Harbor Freight Flux 125 Welder Review 

I have the older blue machine and have modified it alot, use a 10lb spool after cutting out the lid and moving the mount, converted to DC with caps so it's heavier now but less splatter and better penetration, reversed polarity, put a fan in it and wired it so the wire feed motor gets power before the coil instead of after the coil so no more feed speed drops, it's decent now lol, there is a bunch of videos of people converting these to DC etc, it's worth doing

Harbor Freight should give you an extra discount if you are using this to repair other broken Harbor Freight tools, like their concrete mixer.

I'm planning on building an entire 90 story skyscraper (in my backyard) using this welder and scrap metal from Lowe's and my grandmother's old fridge.

That “only 15 years” really caught me by surprise lol

I have had one of these for about ten years now. I use it quite a bit, and like it very much. Good home welding unit.

15 years? Wow my new one will last till I am 99 years old. Got to get busy and wear it out before I leave. 🐻🤣

Can't wait for Christmas I'm so excited ,don't know how to wield yet but I have been watching a lot of videos and going to take a 2 day class on basic wielding, your video review is great thanks a lot.

I got one of these and sat it in my garage for half a year. I had no idea how to use it and it looked intimidating to open and use, so I sat it around like probably a lot of you did. This guy makes it easy and straight forward to use. Good radio voice and entertaining to watch. Thank you for this really good video.

I've seen some other videos on YT on this welder, but this one is by far the best one. Thanks for posting.

Thanks for the review I’ve been looking at this welder. 👍👍👍💥

I've had this 125 for several years. It was my first welder and at the time was a great welder. Since, I've gotten a newer more durable name brand machine and it's as silky as a new Cadillac. Moral of the story, any welder beats no welder. Get what you can, but also get what you NEED.

I have a old cheap Chicago electric mig I inherited in 2006 and it’s still going. I haven’t used a lot myself but my father in law uses it all the time and it’s been a great little welder for light duty stuff and still works after all these years.

Thank you for the video. I just bought one from harbor freight. I have been wanting to use it to fix my dock. I have been watching a lot of videos and yours has been the best so far. This welder is for the kind of guy I am, a novice and beginner.

I tried this welder and I must say it actually does the job, not the best welder out there of course but it will definitely get the job done, and you can definitely do some nice welds with it if you know what your doing

I've bin welding since 1998 and have used many different machines,big one's mostly gas but even flux core rods. I just recently purchased the 125 you have on here to weld my front custom fencing for my wall and stone pillers. I have to say I was very sceptical about this tiny welder. But to my surprise it did very well on the 3/16 steel gate. It was just simply a matter of setting the appropriate wire speed and temp then getting the hand speed and movement to match the setting. So I'm very happy with it and the price was good I paid $119 but I'm getting a price change next month but it's going on a one month sale for $85. That make it all even better. It's a keeper.👍👍👌

The exact welder I was looking for a review on and your commentary was awesome. Thank you!

I recently got a the titanium 125a mig welder and it absolutely works great. I bought this one instead of the one in video because the titanium one has variable settings instead of low/high.

Same thing for me. I've had mine for over 5 years without issues but I did already have a self darkening shield also bought at HF. One tip for making better looking fillet welds at butt joints and for filling minor gap is to run a "J" weave stringer. This pulls the puddle back and up and then carries the puddle down without burning through. I was a certified welder in the nuclear power plant world for about 10 years and it makes for a better looking weld as well. I enjoyed your video!

Thanks tons for the review. I've been contemplating getting one of these. For the amount of welding I would do, it's almost perfect. Now to decide between this and an oxy-acetylene. Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

Best review i seen on youtube. Got right to it very informative and skipped all the boring stuff. Thanks exactly what i needed to make my choice.

bought this welder 3 years ago and I live on a farm use it all the time and still going strong never had probloms with it

You, sir, are very entertaining to listen to while watching you mess around with a welder.

Thanks to your video and others like it, I've been able to improve my welds using this welder. I'm not going to say they're great, or even really good, but they are way better than when I started! This is a handy machine for welding that can do an at least adequate job. Thanks for posting this vid, it helped!

I've been thinking about pulling the trigger on one of these as a low cost entry point into welding, thanks for the information!

I thought about getting one of these at 1 time but I needed to weld some slightly thicker stuff and it needed to be structural. The newer welders make mig even easier to use. If you're just doing small stuff, this little welder is definitely a good way to get started.

This has been the most entertaining review I've ever seen 😂

Thanks man! I appreciate it! I have been considering learning basic welding skills and I noticed Harbor Freight selling a $100 welder and I figured that was able the extent I was willing to invest in my new "hobby" haha. I appreciate your video because this really seems like what I am looking for!

I’m thinking about getting into welding and your videos are hilarious and very informative, I’m hoping to see more content from you because you have helped out a lot

I appreciate your review on this welder as I just purchased the same unit from Harbor Freight. While I have some good past experience in acetylene/oxygen & old school DC stick welders I'm new to this flux core wire welding. Will be trying to fit together a broken area of solid maybe quarter inch tube frame on a lawn mower where the grass catcher attaches & hopefully will be able to make it "stick" together. Thanks again !!!

"Pro nice price..Pah-Row" Best review of this welder. Period.

good thing harbor freight sells grinders too,, lol.. I love my HF welder

Awesome review. I’ve been debating on buying this welder, now for sure I am. Thanks a lot

Totally loved your video!! So informative. I just bought the exact same welding machine and i was very Skeptical about it so i hadn't used it. But today i need to work on my gate lol. And overall your video made me feel totally confident on my purchase and there product. Thanks again look forward to your videos especially your humor on them... thanks

I've been interested in welding for quite a while now and my bills are keeping me from getting a decent welder but I'm thinking this would be a good machine to start learning how to weld and the price is definitely affordable for me, so I thank you for sharing this with us and now I have something to look forward to trying out. Stay great and thanks for the review. 🍻

I'm still using Dad's old Lincoln buzz box he bought 75 years ago. Fortunately he put a wheelbarrow tire kit on it to move around on the roughest of terrains as well as 20' leads, but I might have to jump for something lighter like this. Too bad the cables are so short on this HF125 that you have to set it on top of your work.

Took a chance on one of these little guys about a year ago.. i must say i am amazed. This welder works fantastic on small items. Ive reaired mower deck built a little garden trailer. Use. It all the time . Very pleased . Well worth the $ 120 bucks. Now im having a hard time finding something to weld

Dude you couldn't explain any better,,,I like the fact you also gave me the pros and cons

I’m in welding school right now, first arc I ever struck was on one of these. You can’t really make a lot of weld fast because the duty cycle isn’t great on them, but it does indeed make welds and the skill of the arm can make the beads look semi decent.

Dude, you're too funny, I enjoyed your video, your humor is what pulled it off, great job.

I just bought the HF 170 mig welder for building off road go karts haven't tried it out yet. Thanks for the video it really shows what mine will do.

A great and honest review, I used to have a very similar welder for many years and it was great at what it did. However, I found the things it didn’t do such as aluminium and cast iron very frustrating. The respirator is really important and is rarely mentioned in videos, I'll also wear a welder's jacket though sparks still get down my neck somehow. A welder is one of those tools the average D.I.Y.er doesn’t use every week but nothing else will do when one is needed, not even JB Weld. Pre Covid19 there were lots of Polish/German machines on the market here in the U.K., the machine I got is a 200amp MIG/Flux/MMA/Brazing (I stick to my gas for that) for a very reasonable price. Unfortunately the price of new tools are going through the roof here in the U.K. whilst second hand have through the floor. I like the level of control it gives and I can weld just about any material including aluminium and cast iron and can hold most thicknesses.

I got one a few weeks ago. Picked up the smaller gas less nozzle, I really recommend it. Improves your vision greatly. I didn’t realize that you could put those large rolls in this machine! That’s awesome. Nice video hope you make more with this welder.

I got one the other day. Hadn't welded in forty years and this is a good little welder to get me back to it so to say. I am making a people gate in my steel fence and it is working good. My first bead looked pretty crappy but after messing with the settings and tweaking it I got it to work okay. Can't blame the welder if it doesn't work at first; it's that operator malfunction that'll getchya.

I bought one of these welders yesterday..I've never welded. Im gonna need a lot of practice. Thanks for sharing. It eased my mind a bit.

Fine acting and brilliant way to make the angle. Nice safety tips. Good education.

There are only about two people who created a really good welding video about the Harbor Freight 125. Besides that the only people you find are spoiled kids or people who don't really know what they're doing. I bought this machine about a month ago and I really like it it's not a Lincoln a Miller or a Hobart but it's fun to work with if you use the right technique and right metal thickness .you did a good job on the video thank you

This review (and many of the positive comments) made me feel better about my recent purchase of the Flux 125 system. I've never welded before and I hope it will be a good first rig to learn with.

Just bought this exact welder today as a little Christmas present thank you so much for the vid . Im just planning on using it about acouple times to make some custom race seat adapters and extend a harness bar

I had no intention of watching the full video and then it ended lol watched it all... great video

Pretty good might get one of those welders because I was going to buy two raggedy Gates might as well make it myself of course their will be a learning butchering process it's really called research and development LOL thanks for the video

this was the best video i've seen so far about this welder, you're hilarious man! you'd make a great motovlogger!

Just wanted to give you a shout out. I wanted to buy a flux welder and started watching vids on YT. Alot of them are good but claim to be for beginners and they're really not. This video was actually the best video I've seen reviewing/demo'ing/ and explaining a flux core welder. Thank you so much! Excellent content.

Thanks for the video.im finally getting my first harbor freight tool. Good video. I believe it'll be a great welder for beginners.

If you did prep the metal though the welds would turn out alot cleaner

Great video and thank you for the in-depth review. Exactly what I need.

Thank you for the video. I was trying to decide if I should use my coupon and buy this welder for $99 and you just help me to go ahead and buy it tomorrow.

The whole key to this welder is use the drag moition with a little whip and pause moition. Over all these are good welders for small projects.

Great review! Entertaining right to the point informative no distracting background music dope editing the way you tube reviews should be Thanks!

Good review bud. Hit all the points needed. And clearly. Awesome man

They are,so good that after 15 years I still have my welder.😊🎉❤ I recommended it.

Thank you for making the best quality review of this welder that I've seen. Been meaning to start as a hobby, and around the house stuff, but didn't want to waste my money on the cheaper stuff if it was basically just junk. You convinced me otherwise, cheers!

Good Video,,I have the 90 amp model,,for what I use it for it was a good buy

I bought almost a similar welder about 3 years ago. I use it in my garage and on my van. I’d never welded before. It’s been brilliant, except for the mask. Even if you threw yours away after building your gates, it has paid for itself. I think they are brilliant for the cost of them. I think I bought mine in the UK for less than £100. Can’t ask for more. 👍

Thanks for the video. I'm a plumber but never welded steel, only brazed brass and copper. Got this for Christmas so I'll be messing around with it soon.

thank you, great review.

I have the big brother of that welder I bought last year so far it has fixed my wheel chair and my idrive. I am a disabled vet and do not get that much income

I really liked the way he narrated the whole video. Entertaining and fun.

This is the BEST most informative video on the Harbor Freight welder that I have seen. I really am going to get one of these. Thank You much!

@ 2:11 "Mine was so hard here I just ended up screwing it off." LOL

Thanks for the review, a guy wants to charge me $80 dllrs for some welding so I just went and buy one for $100

Really interested in this. Never needed a welder but yet I'm sure some of things I've repaired could have been done with a welder. I am a novice in woodworking and learning and would lile to get into welding. Always a good skill to have.

I get one of those 15 years a go, still welding like a champ.

I've been using mine 2016 and have had no problems. One of the major drawbacks to this welder is that the amperage isn't adjustable beyond "high" and "low" but that doesn't really matter to me.

Thank you for spending time to demonstrate this welder. You're doing the exact project that I want to use it for. I'd like to see the rest of your gate build if you have it available One note on your welds (I may be mistaken but I've had this happen and an old welder told me what it was). The sputtering and what looked like a little kick back (not to mention the splatter) might be the result of your wire size. This particular machine says that it can use both 0.030 and 0.035 wire but it really is designed for optimized welding with 0.030 wire. That said, however, your welds came out very well regardless of what machine you were using. Your gate motor setup looks pretty good at the end. Again I'd love to see your next video

Great review! Looking into buying one now because of this video. Great job👍

Nice review. I have zero experience welding and was considering this for a first time situation. Very entertaining as well. Thanks for sharing, Stay safe and healthy.

Bought one returned at a HF tent sale for $75 ($45 for the welder if I bought a $30 ITC membership =$75). Went to .35 wire immediately, I'm a cert welder so jump'n on it was no prob. Really only has 2 good settings. Low + wire around 4, and hi w/wire about 4-6. Runs shitty on anything else, feeder is loud & sounds like it's wanting to die but works well w/the right tension. For $45 you can't beat it, a tip is to buy your wire off Ebay at $4-5 per lb instead of $10 a lb at HF.

It’s a good review video

Thanks for the great review with your pros and cons. 👍👍

My dad has one. It still works perfectly and it's over 10yrs old.. I bought one the other day. It was on sale. After taxes $108.. Can't wait to use it

I tried that harbor freight flux cored wire with my everlast welder. It was OK but the name brand wire works much better.

Years ago I welded up a small sailboat trailer axle with one of these. Still holding 👍 just need to know what you’re doing

Great Video and thanks for the tutorial. I've always learned something from you guys on You Tube. I was thinking of investing in one of those welders, I don't do any welding, but I always wanted to learn, and not be dependant on a welding shop.

Used welder machine from a friend and welder worked great did several projects. Thinking on buying myself one.

08:50 i don't recommend it for thin metals but it might work for exhaust...

respirator and long sleeves and a welding hood.. are must have safety items.. (also some other clear eye pro). .. and a cap under your hood ...door.your dome.....

Thank you for making such an informative AND entertaining video.

I have kennel panels here made from 11 guage square tubing and angle I welded with a similar welder 15+ years ago. Welds are still holding fine.

I use nothing but lincoln wire with my everlast mig welder. Much better wire in my opinion.

Great Vid. Wife got me one for Christmas , $89.00 Black Friday price , gloves ect. 83 year old hacker. Gonna fix things hehehe. Shop full of woodworking tools , now metal work. Ol Bear

Used mine to fix the footpegs on my Son's mini bike and repair broken tubes on my carport. Already paid for itself.

I bought one yesterday. Used it today, welds are ugly but it got the job done w/o issue! I like it! :)

Do you think this would be a good welder for a starter? Also would this be a good welder for some small welding art? :D

Where did that work table come from? Nice...

Great video. I just got one of these 125 welders and you provide useful insight.

thanks for this. I've welded a lot many years ago and needed a cheapo welder for home use and got the same one. I haven't really tried it yet but this looks ok

So pretty much what you're saying, is that you won't be using this to make a hitch for the Spark (although you should) and now that I have to buy this, I should just tell my other half that I've always had a welder, she just never noticed it before?

Pro: This is such a great review. CON: EXCEPT FOR ONE THING??? Why didn't you use the original wire it came with??? because, Yes I am a noobie and it leaves me with questions, Like is that wire garbage and do I need to go out and buy that wire you are using and that means I have to go and buy those tips to accommodate the wire size.. ?? I was thinking about buying this unit today because of sale price.

Man you are a great narrator and you keep it very entertaining. Now I feel like buying one even though I already have one

I bought this welder for a project I was working on. Restoring a 64 Impala it works good for fenders patches and floorboards.