Welder selection help

Shift518 Automotive
1

I am looking at the following 2 devices. The first one is the millermatic 211 which is in my price range but has only a 30% duty cycle. Found here: http://www.millerwelds.com/products/mig/millermatic_211_autoset/

The next is the millermatic 212 which isn’t portable ( i do not care i would put the “portable” one on a cart anyway) and is A LOT more expensive but steps up to 60% duty cycle. What difference does the duty cycle make? Am I going to need the higher duty cycle? Here is the 212: http://www.millerwelds.com/products/mig/millermatic_212_autoset/

I definitely don’t want to “under buy” and I want to make sure the machine I do purchase can do what I need it to. In my immediate future there will be much 1/4" plating and battery / pump rack construction.

If I build a hopper from scratch I will need to up the plate to 3/8". Both machines say they can do that single pass, but the duty cycle and glaring price difference concerns me. WTF can someone help a noob out and point me in the right direction?

2

do want a welder. bump

3

check pm’s

if i remeber correctlly. the duty cycle works like this.

it runs in 10 min it cycles. so @ 30% u would beable to run for 3 mins. continously
@ 60% it would be 6 out of 10 mins.

and those things always set so low. plus all the new one’s have cooling fans so go ahead and bounce it off the rev limiter…

4

pm’d back homie

5

Hank is correct. DC is based of 10 minute intervals. 60% = 6 minutes continuous before thermal overload kicks in. That’s also rated at is MAX amperage too. May be 60%DC at max amps, but 100% DC at 50% amps.

The welders are nice. I’m not too fond of the “auto” features as I sometimes find myself welding weird things where I may need to under or over speed the wire feed a bit to get the puddle to do something I need. But those welders have a manual mode anyway so it’s no worry really.

Increased price of the 212 is the cart function and the extra amperage. That extra 30 amps is going to make a different in welding, so if you can afford it, I’d go with the 212. the 212 is 60% DC at 160amps. At 130apms(the max of the 211) it’s probably more around 80%DC or more. That’s where the extra amperage capability comes in handy as you’re not stressing the machine to do the work. There’s nothing wrong with the 211 though.

If you never plan to weld anything thicker than 1/4" plate, the 211 should do fine. Over 1/4" I’d go with the 212 without pause.

Also don’t push out buying a used machine either. Contact Taylor/United and ask if they have anything used. There are other places to shop used as well. You could find a good used machine for half of those new ones and have more capability. Seth @ Moon just purchased a Miller Inverter TIG used, was a rental with about 10 hours on it, for ~$2700. New it’s a $5K machine. Just another suggestion that’s all.

6

oh man that would be awesome thanks boxer. i would love to purchase used, but had no idea where to look. I’ll start my search for used tomorrow. I’d like to stay around $900 - $1000 but after thinking it over, 1/4" is probably the smallest plate i’ll be using. I need the 212 at least.

7

Wayne if your really going to weld 3/8" steel all over a frame, you’re going to need like 10 batteries to get that car off the ground!

8

on something like that i don’t run less than 14 batteries on a double pump & 10 on a single pump. :slight_smile:

9

DAMN! You run over 100V?

10

single pump yea, double you ONLY need to run 84 lol

11

I just called over to United & Taylor on Freemans bridge road and spoke with Sam. He said that they didn’t deal in used equipment and his competitors wouldn’t either. He said I would have to go somewhere like the tool shed.

12

Competitors don’t sell used. Hah! What a nut. Call Haun welding supply then. They’re based all over NY and DO sell used equipment. That’s where Seth bought his used Miller inverter.

13

thanks man. i’ll call first thing tomorrow.