These Harbor Freight Finds Will Level Up Your Home Welding Set-Up

The ability to weld various metals around the home, farm, or ranch benefits the hobbyist and those whose income depends on fast, efficient equipment repairs. Setting up a home welding shop is daunting, considering the wide variety and high cost of tools and equipment. Fortunately, Harbor Freight offers a range of reasonably priced welding supplies, including its entry-level Chicago Electric Welding gear line, the mid-tier Titanium line, and its highest-rated Vulcan welding equipment.

The following sampling of Harbor Freight finds will level up your home welding experience. Items like the Haynes Welding Manual will guide beginning welders from the basics — like what equipment to buy, how to shop safely, and building their first project. We also found professional-grade items like the Titanium 65 Amp Plasma Cutter, Vulcan OmniPro 220 Industrial Multiprocess Welder, and specialty equipment such as a 120V spot welder. Finally, what welding shop would be complete without an angle grinder?

Many people will probably recognize the Haynes Manual name from its vast library of automotive repair guides, and Harbor Freight sells the welding manual for $20.99. You'll have to go into your local store to get it unless you can find it for sale online elsewhere.

The detailed book provides "over 350 photographs" and sections on multiple welding types, such as arc, MIG, TIG, and plasma-arc. However, the claim to provide "details on how to weld professionally" is a stretch. The manual's highest value content comes from its sections on "choosing welding equipment" and safety.

Most of the manual's reviews at Harbor Freight mention its value for the beginning welder. While its overall customer rating is 4.2 stars, the few one-star reviews claim the information presented is outdated or so basic it's irrelevant. Haynes lists May 26, 2016, as the 176-page welding manual's publication date.

The Titanium 65 Amp Plasma Cutter lists for $1,299.99 online at Harbor Freight and cuts metal up to one inch thick. Plasma cutters provide faster, more precise cuts than oxy-acetylene torch cutting, especially on thinner materials up to 0.25 inches. The ability to cut other metal types, including high-carbon and stainless steels, cast iron, aluminum, and copper, is another advantage of using a plasma cutter.

This plasma cutter features a 10-foot ground clamp cable and a plasma torch cable measuring over 14 feet, allowing you to spend more time cutting and less time positioning equipment on larger jobs. Features like overload protection and a built-in air filter add to the tool's lifespan. In addition, this unit features a "digital display for process selection and advanced controls."

The Titanium 65 Amp Plasma Cutter has an average review of 4.8 stars, with 51 5-star reviews offering overwhelming positivity. Customers mention the plasma cutter's power, ease of use, and value, with 98 percent of users saying they'd recommend it to others. The lowest reviews mention Titanium's use of non-standard consumables and lack of features included with other brands.

Harbor Freight's $1,099.99 Vulcan OmniPro 220 Industrial Multiprocess Welder welds up to 1/8-inch steel or aluminum using 120V power or up to 3/8-inches with 240 volts. Choosing the proper setup is easy with its "132 pre-loaded welding programs" and internal memory that stores previously used settings. The OmniPro 220 allows using wire sizes from 0.025 to 0.035 inches and electrodes from 1/16 to 1/8 inches when stick welding or TIG welding with 0.040 to 5/64 inches using shielding gas.

Of the 1,125 reviews, Harbor Freight customers gave the OmniPro 220 a 5-star rating 950 times with 141 4-star reviews, leaving only 34 reviews rated at three or fewer stars. Many favorable reviews mention the unit's ease of use, price, quality, and features. Poor reviews stem from the welder arriving broken or not lasting very long, although most admit the units performed well until they failed.

Spot welds are a staple for auto body or other sheet metal work. The $179.99 Chicago Electric Welding 120V spot welder from Harbor Freight makes it easy to spot weld "uncoated mild, galvanized, or stainless steel." Using a typical 120V outlet, this unit is capable of spot welding two 0.0625-inch sheets of mild steel or 20 gauge galvanized pieces. With a shipping weight under 30 pounds, the spot welder features tongs that reach nearly six inches and a 5-foot power cord.

More than half of its 229 customer reviews give the 120-volt spot welder five stars, with 26 total reviews below three stars. While many favorable reviews mention the unit's price, others say it's easy to use and a great value. Most of the lowest reviews say the unit arrived defective or didn't work as described, failing to produce a weld strong enough to hold thin automotive body parts together. Still, other negative comments concern the welder's substantial weight.

Harbor Freight offers a plethora of power tools, including the $99.99 Hercules 13 Amp Trigger Grip Angle Grinder. While using an angle grinder to produce presentable welds makes you a better grinder than a welder, it still has a place in every welding shop. In addition to sharpening lawn mower blades, a quality angle grinder is helpful in a home welding shop for deburring cut metal, smoothing torch-cut edges, and producing beveled edges before welding. Grinding is also an excellent way to dress up any unsightly welds or remove them altogether to try again when learning to weld.

The 10,000 rpm Hercules 13 Amp grinder includes three guards allowing the use of 4.5-, 5-, and 6-inch grinding wheels. The "aluminum gear case and reinforced plastic body" provide strength while keeping the unit's weight below five pounds. Additionally, the trigger-grip design provides ergonomic control and comfort while grinding.

Of the 300 customer reviews, 258 are five stars, and 98 percent of customers recommend purchasing the Hercules grinder. Customers often enjoy the grinder's power, price, and quality. The three sub-3-star comments include short life and stripped screws into the plastic body.

For a mechanic or fabricator, strolling through the aisles of Harbor Freight equates to that proverbial kid in a candy store. Each step and turn reveals tools you need or want in your workshop. While this list could include welding items previously covered here, we chose these products based on reviews and popularity. Harbor Freight customers have written favorably of these welding tools, with the equipment requiring the most investment having hundreds or thousands of positive reviews. That's an important consideration given the company's reputation as a supplier of affordable tools and equipment, all of which is essential in creating your ideal welding setup.