Hey all,

If this is the wrong forum, I apologize. Please tell me where I should post it.

Anyway, I was looking into getting a mig welder soon for some fabbing on my truck, as well as fixing around the house and my family's cars. Because I live in a condo, wiring a 240 outlet would be impossible at best to get approved.

So I was looking into my options with generators. It would be nice to have a generator anyway, for when I need power tools up at the lake but the nearest outlet is half a click away (that's one helluva expensive extension cord!)

What my question is, is would a generator that puts out 120V and 240V w/ 30 amps work to run a welder off of? I'm just looking around, and that seems to be what most generators with a 240 outlet are. I would prefer the two units to be seperate, even though the generator would see most of it's use with the welder.

Let me know what you think/If I'm making sense!

Dan

 

A smaller 115V wire feed welder would be about the limit of a 30amp plug and may be all you need depending on what kind of welding you are talking about.

 

I'm looking at welding body panels, cab mounts, floorboards, etc.

 

The 110 mig would be the way to go. 220 is nice, but the pricetag for occasional use for your needs would be prohibitive. Stick welders would just burn through.

And to your question to the best place to post would be the shop and tools forum...

 

It sounds like a 110 mig and a generic generator would be the way to go for you

I would, however, stay away from el-cheapo generators. Get a Honda, even if you have to buy it used

ALSO, when shopping for generators, there are certain types (Honda makes them too) that are basically a small engine, running an alternator, that feeds an inverter. A sure sign a generator is this type if they have a switch for "quiet mode" that idles them down to almost nothing, and they are much smaller physically than the standard generator.

A GOOD generator will run at a constant speed (3600RPM usually) and be governed to this speed no matter what. It'll be louder than the "inverter" type, use more fuel when not loaded, and it's not a good thing to use for say, camping where you want it to be quiet. But for what it sounds like you need, a straight generator would be a great choice.

The reason I say stay away from the inverter-type is, they may (or may not) be not-so-good for welders that are off-on-off type things, and their output waveform (might be square-wave) might not be the best thing to feed a MIG welder (or any welder, for that matter), nor for power tools.

Also, for whatever wattage the MIG welder is, over-rate the generator. Or when you fire it off, the initial arc will be hard to get started because the generator is fighting it's governor to keep up.

 

It sounds like a 110 mig and a generic generator would be the way to go for you

I would, however, stay away from el-cheapo generators. Get a Honda, even if you have to buy it used

ALSO, when shopping for generators, there are certain types (Honda makes them too) that are basically a small engine, running an alternator, that feeds an inverter. A sure sign a generator is this type if they have a switch for "quiet mode" that idles them down to almost nothing, and they are much smaller physically than the standard generator.

A GOOD generator will run at a constant speed (3600RPM usually) and be governed to this speed no matter what. It'll be louder than the "inverter" type, use more fuel when not loaded, and it's not a good thing to use for say, camping where you want it to be quiet. But for what it sounds like you need, a straight generator would be a great choice.

The reason I say stay away from the inverter-type is, they may (or may not) be not-so-good for welders that are off-on-off type things, and their output waveform (might be square-wave) might not be the best thing to feed a MIG welder (or any welder, for that matter), nor for power tools.

Also, for whatever wattage the MIG welder is, over-rate the generator. Or when you fire it off, the initial arc will be hard to get started because the generator is fighting it's governor to keep up.

 

If noise is a key factor, get an old Onan generator from an RV. They use a two cylinder engine running at a fairly low speed and generally only put out 110v. I have one here that has essentially a 16hp engine running at half (or less) of it's rated speed, turning a 4000w generator. It's smooth and quiet, but can still put out a decent amount of power.

 

You might encounter more problems with the generator than 220 as far as your condo association goes. Seems like in tight quarters the noise would be more of an issue than getting approval for 220.

 

Thank you for all of the input!

As far as the 110 v 220 welder are concerned, the reason I am looking at the 220 is because I would be doing the things that I mentioned before, in addition to welding some thicker flat bar and square. I plan on creating my own headache rack and there's a lot of boat lifts that need fixing that have thicker flat bar.

I do see that some Hobart's like the Handler 140 run off 115V and weld up to 1/4". Do you all think that would work? Or would I be pushing the limit there?

Krewat, you're knowledge about generators is gold. Literally gold. Thank you very much!

Noise is somewhat of a factor, but I will mostly use it during the day. My neighbors are okay with my noise, mostly because there's 3 other mechanics in my building and they understand it. I realize a generator will be louder than a wall plug, but if I'm running the impact and disc sander at the same time I flip the breaker, because the garage is so far away and there's only one plug. I figure the generator can put out more omph right at the plug than all the extensions from the breaker. Maybe my electricity theory is a little shaky, but that's what I think IMHO.

The other reason for the generator is what I said before, the whole up at the lake thing. Cutting wood to fix the tables right there, and welding boat lifts. I don't want to do any more than dragging the lift out of the water with old railroad rails to work on them. Just pull em out, weld, push em back in the water.

Let me know what you think!

 

Sorry about this being in the wrong section by the way!

Feel free to move this!

 

While the manuals say you can weld up to 1/4, I don't feel they have the penetration that I would like, so you are better off making a few passes rather than try to get it all in one. Do it that way, and you should be fine.The downside of the 110 migs is the duty cycle, typically 20%, which means that you can weld for 20% of the hour, so it won't be something that can weld continuous for extended periods of time. The better units like the Lincolns and Hobarts will go for a good length of time, but will need some occasional cool down time. The Century I had was horrible about that, only could weld a few minutes tops, and have to wait for it to cool. The Lincoln I have now is much more forgiving, I haven't had it shut me down for cool down time yet, and I get some good length welds going sometimes. I typically keep the heavier work to the stick welder though. If it is 1/8 or less, I use the mig.

 

I think the duty cycles are typically measured in 10 minute increments. A 20% duty cycle - weld for 2 minutes / rest it for 8. So in a hours time you could weld for 12 minutes but not 12 continuously. Just my limited understanding. The point is duty cycle is important and one of the limiting factors in a lower end unit.

 

I believe you are correct. Some of the better units will do better than their duty cycle, the lesser units use it as a standard it seems... If it doesn't have a fan to cool it, pass on it. Believe it or not, not all welders have fans...