We've had a bad year with our welders but a good year business wise. Isn't funny how the only time things break is when you're using them?;)
The first welder to go down was a Kubota powered Multiquip after 1600 hrs. Again the motor is fine but the generator had catastrophic damage due to a failed bearing. New generator parts cost around $5K from MQ with a "discount" due to the low hours but that amount is totally unreasonable considering a completely new unit costs under $6K. We ended up buying a new unit to replace the MQ. Next our shop welder burned up from exeeding the duty cycle. Then this old Winco the thread is about stopped generating due to the brushes wearing off and cutting into the rotor(they were replaced once but we didn't add that maintenance item when we switched to computer scheduling. The repair shop says they can have the rotor built back up by TIG welding and machining it back to spec and install new brushes for around $1000. I have another portable unit as a backup so I think I'm gonna chance the repair.

Isn't it funny how much longer the 1989 machine outlived the 2002 machine many times over. What's even funnier is we have a 1978 400AMP machine with a Perkins that has outlived them all and is still running strong.

They don't make 'em like they used to.



"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge." Stephen W. Hawking