spot welders

RICKG · Post by **RICKG** » Wed Nov 17, 2010 12:41 pm

does anyone have experience w/spot welders? my bodywork would benefit from the use of one. the local harbor freight has #45689 115v
unit for $160.00 and that's a chunk of change if they're not effective..
i thought to rent one but my rental guy doesnt have one.

nepperjepper · Post by **nepperjepper** » Wed Nov 17, 2010 1:23 pm

The only experience I have with spot welders is with the 220v one from harbor freight. I went through 4 sets of tips and all the welds I made popped apart, I finally gave up and punched holes and plug welded wth a mig. I don’t think you will be happy with the cheep spot welders.plug welds are so much stronger and with a little practice look good too. I looked at some $6000.00 water cooled spot welders that may have done the job but could not justify the cost.

Jeff

acengraver · Post by **acengraver** » Wed Nov 17, 2010 3:29 pm

I used the 115V Harbor Freight spot welder on my M38A1 restoration. Sometimes it worked really well and others it didn't do well at all. I had three different sets of tongs for it and used several tips as well. The key to its performance is the cleanliness of the tips and the metal. Old metal was not easy to get clean enough to weld correctly. New metal worked pretty good. If you have a good mig welder already and you're handy with it you can do anything you need using it. Another drawback on the spot welder is its size and weight. Jobs done on the bench were OK but when you're trying to get inside the toolbox or to a floor support it's no picnic.

BullRun · Post by **BullRun** » Wed Nov 17, 2010 6:01 pm

Miller makes a few portable spot welders that can be used with an adjustable cable holder that retracts or extends and bears the weight of the tool. Much like assembly line tools. Used stationary spot welders can sometimes be found but are probably overkill for repair work. There are also professional autobody spotwelders that are not too expensive if you have several vehicles to repair that are unique in design that are specifically made for collision repair.

RICKG · Post by **RICKG** » Thu Nov 18, 2010 2:12 pm

from your collective experience it seems to me that:
1. in a perfect world with optimum metal conditions
then spotwelding is effective.
2. 60yr old jeep body metalwork doesn't fit into
the perfect world mold. time to fire up the mig and get to work..
thanks guys for your response..