Anyone familiar with Northern Tool Company? I found a welder on their site that I want to purchase. I'm wondering if this brand is good, and if this is a good price.

Thanks for the help!

http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/w...2691_200332691

 

Heard of Northern tool, not sure about the welder. It's about half the price of a good hobart at Tractor Supply and way less than a excellent Miller. I thought about longevity and did notice the 3 year warranty and figured you'd get a least 3 years out of it....depending on how complicated the warranty repair procedure is, where you have to ship it or can it be repaired locally and such. Also able to run shielding gas with this unit, another good point.

It depends on what you do with it and how much you use it. Doing light work occasionally on weekends, fits your budget maybe go on and get it.

To be honest however, I'm a Miller man myself. Maybe talked into a Hobart and as cheap and tempting as these welders are that you have posted.......I still can't bring myself to buy one. I want to buy one that will be around a long long time and Millers products will do that, Hobart has a real good name but don't have much experience with the actual product.

So in order to keep this brief that's my opinion. Not knocking the northern welder, it has a good warranty. Check and see what you have to do to get it fixed, where to ship etc before you buy and think about what your gonna be doing with it, how often it is used, how much welding and of course how long you want it around, 3 years, 5 years....10-15 years or more. Hope this helps,

Shawn

 

Same here. I'm not knocking that welder because I don't have any experience with it, but for that price you can be gauanteed it's made in China. I have a Miller as well and when I bought it I was on a tight budget, but I scrimped and saved to get the Miller. I love it, have no regrets and know it'll be around for a long time.

 

I love Northern Tool, I read their catalog like a book. That being said. I have never purchased or used any of their welders. I have a Lincoln that is Identical in features to that welder and it runs like a champ. Looks like it comes with gas regulator wire and everything, My Lincoln did to. The Price would lead me to china. If I was looking for a light duty welder, or just something for emergencies I would say yes. If you want to weld hard and abuse the machine a more well known unit would be a better choice IMO. Lincoln, Hobart, Miller all good. I always wanted a miller but I don't have a private gold mine! I paid around $600 for my weld-pak 3200hd 115v Lincoln at the Home Depot. Love it, If you can afford it go for one of the Hobart's Northern sells.

Read the reviews, out of 15 none are below 4 out of 5 and it has a three year warranty. It just depends on what you are going to be doing. I like Northern I have never heard any thing bad about anything with their name on it. If you like it for it and report back to us!

Don't know If I helped you but that was two cents.

D-C out!

 

I know several people that have the cheapie knock-off welders, a couple from Northern, a couple from Harbor Freight and one from somewhere else. I think all these cheap welders are made in the same place and painted different colors for different companies that sell them. From my experience, they've ALL had the same problem; they will NOT consistently feed the wire! I have never had a harder time trying to control feed speed than I have with these machines, and just when I thought I might have got it running right, the wire would snarl around the drive rolls and look lke some 4 year olds' fishing reel! In short, I spent more time messing with the wire feed system in these machines than I did welding. If you really have your heart set on one, let me know because all the people I know that have them are ready to sell them!

chaikwa.

 

I have actually been impressed with the stuff I've bought bearing the Northern Industrial brand name, not sure I'd trust them for a welder though. You might look into a Lincoln SP-135, available at Lowes.

Their air nailers can't be beat for the price. Northern is a reputable company, not sure if I'd want a welder not made by Lincoln or Miller.

 

I have a Campell Housefield (sp) from TSC...It was 300 bucks when I bought it, and I only needed it once, never thought I'd use it again. It has hookups to run shielding gas, which is nice, and for a 120V Welder it will weld some decently thick steel if you know what your doing, nothing like my 220V Lincoln, but most of the time I don't need it. I like it mostly because I can run it off a generator thats small enough to through in the bed of the truck, and use it out in the pasture. I've even thrown it in a buddies jeep with a generator and made trail repairs with it.

For the amount of weather it sees and everything else I'm very impressed. The wire feed is simple, yet works very well as long as you have it adjusted properly, which doesn't take much.

 

Everyone, thanks for all the info and advice. I don't know how to weld and want to learn to do it as a hobby.

I will probably be making a purchase within a month. I think the "after Christmas sales" will be good. Either Northern Tool or a Lincoln from Home Depot.

I'll keep you all posted!

 

I didn't know how to weld either, but I had an emergency at work and had no choice but to teach myself in a hurry. I boght the Millermatic 175 (220 machine) on the advice of a friend that already had a Lincoln. He recommended the Miller because it had infinitly adjustable voltage. It came with a "how to" video. I watched it, set up the machine, practiced on two pieces of scrap and within a couple of hours I was doing structural welding on a bus (yes, I had good penetration and they were good quality welds ). I will never buy any other brand besides Miller.

Trust me, you think you won't really use it much, or only need it for one specific project, but it's like crack.......once you have the welder, you'll find stuff to do .

 

Don't get the wrong idea, I'm not saying "buy a Miller or else.......", but at least try to stick with a name brand American made machine (Lincoln, Hobart, Miller).

 

I hear ya. I said I would not do any upgrades to my truck, and I was WRONG! I know when I get a welder I'll probably be welding anything I can find.

 

A big problem with the wire feeds of any kind is the wire rolling around the wheels. Also known as bird nesting. The best way to prevent this is to loosen off the tension adjuster on the wheels, pull the trigger to start the feed. Then start to tighten the tension. As soon as the wire starts to feed, that is enough tension. If something is to go wrong the wheels will spin on the wire and it will not bird nest. Also with to much tension on the wheels it will flatten out the wire, this will make the wire harder to go through the jacket and tip.

 

Dont know about this one but If you can afford it and have access to 220 you might want to step up to just a little larger machine just for the extra capacity and being able to weld larger things. Of for all the miller and hobart loyals compare the 2 in these size welders i think you will find its the same machine diffrent paint not positive but 99% sure.