Any problems with this (awesome) setup??

[kolot]

If you put any stock, and you should, in the combined experience here that is not and awesome setup. Most of us , as you are, were once young and I bet most, I know I did, started with a " Tombstone" I used to run a cord from my mothers kitchen stove outlet to power it, She was not happy. A decent machine to start, Not a road machine. Save yourself a lot of money, and aggravation and go to craigslist and find a nice, not to old, gas drive with CV. You will find out if welding is for you and you will have a machine that will last for years or will retain enough value if you choose to sell it. Good Luck and keep us posted.

[Donald Branscom]

ok guys, all irrelevant opinions aside;
can i reliably run a 40amp-225volt welder on a 17500watt Generac portable generator? this generator is rated with 63 amps @ 240 volts, i would hope that this is plenty enough to handle the load from this welder?

Welders are not made to be run from those generators for several reasons but for $1800.00 You can get a Miller Portable generator welder. HONDA also makes one and is safe, and the welder will not ruin the generator or get you electrocuted when standing on wet grass out on the land.

The amperage can triple on start of a load for a few seconds, so you need a generator made for welding.

Like I say Miller or HONDA welder -Generator unit. SAVE MONEY
If you live off the land you have to learn to save money.
And remember if you get out on the land away from people Where will you get jobs?
All through life you need to interact with people.

[RubberFrog]

I recommend growing beans "off the grid," and then converting a generator to run on methane.

[GiddyWelder]

oooooh methane!

[Flatswelding]

I have a lincoln ranger 8 with 600 hours on it that I picked up used for $1300.00 that runs great and can use to weld any wear. Then I got lazy and didn't what to lay out 50-75ft of leads for a 10 or 20min job so I bought a miller maxstar 150 STL for 850.00 used. So know I have 1 cord going a 100ft and I can ajust my ampage right next to me vs walking 50-100ft back to the truck or down the ladder. The best thing is that maxstar will run off 110/220 and is 15 lbs and if other power is there I just wire a pig tail in and use it. I do about 90% of my stick welding with the maxstar. So for $2150.00 bucks I have a nice seat up for me. I would like to have a miller trailblazer 302 airpak some day but for now this is it. hope this helps some.

[halfmoa]

If you're going off the grid and need to weld then you should look at O/A welders. Save the wear and tear on the generator for other things....and by the way, you don't need to weld or have electricity if you're going off the grid.

[fhsfiremanco1]

I bought my first welder when I was 16 tho I has already working in a trade part time. But then again I still saved my money for trucks and car tho. I think it is cool he wants to weld but I think running a buzz box off a gen. is gonna be less then ideal for him.

[Svensken]

good news!
i took the cheaper/more suitable route and did away with AC altogether, and got a Maxstar 150 STL, because i dont need anything more than 220v DC and i can go as small as i want, plus i can make a TIG upgrade down the road when i get good enough!

[A Squared]

Thank you for the correction!

Can you elaborate a bit more so a northern redneck knows what the he!! he's talking about?

A trotline is a set line with multiple hooks hanging off of it. It's generally used for catfish.

[RancherBill]

Svensken you don't seem to be in that much of a hurry to make a purchase.

I was at the LWS today and they were talking about the new Lincoln coming out this fall. I thought of you wanting to be off the grid. It is a super new semiconductor technology. They say this new one uses so little power that it could be powered from the smiles of little children.

[Big65mopar]

Wow peer pressure.

Going through the latest AWS zine I ran across an article about a school using solar for its welding program. By day the program runs off the solar and the school is off the grid and by night it goes back on the grid, I'll have to get the article out of the van and look into it further to find out the size and amount of the panels as well as the size of the battery bank and whether they went with traditional rigid panels or the flexible thin film photovoltaics.