I have a cheap flux core welder I got from Harbor Freight some time ago. It served its purpose – mostly just to tack things in place, no real “welding”. It quit working so I decided to upgrade and plan to practice and learn a bit more about welding to do some of my own fabrication for the 1992 Evo Project. For the 1992 Evo Project I will need to fabricate the fuel tank mounts, the rear fender mounts, and a few other things.
I used the Harbor Freight welder mostly just for tacking things up, then taking them to someone who knows what they are doing to do the final weld. It worked fine for this purpose until it stopped working. I debated trying to fix it or picking up another HF one, but I want to do more so I started looking around at other options.
I did a lot of research looking for a welding machine which was affordable, was easy to set up/use, and would do what I needed it to do. After a lot of reading of reviews, watching a lot of videos, and reading a lot of user guides, the Forney Easy Weld 140MP was my choice.
The Forney Easy Weld 140MP works off standard 115 Volts and is a multi-process machine. It supports MIG (Gas and Gasless), Stick, and TIG welding. I didn’t really need the multi-process as MIG welding is likely the only type of welding I will ever do, but for the price having the other options, which I may tinker with in the future, is nice. The user guide recommends a dedicated 30 Amp circuit for the welder, when I had the garage wired I had a circuit specifically for this put in.
It was very easy to set up for flux core (gasless) MIG. Still looking at getting a gas set up for it and I will do this (and practice a lot more) before an arc hits my frame.
It did not take long to get things set up and be ready to start welding.
I spent some time over the weekend practicing on some 3/16″ steel. Tacking, just running beads, butt welding, fillet welding, and such. I need A LOT more practice but really enjoyed tinkering.
As you can tell from the welds above I need to get a better feel for how much wire to have out so I can reduce the amount of spatter. Another quick thing I learned is I need to spend more time cleaning the area I will be welding, properly preparing the surface should also help reduce the amount of spatter. I’ll get there with practice.
Looking forward to learning more (I may even take a class), practicing more, and doing some of my own fabrication for the 1992 Evo Project and other projects.
