Harbor Freight Stud Welder review

Today I am having a look at the Harbor Freight Stud Welder Dent Removal kit (say that 3 times fast!).  This is a tool I have been aware of for some time but could never quite pull the trigger on.

Last Christmas, someone was looking for gift suggestions for me and I found the request for one rolling off my tongue.

So what is it and what does it do?

 The concept is fairly straightforward.  Insert the stud into the welder, hold it against the desired area, press down and push the trigger for one second.  The stud is welded onto the steel surface which can now be pulled back to shape with the help of a slide hammer.  Priced at $97.99 USD (at the time of this writing) it is an affordable way to remove dents and use only a skimming of filler, rather than pounds of it.  That is of course, if you end up needing it at all.

The contents of the box

For my test piece I chose a mid-sixties Triumph tank that had one poor spot at the front.

This offending dent.

As it was a smaller area, I decided to use one of the thinner studs to weld onto it.

Poor Quality photo, however you get the idea. 

The size of the unit dictates that two hands are used, which is a touch awkward as the studs have a tendency to fall from the tip.  During the first couple of attempts, I had forgotten to press down in conjunction with pushing the trigger and believed it wasn't working.  Truthfully, I should have followed the instructions in the manual and practiced on some scrap first.  After breaking a couple off or misalignment of the stud location I managed to get a good one in.  Phase one accomplished!  Now to the Achilles heel of the system.  The slide hammer.  This thing truly lets an otherwise good product down.  The idea is to slide the hammer over the stud, push forward a thumb-wheel to grip it and begin to pull.   This takes a great degree of fiddling, as it either locks down (requiring pliers to loosen) and breaks off the stud or it doesn't grip properly.  As I discovered, the hammer itself is far from forgiving on the hands. Do yourself a favour and wear some thick gloves!

Once I got the hang of it, I was successful!  While I can't say the surface is 100 percent perfect, it is easily 75 percent improved.

Hard to tell from the picture, but the dent is mostly gone.  

Would I recommend this product?  Absolutely.  If I still owned an old car with dents, this would save a lot of time.  I look forward to fixing a great deal of damaged tanks in the future!   One last note: This product can be purchased in Canada (and other countries as well) however you will find it at a whopping $307.99 CDN and up!   Without going on a tirade, I will once again express my frustration at the ridiculous amount of money asked of the Canadian consumer for goods and services.  I can certainly understand some mark up 3x the amount is beyond the pale!   Even with tax at the border and exchange, you are still miles ahead to get this stateside.


Pros:
-It actually works!
-Price
-Comes with everything you need to get started

Cons:

-Dreadful slide hammer
-Power cord is too short
-Somewhat clunky to use

Until next time....

Product Review: Harbour Freight 5lb Vibratory Tumbler

I had to look through my old posts to find my last product review and it has been a while!  I guess the fewer items I need to buy, the luckier I should consider myself as I must be well stocked for tools and chemicals, oils, etc.  

This is what happens when you never throw anything away and hoard all the tools you can find!
If I spend enough time looking though, I can always find something that would make my life easier.

This is certainly the case with the vibratory tumbler (not an obscene device as the name would imply!) from Harbour Freight.  

Harbour Freight

These come in two varieties, 18lb capacity and 5lb;  essentially a plastic bowl (mounted on springs) that is vibrated by a 12 volt motor underneath.  The idea is that you add media (walnut shells, plastic beads, etc) to the bowl, then your items will be cleaned off by the friction created.

I have been considering one of these for some time; with the sheer volume of rusty hardware that came with the Matchless project, consideration became necessity.  

I did attempt to find one of these locally with no luck and was disappointed with the other options.  The prices I did find were in the 150.00 CDN range before shipping and taxes.  

The sale at Harbour Freight ($53.99 on sale from $99) warranted a cross border trip, despite the weak dollar.   As far as media, fine walnut shells seemed like the best option to start with. 

My first mistake was to not read the instructions.  It is important for best results to add your media first (two thirds of the bowl should be filled) then add your items for cleaning.  The total weight including media should not exceed 5 lbs otherwise cleaning takes a while.  My first run was probably 7 hours, the pictures are below.

Before;  Make to add your items after adding the media

Here are the after results;  some of the items had to be thrown back in for more work, this was the best fo the lot.

Overall, the initial results were impressive and after washing off the film left by the walnut shell oil I was even happier.  I then used the wire brush attachment on the drill to remove bits of shell from the threads. 

 Not entirely effort free but a tremendous time saver.  The machine seems to run very smoothly and I have had mine on for nearly a week continuously without issue.  While at work or even asleep, the work can continue without me!  

Once I have experimented with other media I will post the results here.  I hope to find something that will remove paint and rust a little quicker than the fine shells do.  

I am going to go as far as calling this an essential bit of kit for someone who does a lot of restoration work.  For the money (especially the current price) you can't really go wrong. 

Don't surprised to read a review for the 18lb model sometime in the future.

Next time:  Project updates,  VW, Matchless and Triumph!