What welder to weld floor and body panel.

[mrein3]

Originally Posted by wibilly

one thing i never see mentioned is duty cyclewhen this subject comes up.well the smaller cheaper welders do work they have a very limited duty cycle, meaning that they will be ready for a break even before you. i also agree that if possable get a welder with infinit amprage controal rather than just 2 or 4 heat settings, you will be glad you did. as said before get the best you can afford

I took a couple of adult continuing education classes on welding. In the classroom we used a lot of Lincoln products. I don't know the model number but one day I was using a 220V Lincoln machine. I was welding thicker sheet metal, around 14 gauge. After about 1 inch of bead, the machine shut off. I hit the duty cycle. What wibilly is talking about is how long a machine can run at higher outputs.

I don't know what the specs are for that machine I was using that day but lets use a 50% duty cycle as a for instance. 50% duty cycle means that out of a 10 minute period, you can only use that machine for 5 minutes.

So now you paid $600 for a power source and it only has a 50% duty cycle. You're welding up that whizz-bang car hauling trailer out of super mega thick steel. You got your power source cranked up to just about its max output. You start a bead. Now every minute you weld, you have to wait a minute for the machine to cool off.

Long story short, I bought a Miller.