10KW Homemade generator

BobG_in_VA · Oct 10, 2004

I was going to go the PTO generator route until this weekend. I ended up killing 3 birds with one check. I bought a Miller Trailblazer 250 AMP Welder/Generator. Welder does AC/DC Stick/Mig/Tig (Mig/Tig with attachments). Generator is 9000 watts start up with 8000 continuous with a 10 gallon tank. Has an Onan 20HP engine. Its actually a '99 model that (get this) only had 11 hours on the unit. It looks and is basically brand new. I also had the guy throw in his quick detach welding hoodups and his welding leads/ground clamp/rod clamp. I was considering a standalone welder and get a 15KW PTO gen set to run it. Now, don't need the PTO unit at this juncture. By the way, I also plowed my friends garden under today (about an acre) with my '57 Farmall 230. I love to plow! (in small doses as I have plowed for days at a time when I was kid and hated it past the 1 hour mark) PS was gonna use the PTO generator with the 47 year old Farmall.

Soundguy · Oct 11, 2004

( Another consideration is whether you want to tie up your tractor during natural disasters. If you have a generator with its own motor, you do have one more engine to maintain, but you will be able to help people out with your tractor while your separate generator is powering the vital stuff in your house.
)

See.. that's the best argument there is for having a second tractor. Have one for the genny.. and the other to work on!

Soundguy

pras127 · Oct 21, 2004

I was reading about the motor speed equation, and what the 120 does in the eqation. My question is why do you have to pair the poles?

slydog · Oct 24, 2004

( I was reading about the motor speed equation, and what the 120 does in the eqation. My question is why do you have to pair the poles? )

I have read this thread from beginning to end, and I have to say it makes about as much sense to me as Chinese arithmetic! All I have to say is "MAN YOU GUYS ARE SMART!!!" Are most of you engineers or something? When I sit down to watch my tv, or drive across a big bridge, or watch a space flight, I think "its the good thing the world didn't depend on me to come up with this %^*&$ if it couldn't be built out of 2x4's and 16 penny nails! /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Soundguy · Oct 25, 2004

( Are most of you engineers or something? )

Compaired to many other sites I read.. I believe we have more engineers here than many other sites.

Soundguy

BobB · Oct 26, 2004

I have e-mail 3 companies (PTO genny manufacturers) per purchase of a gear box. (Speed increaser) Will keep everyone informed.

Phred · Oct 28, 2004

If you are willing to tinker a bit and have acess to a torch why not use a diff from a truck?

Think about it. A 4.10 rear end will reduce the output speed of the transmisison by a factor 4.10. So if you ran it backwards (hook your engine to the axel and your generator to the drive shaft input) you could step up the tractor pto from 540 rpm to ~2200 rpm.

Clearly 4.10 won't get the job done. But I understand that motorhomes and medium duty truck use larger ratios.

You need to find about a 7-8:1 rear end at a junk yard, torch off the axels close to the diff body, and then weld or otherwise connect up the generator and motor.

Fred

Rollinns · Oct 29, 2004

The 4.10 rear end can work when the tractor uses a 37 tooth gear and the axle uses a 23 tooth gear (or any combination of gears that gives a 1.6 gear ratio) 37 / 23 = 1.608

4.10 * 1.608 * 540 = 3560

That gets you 99% there.

Using a rear end and two gears you could probably put this all in a fairly compact package.

Lee

MMM · Oct 29, 2004

How do you keep oil in diff case?

Phred · Oct 29, 2004

As far as the oil in the dif case goes, I think it would depend on the configuration of the case and axel and would require some tinkering to make it work.
But if you can get a diff at a junk yard for almost nothing it might be worth a try.

Another option might be one of these:
http://www.gamweb.com/gear_line3.asp?line=Gearbox
But the cost is likely higher.

Fred