Parkside (Lidl) Flux Cored Wire Welder PFDS 120 A1

[Dan Steely]

Hi all,

I'm thinking about getting a small gasless MIG type welder and notice that Lidl have a small flux cored wire welder on offer for £80.00. Parkside Flux Cored Wire Welder - at Lidl UK

Does anyone have an opinion on this or am I better spending my money on a different machine?

I probably have about £250 to spend.

Many thanks.

 

[user 35906]

Really depends what you want to do with it.
I have a MIG and TIG, the TIG will also do stick, My MIG needs gas and everything I have read indicates that flux core welding is hotter than when using plain wire with CO2 or an argon mix so flux core wire is not so good for thin metal such as car body work but otherwise okay for thicker stuff (within your welders capability) and better than gas if you are working in a breeze or outside with the added benefit that it saves you on gas and bottle rental. I wouldn't be without a welder now but really like my TIG and very rarely use the MIG now, unfortunately a decent TIG machine is in a totally different price range.
I don't think you can't really far wrong from Lidl with their guarantee for that price if it fits your needs.

 

[kinverkid]

I can't give you an answer based on any comparison because before I bought the Lidl MIG last year I had never used one. What I can say is that it has been handy for the odd jobs in the garden and workshop. The last thing I made with it is holding up and it looks fine after I've ground down my messy welds and then painted over it to hide the evidence. So I would repeat what hunter27 said and it comes down to what you want to do with it.

Gary

 

[Dan Steely]

Many thanks for your help on this.
The Lidl machine concerns me because it only has a single control knob and most of the other machines have 3 or more. I only plan to use it for simple jobs like making angle brackets. I'm not planning to make a car with it..

 

[bourbon]

Many thanks for your help on this.
The Lidl machine concerns me because it only has a single control knob and most of the other machines have 3 or more. I only plan to use it for simple jobs like making angle brackets. I'm not planning to make a car with it..

If you want to make brackets, you would be better off with an arc welder. For anything over 2.5mm

 

[TRITON]

This come up on another forum im on, with mixed reviews which i think you'll always get.
YT is always a good place to get reviews, because you see it in action in the hands of the pro and amateur alike.
Was looking for a vid i posted from a pro but cant find it now. He was using it to construct fencing, heavy duty steel square, and his review from what i remember rated it more than adequate for a part time home user.

 

[Fergie 307]

I had a gasless one year's ago and it was awful, however things move on. Based on someone's experience on here, it may well have been kinverkid, I decided to give it a try. Lidl had sold out so I bought a similar basic one from machine mart. Have to say I am quite impressed with it. For the odd jobs where I can't be bothered to drag out the big Mig machine, or Tig, it's very handy, and of course easily portable. Certainly welds well enough on stuff up to about 2mm. At that price you can't really go wrong. The only bad reviews I have seen of the Lidl machine have been from pros, who knock it seemingly on the basis that it's not as good as an industrial machine costing a couple of grand. Well no it isnt, but that's a bit of an unfair comparison. For occasional DIY use it seems to be viewed very favourably.

 

[sometimewoodworker]

Many thanks for your help on this.
The Lidl machine concerns me because it only has a single control knob and most of the other machines have 3 or more. I only plan to use it for simple jobs like making angle brackets. I'm not planning to make a car with it..

Since you can only control the power and not the wire speed, my opinion is that it is going to be extremely limited on the range of material that you can weld here is a video that may well be useful, it will not be a direct comparison but useful to know

 

[Fergie 307]

Since you can only control the power and not the wire speed, my opinion is that it is going to be extremely limited on the range of material that you can weld here is a video that may well be useful, it will not be a direct comparison but useful to know

The Lidl one does have both wire feed rate and power adjustment.

 

[sometimewoodworker]

The Lidl one does have both wire feed rate and power adjustment.

Not the Parkside Flux Cored Wire Welder listed in the URL sold by Lidl
if you follow the link you get this

it is not the one shown in your video and as is rather obvious has only 1 control! Also it is a different model number to the one in the video, so it’s not surprising that it’s different.

 

[TRITON]

As adequate as the parkside/lidl/aldi is supposed to be, and i'd be happy with either for the odd job. But if i had £250 to spend, none of those would be in the calculation.

 

[Fergie 307]

Not the Parkside Flux Cored Wire Welder listed in the URL sold by Lidl
if you follow the link you get this
View attachment 129467

it is not the one shown in your video and as is rather obvious has only 1 control! Also it is a different model number to the one in the video, so it’s not surprising that it’s different.

I stand corrected, have only ever seen the one in the video, with the two knobs. Agree that does look rather, er, basic ! And I am as dubious as you are how it can really work very well if you can't vary the wire speed to suit the power.

 

[Fergie 307]

The one I bought as Lidl had sold out was the Clark 102, which looking at the Machine Mart site I see is now listed at £167. I am pretty sure when I bought it I only paid just over £100, which seemed reasonable compared to the Lidl one which I think was about £80? Like I say the Clark isn't a bad little machine, not sure I'd want to pay the price they are asking for it now though.

 

[kinverkid]

I didn't see this years version. Wonder why there is no wire feed on this model.

 

[Fergie 307]

I suppose they had a choice, keep the price the same but downgrade the spec, or keep the spec and up the price, as Clark seem to have done. Certainly doesn't seem to be as good value as the earlier Lidl one, which is a shame. I think it would have been easy to recommend either machine at the price we paid for them, not sure now. The Lidl one seems to have been reduced in spec to the point where you wonder if it would actually be any good. The Clarke one has increased in price so much it no longer seems very good value for something pretty basic.

 

[Dan Steely]

Thanks again for all your help on this.
I have a 160A stick welder which I use once a year and struggle with it shorting (if that's what it's called) where the stick attaches to the work piece and I have to open the stick clamp to break the circuit. I'm sure it's down to my lack of skill and probably the wrong kind of sticks. The lack of wire feed control on the £80 Lidl has put me off, though I'd be interested to see it used in skilled hands.

 

[Fergie 307]

Thanks again for all your help on this.
I have a 160A stick welder which I use once a year and struggle with it shorting (if that's what it's called) where the stick attaches to the work piece and I have to open the stick clamp to break the circuit. I'm sure it's down to my lack of skill and probably the wrong kind of sticks. The lack of wire feed control on the £80 Lidl has put me off, though I'd be interested to see it used in skilled hands.

stick isn't really my thing, and haven't done any for ages, but I would suggest the sticking is probably down to too little power for the size of rod you are using. Or as you say it could be that you aren't using the right rod for the material. If you find it difficult to control the full length rod then try cutting them in half (you can remove a bit of the hard flux to get your connection to the torch by just crushing it with pliers and it will fall off the rod) and holding the torch with both hands. Once the technique clicks you will gain confidence and be able to use the rods full length. Most fabricators will be more than happy to let you have some bits of scrap to practice on. Once you get the hang of it then it's like riding a bike, even if you haven't done it for a while you will quickly get back into the swing of it. The technique for stick and Mig are quite similar, although they are very different processes, if you can get the hang of one you will quickly be able to do the other. Tig is quite different, much more like gas welding, brilliant for precision and on delicate/thin material. Probably a good idea to try and find someone who has a machine of the type you are considering and see if they will let you have a go before you take the plunge.

 

[Johnwa]

I've just had a look at the advert for this welder online. It seems to me reading between the lines that the knob on the front of the unit is a wire feed speed control and it relies on the current being drawn to control the voltage ie. Volt drop. I must admit having worked on welding plant for many years that I've never seen this method of arc voltage control used. Probably what it means is that the transformer is not really up to the job and this failing is being used as a method of arc voltage control. Probably why it's aimed at diy'ers and not contractors. Built to a price.

 

[mickbc]

Hi all,

I'm thinking about getting a small gasless MIG type welder and notice that Lidl have a small flux cored wire welder on offer for £80.00. Parkside Flux Cored Wire Welder - at Lidl UK

Does anyone have an opinion on this or am I better spending my money on a different machine?

I probably have about £250 to spend.

Many thanks.

I bought this little inverter I also have a clark

 

[mickbc]

I bought this little inverter welder as my other welders ranges do not drop low enough, dispite only having one dial it's surprisingly useful, the dial is used to set the approx thickness of the metal it adjusts the speed it's self, so far it's actually done a good job, I've used 4 rolls of wire since I bought it, no blow throughs and full penetration on all welds, yes the welds are not as nice as those by a mig (gas) welder but I've had no pigeon poo welds just solid welds, ditch the mask use it for solar eclipse buy yourself a decent auto helmet decent gloves and use in a well ventilated area as flux core gives of plenty of smoke and fumes oh and don't forget the anti spatter ! You'll get plenty of pimples, it was only bought to do one job, it's now used frequently and has already paid for itself, and yes I've used it to do auto panels which it did surprisingly well, no it's not a professional machine, but if you want something that's easy to use, just for d.i.y for its cost you can't complain plus if it goes wrong in three years either they replace or give you your money back so can't go wrong. I can't say how long it will last, but it comes with the correct shroud for flux core (most don't even those costing 5 times as much) but for £80 you will be pleasantly surprised - I was