CL welder find?

It is kind of light duty. IMO it would be god for something like a UDS build or fire baskets, not so much on the thicker material.

What do you know about welding? Are you going to be doing a lot of fabricating after the smoker?

Find out if the CH is a gassless welder also, for the price its probably the case.

Im not familiar with the farmhand but it looks to be a decent entry level type machine but if there is no option to upgrade to gas and you plan on doing other projects then it may not be the best option.


Essentialy the limmitations of a gassless system are limmited wire selection and in the case of many cheaper units limmited amperage settings.

Together this makes welding thin guage metal difficult and doing so well without warping nearly impossible.

If you only ever intend to weld the propane tanks together the stash it in the garage forever consider simply paying a machine shop $20 to do it for you.

If you have other plans for it be realistic as to what you want from t and shop accordingly.




I own a 120V wgasless my self from HF and am happy enough with it though I wish I had sprung the extra $50 for the gas capable version for the automotive body work I want to do.

Mine has a knob for wire speed but only has a switch for amperage but using a cord dimmer like... Amazon.com: Westek 6089B 500W Full Range Foot Control Dimmer, Black: Home Improvement@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41tSRfHLuNL.@@AMEPARAM@@41tSRfHLuNL allows finer control but you may have to fiddle with wire speed more as it will tend to slow it down also.



What ever you end up getting I hope it works well for you and I hope you find many other projects to use it on welding is a great thing to learn.

geo said:

It is kind of light duty. IMO it would be god for something like a UDS build or fire baskets, not so much on the thicker material.

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On thicker metals (1/4" or more) it just means lots of passes to fill the join. Anything thinner and it should be fine.


One thing to watch out for if you want to do a lot of heavy welding with a hobby welder is the duty cycle.

At full mine has iirc a 10/60 cycle it wants you to stick to. Essentialy for every 10 seconds of welding it wants you to let it sit for a full minute.

I stopped obeying this "rule" almost right away lol, firstly its rare on smaller projects to weld for a full 10 seconds un interupted second for the price of the unit I just stopped caring.

The problem with the gasless types is the splatter all over the place. Duty cycles should be observed, that's why they rate them. It's also how one tells a cheap machine. Low cycles less cost. The splatter keeps me from using them. I'm not the best welder, but it helps to use gas when one can. Much cleaner I'm sure. My 110v welder is out and will be replacing with a HTP 110volt model soon. Best welder on the market, including the name brands. Steve.

You should be ok with that welder. Make sure your weld areas are clean (no rust or paint, bare metal) and since it is only 80 amps, you might want to consider buying a hand held propane torch from wally world to pre-heat the areas you are going to weld.

A little trick to cut down on spatter from flux core wire, Pam cooking spray. Hold the can about 8-10" away from weld area (after you pre heat it with torch) and after welding, use a wire brush to clean almost all of the spatter.

The first welder said it was actually a Mig welder. If it is a mig welder, you might want to jump on that one. Some people confuse Mig welders for wire feed so you might want them to clarify. If you only plan on using it for this one project, the Mig welder is more versatile and in my opinion, would be easier to sell if you decide to get rid of it.

pm me if you need any welding advice and keep us posted on what you decide to do.

Are you kidding me...Try welding on some hinges to that ...thicker metal and see if they stay. It is about penetration, that machine will not come close to making a "sound" weld on thick metal. The machine you are looking at will probably be ok for what you are wanting just don't go thinking you can weld 3/8 or 1/4 with it. You will also have trouble with very thin metals as duel core wire is pretty hot. Another trick used in the field for splatter is to coat around the weld area with acetylene gas (the black suet)...good luck

web G2K said:

On thicker metals (1/4" or more) it just means lots of passes to fill the join. Anything thinner and it should be fine.


One thing to watch out for if you want to do a lot of heavy welding with a hobby welder is the duty cycle.

At full mine has iirc a 10/60 cycle it wants you to stick to. Essentialy for every 10 seconds of welding it wants you to let it sit for a full minute.

I stopped obeying this "rule" almost right away lol, firstly its rare on smaller projects to weld for a full 10 seconds un interupted second for the price of the unit I just stopped caring.

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With my HF I can promise I would have no problem welding your hinges I would have no problem at all welding up an entire truck chassis with it in fact sas thats the next big project. A friend wants to box his ranger up then swap the IFS for a solid up front.

:shocked: do me a favor, before you go making that stuff do a bend test on one of your welds and see how it goes.....just google weld bend test. If it can do it then great, I have seen to many welds break and have to much experience to believe a small wire feed can do what you are saying.

web G2K said:

With my HF I can promise I would have no problem welding your hinges I would have no problem at all welding up an entire truck chassis with it in fact sas thats the next big project. A friend wants to box his ranger up then swap the IFS for a solid up front.

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A guy could use a grinder and create a V notch between the hinge and the surface being welded and do a root pass and 2+ filler passes and still have good penetration. Yes, it will take a long time with that welder, but I have successfully welded engine mounts in offroad trucks (where it wouldn't matter as much as something on the road) with an 80 amp flux core welder. That repair lasted the 3 years I had it in the truck (before I shoehorned it into my mustang).

I do agree though. Do a bend test to make sure there is good penetration.

Not saying it can't be done, just most people with a 80 amp welder has no clue how to weld...If it sticks together they think it's welded good.

heli_man said:

A guy could use a grinder and create a V notch between the hinge and the surface being welded and do a root pass and 2+ filler passes and still have good penetration. Yes, it will take a long time with that welder, but I have successfully welded engine mounts in offroad trucks (where it wouldn't matter as much as something on the road) with an 80 amp flux core welder. That repair lasted the 3 years I had it in the truck (before I shoehorned it into my mustang).

I do agree though. Do a bend test to make sure there is good penetration.

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Great tips here, I'll throw in my advice...
Buy it! Have fun, learn to weld with it, and you'll have 100% more fun doing that than paying somebody to do it for you. An 80 amp welder can do more than alot of people think, but you will need to make sure you're burning into the metal good. I've done a couple major trailer rebuilds w/ my little 80 amp welder. For the thicker metal a "v" groove is a good idea. Keep in mind also you won't be driving 80 down the freeway on your smoker, so a not-so-perfect weld won't really hurt much. If you mount it on a trailer, then you'll need to make sure the welds are solid.
Enjoy, $80 seems like a good deal. Have fun!

heli_man said:

A guy could use a grinder and create a V notch between the hinge and the surface being welded and do a root pass and 2+ filler passes and still have good penetration. Yes, it will take a long time with that welder, but I have successfully welded engine mounts in offroad trucks (where it wouldn't matter as much as something on the road) with an 80 amp flux core welder. That repair lasted the 3 years I had it in the truck (before I shoehorned it into my mustang).

I do agree though. Do a bend test to make sure there is good penetration.

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A more detailed description of what I suggested^ And if the thinner guage metal is prone to blowing through from the lack of adjustability of a cheaper machine its simple enough to bias your arc to the thicker piece and only move the pool to the thin guage long enough to fuse the two.

got14u said:

Not saying it can't be done, just most people with a 80 amp welder has no clue how to weld...If it sticks together they think it's welded good.

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Most people dont know how to weld period! And a fancy machine dosnt help at all imo.

When I was tought to weld I had the "opportunity" to use many poor welding machines including some antiques in dubious states of repair that the instructors claimed were used in ship yards circa WWII.

Learning your way around fiddly adjustments and wildly unstable arcs can definitely hone your attention to the finer points of the craft and allow you to step up to a quality machine in time and knock out some really great works with an artistry most younger welders lack.



In the case of the OPs scenario though the ability of the machine to weld heavy materiald is a moot point, his real issue will be reducing the output enough and stabilizing the arc enough to get quality welds in the lower range.


As for my own work, regardless of the machine being used I dont fool around with attaching critical parts. I utilize every possible "aid" to stregnthen the item possible with bevels fish mouths plug welds and arangint the attachment points so that I have the most possible continuous bead.

Im a little anal about it actualy, one of my projects this year is to remove both subframes from my car and follow up the factory sections of weld (maybe 1-2" each with several inches un welded seam between) so the parts are completely solid. Before I repaint it I'll be doubling or trippling the seam spot welds and adding select gusseting and aditional seam welds throughout the chassis.

All using little more than my humble warmed over HF 120 and a HF spot welder

Best to always make the weld as strong as possible because in actuality a weld is a weak point. Not a strong point. Becasue of the H.A.Z.

Ive seen truck frames break and come apart where someone welded on them. Chassis are super heated treated I think.

Cutting or welding on any tank that has had a fuel in can kill you. There was a shop in Oakland, CA that made cookers from 55 gallon barrels. The owner had one blow up in his face and it almost killed him. The blast took away much of his face.

Welding on automotive frame members can be a problem. The newer cars/trucks are using high strength steel and HS steel requires an inverter welder. MIG and stick welders overheat the metal and cause it to become brittle.

If you are going to buy a stick welder, then I would just get an older Licoln that is 220. Nothing wrong with a 110, but as previously mentioned, if you are welding thicker metal like a propane tank you will want the extra heat generated by the 220. IMO, a 110 welder is good for welding pop cans together...ahaha. j/k