Lets talk duty cycles!

What are duty cycles and why are they important when shopping round for a new Welder?

You have probably heard us going on and on about the high duty cycles on our Machines, but you may find yourself wondering, what is a duty cycle? 

A duty cycle is essentially the percentage of time that a machine will safely operate (or weld) for, within a certain time period (normally 10 minutes), at a given amperage before hitting thermal cutout. 
 
Just to give you an example, our R-Tech 211 TFT has a duty cycle of 60% at 210amps. 
To break this down, this equates to 6 minutes of continual welding at the Maximum output of the machine out of a total of a total 10-minute period. 
In the world of welders, this is considered quite high.  

Now when shopping for a Welder there are hundreds if not thousands of Machines, all claiming to perform just as well as the next but at a lower cost, but what they don’t tell you straight away is the poor duty cycle that comes with that price tag.  
 
 
Just from a quick google search for welders at the same amperage range, we have come across a Machine that is priced at a lesser cost than ours however the Machine only offers 35% duty cycle at full amperage which equates to 3.5 minutes of continual welding! 
 
Now unless you are an industrial Tig Welder, it is unlikely that you will be welding continually for 3.5 minutes without stopping but if a Machine is only capable of this, there is a possibility that it is built out of inferior components and may not last very long before needing to be repaired or even replaced! 
 

So why are the duty cycles for high on R-Tech Welders? 
 
At R-Tech we believe in building machines to last, with minimum down time to our customers, so we fit the most reliable power modules and IGBT's available coupled with oversized heatsinks.
Therefore, our machines are able to work harder for longer! 
Unlike some other manufacturers, we use no inferior components when building our Machines.
This ensures that our Machines always performs at its best. 
All of our Machines are tested at their maximum amperage to give a clearer answer as to how long they can last. 
We will never advertise our Machines duty cycle at a lower amperage than what the Machine can produce. 
 
If you want a Machine that is durable and dependable, choose R-Tech Welding.