Semi-Automatic Water-Cooled Production Torches 
The D/F Pistol Grip Gun and 55 Degree Curved Gun are very robust in design, and are water-cooled inside and out. This means that the contact tip is held by an adapter that is threaded into the water-cooled body, increasing contact tip life up to 14-to-1. The copper gas cup is also threaded into the front water-cooled nozzle assembly, increasing its life just like the current tip. The great increase in consumable life results in an equally great decrease in consumable costs, and the removal of downtime. Both torches can run .035"-1/8" hard and cored wires, and 3/64", 1/16", and 3/32" aluminum, up to 650 amps with a 100% duty cycle.
Durability and Cost Reduction
The D/F Pistol Gun is famous for its durability and toughness as it not only can be used as a hammer when you are not welding, but no matter the duty cycle or amperages, you can grab the torch with your bare hand immediately after welding and it will be cold to the touch. Because of its quality and durability, the D/F Pistol will last years and years vs. months, and will outlast any push-pull gun on the market at 1/2-1/3 of the cost. What does downtime cost your factory? The D/F Pistol Gun will reduce downtime and increase productivity, and consumable costs will be reduced up to 14-to-1.
Another great feature of these torches is the fact that they have a slip-in tip, so if you have a burn back you are not dealing with all the hassle of a threaded tip. The welders love the slip-in tip! With the use of the D/F collet wrench, all you have to do is loosen the collet one half turn to remove the tip in seconds. It is not necessary to remove a gas cup in order to remove a tip. Upon getting a burnback, loosen the tip one half turn, run it a couple inches out of the torch, cut the wire with a wire cutter, put in the new tip, and begin welding again; it is that easy.
Many customers prefer the D/F Machine Specialties Water-Cooled Pistol Grip Gun and 55 Degree Curved Gun because they are tired of purchasing expensive push guns that cannot withstand the amperages, heat, and duty cycles. In comparison to expensive push-pull guns that are very fragile requiring a lot of downtime and maintenance, the D/F guns are about half the cost and last up to 3 times longer. With more than 50 years of welding experience, the D/F Machine Specialties Water-Cooled Semi Automatic MIG Guns have proven themselves continuously throughout their lives, particularly in the manufacturing, fabrication, and welding of steel and aluminum trailers.
Mobility with Push Welding
Mobility is made easy by mounting the Miller, Lincoln, or ESAB Machine on a cart on wheels with the torches spread out every 10-15ft along the trailer or workpiece. Both the Pistol Gun and 55 Degree Curved Gun are very light weight, but if needed they can be mounted to a boom to take the torch and cable weight off the welder. By adding the optional double walled, aluminum heat shield to the Pistol Gun, there is no extra weight added, and the heat and fatigue will be greatly reduced for the welder.
Repair and Maintenance
Maintenance is made easy with the D/F Pistol Gun and 55 Degree Curved Gun because of their heavy duty design and the few parts required to maintain them. If you do not have a maintenance department at your facility, you will be pleased to know that we factory refurbish all D/F torches. D/F torches can usually be repaired for less than 1/3 of the cost of 1 new torch. Just send us the damaged torches for factory refurbishment at your convenience. You will receive a repair evaluation and only charge you $60.00 per torch, plus the parts needed for the repair. We take the torches apart completely, assess the damage, pressure test them, provide the repair estimate to you, reassemble the torches with the needed new parts to factory specs, and re-pressure test to make sure they have been repaired. It is always a good idea for customers to have backup torches in place for emergencies. This is achieved by repairing old, damaged torches.
NCC/HTC 55 Degree Curved MIG Gun
The NCC/HTC 55 degree curved MIG gun is the same gun as the Pistol Gun but allows welders to get into position or reach into areas that cannot be reached with the Pistol Gun. This curved MIG gun is a rugged, all purpose, water-cooled, manual MIG welding torch designed to operate at welding currents up to 600 amperes continuous duty using all types of shielding gases. The DF curved MIG gun is intended for use with all wire feeders that have provision for water cooling, and will handle all types of welding wire from .035" through 1/8" diameter steel wire, and 3/64" through 3/32" aluminum wire. It shares the same consumables as the Pistol Gun, allowing for a flexible and low inventory of replacement parts due to the interchangeability of these models. The trigger switch assembly is the momentary contact type. Also available is the optional button on/off switch. Both switches are positionable where desired on the torch for comfort and balance, and to escape reflective heat. The models NCC-A and HTC-A provide larger Water-Cooled nozzles that accommodate larger gas nozzles 11/16" through 15/16" I.D. for hard, cored, and aluminum large-diameter wire applications that require more gas coverage.
Push Gun Benefits
Feeding aluminum wire through a push only system is very advantageous. The D/F Water-Cooled Pistol Gun easily connects to a Miller, Lincoln, and ESAB power sources and wire feeders, and is a superior and inexpensive alternative to the push pull guns available in today's market. Push-pull torches are also very fragile, difficult to maintain, and have more parts. Because the D/F Pistol Gun can hook up to any manufacturer's wire feeder and power source, large spools of wire can be used reducing expenses, down time, and wear and tear on the torch by the changing of spools, as in a spool gun. A spool gun needs to have the roll changed after every pound of wire is used, compared with the 8 or 15 lb spool on a push-pull system. In tight spaces, the spool may limit access, requiring the operator to use a longer stickout. If the operator is using several pounds of aluminum per day, the few minutes need to change spools can add up. Also, the chance of burnback exists when the end of a spool is reached, so many operators stop when a few turns are left on the spool.
Spool Gun Limitations
Because a spool gun is larger than a push gun, it can sometimes be difficult to get close access to the weld. Also, a spool gun can only hold a 1 pound spool of aluminum wire electrode, so changeovers are frequent. In addition, these small spools typically are not the most economical way to purchase wire. Spool guns are also very fragile and do not last as long.
Push-Pull Gun Limitations
Typically, the greatest disadvantage of a push-pull system is that it requires the most number of components and is the most expensive. Push-pull guns are also very fragile and do not last as long.
Pushing Aluminum Wire
Because push-only guns like D/F Pistol Gun can hook up to any manufacturer's wire feeder and power source, large 500 lb spools of wire can be used reducing expenses, down time, and wear and tear on the torch by the changing of spools as in a spool gun. A spool gun needs to have the roll changed after every pound of wire is used, compared to the large size spools used in a D/F Pistol Gun. Also, the chance of burn-back exists when the end of a spool is reached, so many operators stop when a few turns are left on the spool.
Push Welding vs. Push-Pull Welding
A push gun also has advantages over a push-pull gun for many reasons. Typically, the greatest disadvantage of moving wire over long distances with a push-pull system is that it requires the most number of components and is the most expensive. It is very easy to mount a D/F Pistol Gun on a boom system to take all of the weight off of the gun. By mounting the wire feeder and power source on a 4-wheel cart, you can now travel great distances very easily. Push-pull guns are also very fragile and do not last as long (months vs. years). Push-pull guns are 2-3 times more expensive than the D/F Pistol. They only last up to 9 months on average, and you either have to replace the torch or rebuild by installing a new motor costing as much as $400-plus. There is no need for an expensive tip holder/gas diffuser in a D/F Pistol Gun. The copper nozzle or gas cup is threaded into the front water-cooled barrel of the gun, resulting in nozzles lasting months instead of days. Lastly but most importantly, because the D/F Pistol uses a 4" slip-in contact tip that is recessed in the water-cooling, not only is the arc stability greatly increased, the tip life is increased 14-1, and there is built-in wire straightening. If the operator is using several pounds of aluminum per day, the few minutes need to change spools or replace motors can add up.
Click here  to read more about the D/F Water-Cooled MIG Pistol Grip Gun.
Click here to read more about the D/F 55 Degree Curved Gun.
If you have any questions about Semi-Automatic D/F Guns, trailer manufacturing, or push welding aluminum, please do not hesitate to contact the factory.
 Phone: (507) 625-6200 · Email: sales@dfmachinespecialties.com
We look forward to helping you with your welding applications!
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| Duty Cycles & Ratings
When using an arc welding machine, it is crucial to understand what its duty cycle is as it will help you preserve the life and quality of the machine. When purchasing a MIG welder it will have a specification on the packaging or in the manual called the duty cycle. This refers to the amount of welding that can be achieved in a given amount of time. The reason this specification is important is it informs the user of how long the MIG welder can work at its optimum level.
Duty cycle refers to the amount of time a welder will weld in a given time frame at given amperage. The duty cycle is a rating that indicates how long a welding machine can be used at its maximum output current without damaging it. Duty cycle is based on a ten-minute time period. A welding machine with a 60% duty cycle can be used at its maximum rated output current for six out of every ten minutes. The welding machine may overheat if the duty cycle is exceeded. At lower current settings, the duty cycle may be increased and the power source used for a longer period of time.
As an example, a welder with a 20% duty cycle means it can be used for 2 minutes out of 10 at a given amperage setting, and then it must cool down. A welder with a 50% duty cycle can be used for 5 minutes out of 10 at a given amperage. These are just guidelines, and each unit might run more or less at different levels. Most spec sheets will show how the duty cycle will scale from high to low settings. Most equipment is rated at 2/3 to 3/4 of its maximum output. When you are using less amps the duty cycle goes up, more amperage it goes down.
It is important to note that duty cycle becomes inaccurate when being measured over a different time period, especially a longer one. One welder might have a duty cycle of 50% at 200 amps, and this means it can run for 5 minutes out of 10 before it has to be shut down to cool off. It does not mean that the same welder can be run for 30 minutes out of an hour at 200 amps, even though 30 minutes is 50% of an hour just like 5 minutes is 50% of 10 minutes. Duty cycle must be consistently measured in a 10 minute time frame.
Ambient temperature and humidity can have some effect on the duty cycle. A machine will sense its temperature via a thermocouple, and will shut down when it exceeds its duty cycle, coming back on line when it has cooled. To improve or maintain duty cycle, run the machine at minimum amps required for the job, keep the fan area clean, and have the inside of the machine cleaned by a repair center or by yourself, making sure to unplug the power cord occasionally. In the event that the duty cycle is exceeded and the breaker is tripped, allow the MIG welder to cool down for at least 15 minutes. A rated duty cycle on any MIG welding machine is there to protect you and your welder from any long-lasting damage.
Torch Ratings
Since its inception, welding has been a major element in the production environment. Real production welding is 100% duty cycle welding, and if a facility is not welding 100% of the time, it is losing money. With a 60% duty cycle, who can afford to run for 6 out of 10 minutes and have 40% of their production time as down time? This is a very costly method of production, and is the reason why all D/F Machine Specialties torches are rated with 100% duty cycles. A properly water-cooled D/F torch that runs at 650 amps with a 100% duty cycle really means that it will run 3 shifts a day, 7 days a week, all year round at 650 amps with no need for cool down. No other torch will remove downtime like a D/F torch.
D/F Machine Specialties torches were designed for production welding. The core of these designs come from a time when all the big-box manufacturers were selling 1000 amp power supplies. It takes a very robust torch to withstand 1000 amps or to work above 1000 degree preheat. All D/F torches were designed on this premise and will last years upon years rather than mere months. D/F currently has thousands of torches in circulation that have been run for over 20-30 years.
Consumable Use
With downtime removed and the ability acquired to produce 100% of the time, D/F torches can promise an average increase in the life of consumables (tips and nozzles) of up to 7-to-1 times. A contact tip will not have to be changed every 40 minutes as it would with competitors' torches, but rather after an entire day or an 8 hour shift. The competitions' torches also have 3/4" long contact tips. The average D/F tip is 2.5"-3.5" long. The longer tips allow D/F torches to maintain the most stable arc in the industry. They provide built-in wire straightening and consist of more copper which translates to more heat dissipation. With the built-in wire straightening and longer tip, the wire comes out straight and does not wander or prematurely wear out the contact tip as it does with the competitors' 3/4" long tips. The new series of Automatic and Robotic Water-Cooled-to-the-Top torches by D/F Machine Specialties actually has the tip recessed 1" into the water-cooled, copper inner body, never allowing the copper tip to heat up and soften. Just ask around; D/F torches are famous for the fact that seconds after you weld, they can be grabbed with bare hands and will be cold to the touch.
If you are interested in learning more about D/F Machine Specialties heavy duty MIG water-cooled torches, or have questions about our capabilities, please contact us. We would be more than happy to discuss the product you are manufacturing and your current operations, including your required amperages, wire size and type, power source and feeder, size restrictions and limitations, etc. We cannot get every welding account out there, and we will be the first ones to tell you that we may or may not be able to help, but we would love the opportunity to discuss the ways that our torches may provide solutions that will benefit your welding applications.
At D/F Machine Specialties we have no outside salespeople. Our torch is our salesperson. We are more than happy to run a purchase-pending trial and evaluation with potential customers that we feel can benefit from using a heavy duty D/F torch. We look forward to running our torches against what a customer has been using for years. We know how hard it is to get a customer to try something new or to change. In almost all cases, the D/F torch will sell itself within 1 week.
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