I hate small duty cycles

[elvis]

30-40% duty cycle or less just sucks. Turns out I am also bad at estimating arc time to keep off the thermal overload.

I'm an equipment operator but I do small fab projects here and there. The only heavy fab shops around are an hour each way so it makes sense to just knock small projects out. Unfortunately I can't get my boss to buy me anything bigger. "What if the next guy doesn't weld???"

Anyway, thanks for letting me rant. I am just sitting here staring at the thermal overload light and waiting for it to turn off.

[Sandy]

Just as a side note, by the time you get to the thermal overload/shut down, you have already exceeded the duty cycle. It's like the difference between setting down to rest or falling down because you didn't.

[cruizer]

Nothing you've listed there as machines would go to a thermal over load. What machine are you talking about?

You'd have to be running 1/16" wire to come close in a 251, so am I missing something?

[WillieB]

Would a 251 have similar duty cycle to a 252? The fan doesn't always come on with my 252. I've never come close to maxing the duty cycle.

[JSFAB]

I believe the 251 listed in the op's equipment list is a High Frequency unit, NOT a Trailblazer 251. In any case, sounds like he is an employee of a business, in NO circumstances do you bring your own personal equipment to use for your employer, unless he is paying you extra (up front) to do so.

Maybe Elvis will tell us what brand/model of machine he is using, that his boss supplied ???

[elvis]

I do realize that I have exceeded the duty cycle once I hit the thermal overload. I try to keep off it as much as I can but like I said I am bad at estimating time. D'oh!

It is a mm175 that I am running at the moment. Building a small utility trailer out of 1/8" box steel. I wish I had my personal mm251 here. I've never been able to overheat that one.

I am set at 4.5 volts and 60 wfs with .030 70s6 and c25. So not pushing the machine. Ambient temps are warmed up to about 65°f right now.

[cruizer]

Tell your boss to buy or rent your MM251. They are not all that expensive. The 175 is kinda useless and not economic to run speed and wire wise.

The 251 and 252 are pretty much the same machine, cept the 252 has quite alot of stupid hidden menus

Now 4.5 volt won't even light up 030, you need at least 15 volts. Unknown where your getting your figures from.

[elvis]

Tell your boss to buy or rent your MM251. They are not all that expensive. The 175 is kinda useless and not economic to run speed and wire wise.

The 251 and 252 are pretty much the same machine, cept the 252 has quite alot of stupid hidden menus

Now 4.5 volt won't even light up 030, you need at least 15 volts. Unknown where your getting your figures from.

Would be nice to rent. Out in bfe and not much to choose from. No worries. Small project and just burning a little extra time along with the wire. Everything will get done in the end and that is what matters.

Numbers are the random ones on the front of the machine. I don't have the specs handy so I can't approximate a real voltage. It is just 4.5 on the dial out of a possible 10. Same with wfs. That isn't the real ipm of the machine. Just a ratio of the possible speed. I also miss having the real ipm and voltage that I have on my 251.

This is a fine little machine for small stuff. Pretty easy to haul around. But they are not a replacement for a large frame machine that can deal with more heat.

[Sandy]

I've got a 175 and can verify they are pretty whimpy on the duty cycle. I tripped mine enough to get totally frustrated. Finally got tired of it and went to a bit better machine for general play. The 175 now just has .023 in it and gets used for dinky stuff. It's got the .023 liner and .023 wire and that's where it's gonna stay.

The thing is when it restores from the 'cut-off' that doesn't necessarily means it's cooled down and ready to run full tilt again. All that means is it has cooled down a couple of degrees below the trip temperature. It probably should set for a while more even to let it really cool down to any amount. Big issue is that on hot days that really never happens soon. On a real hot day you're pretty much screwed for long beads or repeated beads once the core and all that metal gets heated up. On cooler days things go better.

One clue I noticed is that it really starts running and acting like crap when it starts approaching the thermal limit. Used to catch me off guard and I'd try to adjust my way out of it then it would trip and shut down. I finally realized that that was a recurring scenario and my clue to back off and go do something else. Don't know if that was a component on a board causing that or just what, doesn't matter. It is what it is.

[elvis]

Sandy-

Your experience lines up with mine. Still got my project done today.

It is a small 4'x6' trailer with 28" ATV tires to pull behind our polaris ranger 6x6 UTV. We will haul it out to remote job sites in the woods where we run forestry mastication equipment. It will have a jobox, air compressor, oils, and a williams 6-drawer weather tight toolbox. Driving a 1.5 ton pickup down jeep roads, or no roads, sucks and this minimizes that. The 6x6 has an aluminum flatbed and fuel tank to haul the diesel. Should be a pretty good system.

[elvis]

I guess I can't post pictures from mobile. I'll try from a computer later.

[MMW]

Take off the covers & put a fan blowing on it. Good for a upping the duty cycle a little bit. This requires having no idiots in the shop though who would stick there hand in it.

[elvis]

Take off the covers & put a fan blowing on it. Good for a upping the duty cycle a little bit. This requires having no idiots in the shop though who would stick there hand in it.

Oh I like that idea. I work alone. So only one idiot is around....

[old jupiter]

Add me to the list of users who are a bit disappointed in the MM175. I bought mine new thinking the portability would make it handy, but it doesn't seem to have all the capability that was claimed for it, and turns itself off a lot sooner than I expect. It replaced a less portable Century 230V/150A machine that was sneered at by any welder who saw it just for being a Century, and which had less rated horsepower, but which in practice would weld and weld without overheating. Now I rarely get to use the MM175 and have to use the engine-driven welder or my big CC box and an LN25 where I used to use the quiet and handy Century plug-in welder. With the MM175 I got a shop machine that I don't use much, that has portability which I don't get to use much, all because it often doesn't keep working for long on anything much thicker than sheetmetal. Great for that, however, or for tube-clusters and such which don't involve long runs.

[aametalmaster]

My buddy bought a MM175 about the same time i bought my MM185 bragging he saved lots of money over mine. Like 3-400 bucks. Then he was having problems doing what he wanted done because it was too small...Bob