The money I've saved by not getting haircuts for a year was burning a hole in my pocket and CTC put their little welder on sale so against my better judgement, I bought one.
It's a cute little thing, like a Chihuahua becoming reincarnated as a welder. 120 volt plug in, 20 amp circuit recommended. Less than 10 pounds and compact enough to fit just about anywhere. I read the reviews and watched bunch of YouTube videos so I had an idea what to expect.
I've never taken a welding class in my life but hack away on non critical stuff. When I bought a Lincoln light duty MIG I got rid of my old one heat (70 Amp) 240 volt home made one and I am rusty with stick. I played with the new toy for a while and I tend to agree with the on line reports, it's a good little unit if you accept it's a Chihuahua not a Rottweiler. I messed round with some 1/16" 6013 rods and scraps of steel. The people that were disappointed with it sounded like the people that bought a 3/8" drill and expected it to drill 1/2" holes in boiler plate.
For the pros, why bother? You have a decent full sized unit that will do what the little guy will do so why bother with the under sized spare. I suppose it could come in handy if you had to portage to a remote site by canoe.
For someone who has the hots to restore a vintage Mustang it will likely burn holes in the bodywork and not have enough guts for the chassis. Also if you have the skills to do a serious restoration you probably have the right welder already.
If you're into yard art, sculptures made of scrap, this may be your saviour as long as you stay under 1/8" material. Most of my welds with the unit were embarrassing due to my rusty skill levels. I had to remind myself that the electrode didn't self feed. I also had to get used to seeing slag not MIG weld metal.
One weld came out quite acceptable where I welded a piece of 16 ga to a piece of 1/8". Great for tabs and brackets. I'll try some 3/32" rods and practice a bit more.
The CTC price was $169.99 but the unit looks the same as others sold on the internet for prices all over the wall. The hardware was decent for the price but it doesn't come with a helmet, gloves or a starter pack of rods.
It's a cute little thing, like a Chihuahua becoming reincarnated as a welder. 120 volt plug in, 20 amp circuit recommended. Less than 10 pounds and compact enough to fit just about anywhere. I read the reviews and watched bunch of YouTube videos so I had an idea what to expect.
I've never taken a welding class in my life but hack away on non critical stuff. When I bought a Lincoln light duty MIG I got rid of my old one heat (70 Amp) 240 volt home made one and I am rusty with stick. I played with the new toy for a while and I tend to agree with the on line reports, it's a good little unit if you accept it's a Chihuahua not a Rottweiler. I messed round with some 1/16" 6013 rods and scraps of steel. The people that were disappointed with it sounded like the people that bought a 3/8" drill and expected it to drill 1/2" holes in boiler plate.
For the pros, why bother? You have a decent full sized unit that will do what the little guy will do so why bother with the under sized spare. I suppose it could come in handy if you had to portage to a remote site by canoe.
For someone who has the hots to restore a vintage Mustang it will likely burn holes in the bodywork and not have enough guts for the chassis. Also if you have the skills to do a serious restoration you probably have the right welder already.
If you're into yard art, sculptures made of scrap, this may be your saviour as long as you stay under 1/8" material. Most of my welds with the unit were embarrassing due to my rusty skill levels. I had to remind myself that the electrode didn't self feed. I also had to get used to seeing slag not MIG weld metal.
One weld came out quite acceptable where I welded a piece of 16 ga to a piece of 1/8". Great for tabs and brackets. I'll try some 3/32" rods and practice a bit more.
The CTC price was $169.99 but the unit looks the same as others sold on the internet for prices all over the wall. The hardware was decent for the price but it doesn't come with a helmet, gloves or a starter pack of rods.
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