generator for welding

[Mr J Morton]

Generator for welding

Now all the cows have been kicked out of the top shed I'm helping my brothering law set it up as a workshop for his mark1 escort.

It has an electrical supply, but its a typical highly dangerous farmers bodge, basically a long lead trailed around 50 meters along the ground in the air and most possibly through water... maybe thats why they always ware welllies!

Even if we wanted to use it its got to much voltage drop to run the pressure washer so no good for a welder.

I have access to two generators a 2kva and a 5kva. Would they be suitable to use with a 150 Cosmo (basically a 130amp SIP), is there anything else to look for apart from KVA rating?

I'm not near the generators now but will look at them in more detail in couple of weeks.

Jon

 

[steeo]

2kva would be no good and I would say the 5kva would struggle at top wack.
Basically migs don't like been run of a genny as the voltage is not stable (at least thats what I was told)

 

[the snooper]

the 5kva just might work for welding a car but wont run the mig on full power give it a try on steel of the same thickness as the car

 

[Mr J Morton]

might have to look at hiring a bigger generator for a week and hope that's long enough to get it all done. I got a good deal on a 35kva for my wedding later this year, its suitable for running a laptop off so it would be stable enough for the welder.

I can guarantee that he will want to do the top of the struts as they always go there and that's quite thick stuff I understand, so the 5KVA would be out as well. Although we could move the car down nearer the fuse box on the loadall for that job...things are getting complicated!

thanks for the advise

Jon

 

[the snooper]

if you are going to hire then my advise would be use the genny you have to do all the prep work so all thats left to do is weld

 

[Mr J Morton]

good idea.
That way we could hire a genny for a weekend or if its a good still day even do it outside near the fusebox. I'm very jealous of all the farm equipment he has to hand to make these things easy. When I work on the Spitfire its usually on a dusty scrap of tarmac dodging the rain drops!

Jon

 

[R BEADLE]

would it not be better all round to rewire the shed and put a 30 amp trip in the supply ? probably not much more expensive than hiring a Genny . just thought . i would have thought a 5 kva would power that mig no bother at all , I've seen 180 amp pickhill welders on 5 kva Genny's on farms .

 

[R BEADLE]

2kva would be no good and I would say the 5kva would struggle at top wack.
Basically migs don't like been run of a genny as the voltage is not stable (at least thats what I was told)

i was told that the power surge can damage migs on generators but then another person told me that its o,k as long as the generator is running before you power up the mig . only one way to find out and i cant think of a better brand ( sip ) to be the victim lol .