Help me buy a welder/generator.

[thingy]

Yeah the miller I got has got an auto idle but one light bulb brings her to life,,auto idle is just used for welding.
You did say 3,000 right?
I mean you can get one that will mig weld stick weld has high frequency and has over 10,000 watts aux power,,but its going to be alot more than 3,000.
If you can't stick weld,all this is moot,,[as jessie jackson says],,
You might be better off getting you a big generator and a bigger mig machine?Which would probably mean a 8-10,000 watt generator for 2,000 at least,and a 230 volt mig machine,[small one at that] for maybe 1,000 dollars,talk to a good welding supply place if you plan on doing this,,you need to make sure your new gen will supply enough power to machine,it can get alittle tricky going that route,its different than plugging a water pump into it.
Stick welding will save you alot of time and money,I can weld from about 1/8 thick up to unlimited,with the machine I just described,plus it is all the generator I need,plus its light enough for me to move by manpower,,,but if you can't stick weld you can't stick weld,,,and picking it up ain't all that easy unless you go to a school or have someone spend many hours with you. So maybe you need to stick with mig,,thingy

[RedRocker]

Oh yeah, a Bobcat is pretty LOUD too!
I'm thinking for a short term situation it would be OK, but fuel consumption and noise would make it a less than desirable choice for a generator.

[PaulChristenson]

Originally Posted by tuolumne

My only experience with sticks was a few hours in a machine shop class. I didn't get the knack then, but I won't rule this out.

$3000 maximum budget.

Well before you put the cart before the horse...I'd say to split your request and get a generator and a relatively cheap buzzbox (a nice simple Lincoln Electric)...
Because you need the generator...
And you can always plug the buzzbox into your generator...and it will be definitely cheaper than a combined unit

And it will give you a chance to master stick before you sink big dollars into a combined unit...

[thingy]

No,might not be cheaper,,if he wants a good generator,8-10,000 watts, its going to cost him probably over 2,000,,buzz box that puts out dc,,300-400? It might not be any more,,but not really cheaper,,,but thats probably what he should do,,he would have a good generator,,a new dc buzz box[to practice his stick on]and he's already got a little toy wire welder that he could plug into generator too,,,depends,,and don't forget the part where he can't stick weld,thats kinda important here,,,thingy

[tuolumne]

Thingy - You're pretty pesimistic about my learning abilities eh? Hopefully with DC, dry sticks and clean metal I'll get going. I do not have a welder, I borrowed the toys for various projects.

Weldingisfun - I posted a link from NT for the Hobart Champion for $2700. Does anyone else have any comments about this welder/generator. I think wirefeed for thick metals gets out of my price range pretty quick.

I think my first project will be a boom pole to move the beast around with, no matter which unit I end up buying!

[thingy]

Yep,,and it don't improve none when you say you gotta get a bigger machine for thicker metals either.
Stick welding,takes more skill than mig,if you don't believe me,than get you a stick machine and go at it. thingy

[Tom_Veatch]

You might want to also touch base over in the Miller (links under "Online Communities) or Hobart welding forums with your welder/generator questions. Lincoln may also have one, but, if so, I haven't visited there. Some of the guys get a little ascerbic, but there's a lot of expertise you can tap into.

Thingy is right. From my personal learning path (which I'm still traversing), stick welding (SMAW) takes more expertise to get good, good-looking welds than does mig (GMAW). Good mig welds (as opposed to "good-looking") still requires some education and practice. It isn't a case where you can walk in off the street and start making good welds.

I have an 11KVA PTO driven generator for the house and to drive my welders in the field. I have a Miller 235/150 AC/DC stick machine and a Millermatic 180 wire feed. Not real heavy duty stuff, but they do what I need. Using the tractor for the generator's engine reduces the cost of the generator substantially but you'll have to decide for yourself whether you want to do that or not. Some guys really cringe when they think of adding hours to the tractor tach to drive a generator.

Soundguy is also correct that the generator needs to maintain it's rpm to keep the electrical frequency within bounds, but the power required to do that depends on the electrical load. Low-load/idle conditions uses very little fuel even at the higher rpm - especially with a diesel prime mover. I'm speaking from PTO generator experience and have no knowledge/experience with stand-alone generator units.

[George2615]

Soundguy responded back to RedRocker re: idling down. The Bobcat I have has a 3 position switch. Off, run with idle down, run, plus the momentary start position. I only use idle down mode when welding. In between welds it idles down. As a generator you do want it to run at the recommended RPM to maintain Voltage / frequency.
I have run mine as a generator quite a few times. There were some times the power was out for more than 2 days (due to a severe ice storm that took down several lines). I ran mine 24 / 7 at those times with no problem. I filled it before going to bed and after 7 hrs. sleep got up and topped it off again. I never ran it out of gas and based on what I put back in to top it off I'd say mine would easily run 9-10 hours or more before running out. I probably could have shut it off at night since the fridge and freezer would have been fine all night but didn't want to take a chance on my ice cream melting.
By the way, in my previous post I mentioned Hobart and Miller but forgot Lincoln which is also a very good brand and has a welder / generator combo also.

[Soundguy]

Got a link to the lincoln welder generator.

I wouldn't mind seing one of those.

We used oto have a big miller welder genset before we repalced it with the hobart at work.

soundguy

[tuolumne]

Tom - Thanks for the welding links.
Soundguy - I don't have a link for Lincolns unit, but their 10kW unit is called the Ranger. They're more expensive than the Hobart, and similar in price and function to the Bobcat.

I went to a welding supply house yesterday. I'll probably get a simple unit like the Miller Thunderbolt for DC stick welding and a separate generator.

I was intrigued by the TIG units. Any thoughts on these?