opinions on generator to power small welder

[will930]

hello fellow retroers

I'm after a cheapish generator that can power a small mma inverter, small mig, tig etc

as most of the small generators are good for power tools and i know the welder needs a good power supply! but at the same time power lights!

also one that could power a compressor but not at the same time as the mig

what sorta power ratings am i looking at?

its for a small single garage so wont need anything too powerful

all help is appreciated

[dave21478]

I have a 3.6 kva genny that can just about run my average-spec mig welder at low to mid power settings, but tends to trip out every few minutes.

TBH,i would suggest 5 or 6 kva for confort, but that puts you well out of the "cheap" category of generator.

[kenb]

What he said, I used to have the same sized genny, with one of those gasless migs when i was racing in the back of the bus. It struggled basically, and that was on low settings.

[will930]

I see so I'm really limited then? So anything above 5kva i best? What about a low powered stick welder?

[Deleted]

I borrowed a 3KW Honda 4-stroke gennie in the hope that it would run my Clarke 150 MIG at low power but it wouldn't have it. Basically the initial arc is too much for the gennie to react to and it stalls. We tried holding the throttle open before starting but it still wouldn't work. I've seen a welder-generator working and it's a different beast. Basically as soon as the operator pulls the trigger it revs right up and then gets the arc going.

[jordanisace]

your gonna need a beasty genny if you want to power any form of welder, weve been having try of a few smaller ones to see if they suit our needs, and realy if you want to weld, you need a proper sized realy high output genny if you want to be able to actualy weld something properly.

[bortaf]

IME stick welders are worse, my 5.5KVA certainly would not run a small (mind you it was a 70's design) stick welder, allmost stalled it it dragged it down so hard but as above that could be more due to the welder than the genny ??

[waveman1500]

As the others have said, if you want to be welding on a generator then you need a big one!



A lot of military WW2 welders seem to have been powered by car engines. Of course, that meant Ford flatheads for the US army and VW engines for the Germans.

[Tom Majeure]

Search for alternator welders. Quite a few offroaders run them in the states should you need you glue something together to get you home. You can even convert small generators to do the same thing. The only down side is that it's stick, perhaps if you were feeling clever you could convert a migs internals

[wilko]

Tried welding with a 180 amp Snap On MIG off a 5.5 KVA diesel generator - welder has 6 power settings, was OK spot welding on 1 & 2 but running a seam for more than about an inch on 2 was too much for it.

[robg2]

Have to disagree with all the above. I have the following setup:

2.8kW / 6.5bhp generator, bought new from Aldi for £149

Clarke 110amp MIG welder, bought second hand, running on 0.6mm wire and C02 / Argon conventional welding gas

This combination works ok for car bodywork - eg sills, arches, floor patches etc. I haven't had anything trip out or overheat (except for once when a large glob of weld got stuck between tip and shroud - but that would dim every light within a 1/4 mile radius if welding off the mains). I probably go a bit easy on it, but as said have done quite a lot of major panel restoration work with it.

Between the generator and welder I have the following:
a £4.99 surge arrestor type thingy as sold to protect PCs
quite a long heavy duty mains cable, doubled up (ie 2 lengths connected in parallel)
...but I doubt if these bits are really necessary

[da6t]

Generators really aren't suitable for running Invertor welders!! They require quiet a lot of power and for them to work right it needs to be of a constant supply, you wont achieve that with any generator and it will only lead to heart break as your amps will fluctuate whilst welding causing headaches!!

[swordfish210]

Sept 22, 2011 13:52:24 GMT bortaf said:

IME stick welders are worse, my 5.5KVA certainly would not run a small (mind you it was a 70's design) stick welder, allmost stalled it it dragged it down so hard but as above that could be more due to the welder than the genny ??

I had this on site once, had to weld an extension on to a 9ft gate and was told a welder would be supplied. To my dismay it was a 7KVA genny and an oil cooled arc welder.

It would have been a nice bit of kit to use but the genny was so weak every time i tried to start the arc the revs died and so did the arc. I got hold of a 135A MIG welder from the hire shop and that just about ran once you recovered from the initial arc.

[TurboDieselWeasel]

Hi!

We used a Honda ECMT 6500 (6.5kw / 13HP) to power a MIG when we welded a Mini 'round a tree ;D

The genny seemed to cope fine, but revs dropped a bit when the trigger was pulled.

Might be worth to look out for a military clearing sale, maybe you can find a genny that's used for powering medical equipment - as far as I know these have a 'damper' (in lack of other words) for constant supply of power without spikes which I'm told is very handy for good welding But I've not tried it - so might as well be buel-skit.

[skozra]

Would a 6.5kva diesel generator do the trick ? I'm thinking of getting one to power a Clarke 151en mig welder, but i'm really unsure if it would be powerful enough.