motor generator vs nonmotor generator welders
- Thread starter jes25
- Start date
- Location
- Illinois
- Occupation
- retired electrician
Nope they both can do either.
Joethemechanic
Senior Member
- Location
- Hazleton Pa
- Occupation
- Electro-Mechanical Technician. Industrial machinery
That's a Motor/Generator Welder. You won't find them around much anymore unless you have someone doing heavy DC stick welding, hard facing, arc gouging, etc. They are almost always 100% duty cycle. Very smooth machines as far as welding goes. I think that one is smoother than my Lincoln SA-200 Redface
kwired
Electron manager
- Location
- NE Nebraska
- Occupation
- EC
Probably more common before rectifier driven types became more popular? The higher the current rating the more common even when there were some rectifier driven types out there?
What's the basic operating principle of a motor generator welder?
Joethemechanic
Senior Member
- Location
- Hazleton Pa
- Occupation
- Electro-Mechanical Technician. Industrial machinery
Yeah well I'd estimate the GE one I posted is 1930's to 1940's era and still welds beautiful.
I have two others out in the back. One operates, and the other one was apart when I got it and I never messed with it
The blue ones are a little more modern, I think 1960's maybe
Yeah high current/high duty cycle work all the mining companies used them. Not to mention they are really smooth to weld with. All the guys doing really heavy welding love them. And they are tough as nails
Eddie702
Licensed Electrician
- Location
- Western Massachusetts
- Occupation
- Electrician
@Joethemechanic
Had one at the shop I worked at. They did a small job for a guy, and he didn't pay but gave the shop the Lincoln welder. Worked great.
I sent it to a job once and was going to go and wire it but the pipefitter called me back and said the electrician on site said he would hook it up.
Then they called me and said it wouldn't work and sent it back to the shop.
Nothing wrong with it. The electrician had cut our cord cap off and hardwired it.
He had the rotation wrong
Same generator used on the Lincoln gas drives AFAIK
Had one at the shop I worked at. They did a small job for a guy, and he didn't pay but gave the shop the Lincoln welder. Worked great.
I sent it to a job once and was going to go and wire it but the pipefitter called me back and said the electrician on site said he would hook it up.
Then they called me and said it wouldn't work and sent it back to the shop.
Nothing wrong with it. The electrician had cut our cord cap off and hardwired it.
He had the rotation wrong
Same generator used on the Lincoln gas drives AFAIK
Joethemechanic
Senior Member
- Location
- Hazleton Pa
- Occupation
- Electro-Mechanical Technician. Industrial machinery
That one I posted first is a General Electric. My buddy has a GE gasoline welder powered by a Flathead Ford V8 that uses the same generator head. Smaller Flathead like a 60ish HP but still impressive for a gas powered welder especially from the 30's or 40's
But you got to remember they were working on equipment like this. The Anthracite King. Something breaks and you got guys burning rod 24 hours a day until the job is done, no safe spaces, no excuses,
zbang
Senior Member
- Location
- Roughly 5346 miles from Earls Court
Like any M-G set, the motor turns the generator to make a different voltage/current than the line. For welding there's a DC generator with specific characteristics to power an arc (constant current), not provide constant voltage. These were also common in movie theaters to power the arc lights on projectors and in spotlights.
An M-G can also produce a different frequency or phases if that's needed (e.g. 400Hz for aircraft or 415Hz for some mainframe computers), check out the wikipedia article about them.
hbiss
EC, New York NEC: 2017
- Location
- Little Falls, New York NEC: 2017
- Occupation
- EC