Posted by Dave Jensen on Thursday, May 08, 2003 at 3:35AM :
In Reply to: 230 powered welder/ generator... posted by Jonas on Thursday, May 08, 2003 at 1:04AM :
I'd be interested in hearing how this works out for you. I'm going to look at a Hobart 110 gen/welder 4KW with a 4cyl gas flathead, hopefully this week. A friend has had it stored for years, motor's froze up. My shop is off-grid so I use a '60s 4KW Lister dls/Kohler generator to run a wire feed and other shop tools. Cost $1,200 eight years ago. My neighbors wear out their $2,000 Honda's every few years. For the price, you can't beat that old iron.
I've looked at a couple of Hobarts, but never found one in any kind of condition for under $1,000. Those were smaller and had 4 cyl flatheads, saw one with a 251. I'd say $500 is a great price if it works good. I wouldn't be shy at all about asking to hook up leads and weld, and check the AC output. Does it have 220 also? Probably DC-only welding.
I'm curious what RPM that generator runs at. In old generators, low rpm (1200 to 1850) is desirable over the 3600 rpm units. I think that shows the difference between 2 and 4 pole wiring? Can't remember on the Hobarts, but the other welder/generators with gas engines were high-RPM machines. I think the Lincoln welders were high RPM and they seem to hold up fine.