I got $1,000 to spend on a welder, help me spend it.

[Renze]

I would look at clean used 250 amp units. You can't go by the number on the front of the machine..ie: miller 211. tag says max output 150 amps. Check this out on what ever you buy. Good luck..

My thoughts as well. What you mean is the cycle factor: I used to have a 180A hobby welder with a 35% cycle factor. That means it can weld at 35% of 180 is 63A all day without overheating, and only weld 180A 35% of the time. I now have a 350A pro model which has a 60% cycle factor: That means 210A all day long. So it actually has a 3.33 times higher capacity than the 180A 35% welder... I would go for a 150A at 100% cycle: E.G a 250A @ 60% model.

 

[Markcuda]

I thought duty cycle was like this.
If a welder has a 30% duty cycle, you can weld for 3 minute continuously out of 10 minutes?
It then has to cool for the remainder 7 minutes?

Edit=Renze, maybe we are not taking about the same thing?

 

[Mark @ Everlast]

My thoughts as well. What you mean is the cycle factor: I used to have a 180A hobby welder with a 35% cycle factor. That means it can weld at 35% of 180 is 63A all day without overheating, and only weld 180A 35% of the time. I now have a 350A pro model which has a 60% cycle factor: That means 210A all day long. So it actually has a 3.33 times higher capacity than the 180A 35% welder... I would go for a 150A at 100% cycle: E.G a 250A @ 60% model.

That's not technically correct...though the duty cycle may line up that way coincidentally on your unit.

The Duty cycle is the percentage of time out of 10 minutes (or 5 if you are in Europe) that the welder can operate continuously without needing a break to give the machine time to cool.

Take Mark's soon to be delivered welder. The duty cycle is rated at 35% @ 200 amps. This means it can weld 3.5 minutes out of 10 at 200 amps without needing a break.

But it's 100% duty cycle level is listed at 120 amps. And it's 60% duty cycle is listed at 150 amps. Duty cycle typically follows a curve and not a straight line.

On nearly every machine, except the cheapest of the cheap....there is some point at which you will reach 100% duty cycle. For tranformers, it seems the spread between max amp on MIG welders and 100% duty cycle is typically much greater. In fact most people's machines won't list the max duty cycle at max amperage for this reason.

 

[Brad_Blazer]

I doubt if I've ever had a project where I was welding more than 60% of the time.

 

[orezok]

I found out that duty cycle also depends upon ambient temperature. I started building my land plane when it was cold out, but didn't finish it until summer. Using the same Lincoln 180, .045 wire etc. I could weld almost twice as long in the winter before it overheated.

I never tried it as I upgraded to a 250 machine, but I bet that additional fans would greatly increase the duty cycle.

 

[Markcuda]

I started building my land plane

Come one man, where are the pictures?

 

[orezok]

Come one man, where are the pictures?

I built it in 2010. The sides are hollow and filled with sand to give it total weight of about 600#. The "blades" are adjustable from 3/4" cut to 1/2" drag.

It was all built with surplus materials.

 

[Markcuda]

Wow, I am such a idiot.
I really thought that you built a real airplaneOOLLOLOLOLOOLOLOLOLLOOL

 

[Markcuda]

Well, the welder came on Friday.
A long story short, the flow meter leaks like a sieve(sp), can't do nothin'.
I did hook every thing up, was ready to weld and a big gas leak
on the black knob where you regulate the flow.
Has any of yous got a new toy in the mail, and you couldn't use
it ............LOLOLOLO

 

[yomax4]

There may be a gland nut behind the knob that you can tighten up to stop the leak.. If not...Sucks..