a 72 year old guy who is over educated, so when I say you are good, I mean you know what you are talking about, you clearly present the information, you give tips that aren't available elsewhere, and you are not irritating. Some get on your nerves either in the beginning or in the course of a few videos. You don't. Glad I found this channel. Keep up the good work. I will be back for much more.

I find using the anti spatter spray works really well with flux core

Good content! Picked up a 125 a few months back, and been impressed with it so far! Nice household welder

Simple and to the point. Good tutorial. I've been welding for over two decades and if your thinking of getting into it. Watch this. Right on point. Keep it up bro bro. Qsto.

Thanks for the tips. I am a novice and just picked up the Titanium 125 so taking in as much advice and pointers that I can get. Well explained and to the point.

I have to agree that you don't word vomit and youre straight to the point. Great video!

I've actually found that I like Harbor Freight wire better than Radnor or Lincoln, and it costs 40% less. Good video man!

Awesome tips! Thanks for taking the time to do this. Never welded before but want to start so picking this up in the near future

Iam an experienced welder you did such a good job you helped me so much you told it exactly right thanks

This was a better video then the pros I've been trying to watch. Thanks

Great Video with good advice & tips, Have you tried placing a glass shade 11-12 in front of your camera ? With 40 years under the hood, I have a decent understanding of welding. I started tig welding stainless from 11 gauge sheet metal to stick welding 3/8" and 1/2" plate for fish processing boats in Alaska, and I retired as a structural Ironworker, double-teaming American Standard Wide-flange columns with 4" + flanges that were 20"+ wide. I was the first in my state to become certified to the standards set by FEMA after the 1994 Northridge earthquake & those welds were tested for absolutely Zero occlusions. The best advice I received when I was young was from a FEMALE welder. You give good, sound advice in your video, but there's something you did that's going to be instinctual, that you didn't vocalize.... When you were welding metals of dissimilar thickness, you focused your wire on the thickest part (great technique) and you talked about using that bushing on the muffler pipe, you just forgot to mention focusing on the heavier metal because you naturally covered it in your head. Nice work, you've got good sound advice that will hopefully allow your viewers to skip the embarrassing first welds that my step-dad saved on an old piece of angle for 30 years.

I just bought this 125 and thank you , your explanation on how to operate this machine is on point. I'm hitting the job of welding some bumpers on my 2001 Jeep XJ thanks again keep up the good videos.

Great video very informative and well spoken. As a self taught fluxcore welder myself one of the most helpful tips I was given in the learning process was stick out. I like a lot of noobs would just cram that point in and jerk that trigger fully expecting perfect fillers lol.

I've always wanted to weld, never got around to it. I was going to go to the community college.....Then I saw the class price!!! I'm not trying to go pro, this is what I need! Thanks!

Looks like an effective welder to learn on for a reasonable price that can be used for home projects

I finally got to your video and you explained how the flux will "dirty " the weld, that will stop me from going back over it and do some cleaning.

I am hoping to get this welder for Christmas as my 1st around the garage welder. Your explanation was great. The puddle explanation made so much since. Thx

Holy smokes, that gap explanation was what I was missing the whole time.

I agree with David Keppler, Good review, and great advice. Easy, and to the point unlike many KZfaqr's I belive just love to hear themselves talk and tell you a bunch of CRAP that you don't need to know, and generally has little to do with the reason you searched for the information in the first, second, and third place. Thanks for a good review and the advice to amature welders like myself that last welded in high school some 45 plus years ago.

Thank you! It helps to hear someone else’s perspective on welding! Good job 👍🏻

Your video was exactly what I needed. Very practical and informative with no BS! You have my genuine thanks. I subscribed and now I need to check out your other vids. Again, thank you!

You do awesome work,...really nice. Thanks for the Tutorial.

Awesome video brother! I needed some tips I just picked one up because it was a cheap auto feed welder to try I'm used to stick welding and it was totally different feel and everything I appreciate your taking the time to make a good video with everything explained

Thanks for a very informative video. I’m about to start welding for the first time in my life and your video was exactly what I was looking for. And I really appreciate how you said that your stance has changed about throwing out the default wire that comes with the budget welder. It tells me that your focus is providing the most useful information to viewers and can put ego aside.

Been wondering how good harbor freight welders worked! Thanks for the video, answered some questions for me!👍

Dude, thank you so much for sharing your expertise and knowledge. This cured my anxiety of doing 18g floor pans with a harbor freight welder. 🙏

On butt joints you have options. 1st..chamfer your edges. You can bevel one or both pieces. 2) Leave a slight gap between pieces when you tack them together. You can run a bit colder and/or slow your wire feed. Practice your weave technique. 3) Multiple passes. I run it hott all the time cuz I want my final crown to barely raise above the flat surface with no undercutting of the home material or slag inclusion. In the old days, we would grind the weld to a mirror finish. You couldn't find which part had been welded

I have this welder, bought it before this fine video was made. I followed some of the tips here that were posted in the HF review section for this welder and it makes a huge difference in performance. One thing not noted here...HF supplies this welder with a MIG gas shielded nozzle. I have no idea why, as you aren't welding with gas and it really blocks the view of the weld puddle. As a beginner everyone kept talking about the "puddle" and had no idea what they were referring too. Removed the shielded nozzle and put on a gasless flux core tip. It was huge AHA! moment for me.I could finally see what I was doing and move the puddle better. Almost 5 years later and I'm passing the old flux core to my son and just bought the HF TITANIUM UNLIMITED 200 Professional Multiprocess Welder.

Thanks for making this video. I’ve recently purchased this same welder and my first 2 practice attempts on scrap were horrific. I joined 2 thin pieces of galvanized metal forming an ‘L’ and it stuck together but were a bunch of little metal balls all over. I showed my work to son and he bent the L to test strength and it easily broke being so brittle. Your video inspires me to not give up or blame the welder. There wasn’t any wire included with mine and it’s possible I bought the wrong kind. It’s possible my wire feed speed is wrong, my speed across the work is certainly to fast. I was surprised how long your first pass took. My first piece was about that same length and I covered the distance in 1/4 of the time. Thanks again, have a good day.

Thank you so much for posting this video. I've been getting back into practicing with my HF welder for doing exhaust work, and you just explained something that I had a suspicion about but haven't seen it in a video before specifically mentioned. (the concentrating the heat at the very start until the puddle forms). I slowed myself down and just did it to see what happens since it made sense in my head with 0 welding experience...and sure enough the bead was much better than any that I'd laid down before. Time to get some more scrap metal to practice on, over and over and over and over and over and over again :)

Thank you for this tutorial... It has helped me understand a lot...

Very helpful for a first time welder. makes me understand the process better.

Awesome explanation about the puddle. I Got a better grasp at what I have to look at. Thanks.

Bro you explain stuff really great for me, evidently for others as well. Just wanted to thank you. Can't wait to get my hands on welder running. PEACE ✌️

Good tips! That machine seems to do just fine !

Great video! I have been on the fence about buying this welder. This video definitely put my concerns to rest. Gonna have to check in on your other content. Keep it up!

The warning, about wearing eye protection, was a good addition to the welding video. I would have also, given as a reason that the wires are prone to fly out of the wheel.

That's the best explanation of welding I've ever heard. Thanks for this!

Two additional points 1. Clean the mill scale off the metal 2. Use Anti-Spatter.

Good job. You have a gift of teaching. Probably not just with welding. There are kids out there who don’t get that. Keep it up. 👍🤜🤛🤙

Just bought this exact welder. Wanted an idea of how I should do my exhaust. This video is gold.

Ayyy! Just finished up your winch bumper build and bought one of these CE 125A machines three days ago! good stuff my dude

thanks man! just picked up a 125 at the easter sale today.

Thanks for the Great Video.....it cleared up a lot of questions that I have in trying to get some acceptable welds with my Harbor Freight Welder..!

I was advised to drop Intro to GMAW and FCAW a year ago.. have been practicing skills in a friend's art metal shop and at my developing novice skillset found a barely used Harbor Freight 180 MIG on Craigslist to be my best bet. Just picked it up today and have found this video a lot more helpful than taking stabs in the dark hour after hour at Austin Community College..thank you for dissecting "watch the puddle" as into the hows and whys.

Thank you for your guidance. I was able to understand and do shit a lot more better. Thanks.

I just pick one up today on sale to , and I have a project doing some piping for a integra turbo car .

Thank you very much for this video. Just bought this welder today. $ 149. $119 with coupon. I have no Welding experience. Can’t wait to learn.

I did some Flux welding before and this machine is good for to start out on and every time a person use it get little bit better each time they use it

Don't push the weld when using flux core wire...if it's slag...you drag

bought the same one ... you can basically leave the gas nozzle off and you get way more visibility and maneuverability with the tip

Great explanation and terrific job !! Thank you !! I hate having to listen to someone give a science class and an electronics class that means absolutely NOTHING to me !! LOL !! This little welder looks like a home run for Joe homeowner to use. Think I'll go down and get myself a Christmas present !! Thanks again !!

Saw on another channel, and it worked out really well for me, one of things that made flux core click in my mind on how to attack my work: IF IT HAS SLAG, YOU DRAG. If you don't follow that tenet, you're pushing that slag back into your work and contaminating it.

throw the recommendations inside the lid out the window. cut your speed back to 4 and slow down your pass speed. that will cut down on your splatter and give you the penetration you want. keep your bead small, same thickness as your steel that your welding, you put more heat into the joint where it matters and less into the steel around the joint. concentrate on the gap. treat .030 and .035 the same. the wire size is the filler amount, if you use a smaller diameter than what your used to, and slow your pass down, you to get the same bead size, you put more heat into joint and have better looking welds. you will start to prefer the .30 over the .035. due mainly to the appearnace of the weld, and you will have a stronger weld. don't be in such a hurry. either or, or both, bevel your edges or put a slight gap into joints. this is for the penetration of the weld. when using stick on thick metal this is fundamental and should be treated with the same respect in mig and flux core. a 15 to 25 degree bevel will make a world of difference or just a small gap. if you are going to d a multi pass, use a multi pass wire. it burns a little hotter and will penetrate into the previous weld better and gives better penetration. it is designed specifically to go over your previous weld. it also has better results with appearance. the biggest thing to having good and good looking welds is not to short cut any of the steps and to simply take your time.

Have you every tried to pump CO2 though the welder to see if you can use mig wire? Paint ball tank, ice maker tubing and maybe, just maybe, something different. Great video btw. :-)

Good explanation. Also important to note that a bit of pre heat treat helps fusion

Thanks for the vid im planning on using this welder to build a shifter kart and this video really did increase my confidence in this welder.

I bought yesterday and used today. Last weekend was my first time ever and I used a mig with gas. Today on this HF Flux welder seemed like high is too high and low is too low. Still seems hard to see what I'm welding with an automatic helmet.

Going to use my HF 90 welder until it dies, then get a good welder from Everlast for flux-core welding. Or just get a decent MIG welder as have a stick welder now.

Really, REALLY good instruction! Very clear and practical common sense stuff, thankyou so much!

Thank you! Finally someone explaining welding for beginners.

Important Caution: when welding galvanized metals BE CERTAIN to wear respirator or be outside with a fan blowing gases away from you.

What sucks is trying to weld exhaust tubing with a stick welder. I did that a couple years ago and had to do a lot of restarts to fill holes but hay I saved myself $40.

Great information for a guy like me that will use it occasionally. Thank you

Very nice instruction. You are a very good instructor and your points are very clear.