I have that exact machine. I bought it for a 2000 piece order, and it handled it great! Zero issues. I weld everyday and it's not your settings that are making your welds look like that, its your gun angle and position. Just for the sake of ease angle you gun more towards the top of that piece and things will improve dramatically. It's all about gun angle on moving parts and a little goes along way.
You did a great job illustrating the differences and nuances between the "buy once, cry once" attitude and the realization that sometimes it makes sense to buy what you need (and can afford) instead of buying the "best". Thank you for your thoughtful evaluation of the weld positioner. On the other hand, you show over and over again that purchasing and restoring classic vintage machinery can result in having VERY high quality shop equipment. If you priced out NEW machines comparable to what you have, I suspect the total value would be staggering!
Total honesty and no butt kissing because it was free. I suspect the 2-pin connector on the back is simply a switch/relay which will close a circuit on your welder. The schematic should confirm that. High end U.S. made equipment can be a business expense which makes it affordable.
If you want to use the welder connection on the back of the rotary table control unit, open up the back of your mig welder, find the wires inside your welder gun attached for the trigger, and connect them in parallel to the connector they gave you. I would add a hole with a to the back of your welder with a strain relief on a flying lead for the position-er. (You could use 16 ga SJO wire). You then operate the welder with the gun trigger or use the foot pedal for the position-er. I love you videos and glad that you work to expose and teach others about manual machining practices. As a rusty machinist, I always learn something new on your channel. CNC is fine for production work , but it does not teach or pass on the art of machining on to future generations. Thank you Keith.
Keith, This was a great video on reviewing the Chinese import tooling options. For many of us we woiuldnt be in the hobby or trade if it werent for the low entry price point of the low quality but obtainable chinese made tooling. I started my channel with this exact intention, Reviewing the Vevor Mini Lathe from a complete honesty to share with others looking to purchase one of these imports. Always love your contect and your looking well. Cheers.
At my place Fedex is the king of the damaged deliveries. I got a wooden box like the one you got and of course the machine was poking through the side of the box and had one damaged part and one broken part. They had skillfully designed road blocks at every attempt for compensation.. Thanks for the video keep on keeping on.
You are lucky, Our FedEx delivery guy not only tears stuff apart, the guy back into one of our vehicles, realized he had done that, and simply drove away. Chicago-based ground delivery trucks and just like in Chicago they simply drive off. I called our local constabulary and they refused to do anything. My guess is some under-the-table funds had changed hands Chicago style.
Nice video and analysis! I'm a boomer who remembers buying products that were deliberately unfinished at a discount so you could add the final value with your own labor- you also learned a lot about how the tools functioned! That's how I view much of the 'stuff' coming out of China, unfinished and awaiting the hands of a craftsman. You of course qualify on that count, imho when you're done dialing it in and making improvements you'll have a much better than 'adequate' tool.
The Chinese through the 80s and 90s would do shady business, learning the process methods from western investors and then kicking their operations out of the country to set up their own "Made in China" and "CC" manufacturing operations. Did this to a lot of companies, taking their manufacturing methods and then arbitrarily drumming them out, competing with them on the market at discounted prices after learning how their developed process engineering efficiently functioned. The unfinished part of the products was because these western manufacturers would very commonly ship Chinese made components back to their home companies for final machining, assembly, finishing and quality controls, which the Chinese companies stealing their methods weren't exposed to and never learned from them, so simply didn't do them to the same standards and put the 'unfinished' products on the market (at huge discounts of course compared to the western competition) that's the actual story of their shoddy machine tools flooding the world's market and running countless western companies that had invested in Chinese raw manufacturing out of business over time. The economic pressures to match prices with the shoddily finished tools built with labor that would be illegal in Western Democracies to pay their employees was a marketing problem and media explanation for why they were cheaper that the western companies just couldn't solve. Really only professionals with critical work demands who NEED their tools to last because they flat out can't have them failing as often for loss of work hours overcoming the differential in cost of just buying another Chinese made tool are the only ones who know or care what the deal is with this dynamic and still buy the highest quality for time and job-hours economy rather than materials economy reasons. For a long time, companies tried to make accommodations with manufacturing and finishing in Taiwan to try to salvage their businesses and the Taiwanese manufacturing is still much superior, but really they were doomed having given their process engineering methods to the Chinese. It's over for a western company when they do that because the Chinese are still a nationalized command economy playing for the long geo-politics strategy game of economically developing their country to compete and so don't care about honoring property rights of non-Chinese or doing mutually beneficial business if they can just put those non-Chinese out of business and take all the market share for themselves. They are a nationstate command economy with geopolitical strategic economic goals, you're not doing business in good faith to make everybody rich in China. We're still just beginning to learn that lesson now.
I feel the same way, it's like buying a kit. Usually with a bit of effort you can turn them into decent tools. Of course some of them are made of swiss cheese instead of steel (also know as chineseum), those are a lost cause.
Hi Keith. You might have a little better weld beads by forgoing the torch holder and make a support for your hand and arm and try welding that way. It might produce a better result than fiddling around having to move the torch out on each pass. I do enjoy watching your work. Thanks
Excellent video Keith. I have been wanting one of those myself but didn't want to spend a ton of money on one.This looks like a pretty good deal.Thanks for sharing.
Another machine that I didn't even know was a thing! And a realistic, true review, too. I have found that expectations of quality from any tool, frankly, no matter where it comes from, have had to change, at least for me, over the half century I've been buying things. Quality control is key: even things that claim to have certain specs often don't meet them. One of my most important questions when getting something, especially if it's at all expensive, is 'How easy will this be to return?' Two advantages of buying from a place like Harbor Freight is that, first, I can see something before I buy it, and second, I can bring it back if it has a problem. Ordering direct from overseas, or even through Amazon, makes things much more dicey, in my opinion. Of course, there are some things, like this tool, where ordering online is probably the only option. One more reason to look for something old, used, and in a shop that is either nearby, and/or that you trust. Thanks so much Keith, for all the fantastic content you put out!
LOL, welcome to Vevor. There's several vids on YT recently about this "company"... They only want to sell. Absolutely no service after the sale... You're completely on your own once you take delivery of your purchase from the shipper. As far as your welds, you might try changing the gun angle as well... with MIG it's preferred to have a slight "push" angle on the gun, but in the video it appears that you're at nearly a 90° angle to the workpiece. But yeah, like you said, just a tweak to the settings and you'll have that setup making nice welds. It looks right now that you're running too hot as the deposit metal is looking as it's trying to run away from the weld. You may need to allow the part to cool a bit between passes, especially as you get out toward the end of the part. 👍👍👍👍👍
Anything "Vevor" tagged is much better than the average evilbay or alix seller. Somewhere in their supply chain they seem to at least have an idea of what they are sourcing and either don't sell it or go back to their suppliers and improve it. Going back a decade or so I was importing wholesale quantities of a range of items out of China and I was often told 'it doesn't matter the quality so much as it is cheap' (that was the Chinglish version) so I found my self going back to them after getting the samples making suggestions on changes then giving an order on the basis of those improvements. Most of those were in the end no cost and got me a product I could deal with with way less issues. Bottom line is the Chinese when you work with them want to make a $ from a sale but if you are a sucker and chase the $ then you deserve what you get. Sorry for the windy reply 😁
Waiting to see the torch holder power feed in action. Get your round file in action on the crank handle mounting holes so you can set the worm drive gear in a tighter mesh. Great video.
Sometimes you just need a tool that is just good enough for the job :D I noticed that too with the random letter brand names on amazon, but I've come across the name Vevor a couple times now. From what I gathered the experiences are pretty mixed, gotta see how well it performs. Propably like most cheap chinese products, if you want it to work properly you gotta do the finishing work by yourself.
Vevor is decent stuff. They have an impressive variety of items, and my impression is that they've curated "good quality Chinese" items and rebranded it; it feels like much less of a risk. Not much different than a lot of major brands nowadays.
@Current Batches I've never had serious issues with old Taiwanese machines (never bought a new one). I would suspect the better Chinese stuff now is where the Taiwanese stuff was in the '70s.
Check your ground for corrosion, not only where the lug is bolted to your ground, but also you might just consider installing a new lug. I've seen corrosion build up inside the crimp. When trying to get my welder dialed in perfect, I will have my machine right next to me where I can adjust the wire speed as I'm welding. Adjusting the stick out of the wire and changing the distance between the tip and the work has big effect also.
Had one of these (exact same tool different brand) at work as a pro welder and used one very similar on another professional pipe fitting job for pressure vessels. It's fine for turning up to 4 in pipe fittings including long pipes with a long elbow and 150# flange if you have it well leveled on roller stands, it will turn over that much weight, but there will be a difference in speed that you have to adjust for when the weight tips over and pulls the pipe around. This is what it's really good for, horizontal roll out on rollers. It's not a good choice for holding anything with a large diameter of joint vertically to spin, better for very small fittings because of the chuck capacity, bore, and imprecise motor speed. It's not very precise and the motor doesn't hold constant speed with much torque for anything larger in a roll out position weld either. It will definitely be fine for most any roll out pipe applications smaller than 3 inch pipe though with just an elbow and even fairly heavy flange. Definitely OK for parts under a hundred pounds and about a foot diameter joint for vertical spin as long as the center of mass isn't too far away from the chuck center, needs to spin pretty true. The Chuck is pretty darn cheap on these, you basically jam down to a stuck position rather than actually closing firm, but the parts are heavy enough to last a while even so. I don't know if I'd buy it for myself unless I had a big contract job with a bunch of smaller pipe fittings, I'd want much more weight turning capacity for horizontal roll out if I need it, so I'd spend probably four times the price and get a 250 pound or 300 pound machine for myself, but I'm primarily a heavy fab welder. It would be convenient as a second machine after that to use for smaller fittings. Recommend building a three point stand, one behind about 24 inches back two long front feet 48 inches forward 24 apart and a couple roller stands to do longer pipes. When rolling out, you'll be better off putting your puddle right on top when running a hot pass or cap, run as hot as you can without opening a hole. When running roots, you want to be on the side of the pipe turning up and away from the arc around ten o'clock. Don't want to be on the down-turn side like you were doing on the shaft, get hotter, hot and fast as you can, and ontop of the shaft or even slightly on the uphill side rather than the downslope is my advice.
P.S. It's somewhat counter intuitive, but it's almost always better to be as hot and fast as possible when running weld. You're putting more energy into the joint, but for a much reduced length of time, the warping, distortion, and heat affected zone will be less when you run your weld as fast as you can control and still get the smooth deposition where you need it, this holds true on the roll out operations. As hot and fast as possible without opening a hole is pretty much always going to be better than sitting on your puddle, slowing the roll out down until you get the fill deposition you want. Your parts will actually absorb LESS heat rather than more. And again, right on top with the arc or even slightly on the up-tuning side rather than the down turning side is probably better IMO and as fast as you can get a smooth bead.
Position the gun to the side like about 2 o-clock with the gun pointing slightly upwards. Turn rotation to counter clockwise so you're basically doing a down hand pass.
bought a Vevor meat grinder coupla yrs. back. am nothing but pleased with its performance. Vevor rates this grinder at 550lb./hr. and I believe it. about 30-40% cheaper than its U.S. counterparts
I have a nephew that manufacturers a welding fixture that uses a regular 3, or 4 jaw chuck to mount your fixtures and items to weld. It is completely machined.
I am very impressed by the quality of the repair. The limitations of the product are reduced by the quality of the operator... things even out! Thank you for sharing.
Mathew Kubik is correct about gun angle, rotating clockwize set gun at 12 oclock , maybe a little before . This will control the puddle and stop metal running off . I am not a welder , but spent 38 years maintaining welding equipt in a large truck plant . practice will get you there !
I buy Made in the USA..... Unless, it's not made in the USA, or the price for something cheap is, well, cheap! The good thing is, you own a machine shop.. You can retool, refabricate or fine tune this and improve it's performance and make it better! Then it will be somewhat made in the USA!! Looking fabulous Keith! I hope you are feeling much better too!
I’ve just started to watch this video and had to reply about the packaging, cheap plywood, cheap fasteners, but it survived FedEx so it couldn’t be that bad! You said it was laying on its side, probably where it landed after it got thrown in the truck. Lol
What a neat gizmo. I can see how that would solve a lot of problems when trying to do the same operation by hand. You delivered an honest assessment on the advantages and detractions, followed up by a practical demonstration. Nice work! The instructions remind me of modern technical textbooks... where assembly and operation must have been just another 'exercise left for the student'. 😆
no problem Keith take it easy and get well my friend just love the jobs you do bit long winded in explanation but you get there in the end Cheers get well mate new or old i my self am looking for a weld poisoner so go for it
That positioner is a remarkable value for the money. I can't imagine building that for $600. Could I build the chuck for $600? The fact that it tilts and has a chuck for that money is extraordinary. It is a more that adequate solution for the application. I have a US made positioner that was much more expensive and not nearly as nice as that one. I can't imagine a spec that required the weld positioner to be set at a precise angle, or the chuck as precise as a lathe. Let's complain that it won't hold a 500lb workpiece like a more expensive ones will. I always look for low cost tools that are infrequently used provided they will do the job. I have plenty of cheap tools that are essential when I need them even if years go by between uses. I have plenty of high end stuff when the application requires it. Often so called US tools have plenty of hidden off shore content. Even though I an required to put made in Canada on the electronics that we build not a single component inside is made in Canada. So what does "made in" really mean?
Aim your torch at the top of the cylinder top down. Like your welding down hand, tilt the torch tip slightly forward a few degree from top centre for better weld appearance. Your getting all the drip because your welding up hill basically.
Keith the "welder" cable is just a simple switch. All you need to do is wire it into the trigger switch on the gun and when you press the trigger switch it starts the rotation, not the other way around. If I understood what you were saying, you wanted to activate the welder with the foot pedal and you could do that too, it would just require you to have the pedal complete the circuit that the gun trigger normal completes. Either way, there's no voltage to fuss over. It's just a switch. Also, if your weld has 4T mode, you can start the rotation and click the trigger and let it weld. When it gets done with a pass you can either crank the gun up as it moves to the next pass or hit that trigger again to stop it.
I'm sorry to hear about the nasal drainage Keith; I've got nasal problems had them for years and take two different medicines for it so I understand and I will pray to Our Lord Jesus for you. This tool reeks of Harbor Freight; if you looked around a little Keith, you might have found this particular tool manufactured in Taiwan or South Korea. That's a nice weld. Thank you very much for the demonstration.
Lincoln, Miller and Hobart are now just about all made in China. Forney is and the engineers in Colorado assemble and test them. Sometimes you can get a refurbished unit and save around 40% or more on one that was returned for this or that and I got a refurbished Multiprocess MIG, lift arc TIG, stick welder (220MP) and got free shipping to PA. I am very happy with it, looks brand new other than you can see the torch has been used, the rest of it looks new and works fantastic. If it was engineered, made and assembled in China, that can be an issue. I have a Vevor CUT 50P plasma welder I will be putting through its paces this month doing a frame repair on my Jeep TJ caused by the state using so much salt every winter. Grrrr. It didn't pass inspection and they caused it combating slippery roads. To date, Vevor seems to be doing a fine job and I did call their service department to ask questions and they were glad to help me. That is when I made the decision to purchase.My son got me a Japanese coffee maker and it was made in China. The instruction booklet had zero English, just the Asian hieroglyphics.
Hey Keith; In three hundred years, it might be vintage?. I am not going to stop watching your videos, because you bought a Harbor Freight tool…keep on, keeping on!
Yes, I noticed that. One of the reasons he was having so much trouble as he was trying to run a uphill weld. Not easy to do with a Mig especially if you can’t manipulate the torch.
Nice, you should consider open to check the ground connection between chuck and body of the machine for a good weld and put a footswitch for a better control. Thanks for the video
Informative video, Keith. As to the name, Vevor, In a long career as an engineer for various enterprises, regularly ran into oddly named companies. Especially tech start-ups with very odd names. I used to tell people who would ask "Who are those people, what do they do, the name is not descriptive" that nowadays people employ brand research firms who have legions experts to invent a name that does not translate to "your mother has a face like a goat" in any known language. Recall the chevy Nova experience in Spanish language markets. Anyway, good information and you have received lots of comments from people with expertise about tuning the thing in.
A thorough honest review. I would expect no less from you Keith. I agree that while American or European tools are my choice, I can seldom afford them as a hobbyist. Yess, most of my tools are Chinese.
That looks like it would be a good start to automation. Just work out an acme thread (or even all-thread) shaft and a couple pulleys and you'll have a spiral welder.
Seems like a valuable addition. That'll come in very handy once dialed in. Sheesh, the first trial came out really good. Can probably be optimized to use less material, but very impressive. Especially for the price.
Get an old lathe and set up with a vfd make a mount to hold the mig gun mounted to the carriage. You can use different feeds settings as you need, works great. Love your channel.
13:00 The torch plug is like the remote wire feed. It's a basic start stop function, you pull the trigger and it starts turning at the set parameters. Me, I'd pull it apart and inspect the return circuit, bet the clamps and surfaces are painted and oiled, I would probably insert some copper flat straps looped into a bow and brushing against the needed contact surface. Finally EVERY Chinese welder, plasma cutter, workshop tool has a fan that sucks in the weld spray and smoke to coat the circuit board. Pull off the side cover and build a holder for a cheap car filter, many of my machines now use the same car style filter and they are cheap and readily available from the auto store.
Keith, viewers like me wish you would build one on your own! It would make a really great series. Plus you have the needed skills and also just about any equipment needed to tackle such a project. Sell this one after you're done! One thing you did not went into any detail nor any close up, is the welding gun support arm. Hopefully you will in the next video. Please also if you can improve on your videography, mainly close up shots. You always point at details we, from our sofa could not perceive well. Thanks for sharing. God Bless.
If you decide to put a better chuck on it, I would suggest a 4 jaw. You don't need to dial it in to .0005" since you can adjust while welding. I've used a positioner with a 4 jaw and it's more useful than a 3jaw scroll chuck.
That crate would be known as a tea chest in England. Originally designed for packing tea from India and China. Light weight contents. You probably already have but, check the ground connections. I've had stuff from Amazon/China labeled as CE certified but lethal as far as grounding goes.
@@sierkdejongh8984 I used to think that too, the CE mark is a clearly defined logo and not a simple font, but, in my most recent case this was the CE mark, and the ground connection was 60+ Ohms to case,so, in a single fault situation the case could be live without blowing the fuse.
Not too bad, I would try to position the torch holder to become a rest for you. Then you could leave the machine on and weld the entire length without the starting and stopping. Thanks for sharing.
An honest and fair review. I always get something stuck in my craw when Americans go off about poor build quality from other countries, as if only America is capable of Quality. It's not that other countries are incapable of quality, it's just that after to import duties and transportation costs to get equal quality will cost you more. Many European companies are capable of even better quality, and many Asian countries products can meet or exceed American quality......it's just that we here in North America can't afford those product dues to all the extra fees associated with getting them If we buy from Asian we get what we are willing to pay for. And it's just easier to find local product in our price point.
The sad truth is that a lot of the stuff being made in the US these days is no better than the import stuff. And I will agree that there is now and has always been some very high quality tools and tooling coming out of Europe. Some of the best built tools I have are German made and anytime I see "Poland" on tools and even tooling, I can usually assume it will be good quality. Being a "Vintage Machinery" guy, most of my experience has been around old American made iron - made back when quality meant something. It's hard to find that level of quality anywhere being made new any more....
Hey Keith! I think if you point the tip of welder straight at the very top, it might act more like a flat surface then it dripping down the side, might be easier on your large tooling as well Excellent video as always! Hope you feel better 👍🏼
Hi Keith, It's a basic welding rotator, and like you say, you get what you pay for. And for what you are doing it is a great deal better than trying to turn with one hand and weld with the other. On the welder, does it have 2T and 4T control on the welder? 2T you have to hold the trigger while welding and when you release it stops, 4T you press and release to start and press and release to stop, that would help not having to stand there and hold it.
The steel in that machine is from the WTC. They got it dirt cheap and on top of that the the price of steel was low at 2001. What goes around comes around.
Don’t talk to me about harbor freight, bought a gas power auger for digging post holes, worked fine in soft uncompacted soil but did not dig in hard soil, the auger bit leading edge was too shallow. Second problem was that the fuel tank developed a crack but I and a local small engine repair shop could not find any replacement parts for the gas powered auger!
Between Adam Booth and Curtis from Cutting Edge Engineering, Curtis does this kind of BIG welding proposition the most. I suggest you take a look and see what things he's doing that you are interested in. He does this kind of build up welding a lot and he also does a lot of horizontal boring in an unusual way.
Keith, While the weld looks good after machining, a Non-destructive Test (NDT) would be worth doing. In this case, a dye penetrant test would tell a lot, at a relatively low cost. I have seen porosity, small cracks, and inclusions identified by NDT. It's doubtful any flaws would be an issue on a cane mill roller. It would however help in improving your technique. Bob
On a cane mill I wouldn't be to concerned with some inclusions. Considering the shafts run in Babbitt bearings at slow speed the buildup on the shafts is a whole lot stronger then the Babbitt bond to the cast iron. It's not something majorly important weld on something like a bridge pillar or a pressure vessel where better inspection would make sense.
Keith, Good review, & I feel your pain of purchasing imports..... although that is sometimes the only option within the financial grasp/ability of the hobbyist. I was somewhat surprised that you didn't find more inclusions after turning the weld down; a preheat will definitely help MIG out on a shaft of that diameter.
That will be much faster and easier. Have you considered using stainless wire ? That would be much longer lasting. Thanks for the continued content. You are looking good too.
For the 4 pin welder connector, it "should" just got to a NO/NC relay contacts on the positioner that will close/open when the positioner is triggered thus acting like the trigger on the mig gun. As for the timer, I feel that would be much more suited for doing preheats post heats on parts, a little less caveman than setting rock on footpedal
Exactly! The positioner controls the welder, not the other way around. The two wires coming out of the positioner "replace" the switch on the mig torch. Wire them in parallel if you also want to control the welder at the torch.
Their equipment seems to be fairly good I have a vevor wood lathe from them and it's strong good piece of equipment for the price you get what you pay for and some time you don't congrats anyway
I bought a toe jack, machinery skates and a come along from Vevor for an upcoming shop relocation and paid ~$320, which is maybe 1.5x the rental cost for those items in my area. It all looks pretty clean and well put together so I’m quite hopeful it will work ok. I’d agree the product documentation sucks.
Thanks for being straight forward Keith. My experience with Chinese tool imports has averaged about an 85% failure rate within one year of purchase. I bought a plasma cutter that only lasted 20 minutes so as the old adage goes, buyer beware. The weak link in your case will most likely be the electronics. Chinese quality control in that area is consistently poor. Good luck Keith; hope it works out for you.
i've seen some diy plasma torches on the toobs, both sets of them, maybe their electronics designs would be adaptable. in my experience these kind of things come with all kinds of machined parts i don't have the tools to make or the knowledge to know i need them, the rest is easy.
I have that exact machine. I bought it for a 2000 piece order, and it handled it great! Zero issues. I weld everyday and it's not your settings that are making your welds look like that, its your gun angle and position. Just for the sake of ease angle you gun more towards the top of that piece and things will improve dramatically. It's all about gun angle on moving parts and a little goes along way.
You Can Tell That Keith Didn't Get This For Free Like MOST TH-cam Vevor Videos!!!
I was about to not watch vevor video number 9 milion.
This seems like the only honest review on youtube.
Cutting Edge Engineering has a rotary ground that he made on his channel that would be a great fit for this thing and a good project for the channel.
You did a great job illustrating the differences and nuances between the "buy once, cry once" attitude and the realization that sometimes it makes sense to buy what you need (and can afford) instead of buying the "best". Thank you for your thoughtful evaluation of the weld positioner. On the other hand, you show over and over again that purchasing and restoring classic vintage machinery can result in having VERY high quality shop equipment. If you priced out NEW machines comparable to what you have, I suspect the total value would be staggering!
Hot lemon tea with honey and two peppermint’s candy. That was grandma’s go to. Hope you feel better. Thanks for the tool review.
Total honesty and no butt kissing because it was free. I suspect the 2-pin connector on the back is simply a switch/relay which will close a circuit on your welder. The schematic should confirm that.
High end U.S. made equipment can be a business expense which makes it affordable.
If you want to use the welder connection on the back of the rotary table control unit, open up the back of your mig welder, find the wires inside your welder gun attached for the trigger, and connect them in parallel to the connector they gave you. I would add a hole with a to the back of your welder with a strain relief on a flying lead for the position-er. (You could use 16 ga SJO wire). You then operate the welder with the gun trigger or use the foot pedal for the position-er. I love you videos and glad that you work to expose and teach others about manual machining practices. As a rusty machinist, I always learn something new on your channel. CNC is fine for production work , but it does not teach or pass on the art of machining on to future generations. Thank you Keith.
Keith, This was a great video on reviewing the Chinese import tooling options. For many of us we woiuldnt be in the hobby or trade if it werent for the low entry price point of the low quality but obtainable chinese made tooling. I started my channel with this exact intention, Reviewing the Vevor Mini Lathe from a complete honesty to share with others looking to purchase one of these imports. Always love your contect and your looking well. Cheers.
At my place Fedex is the king of the damaged deliveries. I got a wooden box like the one you got and of course the machine was poking through the side of the box and had one damaged part and one broken part. They had skillfully designed road blocks at every attempt for compensation.. Thanks for the video keep on keeping on.
You are lucky, Our FedEx delivery guy not only tears stuff apart, the guy back into one of our vehicles, realized he had done that, and simply drove away. Chicago-based ground delivery trucks and just like in Chicago they simply drive off. I called our local constabulary and they refused to do anything. My guess is some under-the-table funds had changed hands Chicago style.
@@bigun447 in the rare occasion I get to determine who delivers I take UPS.
Nice video and analysis! I'm a boomer who remembers buying products that were deliberately unfinished at a discount so you could add the final value with your own labor- you also learned a lot about how the tools functioned! That's how I view much of the 'stuff' coming out of China, unfinished and awaiting the hands of a craftsman. You of course qualify on that count, imho when you're done dialing it in and making improvements you'll have a much better than 'adequate' tool.
The Chinese through the 80s and 90s would do shady business, learning the process methods from western investors and then kicking their operations out of the country to set up their own "Made in China" and "CC" manufacturing operations. Did this to a lot of companies, taking their manufacturing methods and then arbitrarily drumming them out, competing with them on the market at discounted prices after learning how their developed process engineering efficiently functioned. The unfinished part of the products was because these western manufacturers would very commonly ship Chinese made components back to their home companies for final machining, assembly, finishing and quality controls, which the Chinese companies stealing their methods weren't exposed to and never learned from them, so simply didn't do them to the same standards and put the 'unfinished' products on the market (at huge discounts of course compared to the western competition) that's the actual story of their shoddy machine tools flooding the world's market and running countless western companies that had invested in Chinese raw manufacturing out of business over time. The economic pressures to match prices with the shoddily finished tools built with labor that would be illegal in Western Democracies to pay their employees was a marketing problem and media explanation for why they were cheaper that the western companies just couldn't solve. Really only professionals with critical work demands who NEED their tools to last because they flat out can't have them failing as often for loss of work hours overcoming the differential in cost of just buying another Chinese made tool are the only ones who know or care what the deal is with this dynamic and still buy the highest quality for time and job-hours economy rather than materials economy reasons. For a long time, companies tried to make accommodations with manufacturing and finishing in Taiwan to try to salvage their businesses and the Taiwanese manufacturing is still much superior, but really they were doomed having given their process engineering methods to the Chinese. It's over for a western company when they do that because the Chinese are still a nationalized command economy playing for the long geo-politics strategy game of economically developing their country to compete and so don't care about honoring property rights of non-Chinese or doing mutually beneficial business if they can just put those non-Chinese out of business and take all the market share for themselves. They are a nationstate command economy with geopolitical strategic economic goals, you're not doing business in good faith to make everybody rich in China. We're still just beginning to learn that lesson now.
I feel the same way, it's like buying a kit. Usually with a bit of effort you can turn them into decent tools. Of course some of them are made of swiss cheese instead of steel (also know as chineseum), those are a lost cause.
Kind of shaking my head on that one Keith...
Hi Keith. You might have a little better weld beads by forgoing the torch holder and make a support for your hand and arm and try welding that way. It might produce a better result than fiddling around having to move the torch out on each pass. I do enjoy watching your work. Thanks
Tools and Techniques have always been part of the content this video does not disappoint.
Excellent video Keith. I have been wanting one of those myself but didn't want to spend a ton of money on one.This looks like a pretty good deal.Thanks for sharing.
Keith - I appreciate your candor. I’m learning right next to you. No apologies necessary. Get well.
Another machine that I didn't even know was a thing!
And a realistic, true review, too. I have found that expectations of quality from any tool, frankly, no matter where it comes from, have had to change, at least for me, over the half century I've been buying things. Quality control is key: even things that claim to have certain specs often don't meet them. One of my most important questions when getting something, especially if it's at all expensive, is 'How easy will this be to return?' Two advantages of buying from a place like Harbor Freight is that, first, I can see something before I buy it, and second, I can bring it back if it has a problem. Ordering direct from overseas, or even through Amazon, makes things much more dicey, in my opinion. Of course, there are some things, like this tool, where ordering online is probably the only option. One more reason to look for something old, used, and in a shop that is either nearby, and/or that you trust.
Thanks so much Keith, for all the fantastic content you put out!
Great comment.
LOL, welcome to Vevor. There's several vids on YT recently about this "company"... They only want to sell. Absolutely no service after the sale... You're completely on your own once you take delivery of your purchase from the shipper.
As far as your welds, you might try changing the gun angle as well... with MIG it's preferred to have a slight "push" angle on the gun, but in the video it appears that you're at nearly a 90° angle to the workpiece. But yeah, like you said, just a tweak to the settings and you'll have that setup making nice welds. It looks right now that you're running too hot as the deposit metal is looking as it's trying to run away from the weld. You may need to allow the part to cool a bit between passes, especially as you get out toward the end of the part.
👍👍👍👍👍
Glad to see a really in depth review on this piece of equipment. Thank you Keith for being informative!
Anything "Vevor" tagged is much better than the average evilbay or alix seller. Somewhere in their supply chain they seem to at least have an idea of what they are sourcing and either don't sell it or go back to their suppliers and improve it. Going back a decade or so I was importing wholesale quantities of a range of items out of China and I was often told 'it doesn't matter the quality so much as it is cheap' (that was the Chinglish version) so I found my self going back to them after getting the samples making suggestions on changes then giving an order on the basis of those improvements. Most of those were in the end no cost and got me a product I could deal with with way less issues. Bottom line is the Chinese when you work with them want to make a $ from a sale but if you are a sucker and chase the $ then you deserve what you get. Sorry for the windy reply 😁
I've also found them to be very high quality.
Waiting to see the torch holder power feed in action. Get your round file in action on the crank handle mounting holes so you can set the worm drive gear in a tighter mesh. Great video.
Clearly you are becoming the go to person for sugar cane mill repair.
Sometimes you just need a tool that is just good enough for the job :D
I noticed that too with the random letter brand names on amazon, but I've come across the name Vevor a couple times now. From what I gathered the experiences are pretty mixed, gotta see how well it performs. Propably like most cheap chinese products, if you want it to work properly you gotta do the finishing work by yourself.
Vevor is decent stuff. They have an impressive variety of items, and my impression is that they've curated "good quality Chinese" items and rebranded it; it feels like much less of a risk. Not much different than a lot of major brands nowadays.
@Current Batches I've never had serious issues with old Taiwanese machines (never bought a new one). I would suspect the better Chinese stuff now is where the Taiwanese stuff was in the '70s.
Check your ground for corrosion, not only where the lug is bolted to your ground, but also you might just consider installing a new lug. I've seen corrosion build up inside the crimp. When trying to get my welder dialed in perfect, I will have my machine right next to me where I can adjust the wire speed as I'm welding. Adjusting the stick out of the wire and changing the distance between the tip and the work has big effect also.
Had one of these (exact same tool different brand) at work as a pro welder and used one very similar on another professional pipe fitting job for pressure vessels. It's fine for turning up to 4 in pipe fittings including long pipes with a long elbow and 150# flange if you have it well leveled on roller stands, it will turn over that much weight, but there will be a difference in speed that you have to adjust for when the weight tips over and pulls the pipe around. This is what it's really good for, horizontal roll out on rollers. It's not a good choice for holding anything with a large diameter of joint vertically to spin, better for very small fittings because of the chuck capacity, bore, and imprecise motor speed. It's not very precise and the motor doesn't hold constant speed with much torque for anything larger in a roll out position weld either. It will definitely be fine for most any roll out pipe applications smaller than 3 inch pipe though with just an elbow and even fairly heavy flange. Definitely OK for parts under a hundred pounds and about a foot diameter joint for vertical spin as long as the center of mass isn't too far away from the chuck center, needs to spin pretty true. The Chuck is pretty darn cheap on these, you basically jam down to a stuck position rather than actually closing firm, but the parts are heavy enough to last a while even so. I don't know if I'd buy it for myself unless I had a big contract job with a bunch of smaller pipe fittings, I'd want much more weight turning capacity for horizontal roll out if I need it, so I'd spend probably four times the price and get a 250 pound or 300 pound machine for myself, but I'm primarily a heavy fab welder. It would be convenient as a second machine after that to use for smaller fittings. Recommend building a three point stand, one behind about 24 inches back two long front feet 48 inches forward 24 apart and a couple roller stands to do longer pipes. When rolling out, you'll be better off putting your puddle right on top when running a hot pass or cap, run as hot as you can without opening a hole. When running roots, you want to be on the side of the pipe turning up and away from the arc around ten o'clock. Don't want to be on the down-turn side like you were doing on the shaft, get hotter, hot and fast as you can, and ontop of the shaft or even slightly on the uphill side rather than the downslope is my advice.
P.S. It's somewhat counter intuitive, but it's almost always better to be as hot and fast as possible when running weld. You're putting more energy into the joint, but for a much reduced length of time, the warping, distortion, and heat affected zone will be less when you run your weld as fast as you can control and still get the smooth deposition where you need it, this holds true on the roll out operations. As hot and fast as possible without opening a hole is pretty much always going to be better than sitting on your puddle, slowing the roll out down until you get the fill deposition you want. Your parts will actually absorb LESS heat rather than more. And again, right on top with the arc or even slightly on the up-tuning side rather than the down turning side is probably better IMO and as fast as you can get a smooth bead.
Position the gun to the side like about 2 o-clock with the gun pointing slightly upwards. Turn rotation to counter clockwise so you're basically doing a down hand pass.
Good for you Keith, I built my own rotation unit but this looks good enough to get the job done. Stay safe
bought a Vevor meat grinder coupla yrs. back. am nothing but pleased with its performance. Vevor rates this grinder at 550lb./hr. and I believe it. about 30-40% cheaper than its U.S. counterparts
I have a nephew that manufacturers a welding fixture that uses a regular 3, or 4 jaw chuck to mount your fixtures and items to weld. It is completely machined.
I am very impressed by the quality of the repair. The limitations of the product are reduced by the quality of the operator... things even out! Thank you for sharing.
Mathew Kubik is correct about gun angle, rotating clockwize set gun at 12 oclock , maybe a little before . This will control the puddle and stop metal running off . I am not a welder , but spent 38 years maintaining welding equipt in a large truck plant . practice will get you there !
I buy Made in the USA..... Unless, it's not made in the USA, or the price for something cheap is, well, cheap! The good thing is, you own a machine shop.. You can retool, refabricate or fine tune this and improve it's performance and make it better! Then it will be somewhat made in the USA!! Looking fabulous Keith! I hope you are feeling much better too!
I’ve just started to watch this video and had to reply about the packaging, cheap plywood, cheap fasteners, but it survived FedEx so it couldn’t be that bad! You said it was laying on its side, probably where it landed after it got thrown in the truck. Lol
What a neat gizmo. I can see how that would solve a lot of problems when trying to do the same operation by hand. You delivered an honest assessment on the advantages and detractions, followed up by a practical demonstration. Nice work! The instructions remind me of modern technical textbooks... where assembly and operation must have been just another 'exercise left for the student'. 😆
no problem Keith take it easy and get well my friend just love the jobs you do bit long winded in explanation but you get there in the end Cheers get well mate new or old i my self am looking for a weld poisoner so go for it
That positioner is a remarkable value for the money. I can't imagine building that for $600. Could I build the chuck for $600? The fact that it tilts and has a chuck for that money is extraordinary. It is a more that adequate solution for the application. I have a US made positioner that was much more expensive and not nearly as nice as that one. I can't imagine a spec that required the weld positioner to be set at a precise angle, or the chuck as precise as a lathe. Let's complain that it won't hold a 500lb workpiece like a more expensive ones will. I always look for low cost tools that are infrequently used provided they will do the job. I have plenty of cheap tools that are essential when I need them even if years go by between uses. I have plenty of high end stuff when the application requires it. Often so called US tools have plenty of hidden off shore content. Even though I an required to put made in Canada on the electronics that we build not a single component inside is made in Canada. So what does "made in" really mean?
Assembled In, is the more appropriate term, used by more manufacturer's.
Aim your torch at the top of the cylinder top down. Like your welding down hand, tilt the torch tip slightly forward a few degree from top centre for better weld appearance. Your getting all the drip because your welding up hill basically.
I think you will be fine. I think it is a good addition to the shop.
That worked out great Keith.
Adding capabilities to the shop while boosting efficiency.
Thanks for sharing.
Take care, Ed.
Keith the "welder" cable is just a simple switch. All you need to do is wire it into the trigger switch on the gun and when you press the trigger switch it starts the rotation, not the other way around. If I understood what you were saying, you wanted to activate the welder with the foot pedal and you could do that too, it would just require you to have the pedal complete the circuit that the gun trigger normal completes. Either way, there's no voltage to fuss over. It's just a switch.
Also, if your weld has 4T mode, you can start the rotation and click the trigger and let it weld. When it gets done with a pass you can either crank the gun up as it moves to the next pass or hit that trigger again to stop it.
I'm sorry to hear about the nasal drainage Keith; I've got nasal problems had them for years and take two different medicines for it so I understand and I will pray to Our Lord Jesus for you.
This tool reeks of Harbor Freight; if you looked around a little Keith, you might have found this particular tool manufactured in Taiwan or South Korea.
That's a nice weld. Thank you very much for the demonstration.
When you weld do a single weld on the end of the shaft and it will help hold your puddle from falling off the end of the shaft.
I was wondering if you were going to “beep beep”. See you added it to the end. It’s my son’s favorite part.
Lincoln, Miller and Hobart are now just about all made in China. Forney is and the engineers in Colorado assemble and test them. Sometimes you can get a refurbished unit and save around 40% or more on one that was returned for this or that and I got a refurbished Multiprocess MIG, lift arc TIG, stick welder (220MP) and got free shipping to PA. I am very happy with it, looks brand new other than you can see the torch has been used, the rest of it looks new and works fantastic. If it was engineered, made and assembled in China, that can be an issue. I have a Vevor CUT 50P plasma welder I will be putting through its paces this month doing a frame repair on my Jeep TJ caused by the state using so much salt every winter. Grrrr. It didn't pass inspection and they caused it combating slippery roads. To date, Vevor seems to be doing a fine job and I did call their service department to ask questions and they were glad to help me. That is when I made the decision to purchase.My son got me a Japanese coffee maker and it was made in China. The instruction booklet had zero English, just the Asian hieroglyphics.
All right Keith, enough with the cane mills.
You have a much more important project to get to... ICE CREAM !!!!
😀
impressive coverage... have to give the machine a thumbs up
Hey Keith; In three hundred years, it might be vintage?. I am not going to stop watching your videos, because you bought a Harbor Freight tool…keep on, keeping on!
I will have to admit - it kind of hurt to buy this. But sometimes we have to do what we have to do.....
Lol Keith...for positioned MIG the torch should be at the top [12 o clock] IMHO, but turned out great anyways!
Yes, I noticed that. One of the reasons he was having so much trouble as he was trying to run a uphill weld. Not easy to do with a Mig especially if you can’t manipulate the torch.
Yes, I figured that out after the fact. When I do the actual rollers, they will be mounted vertically.....
I usually just freehand on the weld positioner. You may find it a lot easier to control the buildup and the puddle.
Nice, you should consider open to check the ground connection between chuck and body of the machine for a good weld and put a footswitch for a better control. Thanks for the video
As usual great video, decent unit and another tool for your ever expanding workshop
Informative video, Keith. As to the name, Vevor, In a long career as an engineer for various enterprises, regularly ran into oddly named companies. Especially tech start-ups with very odd names. I used to tell people who would ask "Who are those people, what do they do, the name is not descriptive" that nowadays people employ brand research firms who have legions experts to invent a name that does not translate to "your mother has a face like a goat" in any known language. Recall the chevy Nova experience in Spanish language markets. Anyway, good information and you have received lots of comments from people with expertise about tuning the thing in.
Keith you should make upgrades for the positioner, I’d watch it. Thanks for the honest review.
That weld turned out great after machining!
A thorough honest review. I would expect no less from you Keith. I agree that while American or European tools are my choice, I can seldom afford them as a hobbyist. Yess, most of my tools are Chinese.
That looks like it would be a good start to automation. Just work out an acme thread (or even all-thread) shaft and a couple pulleys and you'll have a spiral welder.
Keith, I've been looking at the same positionor. Thanks for the review 👍
Seems like a valuable addition. That'll come in very handy once dialed in. Sheesh, the first trial came out really good.
Can probably be optimized to use less material, but very impressive. Especially for the price.
Greetings from the Cayman Islands, luv your channel
Hi Keith, its over $2000 in the UK! $1500, for the turntable and $600 for the chuck. Crazy money
Keith It should be just an on/off switch for the mug welder. Same as the switch on the gun.
Get an old lathe and set up with a vfd make a mount to hold the mig gun mounted to the carriage. You can use different feeds settings as you need, works great. Love your channel.
Keith, you can take some brass or copper and bend to the shape of the jaws and make them "soft" jaws. That's what a lot of people usually do.
No corpo shill here! Thanks Keith!!!
13:00 The torch plug is like the remote wire feed. It's a basic start stop function, you pull the trigger and it starts turning at the set parameters. Me, I'd pull it apart and inspect the return circuit, bet the clamps and surfaces are painted and oiled, I would probably insert some copper flat straps looped into a bow and brushing against the needed contact surface. Finally EVERY Chinese welder, plasma cutter, workshop tool has a fan that sucks in the weld spray and smoke to coat the circuit board. Pull off the side cover and build a holder for a cheap car filter, many of my machines now use the same car style filter and they are cheap and readily available from the auto store.
Keith, you have a much higher opinion of the manufacturer then do I.
Keith, viewers like me wish you would build one on your own! It would make a really great series. Plus you have the needed skills and also just about any equipment needed to tackle such a project. Sell this one after you're done!
One thing you did not went into any detail nor any close up, is the welding gun support arm. Hopefully you will in the next video.
Please also if you can improve on your videography, mainly close up shots. You always point at details we, from our sofa could not perceive well.
Thanks for sharing.
God Bless.
If you decide to put a better chuck on it, I would suggest a 4 jaw. You don't need to dial it in to .0005" since you can adjust while welding. I've used a positioner with a 4 jaw and it's more useful than a 3jaw scroll chuck.
You could also get a four jaw scroll chuck. I wouldn't use a nice one, but I'm sure there are several imports readily available.
That crate would be known as a tea chest in England. Originally designed for packing tea from India and China. Light weight contents. You probably already have but, check the ground connections. I've had stuff from Amazon/China labeled as CE certified but lethal as far as grounding goes.
In China CE often means Chinese Export instead of it's real meaning
@@sierkdejongh8984 I used to think that too, the CE mark is a clearly defined logo and not a simple font, but, in my most recent case this was the CE mark, and the ground connection was 60+ Ohms to case,so, in a single fault situation the case could be live without blowing the fuse.
@@johnkey1682 The CE marks (Conformite European?) and China Export are subtly different.
@@davidmam Yes, I know.
Not too bad, I would try to position the torch holder to become a rest for you. Then you could leave the machine on and weld the entire length without the starting and stopping. Thanks for sharing.
Keith, must say I’ve have a few Vevor products, they tend to be good value for money, haven’t had one break yet 👴🏻👍
Ya pays ya money and ya takes ya chance. I bought the same model in the uk for more.
TIMER FUNCTION: Some guys use it for after completing your welding job to keep the project rotating until it has cooled down to "kinda limit" warping.
An honest and fair review. I always get something stuck in my craw when Americans go off about poor build quality from other countries, as if only America is capable of Quality.
It's not that other countries are incapable of quality, it's just that after to import duties and transportation costs to get equal quality will cost you more. Many European companies are capable of even better quality, and many Asian countries products can meet or exceed American quality......it's just that we here in North America can't afford those product dues to all the extra fees associated with getting them
If we buy from Asian we get what we are willing to pay for. And it's just easier to find local product in our price point.
The sad truth is that a lot of the stuff being made in the US these days is no better than the import stuff. And I will agree that there is now and has always been some very high quality tools and tooling coming out of Europe. Some of the best built tools I have are German made and anytime I see "Poland" on tools and even tooling, I can usually assume it will be good quality. Being a "Vintage Machinery" guy, most of my experience has been around old American made iron - made back when quality meant something. It's hard to find that level of quality anywhere being made new any more....
Hey Keith!
I think if you point the tip of welder straight at the very top, it might act more like a flat surface then it dripping down the side, might be easier on your large tooling as well
Excellent video as always! Hope you feel better 👍🏼
Lathe tooling
Yep, A Harbor Freight man at heart.
Good Morning Georgia! 😊
Hi Keith,
It's a basic welding rotator, and like you say, you get what you pay for. And for what you are doing it is a great deal better than trying to turn with one hand and weld with the other.
On the welder, does it have 2T and 4T control on the welder? 2T you have to hold the trigger while welding and when you release it stops, 4T you press and release to start and press and release to stop, that would help not having to stand there and hold it.
I love how they put that old school green on the face of the chuck so that it fits in in a machine shop! Hahahaha
The steel in that machine is from the WTC. They got it dirt cheap and on top of that the the price of steel was low at 2001.
What goes around comes around.
You don't really believe that do you?
Vevor are doing a lot of sending stuff out this month.
You didn't give us that sweet shot of turning down the weld! The most satisfying part of machining
Don’t talk to me about harbor freight, bought a gas power auger for digging post holes, worked fine in soft uncompacted soil but did not dig in hard soil, the auger bit leading edge was too shallow. Second problem was that the fuel tank developed a crack but I and a local small engine repair shop could not find any replacement parts for the gas powered auger!
Between Adam Booth and Curtis from Cutting Edge Engineering, Curtis does this kind of BIG welding proposition the most. I suggest you take a look and see what things he's doing that you are interested in. He does this kind of build up welding a lot and he also does a lot of horizontal boring in an unusual way.
*Kurtis
LOL i am laughing The directions are completely hilarious you gotta be kidding me.
That's funny! I am reviewing a 4-gallon backpack sprayer by Vevor tomorrow! It appears to be pretty good quality, but we'll see 😉
Hi Keith if but a bead of weld on end first it will help and also if you can turn the shaft the other way that will also help
Keith,
While the weld looks good after machining, a Non-destructive Test (NDT) would be worth doing. In this case, a dye penetrant test would tell a lot, at a relatively low cost.
I have seen porosity, small cracks, and inclusions identified by NDT. It's doubtful any flaws would be an issue on a cane mill roller. It would however help in improving your technique.
Bob
On a cane mill I wouldn't be to concerned with some inclusions.
Considering the shafts run in Babbitt bearings at slow speed the buildup on the shafts is a whole lot stronger then the Babbitt bond to the cast iron.
It's not something majorly important weld on something like a bridge pillar or a pressure vessel where better inspection would make sense.
@johan I agree. In editing my comments I deleted the word "doubtful". It changed the idea I was trying to convey. Thank you for pointing it out.
Keith, great video, nice review!
Hi Keith ,i am guessing the welder socket outlet will be just a pair of no volt normally open contacts.
Might want to go to den of tools on youtube. Did a deep dive on Vevor.
Keith, Good review, & I feel your pain of purchasing imports..... although that is sometimes the only option within the financial grasp/ability of the hobbyist.
I was somewhat surprised that you didn't find more inclusions after turning the weld down; a preheat will definitely help MIG out on a shaft of that diameter.
"DEMENSIONS"
Nothing but the finest Chinglish.
That will be much faster and easier. Have you considered using stainless wire ? That would be much longer lasting. Thanks for the continued content. You are looking good too.
For the 4 pin welder connector, it "should" just got to a NO/NC relay contacts on the positioner that will close/open when the positioner is triggered thus acting like the trigger on the mig gun. As for the timer, I feel that would be much more suited for doing preheats post heats on parts, a little less caveman than setting rock on footpedal
Exactly! The positioner controls the welder, not the other way around. The two wires coming out of the positioner "replace" the switch on the mig torch. Wire them in parallel if you also want to control the welder at the torch.
Their equipment seems to be fairly good I have a vevor wood lathe from them and it's strong good piece of equipment for the price you get what you pay for and some time you don't congrats anyway
I bet the tool really helps. Interesting.👍👍
I bought a toe jack, machinery skates and a come along from Vevor for an upcoming shop relocation and paid ~$320, which is maybe 1.5x the rental cost for those items in my area. It all looks pretty clean and well put together so I’m quite hopeful it will work ok. I’d agree the product documentation sucks.
Where does the ground clamp go and how good is the continuity with the part placed in the jaws?
I bought the Vevor brand Toe Jack, It was total crap! Hope you have better luck that I did.
u must have been reading my mind, i need one but dont want to spend a ton, check out the vevor mag drill.
Thanks for being straight forward Keith. My experience with Chinese tool imports has averaged about an 85% failure rate within one year of purchase. I bought a plasma cutter that only lasted 20 minutes so as the old adage goes, buyer beware. The weak link in your case will most likely be the electronics. Chinese quality control in that area is consistently poor. Good luck Keith; hope it works out for you.
i've seen some diy plasma torches on the toobs, both sets of them, maybe their electronics designs would be adaptable. in my experience these kind of things come with all kinds of machined parts i don't have the tools to make or the knowledge to know i need them, the rest is easy.