Can someone tell me where to find a welder that is 60 % duty cycle that can also weld up to at least 1/4 in steel?

EVerything I find seems to have a low duty cycle sold at Home depot harbor freight etc.

 

Well your first problem is that you’re shopping at Home Depot and harbor freight for a welder.

Your second problem (60% duty) is not based on thickness of the steel but how long you will be welding at max amps in a 10 minute period (in your case you are wanting a machine that can weld for 6 minutes during a 10 minute period)

Your third issue is that you aren’t specifying what process. Being that you’re shopping at the worst places possible for quality weld products, you’re probably looking at GMAW and FCAW.

Pro tip, if you can’t get the penetration you need out of a mig welder, then flux core usually will get you there.

Now…what is it that you are doing that you need a 60% duty cycle machine that can weld 1/4”?

 

I know 60 % doesnt mean it will weld thicker.

What Im saying is want a welder thats rated for 60% duty cycle and will also weld up to at least 1/4 in steel.
There's several out there that will do 1/4 in steel but the duty cycle is junk like 30%.

It would be nice to have MIG but really FLUX core (gasless mig whatever) should be fine for what I'm gonna use it for.

 

30% is not junk. It just means it’s rated to weld at max amps for 3 minutes during a 10 minute period. Actual weld time. Note, if you’re not maxing out the machine, it’s not 30%

half the amps, it’s now at 6 minutes.

id suggest :

https://www.millerwelds.com/-/media/...1--english.pdf

even this is only a 40% duty cycle machine at 240v but it’s still a great machine for a home budget. Rated up to 3/8” as well.

 

So what I need to determine is if I will be using a 220v or 120v outlet ?

Or do you mean the voltage **** on the machine what some call the heat ****?

 

The machine can run on 120v or 240v. It comes with an adapter for 240v.

by “maxing out the machine” I mean the voltage and wire feed *****.

This machine is a constant voltage machine. Amps will adjust based on your arc length and stick out, to compensate and keep the voltage at the same setting.

 

How can voltage stay the same while amps is changing Ohms law wont allow that.

 

This will explain it better than I can:

https://www.thefabricator.com/thewel...he-difference-

 

That a good article but still do not understand why there's so much difference. Most welders I read about i30% n Home depot are only 30% duty cycle so 30% duty cycle so I guess need to know what the max amperage of that specific welder is in order to really determine how many min it will go before kicking off?

 

Literally, the max setting.

Realistically are you going to be welding for 3 minutes in a 10 minute period? That’s a lot of actual weld time.

Think of it this way. If you’re welding 1/8” thick and an inch of weld, it’d be about 4 seconds.

so about 15” per minute, and 3 minutes would be about 45”.

That’s a huge amount of weld time.

 

Called Miller Electric and the miller 135 only has a 20% duty cycle at 90A. Ive used this machine a good bit but never known it was this low duty cycle.
Adjustment of voltage **** or heat as some call it dictates the amps which in turn dictates the duty cycle at a given time at least thats my understanding.

Using it Ive not had an issue with it kicking off welding generally light metal manifolds, exhaust pipes, chairs, etc. so I would have to agree with you that unless Im welding 1/4 material I probably wont have an issue.
Now just need find something on vehicle 1/4 to weld....

 

BTW

High plains drifter is like probably best western EVER period, Mono lake its totally awesome place to shoot the movie too.

 

1/4" steel is going to be pretty rare on anything modern. Unless you are building trophy trucks.

Flanges sure but you aren't welding 16 or 18 gauge to flanges at 1/4" amps.

 

Issue is i've got a frame and its got sandwiched metal pieces everywhere some are close to 1/4 if had to weld a new section in that area.