bobcats: welding and using as generator

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i was on a shut down recently.  they were welding 1 inch thk SS plates, 18 x 30 inches vertically to rec/tube beams .  new SS 316L, to old steel rectangular tube, delaminating in places.   they were using bobcats  with the switch for coarse adjustment of amperage range and a fine adjustment knob.   no wps.   it was scratch start tig.  while watching one of the welders i noticed he was repeatedly sticking his tungsten.the reason for it was that they were running three extensions off of the bobber.  grinders, sawzalls and occasionally a mag drill.   this would cause a current draw down and amperage reduction when one or all three powered up.  at least that's what appeared to be happenning.no one seemed concerned though.   except me.  hope everything holds.  any thoughts
Reply:Good point.  Only so many joules in a quart of gas
Reply:The fine tune dial should be set as high as possible on most welder-generators to get the best arc especially when using the outlets. If you need 115amps or so set the coarse on 120 and the fine dial on about 9 instead of using 160 on the course dial and 5-6 on the fine dial.
Reply:The one drawback to the bobcat is the generator and welder generator being one and the sameHence the popularity of the trailblazer were these are two separate generatorsBacked my CATMA over your CARMA oops clusmy me  What would SATAN do ?? Miller Trailblazer 302 AirPakMiller Digital Elite  Optrel Welding HatArcair K4000Suitcase 12RC / 12 VSHypertherm PM-45Rage 3 sawRusty old Truck
Reply:''Hence the popularity of the trailblazer were these are two separate generators.''Yes, TRAILBLAZER . We had Bobcats and when welding and power tool usage at same time suck.  We got the first Trailblazer and could not believe the improvement.
Reply:these guys were good riggers (a rigger was running tthe show) but dumb axxes when it came to welding.   this was not a small company by any means.  i had to setup their '6g' weld o r on the bobcat as he had never used a control panel like the bobcat has.  no comment there.  the SS plates being placed on  the columns carry some serious weight.  look at the size of them.  they are tapped for six 1 inch dia. holes.  that tells me that somewhere there was an engineer calculating for a large load in shear.   moral of the story, just because it's a large operation does not  mean they can't fxxk up or not know what they are doing.   it's all about the individuals in charge.