welder generator?

admin

Ok I know I'm comparing apple's to oranges here but I want opinions.  My generator crapped out on me.  It's toast and not fixable. So I figgure why not buy a high quality welder generator.  I am not a pro welder. I build BBQ pits and a few other things on the side for extra money.  I own a small peace of land that my family uses for recreation.  Mostly camping hunting and shooting.  I've got a 2005 Dodge 3500 the welder is going on the bed.  I am looking at getting either a trailblazer 302 airpack or a big blue pipe pro.  I really like the idea of having the air compressor, battery charger, AC and DC capabilities.  Out on the property I'm always finding myself in need of air!  Nail guns, impact guns to change tires, inflating tires. Or I may need to jump the tractor for some reason. All of this really makes me lean to the 302 aipack.  I was thinking about adding an engine driven air compressor to my truck.  The 302 airpack would save me a lot of room and tools in the truck. The benefits of the big blue pipe pro 300 is its a lower rpm engine supposidly lasts a lot longer. If I remember right 500 hour service intervals vs 250.  Quieter as well as I can fill it up from the 100 gallon tank in the truck. If I get the diesel I'm probably gonna save up and buy an engine driven air compressor.  The machine will be used in one way or the other a few times a month with a couple used for several days in a row for power each year.  I don't know if that makes a difference.
Reply:Unless you need mad air its a lot of extra money. It might make more sense to what you gave as examples  to get a plug in air compressor for a couple hundred bucks and get a normal person welder/generator.
Reply:Ditto. Especially for occasional use, I would not get the airpak. Big money to buy and to repair. I have two air compressors that I use on jobs. A big gas drive and a small electric. The little electric pancake works fine for everything except die grinders, and it runs fine off my trailblazer. My TB stays in the truck and I find I use it a lot more than I did when I had it on a trailer.I am considering making a skid for it though. A TB 302 can be had used for about 3k and will give you all the aux power you need, and welds well.
Reply:You guys are probably right I think I'm trying to buy way more than I need.  Would there be any real bennifit getting a diesel.
Reply:I agree with 7A749. I would get a TRAILBLAZER and use the rest of the money for used air compressor and more goodies. The gas air compressors go pretty cheap in my area.  I have a gas 302 with the SUBARU engine. Could not be happier. Bought it with 202 hours for $2200.00 with a 100' of lead, stinger ,and  ground with one year left on warranty too.. Deals are out there but you gotta act fast and show up with CASH.  I can't see the money investing in a diesel unless to use it everyday. We have diesel machines at work but they run 5 days a week. I use mine for farm use, hobby stuff, and back up power when needed. At full load it might use a gallon a hour. Even though I have a onsite diesel tank  I prefer the gasoline.
Reply:I would recommend the TB 325 EFI personally.  Unless you really need the air, the airpak probably is an extra you won't end up using.  The Big Blue is a great welder, but much less of a generator than the TB is (unless you get the deluxe which is a 16,000 machine).  The TB325 EFI will run for a long time (useful if you actually have to provide backup power to your house overnight and you don't want to wake up to add more fuel).I went through a bit of the same decision set you were about 3 years ago and decided to get the TB302 EFI instead of the airpak or the big blue because:It provided more backup generator power (Big Blue was 5500w and the 302EFI was 12000w)I didn't need the airpack and the additional $6000 for the airpak would have been a waste of moneyThe runtime on the EFI was long enough that I could fill up the generator for the evening and not have to wake up to put more gas in before morningThe EFI was less than a third of the price of the big blueTo give you an idea, the Big Blue (non-deluxe) is a 5500w generator which means at 220v you're getting about 25amps.  The TB325EFI is a 12,000w generator which means at 230v you're getting about 52amps.  The extra power when running on backup generator is a wonderful thing.--Wintermute"No man's knowledge here can go beyond his experience." - John Lockewww.improvised-engineering.comManufacturer Agnostic:Blood----------Sweat---------Tears----|------------------|----------------|----Lincoln Red, Miller Blue, Esab Yellow
Reply:I have used my TB302 for home power when needed, and I'd like to speak to that for a minute.  For me, its output is way more than I needed.  I really only need to power a fridge and a few lights.  If buying for that route, the TB302 is LOUD and a gas HOG compared to a small Honda EU2000i or similar.  As far as fuel consumption goes, I had extension cords running to my and my neighbor's house from my TB302 during that week-long outage from the Derecho (or however you spell it) that hit at the end of June last year, and it easily provided power overnight with no worries - at least 12 hours continuous run time with a refill well before it ran dry.  But during an extended outage when gas is nearly impossible to find and expensive when you do, there are better options unless you just have to have 220V for something in the house.  I can tell you that although my TB302 is sitting in the shop about 50 yards away right now, one of those little Honda generators will be powering my house next time there's an outage.I'm going to go against the grain a little and suggest that if you're really in need of an engine-driven welder, for your purposes I'd step down quite a bit and buy a used Bobcat for $1000 - $1500.  If you don't actually need an engine-drive, a welder that runs from household power is sure a lot quieter, not to mention less expensive to run.  There was a time when the only welder I had was an engine-drive.  I'm sure glad that time is past.As far as air, I regularly use a small pancake compressor plugged into either jobsite power or my TB302 for my air needs without complaint - for $150 or $200, it would do anything you described, be easy to carry right where you needed it, and be cheap to replace in case of theft or damage.Just my $0.02.
Reply:tbone brings up a good point...that point is this:It depends on your situation as to what you'll need/want.In tbones case, he doesn't require the additional power output of the TB and can get away with just running his fridge, etc... off of a little guy.In my case, I need to run my pellet stove, lights, water heater, well pump, fridge, and I also run the electric stove.  This all works off of my TB...and wouldn't even come close off of anything less than a 12kw.On my property, my shop's electrical panel is fed from my house, so I just cut the main breaker so I'm disconnected from the power lines, then plug the TB into a socket in the shop which back feeds power to the main house panel and I don't have to run extension cords anywheres.Gas is also a good point.  I have 60 gallons on my property at all times with Stabil in it and it all gets rotated out for new gas every 6 months.  When the power is out in a large area, finding fuel is a pain.--Wintermute"No man's knowledge here can go beyond his experience." - John Lockewww.improvised-engineering.comManufacturer Agnostic:Blood----------Sweat---------Tears----|------------------|----------------|----Lincoln Red, Miller Blue, Esab Yellow
Reply:My big blue runs for about 30 hours on 12 gallons of diesel fuel.... That being said it is a good bit heavier then the gas burners but it is alot quieter. I would buy a 325 and probably will once my big blue 300 gets acouple thousand more hours on her. I saw one on the job site the other day and the guy said it was one of the best machines he ever ran. He said they were running about 20 hours on a tank of fuel in it and it was welding like butter. I would just like the weight saving and the cost of diesels and parts are out ragious.Vantage 300 kubota ,miller 304 xmt ,lincoln ln 25 pro , ranger 305 G, plenty of other tools of the trade to make the sparks fly.
Reply:Zapzoo-Here is another input for your dilemma…..  I own a 302G and can’t say enough good about these machines, if you load share during outages you can maintain everything in your house.  I had a Gen switch in my last house and the trailblazer would maintain the normal house hold items during the day and at night I would shut the house down and run the central A/C.  I did this through about every hurricane in Florida when I was stationed down there.  (Even ran the pool pump during the day, got to stay comfortable!)  Also something to think about is that you can get a kit and run propane if you had a large tank on your property.  I was in a rental house for in VA for a while and had to use the 302 to power all my 220V stuff including my MM251 and EconoTig and it never failed me, plus it welds like a dream.  I can’t speak on the other machines mentioned above, but if money was not a limiting factor I would buy a Diesel Airpack and mount it and a 100gl fuel tank on a trailer and call it a day!!!!!!  Good luck on your decision.Walt
Reply:I purchased a Lincoln Eagle from Welding Mart back in September.  I've been very happy with it so far, and the welder is paying for itself.  Right now I could not justify spending more money that what I spent.  Obviously with engine drives the more you spend the more you get.  I would think a Lincoln Eagle, Ranger 225, Miller Wildcat, or Bobcat 225 would be just fine for what you are doing.
Reply:I must agree with sm265. I purchased a lincoln eagle about two weeks ago to help with metal shop construction and be trailer mounted after that.  It was easy to justify compared to spending 20000 to have someone else put up the shop. Having said that, it is dc only.  It works great for me and once the shop is built it will be for backup and building a corral. I also have a pancake compressor that Ill run off it when I'm framing out the inside of the shop, in one corner for an office. Having said that, if money were no object I probably would have gone with the ranger 305g or tb 302.  Good luck with your choice
Reply:I may have lucked out was up at the station buying diesel fuel for my truck and the fellow next to me had a Bobcat Welder on the back of his duly truck with a few electrical outlets connected to it.  The unit looked brand new. I commented on how new it looked and he said yep was low hour had 220 hours on it He only used it to run his freezer in emergency but wife had died and he sold his freezer.  Ask him how did it weld and he said he didnt know had a new heavy duty set of welding leads with ground clamp and electrode holder at his home along with a lot of tools from his retirement. The rest of the story is went to his home tried the welder. Did some research didnt want a HOT WELDER and now am the proud owner for 50 cents on the doller. I bet there are more machines out there if one was very careful and checked craigs list and was patient.  richey sweet home alabama
Reply:I'm gong to take the general advice here and start looking for a used trailblazer however if I find a good deal on a used bobcat I'll probably jump on it.  How many hours on the machine is considered low / high also when are the gas units generally due for an overhaul.  What expenses are involved in overhauling the machines? Thanks
Reply:One other thing.  I am reading that the Trailblazers have "independent" welding and power generators.  Does this mean you can get full use of the generator and weld at the same time?  I'm wandering if one person could plug in leads and arc weld with the welder generator and another person could plug in and power a separate welding machine at the same time.  Not that it really matters as I will probably never do this but I was just wandering.
Reply:Yes, you can weld and run a tool at the same time.
Reply:Originally Posted by ZapzooOne other thing.  I am reading that the Trailblazers have "independent" welding and power generators.  Does this mean you can get full use of the generator and weld at the same time?  I'm wandering if one person could plug in leads and arc weld with the welder generator and another person could plug in and power a separate welding machine at the same time.  Not that it really matters as I will probably never do this but I was just wandering.
Reply:Thanks for the info!!
Reply:The nice feature with the TRAILBLAZER is when using the generator  to power a tool and welding at the same time arc is not affected. The older machines really sucked when trying to do both.
Reply:So would I be better off trying to find an EFI unit or just the classic carb versions. The EFI may be a bennifit.  I've read if the unit is going to sit for a few months EFI is way better. Anyway if you had the option. For a casual use like a couple times a month would there be any real benefit?