Question about duty-cycle on a welder

I've got a new Miller Econotig, and I'm sort of confused about how its duty-cycle works. Everything I've read about duty-cycle on the internet says something to the extent of respecting the rating or damaging the componentry, but what I'm not sure of is whether or not to let the "High-Temp Shutdown" light come on. I guess the welder has a built-in feature to shut itself off when it gets too hot, but I don't know if it's ok to let that light come on all the time. I've been playing it safe and letting the machine rest before it decides to do it itself, out of fear that the "High-Temp Shutdown" light indicates an overheat, which done repeatedly would damage its guts. However, if it's just a built-in monitor for the duty-cycle, I'd love to not have to pay so much attention to the amount of time I use it before it's got to rest. Thanks!

Reply to
dan *5
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You could always call Miller technical support. My opinion is engineering/operator controls should be in place to prevent safety features from coming on routinely. You should have an idea how close you are to the max duty cycle.

Reply to
ATP*

The high temp shutoff is just a thermostat set to keep the machine from permanent damage. But they are normally set to be pretty much the max that the windings can handle with just a small margin of error. The duty cycle numbers are usually much more conservative, trying to keep you from pushing the machine well beyond where it should be for long life. You will probably find there is a gap in between the two points. ie, you can probably push the duty cycle calc somewhat before it trips the high temp.

Reply to
RoyJ

Your current process of letting the welder "rest" for a while is good practice. You may lose some time but you have to ask yourself, "Is the lost time worth the price of repairs or a new welder?" Once you've answered that question for yourself you'll know how to proceed (I think you alreaady do).

Jim Chandler

Reply to
Jim Chandler

All of the Miller Equipment I've worked with comes with really decent documentation. The manual should have a current ramp diagram showing output verses duty cycle. If for instance you set the machine at 60 amps output it could very well be capable of 100% duty cycle at that setting. So check your manual and/or download the pdf from Miller if you don't already have one. A quick look at the manual listed below shows that you should be able to run at 100% when set at 60 amps.

Look here:

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or maybe this is the one you need (Econotig):

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TIG welders also have temperature maximums/duty cycles that pertain to the type of torch you are using too (ie water or air cooled).

So just what settings are you trying to use?

Where is your welder setup at? Hot garage, air conditioned workshop?

The manual doesn't say much about the "High Temperature Shutdown". If this was my machine and it was still under warranty I would let her rip and find out how hard I could push it before it came on. This would give me some idea then about what is too much and when it needs to take a break. Even if it wasn't under warranty I would probably still find out if this was my money maker. You can always buy a bigger welder if you are pushing this one too hard too often.

Reply to
Leon Fisk

Theres an old rule of thumb in the electronics trade - "If its too hot to touch, its too hot"......

If it aint, go for it. The thermostat will probably be buried in the transformer windings, (is it copper or aluminium? - aluminium is pretty crappy, but its cheap...) and you will notice it starts welding like crap if the windings get too hot..(the resistance will rise with increase in temperature)

If it shuts down, then go have a coffee, or grind your welds, or set up the next weld line.

Unless your doing production engineering, its unlikely you will have problems.

And if you do wreck it - well, you are doing better than your tools so you need a bigger one....not familiar with the model, but if its labeled "Econotig" it implies a home workshop type thing. Go with your senses - if it starts to weld crap, the casing gets hot, the red light comes on - then have a break...

Andrew VK3BFA.

Reply to
Andrew VK3BFA

In the chance that your manual doesn't explain it very well, all the duty cycles I have seen for welders are based on a 10 minute cycle. For a 60% duty cycle at 100 amps, for instance, you can only use the welder for 6 minutes in every 10.

Reply to
DT

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