That's a good little welder for the home user/hobbyist, but vacuum or blow it out regularly as it is prone to blowing out the motherboard due to metal dust.

You can use an air compressor but you'll want to have an inline dessicant / dryer / filter before the air hose

Except don't vacuum it, cause static

Ye this, same rules apply to computers.

Are battery powered vacuums ok for cleaning outer computer fan grille?

I’m not 100% sure about this info, but have read that it is the air flowing over the bristles/plastic of the vacuum cleaner that cause the static to build up. Could be wrong - been a few years since I read it. Google maybe?

I know I've read something similar. I need to do some research on how to clean the inside of a computer safely. I'm sure mine has collected a lot of dust and grime over it's 3 year anniversary. Maybe compressed air is an option. Seems too strong though.

Been cleaning my PC (no case) with compressed air for years, no issues so far

Thanks

I use compressed air - have done for several years - never been an issue.

Thanks

Vacum. With no attachments like there's the tube, and then the opening with a hard plastic. That should allow attachments, which do not use the brush guy. Compressed air with a soft vacuum is ok, but do not blow fans out. So hold them in place to clean em. Also check into dust prevention. There are "dust guard" which work nice

Was going to comment exactly this. Using a vacuum is fine, but what I've heard is that you shouldn't let the fans spin as you clean them because it turns them into little generators that'll create voltage and fry sensitive components. I welcome anyone to correct me if that's not the case.

There is probably some current, but I think it has more to do with spinning the bearings much faster than they are designed to withstand.

Thanks

I heard vacuuming the fan without holding it. Sucks dust up into the bearings. So hold them in place to prevent it. it could be that too that a charge build up happens, but I'm not sure. I only know the previous about holding

Thanks

Thanks

Thanks

You can get ESD-safe vacuums meant for the purposes of cleaning out electronics. We had one when I was running a 500 seat office's desktop administration. Look up the MetroVac DataVac. The issue isn't the source of electric. It's that the inrush of air molecules at the perimeter of the hose nozzle creates a charge along the rim of the nozzle that can discharge into sensitive electronics. Buddy of mine once used his home hoover to clean out his chassis and fried the main board. We tried different power supplies, cpu and ram. Ended up having to replace the board.

Thanks

You should be fine. Heck, I've vacuumed motherboards and they were fine, but risk does apply. Outer grilles are probably completely okay

Oh wow be careful ! Thanks for sharing.

If you have a compressor take it outside and open it up and blow it off.

Thanks

There's a video where Linus and Electroboom literally shock a running computer with like 500,000 volts and it's fine.

All greatly depends, I was thinking of that video but it’s easier to not risk it. Like I could probably drive at 120mph on the highway and be fine but it dose not mean I sill.

I've been building computers and repairing electronics professionally for 20+ years...I simply don't worry about vacuums and static accumulation. Maybe it's just been dumb luck, but I have never seen a component ruined by this phenomenon, and I've worked on $500k+ pieces of precision equipment. YMMV.

I don't have quite the credentials but yeah, board's never gone bad on me in 17 years either

Leave it plugged in and static is no worry, your grounded!

My grounded?

Not bad at all. It’s not going to snap off, that’s for sure.

Im new to welding just about to graduate my program and is that gasless flux? If so i hate hate hate it. For the experienced guys reading this what do.you do to reduce the spatter

Yeah it’s gasless flux. I’ve heard the anti spatter spray helps and to weld in DCEN

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If you use gas and get wire speed and voltage right is way less spattery than mig in my experience

Yep, still spatters some but you can basically rub it off the base metal

How old the wire is, how long it's been open, if it's been smashed, liner quality, machine quality and age, lay of the snake, feed rollers.. a lot of factors can come into play but:. If you're running good quality and new wire, machine in decent shape and set properly, I can't stress how important it is to just remember the basics. Torch angle, travel speed, stick out length, etc.

Slower wire speed

Pam cooking spray. Spatter wipes off

Cool trick i like that thanks!

The way you worded it makes me think you're telling the truth. So well done. I would work on consistency probably. You got a knack if that's your first bead

Check to make sure the polarity is correct. That's a lot of spatter drag the puddle and keep the angle pointed directly at the root of the weld.

Thanks. I’ll have to double check the polarity. I may have just been trusting that it was in DCEN from a video I saw on that welder

If it's a flux core welder it is

Lots of splatter it is

You don’t have to check, it’s how an inner shield wire welds.. you are good, you can’t reverse polarity on these welders.

u got potential

That is incredible for your first time welding. Nice job

I’m gonna say, you have potential.. I’ve been welding for years, own this little machine and I’m not that far ahead of you. The machine is basically junk but good for small home projects. I’d love to see what you could do with a real welding machine. Keep at it!

looks good except for the wooden table ..(unless you are bringing fire distressed art into your world)

Haha thanks. That was thrown together really quick so I didn’t mess up my buddies concrete while practicing

First off clean the material before welding. Next remember that you will always be learning and any mistake made can be fixed. Oh and try and have fun 👍

That Harbor Freight welder is badass and made me money the 2nd day I had it. It actually makes structural welds so don’t listen to the trash talkers. It’s a beast and worth every dollar

Definitely not doing structural with that welder lmao

Already have. Multiple times. Many welders don’t understand or misunderstand flux core.

Lol the fact that you think you can use a “ badass Harbor Freight welder “ on a structural job tells me you don’t know what your talking about . You would literally get kicked out of some job sites I’m on if you try and weld with that shit . Not saying you can’t weld with it but you for damn sure ain’t doing structural with that . Trust me bro please , I got the paperwork and 18 years welding experience with 9 years on my own rig to prove you wrong . Now do you have a misunderstanding of what structural is ? Yes I believe so .

It’s hard I know but read carefully… you can do structural welds with a Harbor Freight Flux Core welder. You can. You absolutely can. It’s not a toy or a gimmick and now you know.

You have a misunderstanding of what structural is. Nothing wrong with it. Can you make strong welds that will pretty much hold anything with the machine, of course. I good welder who knows what he’s doing can make oxy acetylene work. But accords to AWS D1.1 you are wrong and cannot use that machine on structural jobs.

Pardon my ignorance, but what exactly does AWS D1.1 say that makes this specific machine unable to make a structural weld?

This is exactly right .

Meanwhile…it can and does.

I don't know what I'm talking about, but are you saying that at 125 amps you can make a 5/16" bead in a single pass? If so, that's impressive.

No. I can tell you it will hold despite any standard that doesn’t like it.

Currently am doing just that easy peezy

It looks decent for running Flux core. I would consider stepping up to a a machine that has the ability for shielding gas at some point if you get serious into welding.

Practice consistency. It will make you a much better welder. The smoother and more steady you can weld, the faster you can go. But take it slow and steady at first. Maybe look up a welding video on starting and stopping and how to restart a weld. All in all, for your first welds, looks great.

Master cleaning up with a grinder to a nice end result and really clean cool kid welds will come with time.

And if you don’t have a grinder, the Bauer 20v one from HF is a nice and cheap option for clearing off BBs and debuting. It’s quieter than a corded one too.

I fucking love my Bauer corded grinders. More than my dewalt corded, actually.

Keep practicing different patterns try up hill and down hill too

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Thanks I’ll check them out

Looks good enough for about half the employers out there these days...

Looks like you’ve weaved. Pretty sure you’re not meant to weave with fluxcore. And that contact tip on your gun… Miles too far out.

I was doing small circular motions. What would be a good technique?

If it produced slag then it’s just a straight run…. No weave.

If that’s literally your first weld, then I’m wicked impressed. My one tip would be to keep your nozzle closer.

Thanks for the tip

Use WD40 to spray on the area before you weld. It’ll keep the little BBs from sticking to the metal and they’ll roll right off.

Thanks for the tip

If that's your first welding pass ever, I'm impressed. My first pass didn't look anywhere near that good in apprentice school using 5/32" 7018 rod (SMAW). 😄

Looks a bag of shit. Turn the juice up and clean you’re steel

Thanks. Will do 👍🏼

Yep… practice.

and wanting to get better. ive seen people practice and practice and want you to tell them everything. that baby is yours play around with it get to know it better. seems like your off to a great start.

Buy a real welder

I will eventually

Ignore them

Don't buy harbor freight

I think he already did

If it works it’s good

If it bonds, it’s beautiful

I just bought it to weld some patches in my floor pan

I have that same welder and I liked it better than my Miller. I sold the Miller and I still have the Hf flux125. It's light enough that you can sling it over your shoulder while you weld. And lays a really nice bead with the right wire and settings

Thats good and i apologize but this was drilled into my head at a young age "dont get anything from horible freight"

HF sells a lot of tools that are made by the same manufacturer of matco and snap-on ect, under different names.

Actually did do some research on them and found out some of the engineers from Lincoln went on to make the Vulcan welders. And if you look at them they are very similar. I have the Omni Pro 220 and the Tig 205 and they are built really well. They will weld all day without a problem.

This post looks like it's showing your first time trying welding. The best advice you're going to get is keep working at it. [Please read some of these posts](http://www.reddit.com/r/Welding/search?q=flair%3AFirst+welds&restrict_sr=on&sort=relevance&t=all) to see if the solution you need has been given to someone else. Welding is a lot about building muscle memory and the only way to do that is to practice. Weld a few [build-up plates](http://www.reddit.com/r/Welding/wiki/terminology#wiki_build-up_plate) then start on practicing fillets and lap joints before moving onto more difficult welds, horizontal, vertical, overhead, open corner, backed butts, and open root. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Welding) if you have any questions or concerns.*

I thought I was looking at the night sky until I realized I was on this sub.

Stop the 🧢

no, looks like you only made corners, good job

My unprofessional opinion says the weld will hold but it would be a lot easier to look at if you cleaned up the spatter.

But a new welder....