Harbor Freight Welding Wire

admin

Anyone have exereince with harbor freight solid core welding wire I bought a two 8" rolls of it...030 and .035..I am new to welding so I am unsure if this is good stuff or not?I see its made in Italy which suprises me for harbor freight.Last edited by goodoleboy; 08-05-2008 at 06:36 AM.
Reply:I was giving a roll to try out from a friend of mine. First let me say that I don't use the MIG process that much in my shop, maybe 2-6 hours of run time in a month. Now with that being said, I ran the HF wire and didn't have any snags or problems with it. I don't know how it compares to the other's products price wise, but it performed to my liking for the applications I used it.
Reply:I use HF solid core .023 wire with no problems.Clarke 130EN C25Lincoln 225 AC Stick(1968)Smith O/A RigHF 4X6 Red BandsawBlack & Decker Pro Chopsaw16 Speed Drill PressSpeedglas XL HelmetHarbor Freight Stuff
Reply:If you have very much humidity it won't keep long out of the bag. Took about a week and it was useless.The difference between art and craft is the quality of the workmanship. I am an artist.
Reply:We probably have a bigger problem with humidity in Louisiana than the rest of the guys on here--Christ my leather shoes turned green in N.O. when I lived there, if I didn't wear them for a week. I keep my wire in ammo boxes with desiccant in them because of the humidity. I've got a roll of H/F flux core laying around someplace,but haven't used it...It wouldn't bother me to use it for knocking something simple together,but I've got a lot of Hobart Fabshield that I use mostly. I bought a bunch of Campbell Hausfeld wire of different types that all seems to be made in the USA,but not sure by who. The Harbor Freight wire probably depends on vendors & location & type of wire as to where it's made.The off brand wire usually doesn't have much information on what it is,while the name brands print the specs on the labels(usually). If all you're doing is a mower deck or welding cart...it can't be that drastic...It may pop & sputter,but I've heard that complant about name brand wires too. The biggest variable might be the machine running the wire..
Reply:I used a roll of Harbor Freight flux core wire yesterday couldn't tell  from name brand
Reply:The Campbell Hausfeld wire all comes from the same supplier as hobarts......no difference.
Reply:Originally Posted by Campbell_HausfeldThe Campbell Hausfeld wire all comes from the same supplier as hobarts......no difference.
Reply:I've run HF wire in every size from .023" to .035".  I don't mind it for general purpose work.The Lincoln and Hobart wires do run quite bit nicer, though!