portable welder

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Ok,I'm really new at this.There are a BUTTLOAD o welders out on the market.It's way too confusing for my simple mind.I'm having a hard time finding a good inexpensive portable welder for my truck ,,,and it looks like I won't be able to afford an LN-25 for quite some time.Anyone have a better idea?All I want to do with one is some tig welding.I should have bought the one I found in C/L for 300I kick myself for not doing that!!!thanks !!!!"Coffee"
Reply:You looking for a engine drive or static machine?Arguing with a Welding Engineer is like wrestling with a pig... after a while you realize the pig likes it
Reply:I have a bobcat on my truck.I would like to do some tig off of it,I have about 2 hours of welding with an alum spool.can you hook up a spool gun straight to the bobcat?I have a syncrowave in my shop,been using one of those for a long time.
Reply:By "bobcat" do you mean a Bobcat brand generator? or a Miller Bobcat engine driven welder generator?I am confused because the Miller Bobcat welder will do everything you are asking?And yes, Bobcat the heavy equipment company has made portable generators... I don't thing there is a "good" cheap portable TIG rig, but that depends on your definition of good and cheap.
Reply:Originally Posted by blastingcoffeeI have a bobcat on my truck.I would like to do some tig off of it,I have about 2 hours of welding with an alum spool.can you hook up a spool gun straight to the bobcat?I have a syncrowave in my shop,been using one of those for a long time.
Reply:Millers spool guns require a control box which will attach to the power source and the spool gun through a 14 pin connection. However, the Bobcats don't have a 14 pin connect at the power source, so your out of luck for running a spool gun. The only way to run wire of any kind of wire on a Bobcat is on a volt sense feeder.Arguing with a Welding Engineer is like wrestling with a pig... after a while you realize the pig likes it
Reply:Not necessarily reddoggoose.  You can run a spoolgun off of a bobcat.  However there is a separate controller that miller makes that you will have to buy to use it.  I borrowed one once for a job I had, and it ran great, but be prepared for a shock when you price the spool gun and the control box.  They are STEEP!  Another option is from HTP  They make a spool gun that will hook to any engine drive, and I believe it runs around 800 bucks complete.  It looks pretty impressive, and if it performs like the other HTP equipment I have run I have no doubt that it is a quality product.  I am planning on purchasing one myself in the near future.I'm a Lover, Fighter, Wild horse Rider, and a pretty good welding man......
Reply:I don't think GOOD and Inexpensive go hand in hand.  John -  fabricator extraordinaire, car nut!-  bleeding Miller blue! http://www.weldfabzone.com
Reply:Bobcat spool gun adapter is the SGA 100C. That will adapt a Bobus to a Spoolmate 3035 or 3545. Scratch start TIG is possible and very doable....but the HF-251 adapter will run TIG the best.
Reply:wow,,,you guys know yer **** !!!the bobcat I have is the engine driven welder(10,000)It welds pretty good.I just wish I knew more about all of the ancillaries to go with it.on another note,,,I'm glad I got in this site,lots of knowledge in here.
Reply:DDA, the control I used was another box, not the SGA 100.  (not saying the SGA won't work, just there is another one as well)  It was an older unit, and the model I can't seem to remember.  I'll have to do some research, but I do remember it was a miller box with a contactor.  It had a voltage sensing line to hook to the work or ground to detect voltage.I'm a Lover, Fighter, Wild horse Rider, and a pretty good welding man......
Reply:The older Miller Spoolmatics used a WC-3A control with contactor...but I don't remember a sensing lead.
Reply:Hmmmm  Well there's only one way to find out.  I'll have to go look next week.  My friend that loaned it me has retired, but he still has it and a whole machine shop full of stuff.  I'll try to run by next week and see what It was.  Now it has me stumped trying to remember what it was.I'm a Lover, Fighter, Wild horse Rider, and a pretty good welding man......
Reply:Originally Posted by Hammack_WeldingNot necessarily reddoggoose.  You can run a spoolgun off of a bobcat.  However there is a separate controller that miller makes that you will have to buy to use it.  I borrowed one once for a job I had, and it ran great, but be prepared for a shock when you price the spool gun and the control box.  They are STEEP!  Another option is from HTP  They make a spool gun that will hook to any engine drive, and I believe it runs around 800 bucks complete.  It looks pretty impressive, and if it performs like the other HTP equipment I have run I have no doubt that it is a quality product.  I am planning on purchasing one myself in the near future.
Reply:That's it, It was a WC 115 controller.  I remember that my LWS helped me set it up, and he mentioned it was a great unit but pretty pricey.  Let me clarify what I stated earlier.  The HTP gun will hook to any engine drive with a CV setting.  I have used a few of the htp machines over the years, and was pretty impressed with them.  I don't as of now own any, but that's due to other factors.  The spoolguns have a wire speed control at the box as well as on the handle of the gun so it can be adjusted at the gun which is pretty convenient.  Here is the link if you want to check out the htp gun.  http://www.htpweld.com/products/spool_gun/rsg250.htmI'm a Lover, Fighter, Wild horse Rider, and a pretty good welding man......
Reply:ok,went to the truck and found this lil bit of infobobcat 250 NT 250amps,10,000 wattsCC/CV AC/DCBeen pricing the RSG250-C from HTP,they run anywhere from500.0-600.0 so far.