rangerfredbob
Veteran Member
Oh, I know there's a diffrence in warranty and standing behind the product, I got the 200 before I looked deep enough into the Everlast world, the 170 was just too good of a deal to pass on...
Really!.... I have never had duty cycle of my Hobart Handler 140 stop my work progress.....FWIW ... my biggest complaint with the "cheap" welders (regardless of paint color, since they all tend to come from the same place at that price point -- by and large) is in the design specs and duty cycle. Paying a bit more for better components & specs lets me actually get some welding done instead of tacking then waiting for it to cool down. I wound up needing to do a quick trailer jack attachment on an old boat trailer while at my place in CA (where I don't keep my good tools). Figured let me try the cheap HF option since I have decent welders and a shop in FL & this is only going to be used when I'm in CA (rarer & rarer these days) for quick jobs when absolutely necessary, so the 110/125 wire feeder should be fine even if it takes a few passes. After grinding/prepping, what should have been about 5 minutes of welding became ... press trigger/strike arc/see puddle/start tying the two pieces together/progress 1/4 inch/thermal shutdown/stuck wire/clip wire/smoke 2 cigarettes/reset thermal switch/repeat. At Max it wouldn't go longer than a minute before shutting down & it was so frustrating with ugly cold weld & no penetration, I went out & bought the Lincoln 140 (also made in China) just to finish that job. The Lincoln did the job with decent penetration in about 5 minutes with a single 2 minute pause (by me NOT machine) 1/2 way through to avoid kicking in the thermal breaker. Maybe the higher end HF is better, but that experience put me off of them for stuff I expect to depend on to do the job at hand.
I think that in this day and age one of the bigger things is quality control in the factory. Inexpensive welders can be found.FWIW ... my biggest complaint with the "cheap" welders (regardless of paint color, since they all tend to come from the same place at that price point -- by and large) is in the design specs and duty cycle.
Is THAT the secret to work with one of those! I gave up and went back to using my elderly 230-AC monster stick welder for most everything.I have one of the older "Chicago Electric" flux core welders that's rated at 100A without a fan... the dumb thing won't weld with .030" wire only .035" wire then use the wire speed to control heat opposite of what you are supposed to do, faster speed to force you to move faster, slower speed to get more penetration...
The chinese took advantage of human greed and made themselves the world's workshop making everything for less than anyone else could because the Chinese government Owns the people. Chinese are not citizens they are mere property and they do what they are told. They were told to work for next to nothing and they did. Then they dumped metals and other materials on the domestic markets all around the world driving local suppliers under.Pretty hard to distance yourself from China, even if you could.