Welder decision

[Green Acres Homestead]

My small tractor service business occasionally requires me to weld occasionally. I use acetylene now but was looking at something more convenient and cheeper.

Requirements:
1. Metal not more then 1/4 inch thick.
2. More portable the better.
3. Hoping to be able to use my honda 2000 watt inverter generator.
3. Rusted metal but I do have grinders.
4. Speed is not a big issue because I only weld 5 or 6 hours a month for repair and fabrication.

From what I see flux core can weld thicker materials using less input. Also can weld without doing quit as much grinding as mig. Are those statements true. Hopefully I could get away without caring around the bottle of gas.

Any suggestions?

 

[deereman75]

My small tractor service business occasionally requires me to weld occasionally. I use acetylene now but was looking at something more convenient and cheeper.

Requirements:
1. Metal not more then 1/4 inch thick.
2. More portable the better.
3. Hoping to be able to use my honda 2000 watt inverter generator.
3. Rusted metal but I do have grinders.
4. Speed is not a big issue because I only weld 5 or 6 hours a month for repair and fabrication.

From what I see flux core can weld thicker materials using less input. Also can weld without doing quit as much grinding as mig. Are those statements true. Hopefully I could get away without caring around the bottle of gas.

Any suggestions?

For repair work, I think stick welding would be best. Might be a bit hard to find one that would work on that small a generator. Maybe take a look at the everlast powerarc 140 st. It might run on it.

 

[mrmikey]

I'd go with a stick machine unless you plan on getting into light metal such as body repair. If you plan on that you'd have to go with gas anyway. Going with a wire feed that's going to hang around not being used much you've got to content with rolls of wire getting rusty, consumables you have to keep on hand such as nozzles, contact tubes, diffusers, liner etc. If you run out of just one of them you're dead in the water. Stick machine if you have rods you're good to go.
Get a Licoln Tombstone AC/DC.
As far as running on a 2k generator, not gonna happen.....Mike

 

[boomer1025]

Like Deerman said, take a look at the Everlast PA140st, I have one and there a nice small unit, comes with tig torch & nice plastic case, which fits under a bed. And they don't cost a lot. And like Mike said not gonna happen with a 2k gen.

 

[deereman75]

As far as the 2k genset, with the everlast you might get enough to run a 1/16 6013 cold. If you need to run portable, get a much bigger genset, or get a used engine drive welder.

 

[EMB5530]

Might look at something that will run off of your truck. Years ago I read an article in 4 wheel and offroad that you could get a package that would set ya up w/ bigger alternator and a box that you hooked up to your truck(dual batteries also) and could stick weld off of that.

Just an idea

 

[Mark @ Everlast]

A inverter generator can be either good or bad...
Depending upon the sine wave. If it outputs a squarewave, nothing is going to run right...A true sine wave inverter is usually considered clean power. But ordinarily, these units are not up to speed to run any welding equipment.

 

[jake98]

A inverter generator can be either good or bad...
Depending upon the sine wave. If it outputs a squarewave, nothing is going to run right...A true sine wave inverter is usually considered clean power. But ordinarily, these units are not up to speed to run any welding equipment.

Is there a gen-set that's a perfect match? or is it a bad route to plan on in general?

 

[blueriver]

I bought a Longevity 140 ... super small and an absolute nice welder. I run it portable on my 3500 gen and it doesn't even know its working.

 

[Mark @ Everlast]

Oh, Jake, put me in a hard spot why don't you? :laughing:

I hate making brand recommendations, and specific endorsements.

One thing that should be considered is the PowerFactor Correction capability of the welder itself, versus the stability of the generator.

Some of our newer "EXT" units have high PFC. I won't go into what that is, here, but lets just say it helps make the most out of unstable power.

In general we recommend clean power for all our units, but the new EXT tigs have substantially more tolerance...That is NOT to say they will run on a square wave output. Some people confuse a square wave output welder as being perfect to run on a square wave output generator. The two are not compatable.

We have a guy over on our forum that uses a HF or NT (can't remember which) 7kw to run his Everlast Stick and MIG welders on. Its rated for clean power. He's not had any problems. We have some guys with "name" brand generators blow theirs sky high so to speak because they were "dirty".

I am speaking GENERALLY here:

Hondas typically are clean power, better than your average wall socket.

Generac makes a HD clean power series as well. But you pay extra for it.

Other Japanese companies or chinese knockoffs, do make clean power units, but you must make SURE they are rated for that, and have been maintenanced.

The aforementioned HF or NT generators do seem to be sufficient. NOT the cheapies though. Look for "clean" power.

2Kw is enough to get started with the Everlast PowerArc 140ST for 110V use with a 20 amp breaker. It may trip it though once you get to 70-80 amps though, depending upon conditions. Fully power on 110V requires 29 amps.

Additionally, I would say that if you do NOT feel comfortable plugging in your computer or your new 52 inch HD LED tv you got for Christmas into the generator, don't plug your welder into it either.