Help With A Welder

[rickyb01]

I'm just a novice and haven't welded since High School 30 years ago. I just purchased a home that has a small shop and was thinking about getting a welder. Here is my dilemma. My wife really wants me to buy a generic home generator and I really do see the need for one. My shop does not have 220 ran to it and it would have been a lot easier to have ran 220 to it early in the year when I purchased the home. I have put a lot of work in the back yard with a retaining wall and dirt work. Would I be better off buying a welder that is generator to that is mobile. I have no need for a mobile welder but as I was thinking maybe I could kill two birds with one stone. Or is this a bad idea? I remember my dad years ago powering our home with a mobile welder during an ice storm. Thanks Rick

 

[Shield Arc]

I've had this welder since June, so far very impressed with it. :thumbsup:
WeldingSupply K241-7 $12354.99

 

[boomer1025]

Get your self a whole house automatic gen unit installed and a portable unit for the shop to run 220V items. Then you don't have to worry about dragging the gen unit from the shop to the house in bad weather. I know it's more money that way, but it takes the hassle out of messing around. Then when your not home and the wife is by herself and the power goes out she will thank you.

 

[newbury]

More data needed -
What are the specs for running power? Soil? Distance?
How big a whole house gen set do you need?

I would think it would be better to bite the bullet and buy an automatic whole house genset and run 220 (and maybe an ethernet cable) to the shop. As boomer wrote when the wife is alone she would still need power.

 

[rickyb01]

Get your self a whole house automatic gen unit installed and a portable unit for the shop to run 220V items. Then you don't have to worry about dragging the gen unit from the shop to the house in bad weather. I know it's more money that way, but it takes the hassle out of messing around. Then when your not home and the wife is by herself and the power goes out she will thank you.

More than likely this is what I will do. Going over to a friends home this weekend to look at his mig welder. He also has a 110 volt that he will let me borrow to play around with. I purchased a real nice shop table that has 1/2 steel top. I was going to put my bench grinder and table vice on it but really didn't want to mount them permanently. I read where some guys were taking 2" receivers and adding them to their table and then mounting the vice or bench grinder to a hitch and I really liked that idea. I then thought about drilling a couple of holes and welding a nut to those receivers. You can then thread a bolt threw the nut and it will take the wiggle out of the hitch. That got me thinking man If I just had a welder I can weld this myself and this would keep me from having to load this table up and take it down the road. Man when I sat around and start dreaming I really can spend the money. Rick

 

[Shield Arc]

A very good friend of mine has a Lincoln 305G. I've welded with it a few times. Very nice arc, and lots of AC power.
Ranger(R) 35 G Engine Driven Welder (Kohler(R))

 

[George2615]

If you buy a separate generator and 220V welder the generator will need to be large enough to power a 220V welder. I have a Miller Bobcat 250NT welder generator. It is a 10KW unit and does power my entire house when needed. My previous 5KW gen would not power the whole house with A/C running. I mounted the gen on wheels to move it around but is very noisy using as a generator. As a welder it does have the idle down circuit when you pause while welding. I don't like using it for small welding jobs due to the noise. The nice part is I have 40' leads to get away from some of the noise and can use it in the field if needed.
I also have a 220V welder I bought a few years ago at a flea market and a cheapie HF wire feed mig welder.

 

[rickyb01]

Yep I think the Harbor Freight mig welder might be all I need. I forgot all about the noise issue with those big welders.

 

[Imaybail]

For backup/standby power, a dedicated generator in an enclosure would be a better strategy. Have a transfer switch installed by an electrician too.

 

[BHD]

If I had it all to do over, I would have bought a welder generator, from the beginning, started out with a 4000 watt generator, a gas hog and minimal generator, then I got a 30,000 watt unit, (20,000) single phase, and mated a older engine I had setting around to it, and built a concrete block shed to put it in,

then about 5 years ago, I bought a used welder with a 9000 watt capacity generator, used it for the farma nd other items, the engine blew on it and finally go a Lncoln gxt 250 with a 10,000 watt generator,

I would not go with an automatic transfer, or a automatic generator, generating your own power is expensive, and most of the time (at least us), do not "need" power 24/7, if we need some power we will manually turn it on and run and shut down after the need is met,

in all the years I have had the large generator I have never needed any where near that capacity of power, and the 10,000 watt welder would have meet all our needs,

I would have a lot of time and money ahead if I would have bought a good welder generator when I started, my quest for back up power, and welding would have been much easier, as I would have been able to go to the project and not the project to the shop,