need diesel-PTO-driven welder rigged as-> emergency home generator too. Guidance, please.

Thank you, Courtney

Reply to
Courtney Thomas
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Try Northern tool, they have tractor PTO welder/generators in almost every capacity that is likely to be useful for a home or small farm. I'd guess 10Kw would be enough for MOST emergency needs, but if you have long power outages and need to run a lot of equipment then you might need more.

Reply to
2regburgess

Thank you for the suggestion, which varies from my intent/desire in that...... I have the diesel truck w/PTO, AND a cheap welder [in which someone burnt up the motor] that I wish to adapt to... running from the truck's PTO.

Now, I want to use the diesel engine not only to weld but also as an emergency power source.

I don't wish to buy a welder to merely connect to the PTO. That'd be expensive :-)

In other words, I have all the pieces, I just need to properly connect them with an eye on the dual usage.

Hope I'm now clearer in my intent. Sorry for my former inadequate description.

Appreciatively,

Courtney

snipped-for-privacy@earthl> Try Northern tool, they have tractor PTO welder/generators in almost

Reply to
Courtney Thomas

Without some more details on the welder, we probably can't be specific. But here are a couple of things that are likely to be in the way:

Welder/generators almost always run at either 1800 rpmor 3600 rpm. When in use, you really have to maintain that speed. I'm not sure which PTO you have, it's' not likely that the shaft speed will be that high. Even running it straight off the crankshaft might be a problem, 1800 rpm is a bit low for most engines (except the BIG disels), 3600 rpm will shake them apart. All of a sudden you will be talking about a speed increase belt or gear system, usually in the 1:3 range. The HP requirements will likely want multiple 'V' belts or a big toothed belt.

The other thing you may hit is that many of these units have only 3 bearings for the engine and generator combined, 2 on the engine, the generator shares one with the engine. When you try to use the generator sperately you have to rig out a mounting plate with a suitable bearing. Think about a piece of 1/2" aluminum plate that bolts to the case, a large ball bearing set in a 4 bolt flange mount in the center. Then you will need some sort of extention shaft with the proper taper to mate up to it. If you want to pulley drive it, you will need another bearing on the other side of the pulley.

You would probably be better off selling off the welder/generator to someone who can just rebuild/repalce the engine.

YMMV

Courtney Thomas wrote:

Reply to
RoyJ

Roy,

Thank you for your surmise. If you know of any information source for connecting a diesel engine to a welder/generator, I'd appreciate hearing about it.

To try offering a little more information....

1-the engine is a 335 Cummins [885 cu in] diesel, so 1800 rpm engine speed is OK, 3600 is out

2-don't know PTO rpms but I don't assume it's near 1800, so maybe trying to run off the engine crankshaft [pulley w/big belt] might be better. I assume I can get sufficient info from Cummins to finally get to a welder/generator shaft turning 1800 rpms

3-pardon my ignorance, but when using the generator separately and assuming the diesel engine & welder/generator are already connected, why is a "mounting plate w/bearing" needed...beyond the existing welder/generator hookup ? Also, again assuming the welder is already connected to the diesel engine, what is the described extension shaft for ? Or is all this your description of how to connect the diesel engine to the welder/generator ?

I already own the diesel engine and welder, so I can't imagine that discarding them and buying a welder/generator unit could be more sensible, but maybe I don't have enough knowledge, imagination, or experience yet... :-)

Cordially, Courtney

RoyJ wrote:

Reply to
Courtney Thomas

For my farm tractors, I use a PTO generator to power a Lincoln buzzbox I use in the field.

The generator has a gear box on it to step up the shaft speed for the tractor's 540 rpm shaft. Without the gearbox, or a modification, thereof, the shaft speed could be adapted to a truck's PTO. Cheaper, yet, might be to connect one of the belt-driven models to the truck's PTO. Either, of these are readily available at numerous farm suppliers. They also are fairly common in the used markets.

I know of one operation that uses the truck PTO to power a hydraulic pump which in turn drives separate generator, aircompressor, welder, and pump units, via hydraulic motors.-- Look for a used wet line kit.

Reply to
Russ

Sorry, after rereading the posts, again, I misunderstood what you were trying to do.

Go with the used wetl> For my farm tractors, I use a PTO generator to power a Lincoln buzzbox I

Reply to
Russ

One more time!

Re the 3 bearings issue: Take a look at this genset;

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setup has 2 big bearings in the stock motor, **ONE** bearing in the generator portion on the right side of the unit. If you pull off the motor and toss it, the generator end has only one bearing. You need to supply that support and bearing. The result is one with two bearings like so;
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your existing setup looks like the first one, you likely have some bearing plate issues. If it looks like the second and hooks to the exisitng engine with a coupling, you are in good shape. My lengthy description of the bearing plates is what you would need to rig up a single bearing unit.

Re the engine. I presume the 335 Cummins ( and the 885 cubes) means around 335 HP. This is a huge engine, it translates to 250 kw. And it certainly would be running at 1800 rpm as a stadnard operating range. If the engine still has a tranny attached, the pto is likely to be much slower than 1800. If it was a stationary engine, and the PTO comes straight off the back of the engine, it's likely to be a straight though design running at crank speed.

You still haven't said what the welder/generator looks like. But it sure sounds like a major mismatch > Roy,

Reply to
RoyJ

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