I was a pipe welder, and still weld, build trailers, stair cases etc, I bought one of these with the arc force, arc force is necessary to run 6010 and 6011 electrode. Most inverter welders will not run this rod. I am totally surprised, this thing really works, and it welds great. We have never hit its duty cycle. We bought it as a joke and tried to burn it up. Its still going after a year. We run it on 220, not 120. BUt again, IT WELDS great. Its hard to admit, but we find ourselves using this over a Lincoln buzz box in the shop just because its easy to move around. Dont be afraid to buy one. I love to buy American but most parts for the Lincoln and Miller is now made in China anyway.
Regarding the dinse connectors - , with the replacement ones you need to grind about 1/4 inch off the male end so it seats in the Amico socket and all is good . Also they are 35-50 size .
Ordered an IBGT arc 200 inverter 110/220 volt welder after seeing your video & others who said almost the same thing. This is a lighter 9 lbs upgrade from my 35 year old AC 220 volt that weighs 40 lbs. I have never closely approached the duty cycle since most jobs are only a few rods then move & fit a new piece.
I have an Amico cut50 and I think there great machines for the price point. It might not be top of the line quality but it works great for 300$. I've usedLincoln and a few other transformer welders and hit the duty cycle on them but more recently I bought an inverter multi process Mig welder and we don't even come close to the duty cycle in my shop. Time will tell but so far I'm impressed.
Thank for doing these tests rather than just saying yeah the welder works great. There’s not many options for portable stick welders it’s either $1k for a red or blue or sub $200 on amazon for one of these. It seems like this amico would be more than enough for diy around the house most of my stick welding is around 140a
I have two Amico machines, an arc 140 and tig220 both still work after 3 years the 140 and 2 years the tig220, both are holding up and I use them everyday. I'm surprised Amico hasn't made it big like other brands. The welders are solid.
Interesting test! I used to be concerned with duty cycle when I first started tinkering with welding. Over the past 6 or so years tinkering with my welders, I have never reached a duty cycle shut off on any of them with the welding I'm doing. I suppose if I ever had a big enough welding project, I would finally reach a duty cycle shut off. Guess I need a bigger welding project. Ha Ha
Yeah, I think many people are probably fine with a lower duty cycle than they might realize. However, keep in mind that the overtemp shutdown is just that; overtemp shutdown. It isn't a duty cycle shutdown. The duty cycle is supposed to provide a long service life by preventing things from running above recommended temps. The overtemp shutdown may allow the welder to go well past the rated duty cycle and only shut down the welder as a last resort. Having said that, I don't typically worry about duty cycle much either. If I'm starting a project that I know has a ton of welding I might do a quick calculation in my head to estimate how long can weld out of a ten minute period at the settings I'll be using, but after that I pretty much forget about it unless the number I come up with is really low. It usually isn't.
Thanks. I'll keep that welder in mind for a future review, but it might be a while if I get to it. I have a lot of videos backed up and have just been too busy to get them done. So there's a lot of stuff on the way, but anything new added to the list will be a while, unfortunately.
@@elitamok4395 PLEASE DO A REVIEW ON IT. These synergy welders are locked and limited. I wanted to get something that has no restrictions. There are absolutely no video reviews on this Ghost mig welder
I've watched all of your videos on the 160 stick welders... Was wondering what one you would choose out of the cheap stick welders out there ? Deko 160, primeweld 160, amico 200, yeswelder 160 etc? I bought the s7 250 amp on amazon but wasn't impressed and returned it because it gave wrong readings on the dial. It seems these duty cycle tests videos are popular. I think people like seeing machines maxed out to see if they are reliable, and or will fail. Thanks for the videos sir
I know it's a bit of a cop-out, but I'd save up and get something else, lol. But out of those listed, I'd probably go with the Primeweld. It's an extremely basic welder, but it didn't dramatically overstate it's capabilities, didn't come with an unsafe 240V adapter, etc. It was cheaply built to match the cheap price, but nothing about it annoyed me, lol.
How accurate was the displayed readings versus displayed on an ampmeter on a 120v . I felt using 120v welding 14ga steel constantly felt over powered at even the lowest settings.
I have this welder but when I turn it on I hear relay clicking then power led cycles up and down then it shuts off. Any reason for this? Is room temp too high for it?
90-100 amps is pretty much the max you can reliably get from a 20 amp circuit, and even that will eventually trip a breaker if you weld very long. When running 91 amps of output on 120 volts input it draws 30 amps.
@@bigtb1717 I think im gonna go with the primeweld 160 im in the 200$ -300$ budget range for a nice stick welder 110/220 to fix everything from small repairs to big repairs in the future
I have the same welder. What would happen if I disconnect the arc force potentiometer? At 15 amp I can not weld 16 guage can't control the puddle. Can't find information anywhere
Are you trying to TIG weld at 15 amps or stick weld? I can't say for sure what disconnecting the arc force pot. would do. I assume you have it turned all the way down?
@@bigtb1717 I stick weld. Arc force turn on the way down. I set the amp for 30 amp using 6013 1/16 rod burned through work piece turn amp down to 15 and 9 amp it does the same. I use my Lincoln pro 155s set it for 30 amp weld very nice. So I suspect the arc force maybe the problem. I seek your advice because I can not find any help on the net and you have same welder like mine
It's very possible that the welder display simply isn't accurate and it is putting out more current than what it says. I have a lot going on the next few days, but if I get a chance this weekend I'll do some tests with this machine and see what I find.
I would recommend a minimum of a 40 amp breaker, and more importantly, a circuit that can handle 40 amps (meaning the wiring, receptacle, etc.). A 50 amp circuit would give you a bit more head room, but I don't think you'd have an issue with a 40 amp circuit.
Is that an Amico? I'm not seeing one that has a plasma cutter built in. I am in the process of reviewing the Yeswelder MP200 multi-process that has a plasma cutter built in.
Sorry, I think I found it. I was looking for one with MIG, but you only mentioned plasma, stick and TIG. Either way, I haven't tried it. I'll consider checking it out at some point.
I sold the first version of the amico 200arc that I bought that is the same on this video then I purchase the 2nd version that's a better version fan just turn on when needs to cool down the processor so the rest of the time the fan is off and you wont hear any noice coming out of the machine👍 now maybe I probably may sale mine to a person who needs a heavy duty welder then I will purchase a newone it maybe the 3rd machine I purchase 😊 in the malls here they sell fisherprice machines that you just can use 20 times and then throw this to a garbage so it is better to purchase an Amico Power 200arc that you can give it a tough use and yo won't have any problem at any time. In contrast the welding rods won't support to weld with the top arc force and top amps
It doesn't matter. Lol, just kidding. I had the arc force at the minimum setting, but honestly, I did kinda assume it wouldn't matter for this particular test. Since the arc force setting basically just increases amperage output when the arc gets short, on some machines this setting doesn't actually do anything when they are at max output, because there is no headroom to actually increase the amperage. They are already at max. But we all know what assumptions do, so I will test this, hopefully this evening, but maybe this weekend. I will test output and current draw with the welder maxed out, once with the arc force setting turned all the way down and once with the arc force all the way up. This will tell me if the current through the machine will actually change with a higher arc force setting.
Okay, I just got done doing some testing. I turned the output to max and arc force to minimum, then I ran a bead while recording the amperage output. It was fairly consistent at 197 amps with occasional jumps to just over 200 amps. Interesting that it was running a bit higher than it did in my duty cycle testing. Then I ran a bead with the arc force maxed out and made a point to vary the arc length, including occasionally cramming the rod into the work. It was again mostly consistent at 197 amps, with occasional jumps. It might have gone a couple amps higher, but it was very close. Could have been down to margin of error. Either way, I don't think it's enough difference to effect the duty cycle.
I haven't tried 6010 with this welder. Technically, I never really did a proper review. If I get a chance I'll try to run some 6010 with it and report back.
Best $160.00 I ever spent, and I spent it as a joke originally, this thing rocks. I have several other brand name machines, but if I do burn this up, I will buy another for sure. I cannot buy a set of brand name leads for this price.
