are flux core wirefeed welders any good?, Are the welds anygood? or do I need the gass-assisted one to get the jobs done right.
Farmhand 115 Wire Feed MIG Welder
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115A Output Amperage 4 Heat Settings Input Voltage 115 Volt. Weld Thickness 18 Gauge To 3/16 In. Duty Cycle 20% @ 70 Amps MIG Ready And Wire Feed Speed Tracking Accessories Include: Face Shield, Sample Spool Of Wire, Hammer Brush, 8 In. Spool Adapter, 3 Contact Tips, Adjustable Regulator, Gas Hose & Clamps
I Now own the Campbell Hausfeld brand "Farmhand 115" cost $267.00 and it has the regulator. just need the gas cylinder.
Now all I have to do is read the instructions and practice running a few beads, and play around with the amprage to get good penatration continous weld. (no more friggin screws, bolts or rivets!)
"my wife is going to kill me" -got to keep it a secret and tell her its an early birthday present. (Birthday is in May)
The only drawback to a welder like that is it's in-ability to weld heavy material, (1/4" and up), due to only being 70 amp.
You will deffinately want to get gas if you plan on doing any body work.
Flux core will burn holes all day long, and is messy, but will be fine for the heavy stuff.
You will have to plan on spending at least another $120 on a bottle, or find a good rental program. I do bottle exchang. I bought my first empty on line for $70 and have not seen the bottle since, because when they are empty, I just trade it in for a full one for about $25.
PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE.
When I first got mine, I welded everything I could find that was broken. Shovels, rakes, ect.
Flux-cores' are pretty good for working outdoors (in windier conditions) and on heavier sheet metal, though they are sloppier than their gas counterparts. You really need sheilding gas if you hope to do clean welds on lighter sheet metal. Even with that, fixed temp welders like the one pictured are a little tricky to use. Usually the low setting is too low for good penetration when doing bodywork and the high setting just wants to burn holes. Whatever you do, practice (practice, and practice some more) on some old panels before striking an arc on your car.
You get cleaner and better looking welds using gas. I think it's easier to learn how to weld if you start out with gas. You get a better feel for where to set the amperage. The flux core creates a lot of spatter and is very tricky when welding light sheet metal. Definitely get the gas set-up. It'll make you a better welder.
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Wall-Mart now sells the same welder as the Farmhand model I purchased, for $274.00 with regulator, only theirs is Blue and actually says Campbell Hausfeld brand on it.
bottle exchange? where do you send or exchange it?
I have that same welder. Is an Italian welder in my version. Same switches and everything. Different box.
Mine is pretty flimsy. Got it for free or I'd gripe. Pinch roller for the wire feed is the big problem on mine. Made of plastic. Will not reliably grip the wire.
Like the other guy said low is too low and high is too high. I made a MESS of some engine tin, did some decent work on my little trailer, and mostly I'll be buying better when I can afford it. Something with more heat control. I do not have a gas tank. Don't want to spend the cash to upgrade this welder. I'd rather buy a better welder.
Being a profesional weleder for the last 10 years I can honestly say I have never used gas less flux core wire. Which means that most pros probably haven't either. There are time when it is useful, outside, windy etc, it will probably get you by but would prefer soild wire and CO2.
CO2 gives the best penetration with soild wire, however on sheet metal you do not need a lot of penetration so some body shops use a 75% CO2 25% argon gas, better apearance, less spatter.
For most of our heavy stuff 1/4" and up we use 0.045 to 1/16 flux cored wire with 75-25 CO2 argon. Very fast, very smooth, but way too much for automotive stuff. We are talking 1/4" to 5/16" fillets in one pass with 0.045" and easily 3/8" fillets with 1/16"! Of course the machine is drawing way more amperage then you can get out of you garage. 50+amps at 220 volts. The machine is putting out around 275 amps and 28 volts.
If I were buying a MIG I would go with a machine that could run 0.035" and use CO2 or a CO2 argon mix. Drive rolls are critical and need to be replace from time to time so make sure whatever brand you buy you can get parts for easily. Also contact tips are another problem area. We use a twist lock type, not threaded. The threads in the gas diffuser tend to wear out or strip. Some of the higher end machines can run a spool gun for those of you that want to weld aluminum.
Sorry, I got a little long winded here! You guys have been very helpful to me and I just wanted to try and return the favour.
The adage "you get what you pay for" applies here.
That said, I can see exactly whats wrong with that welder. You have "2" heat ranges with "low" and "high" that don't really correspond to anything. Think about that. Do you really think you want to weld only 2 thicknesses of metal, or are you more likely to want to weld several thicknesses betweeen .0100 (bodywork) and 1/4" plate?
If you do only plan on welding 2, or even 4, specific thicknesses of material, do you trust that the welder has been designed with those specific thicknesses in mind?
That said, I started out doing stick welding with a craftsman AC welder until my grandpa bought me a Lincoln Weld-Pak 100, which I then converted to MIG with a regulator/selenoid and tip change. The difference was like night and day, but I was limited to 4 heat ranges with the lincoln, and an inconsistent "heat range adjustment" that the welder did when I changed the infinitely variable wire feed rate.
Having used that for several years, and getting sick of inconsistent weld quality (especially on bodywork) I bought a hobart 300 amp mig that is infinitely variable on the heat output, and it has a separate (also hobart) wire feed unit that has a bigger, spring loaded knob that is designed to "set & forget", that is, it will stay in one place - most of the cheap welders have knobs that are easy to bump out of range accidentally.
I decided to buy the hobart after working a farm job where I got "spoiled" using an older but high quality miller mig that I used nearly every day for various repair jobs around the farm. It was very easy to make high-quality, clean, consistent welds unlike the lincoln weld-pak.
I guess I got a little long-winded there, but basically my point is to buy as much welder as you can possibly afford, if you do any serious fab work you won't regret it one bit. And plasma cutters are a lot of fun.
(Birthday is in May) 
