Rant: Spent $80 on a cheap spot welder and it almost caught fire

I picked up one of those cheap spot welders off Amazon for about $80 thinking it would save me on small patch panels. First job with it on a Ford fender, the tips started glowing red and the plastic housing started smoking. Had to stop mid weld and let it cool down for 20 minutes. Anyone else had bad luck with budget welders for thin gauge stuff?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_drew1mo ago

Get a good pair of welding tips for it first, those cheap ones are trash and overheat fast. Also make sure you're cleaning the metal really good, any rust or paint makes it work too hard and heat up. If it's still smoking after that, you probably need to add a cooling fan inside or just run it at a lower power setting. Honestly, for $80 you're better off using a hammer and dolly for light work, those welders just aren't meant for actual body panels.

angelarivera1mo ago

Yeah, I read somewhere those cheap wire feed welders just don't have the duty cycle for body work without overheating.

robert6591mo ago

@angelarivera actually duty cycle is about time limits not overheating per se.