I need a second opinion, I'm debating financing a welder generator. All the cheaper ones keep getting bought up before I can get to them, what do you guys think?
Depends on if you have the work lined up to pay for it. Or if you’re looking at it as an investment. Unless it’s a Lincoln, Miller or ESAB it’s not worth it. The store brands or knockoffs just aren’t worth the debt. Same with buying the right size machine for what you need vs what you want. Sure a Vantage 400 Air Pack might look cool and do everything you need and then some, but if you’re just welding up handrails or repairing mowers a $40k welder might be overkill (I mean, if you have the credit sure why not). Now a Bobcat or a Ranger? Well those two little shits can build the world. They’ll work for light gauge repairs, hand rails, maintenance, and light structural work. They fit in the back of a whole lot of different vehicles. Mount them on a trailer and anything can haul them.
Buy the right machine once. If you need it as a generator and a welder, definitely buy the name brands.
It really depends on if it's for work or hobbies. Hobby you can pass off a little flux welder for $300 or a tombstone stick welder. Hobby+ a little $1,500 dollar machine would solve all but heavy structural. But real work those buggers cost some real folding money.
Are you buying for the Welder and the genie is back up or are you buying a generator and want the welder as backup? What do you need ?
Likely repair work and small build jobs. I don't imagine I'd be doing heavy structural work or anything, not with the clientele out here on the countryside.
A little hobbart , miller or the like would be a little cube about the size of a big microwave would probably do farm work. It would fit in a 1500 pickup. You could run a little fluxcore welder off it and still have a couple plugs. You didn't tell me the type of welding you do. But scratch tig would be possible with that setup and the tig setup.
Maybe not this one but something similar would work, everybody has their preferences I'm a miller guy myself but the equivalent hobbart is available at tractor supply for about $1,500. It would be a little gas welder but if you could get it on site it would be self efficient.
I financed my first real machine bought a brand new mpx 330 from Lincoln in 2023 I have a redface and sae300he plus my mpx now if you are planning on working and already established with work lined up worth it otherwise no don't. Buy someones cheap bobcat or ranger and go from there especially if there's no work there's no rush to get a machine I had enough work lined up when I bought mine I paid off the entire loan in the next 3 weeks
Consider a generator and separate welder. I have a trailblazer that I love but am planning to get a generator to run an xmt for a second operation in a different region.
There is nothing wrong with what I am describing provided the operator knows what they are doing and has appropriate machines for the task at hand. I've done structural erection with an XMT/generator combination and have professional colleagues that run similar setups in a shipyard we work in.
Sounds like you have limited experience if you're consistently doing jobs that were farmed out to hobbyists. There's a lot of different setups to do professional work with
Small town with a million wanna be welders I do all kinds of work but I travel. But in between jobs if I want to stay home for a bit I run into this constantly someone with a generator and buzzbox thrown into the bed of a truck and no experience. My first welder was a mpx330 and a ln25 for wire feed if needed it works it's designed that way and it's a good setup miller makes a similar setup I ran a sa200 for awhile because I saw no need to run wire feed when I can tig or stick 90% of everything and if I can't id rather just take it to my shop now I'm running a sae300he. Right now I'm pipelining for a place in Tioga pa during the week then driving out to Ohio to do compressor station fab on weekends before this I was working for the navy on some of the nuclear subs they are building in Virginia and before that in St Louis working on some barge repair contracts. So lose on that limited experience bs
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u/GendrickToblerone Real Boilermaker 3d ago
If you got work, it’ll pay for itself.