Generator to run a welder

[andrew.searston]

Hi everyone
I have a lack of electricity at my garage and need todo some welding I have a sealed mighty mig 150 or 180 I can’t remember any ideas what size portable generator would power this?

[amgrave]

It's awkward using a generator to power a welding set. What happens is as the welding set strikes up the generator starts working harder and the revs go down which then puts the throttle on more to up the revs, this makes the generator output fluctuate which in turn affects the output of the welding set. This does not matter so much when welding thick metal but it does for the finer control needed for thin metal. The only way round the problem is to use a generator with a large output, say at least 5kva and is not so portable and usually on wheels.

[irmscher]

Have a look at a 6kva