Titanium 225 unboxing, upgrades, first weld

In this episode we tackle unboxing, upgrading a stinger, and the first weld with the harbor freight titanium 225.
0:00:00 Intro & unboxing
0:02:50 Upgrades
0:13:45 Machine setup
0:17:58 First weld

[@dusty1498]

Great Machine for Young guys in trade school that want to practice at home!👍

[@makingmistakeswithgreg]

It definitely is. For sub 275$ with a coupon and it runs 6010, it’s 100% worth it. Especially compared to many Amazon special welders out there.

[@dusty1498]

@@makingmistakeswithgreg Do you know if it has enough voltage to hold a arc for uphand 6010 on pipe? Shame it has no Arc force control that would be the Cherry on Top Lol

[@peterottes6900]

Thanks! Great video. Just bought one for my home. And I was going to upgrade the stinger and glad to see you like the one they sell. Going up tomorrow and get it. Appreciate your view on this welder.

[@makingmistakeswithgreg]

It’s a solid welder no doubt. With a better stinger it is a perfect home stick welder 😃.

[@AXNJXN1]

Been using this one alongside my Lincoln Buzzbox; great, affordable welder IMO. You certainly learn how to weld with this quite well because it can be finicky... For me, two years now, It's been a great go-to welder on a budget!

[@mattwaters6987]

Great video Greg. Learned something new again. Glad you felt better even 6 months ago. Take care. 😊

[@makingmistakeswithgreg]

Thanks and I am glad you learned something new 😀

[@ls2005019227]

Didn't know you were sick....but glad you're on the mend. While I do most of my welding with a Miller Syncrowave 210, I've thought about getting one of these HF stick 225's, for several things: letting my 13 & 14yo boys practice stick welding, having an easily portable welder (in a SxS with generator), and also to use for limited arc gouging (I'd rather use a ~$300 welder, than my good one). Most vids I've seen on them were pretty impressive, looking forward to your take. Thanks!

[@makingmistakeswithgreg]

I picked it up for 260$ with a coupon plus however much the stinger cost. I have never found a better stick welder for the money. The fact it runs 6010 and is very easy to start rods makes it very useful. Across the board it’s worth the money no doubt. Any stick welding video I do (I have about 4 left for the near term) will be done with the titanium 225.

[@Cptnbond]

For what it's designed for, it looks to perform well for hobbyist usage. I'm glad that you are well again. Interesting discussion on grounds clamps. Cheers.

[@yurimodin7333]

I put the HF stinger & brass clamp on my $40 farm buzzbox special. Extended the leads and replaced the hackjob the last guy did on the 220 plug. I have more in the addons than the welder. BUT no computer/inverter BS to fail either. Keep up the good videos and I'm glad you are feeling better.

[@jayrhough1912]

Great video. Very informative and interesting. Thank you.

[@makingmistakeswithgreg]

You’re welcome 😀

[@beyondmiddleagedman7240]

Bought another one! A much better cheap welder than most.

[@makingmistakeswithgreg]

Yes, and it will run 6010 really well, which is better than 90% of Amazon specials lol.

[@beyondmiddleagedman7240]

@@makingmistakeswithgreg Yep. I burned about 5 6010 and 8 7018 with mine this morning.

[@eprohoda]

this is great edition! peae out,dear.

[@bryanjones14]

I like the twist lock stingers

[@Freetheworldnow]

On my 200 amp portable Esab stick welder, I have switched the ground clamp for a beefier booster cable one. Seems to fare real well even at full amperage. God Bless.

[@JoseRodriguez-dw9dv]

Bought it like 3 days ago. Tried welding yesterday with my dad...stucked stick Everytime we failed miserably haha...but did manage to run a semi straight bead until it overheated at the end. Tbh i enjoyed it and i know we'll get the hang of it. Hardest part is that we have trouble seeing the welds 😂 haha. Guess i should've gotten the autodark lenses.

[@makingmistakeswithgreg]

Auto darken helps a lot when it comes to getting positioned properly. It’s not too surprising you stuck a bunch of rods, that’s the joy of learning stick welding at the start lol.

[@johngersna3263]

Greg, I'm glad that you're feeling better. I will keep this welder in mind but I just bought a Hobart Handler 210 mvp to replace my 40+ year old Power Mate Quick fix mig welder. So I'll have to keep my old Lincoln ac "Buzzbox" for a while. It's older than my old mig welder was. I wish that at the time that I bought it that I had gotten the ac/dc welder but money was real tight back then. God bless and I'll be waiting for your next video. 😊👍👍

[@makingmistakeswithgreg]

You’ll be able to do a ton with that 210 😀. When I get into MiG welding shortly you will come to realize how good mig is at doing most things. It’s main limitations is over 1/4in plate (best to run flux core above 1/4). That ac buzz box will still get some thick plate welded up too 😀

[@schoolbus6028]

Have you considered a video series on tig using a cheap welder like the YESwelder tig205p? I was thinking about picking it up since it's so low cost...

[@dalehess6265]

I made my mother a flower. Thanks for the idea.

[@makingmistakeswithgreg]

Awesome 😎

[@carbie5614]

I wanted to see how it worked on 120 volt. buy still a good video on the 225. thank you

[@makingmistakeswithgreg]

Because it’s designed to be compliant with electrical codes it is limited to 70 amps on 120 based on its design and lack of power factor correction. That is rather limiting, unfortunately. On 220 is welds exactly like I like, but if you’re limited to 120 you do have better options. I will be doing a review on Esabs rogue series soon, I bought one and will cover it. On 120 it’s actually a very solid stick welder. Of course it’s much more expensive. The main limitation on 120 volt is most stick welders can’t output more than 90 amps, because stick operates at such high voltages (23-30 volts output). You can tig at 130-150amps on 120 but stick simply requires too much power.

[@derekbryant6137]

I do repair welding I have this machine I've had it for the last 3 years I upgraded to number 2 cable and I put a 250 amp twico Stinger on it my next upgrade is going to be new panel connectors and I am upgrading to 35-70 connectors dinse I run 30 ft number two cables all day long on this thing and I run it off at 10,000 watt generator in the field it works great but I do like your point of view on most of your videos and that burger Stinger I have it on my Hobart 225 welder generator I run number one cables on it

[@makingmistakeswithgreg]

Funny you mentioned going to the 35-70 dinse, today I just ordered a set of those for the dial arc 250 I have to upgrade from the solid post style. The bigger connectors would have to be a decent upgrade on the titanium 225. Glad to hear that sucker has lasted for you. I am a big fan of the 225, it welds really well and I find it far more useful than any of the common transformer machines (tombstones).

[@kyleshilman8541]

Greg, I just bought one of these welders based on yours and some other videos so I can learn stick welding. My question is do you recommend and particular brand of rod? I grabbed a pack of Vulcan brand when I bought the welder but wondering if you recommend another brand?

[@makingmistakeswithgreg]

Great choice, the welder won’t limit you to only specific rods (it will run all rods, even 6010) so you will be able to learn without issues. As far as a particular rod, I do have favorites. Since you’re learning to weld I would stick to 3/32 rods at first, you get more rods per lb. They are a bit harder to weld with over 1/8th (because of how much they “wiggle”) but it will help you become a better welder. I would personally stick with 3/32 6013s and burn up about 5lbs of them. That way you don’t get too frustrated, and you will be able to run a good bead by time you’re done. After that switch to 7018s. Keep in mind 7018 is much harder to start and restart than 6013. It is possible to start learning with them however you will experience more frustration. Brand wise my favorite 7018 is esab 7018 prime. Most other rods are ok, the harbor freight you have actually starts similar to the esab rod (it has a graphite tip on it which aids the initial start). The one rod I would avoid is the Hobart branded 7018 available everywhere. Not because it can’t weld a decent bead, it can. It just tends to be a “sticky” starting rod compared to most. That’s not a issue for me but for you learning it will be frustrating. The great thing is the titanium 225 has high open circuit voltage so you will have as easy of a time starting rods as you can have when learning stick. Still expect to stick rods a lot lol.

[@kyleshilman8541]

@@makingmistakeswithgreg Thanks man for all the advice!!

[@philthyphil3324]

What clamp is that you use on your dynasty? I need to upgrade the clamp on my tig225x

[@makingmistakeswithgreg]

It should be on the link below. I don’t like the common copper alloy upgrade ones harbor freight sells, the jaw width is narrow and they don’t hold onto stuff well. The one on the link has great jaw pressure and will hold on much better. www.amazon.com/Shape-Ground-Welding-Welder-Machine/dp/B07TXV9B8M/ref=mp_s_a_1_13?crid=3C65CTBAVMWRC&keywords=welder+ground+clamp&qid=1682054962&sprefix=welder+ground+clamp%2Caps%2C234&sr=8-13

[@xl-dt6qj]

just wondering why a cheap welder wouldn't be able to run 6010? i am fairly inexpierienced with stick welding but i bought a 140amp unimig stick welder and ran 6011 pretty fine on it but then again i don't really know what i'm talking about.

[@makingmistakeswithgreg]

Great question. The answer is fairly complicated, but it comes down to the welder itself can’t maintain high enough voltage to keep a arc established. Stick welding generally occurs at between 17 and 24 volts as you are running a rod. 6011 operates around 24-26 volts, so a bit higher than say 7018 or 6013. 6010 operates at 26 to 31 volts. Most cheap welders (and many more expensive welders) can’t maintain that high of voltage at a amperage setting low enough to run a rod. In simple terms at 90 amps setting they can’t output more than 26 volts, thus the arc constantly cuts out. The welder may be able to output 26 volts at 160 amps but that is not useable for a rod that runs at 90a. It’s extremely uncommon to find a sub 300$ stick welder than can run 6010. I made a video that explains it in more detail and it should clear up anything kzbin.info/www/bejne/p4fVYmipjbeiotE . In the case of your welder don’t be surprised if it won’t run 6010. 6011 does run very similar to 6010 but it lacks the penetration of it. My stick rod shootout shows that 6010 has vastly superior penetration to 6011 on thicker steel. Hope that helps 😀

[@xl-dt6qj]

@@makingmistakeswithgreg oh ok interesting, thanks for the reply and explanation that makes sense, I didnt even think about volts etc.

[@will-dd7ou]

I wanted to buy a go kart so, naturally, seeing that I didn't have $1500, bought a 1975 miller thunderbolt 225v AC machine for $75 (haven't even thought of making a go kart again to this day lol.) I've run rods on rods almost everyday for 2 months but have run into an issue: The thing's like a hundred pounds and I've only ever been able to run one brand of 7018 on it, one brand of 6011 on it, and I'd like to be able to do repairs around my fathers workplace. I was pretty much locked onto getting the everlast 210STL because it has all the fancy adjustable dig, antistick, and hotstart features, until I heard about this welder. I'm not entirely sure if its really worth it to buy the everlast welder since it is like $200 more than this harbor freight welder; as a hobbyist, do you think those features matter, or would it be better just to stick to the harbor freight welder?

[@makingmistakeswithgreg]

So the 210 stl is a good stick welder, is it worth it? I think the best way to answer that is with a video. I will respond with a video (out tomorrow) that I think will answer all your questions 😀.

[@will-dd7ou]

@@makingmistakeswithgreg Thank you very much. I've learned almost all my welding info from your videos as they are the most comprehensive, intuitive, and informative videos out there, in your one video about reading mistakes in stick welding I hadn't even brought into consideration the size of the weld compared to the thickness of metal that I was welding on, and kept wondering why I was blowing through 1/8" material as I was moving at the same speed. Another thing I've had trouble with is millscale, flap disks glaze over, and regular grinding disks skip, what is your preferred method for removing millscale? Thank you.

[@makingmistakeswithgreg]

@@will-dd7ou ok couple things: the video where I talk about the differences between the everlast 210 and the titanium 225 will be live at 4pm central time. I cover all the stick specific differences (basically the features you’re getting with the everlast, what they do, and if they are worth it). It should help you make a decision if it’s worth the extra money. As a heads up, both of the machines are worth the upgrade, you won’t believe how much easier and useable both are compared to what you’re running. I am glad the videos are helping, that’s why I put them out there 😀. My goal is to help a bunch of people learn skills and improve on what they have. As far as grinding discs loading up, I am definitely not a huge fan of flap discs for eating mil-scale, they load up. Hard rock (traditional grinding discs) do by far better but they produce a rougher surface finish. I generally use a hard rock disc and secondary sand with a flap disc. They do make “waffle” pattern hard rock discs that leave a cleaner pattern and chew through mill scale even better, i can’t get them locally so I don’t use them often. A pinch of bar soap on the wheel will help slightly with loading up on material. I also find 24-36 grit flat paper discs made from ceramic (harbor freight even sells them) will chew through mill scale fast, they just don’t last the longest. That’s kind of the trade off, long lasting means slow removal rate, good surface finish means the disc loads up, and fast grind time means rough finish. You can only have one lol.

[@thegarbagegladiators4735]

So who won this? I cant locate the video

[@makingmistakeswithgreg]

The video comes out tomorrow 😀

[@thegarbagegladiators4735]

@@makingmistakeswithgreg oh. woops. Sorry.

[@makingmistakeswithgreg]

@@thegarbagegladiators4735 no problem, I should have done it weeks ago 😅. I moved all my stuff out of my place so it got delayed. Vid will be up tomorrow. I will be giving the welder away and some nice chipping hammers 😀

[@joaobimbim3460]

Macarico é muito melhor sem dúvida hoje só se cópia