After some discussion, I called them, got some details. It is a small 15 amp welder, likely only good for 1/8 inch steel.
They are offering to sell for $200, I hope to talk that down a little, it is OBO.
I have budgeted another $100 for accessories, bringing it to $300.
We managed to raise $220 from vouches in Slack from 4 people… According to the Subsidized Equipment Purchase Policy, VHS will donate 33% of the cost to new equipment if purchased by members. There is also the option to veto this.
Because this is a time crunch, I will be moving forward quickly with it. If more money gets vouched, we’ll get a new more nice accessories, that will lend themselves to also support another welder in the future.
We’re now at $270 for vouched money, which allows for a good amount of extra gear.
The only details I could get out of the guy on the phone was:
Mastercraft
15 amp
25 volt
20% duty
We’ll be getting gear to support a much larger welder. I feel like we could sell this one for what we pay for it if we need to. Welders and craigslist go well together.
Its a suitcase welder, it will do thin stuff. Thick stuff if you go really slow and do a couple passes. You wouldn’t want to use this for anything life critical or structural. Most similar machines also have a really limited duty cycle so you might have to weld for a bit then hang out while it cools down if you are running it up high, so no production jobs.
If you want to go to a heavy duty welder you would need heavy power and ventilation which are expensive and not that feasible at VHS’s current location.
Basically it can more or less stick metal together on occasion, which I suspect is what most people at VHS are looking for. People looking for a serious welder end up at Vancouver Community Lab.
Yup, all this is true about the small welder, but it’s good to get VHS started into the welding side of things. The accessories we can get get will carry over if we get a bigger space and a bigger welder in the future.
This will be great for building many small projects, or repairing anything smaller than a car.
Something is better than nothing. It’ll be really useful for sheet metal, tacking parts together temporarily, basic steel tubing frames and fixing pre-existing welds.
The unit is also brand new apparently since this seems to be a quick closing sale. So it could always be resold and the funds used towards a better unit.
The welder was crap. The thing was NOT a mig welder, it was a tiny tiny little stick welder. It looked like a toy.
I made the call on the spot to not get it for VHS. Maybe I should have talked him down to $50 and gotten us a crap stick welder, but I decided to skip it.
We’re all in a nice welding frenzy, so let’s keep our eyes out for a good Mig on kijiji/craigslist/backs of trucks.
No worries - thanks for putting in the effort and making the call. I think
you made the right one. We’ll find another welder and then weld all the
things.
How about checking out the welders at www.harborfreight.com I go across the
border and wouldn’t mind making a side trip to pick up one. They have tons
of discount coupons every cpl of weeks.
Sorry I know this thread is old. I contributed to the tilt for the welder and I am just wondering if we have one now, or what has happened to the funds for that?
