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Wire feed welding machines are also known as mig welding machines or for short, a mig welder.
Regardless of what you call the machine they all have the same basic features.
Going by the description of the name, you need to feed wire. As this wire is feeding, electricity melts it and the base metal together. This is essentially how it works. As long as you keep wire up to the electric arc you will be able to weld all day long.
Now to control this you hold on to what is called a mig welding gun. This allows you to accurately place where you want your weld to be.
Wire feed welding machines are rated by their power output in amperage (Amps). So for example a small machine might only be rated at say 90 amps and a large machine might be rated at 500 amps.
The more amps the more electricity is used which means you have to heat needed to weld thick metal.
Another point to look at, is what is called duty cycle. Now just because one machine might be rated at 100 amps and another machine is rated at 140 amps this doesn't mean that the 140 amp machine is better. Welding duty cycle is a figure that is given for how much work the welder can do at full power and for how long.
This is rated in a percentage, so for example 20%, 30% and 40%. What this tells you is that how long you can weld for in either a five minute block or ten minute block of time. So if your machine is rated at 20% duty cycle you could only weld at full power for 20% of either 5 minutes or 10 minutes. The trick here is to know what time frame your duty cycle is rated at.
So let's assume that your machine is using a 10 minute time cycle. This means that you can weld for two minutes at full power (20%). Now for the rest of the time which is eight minutes you cannot weld at all, you have to let the machine cool down. This is definitely one thing to look out for when you go to buy a mig welding machine.
A wire feed welding machine will also use consumables. The main consumables that you will need to keep buying will be your contact tips, nozzles and shrouds and gas diffuser. There are other consumables that do need replacing but not so frequently. They are your liner, contact tip holder and maybe a few O-rings depending on what model welding torch you use.
To find out more detailed information about wire feed welding machines go to my website and see some photos and videos all about welding: Wire Feed Welding Machines
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