Generator Plus Welder or Engine Drive Welder/Generator Part 2

What should you use? A generator plus welder or an engine drive combo welder/generator? Part 2

To figure out where this trend originated, we need to take a look back at the development of the inverter welder.   These machines were more compact and less power hungry than old transformer versions of a similarly capable welder.  This made them truly portable   In times past no one would dare heft a 400 lb TIG unit onto the back of their truck and try to run it off the generator part of their welder.   So, welding  manufacturers  would offer High Frequency boxes and wire feeders that could run off their welding generators.  These “TIG Kits” and wire feeders came at an expensive cost.  These “add on” items would even cost as much as the welder generator themselves by the time all the options were added, and the welding generator was modified to accept the options needed.  These rigs were invariably expensive to outfit and performance while adequate was usually not quite as good as a shop unit.  This trend started to change as two important things happened.  1)  Inverters were introduced into the market place.   People were leery at first of new technology and struggled to understand the benefits, but after some initial improvements, inverters began to carve  out their market, often sending the heavy transformers into the corner to collect dust.  2) At the same time, engine driven welders began to improve their power output, making them more powerful, while producing a cleaner sine wave.   These could now be used to work and play and be a legitimate source of household power backup.

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