building a generator?

[AMonger]

Convert a lawn mower into a generator!

These are plans to convert a lawnmower engine to a generator. Might this be cheaper than buying an expensive generator? Maybe build it inside a PVC frame?

 

[danthewolf00]

if you look at the frame they use 2x4's and a pre cut metal to frame it but still looks nice there is also a idea to use magnets to turn a alternator as well out on the net.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

Convert a lawn mower into a generator!

These are plans to convert a lawnmower engine to a generator. Might this be cheaper than buying an expensive generator? Maybe build it inside a PVC frame?

Mr, Monger....My best advice...don't nickle and dime yourself to death...BUY a generator...you are running well it appears, bite the bullet and you won't be sorry and with far less aggravation.

Chefdennis's generator appears to be running well for about $600

Do yourself a favour and don't cheap out on this..

 

[AMonger]

Mr, Monger....My best advice...don't nickle and dime yourself to death...BUY a generator...you are running well it appears, bite the bullet and you won't be sorry and with far less aggravation.

Chefdennis's generator appears to be running well for about $600

Do yourself a favour and don't cheap out on this..

I'm not running well at all. I'm signing on with other companies so I can make some money. The whole busy season has been wasted so far.

As for the lawn mower engine idea, another thing occurred to me: there are LOTS of places that can repair a lawnmower engine, almost anywhere. If I buy a generator like the Chef's and it goes down, I have to ship it somewhere, wait for repair or replacement, and be without power all that time. If the lawnmower generator goes down, I look up a small engine repair place in whatever town I'm in and I'm back up and running the same day or the next. I'm just concerned about how noisy a lawnmower engine would be.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

I'm not running well at all. I'm signing on with other companies so I can make some money. The whole busy season has been wasted so far.

As for the lawn mower engine idea, another thing occurred to me: there are LOTS of places that can repair a lawnmower engine, almost anywhere. If I buy a generator like the Chef's and it goes down, I have to ship it somewhere, wait for repair or replacement, and be without power all that time. If the lawnmower generator goes down, I look up a small engine repair place in whatever town I'm in and I'm back up and running the same day or the next. I'm just concerned about how noisy a lawnmower engine would be.

Guess I've been lucky...Anything that went wrong, like recoil or worn cord or dirty carb I've went to a lawnmower repair...the basics of a generator are the same as a lawn mower

 

[Turtle]

Most any small engine repair place can repair a small engine generator. The problem of having to sign on with multiple companies to make money, which few actually succeed in doing, is the much bigger problem.

 

[chefdennis]

Hmmmm, the warranty repair shop for the honeywell generator that i have is 3 miles from my house, he stocks the common parts and as Turtle said, is a Small engine repair shop......

Now as to the unit in the OP, a good 3-4 hp B&S (very reliable) lawnmower motor and a Delco (also a proven relible and easily rebuildable unit) could work very good...as for the noise factor, you can get good muffler for those motors and the head noise isn't overly load if the motor is in good condition, the higher the octane gas the better as the burn rate is better and les engine pre-ignition from "hot spots" of carbon build up helps keep the "head noise down...i certainly wouldn't be afraid to put one together and give it a try if the need arose....

 

[greg334]

Chef, I build a few of them, delco 120 amp alternator and a 4 horse engine does well enough. The muffler is an easy solution, one off of any 1.4L kubuto engine seems to work well.

 

[jjoerger]

I owned many generators over the years when I was in construction.
I once had a 2500 watt that used a 4 hp B&S verticle shaft with the generator head hanging underneath. It was the best running and longest lasting of all. The horizontal shafts did not seem to last as long.
It got me through 4 hurricanes too.

 

[AMonger]

Most any small engine repair place can repair a small engine generator. The problem of having to sign on with multiple companies to make money, which few actually succeed in doing, is the much bigger problem.

Everybody I run into with my company is signed on elsewhere. I take it back, I did just run into another last week, but he's slow now, too, and is going to sign on elsewhere also. When you run with the small companies, getting loads off load boards, having just one office looking doesn't work. That's not just what I say, but what everybody I've talked to who runs for the small guys says. I can't see any drawbacks to it.

 

[Turtle]

That's not just what I say, but what everybody I've talked to who runs for the small guys says. I can't see any drawbacks to it.

The drawbacks have been well documented here on EO. The biggest one is when you're signed on with multiple companies, it's not unusual for all of the companies that you're signed on with to be bidding on the same freight, for you, and you and the carrier end up running it for less than you would have otherwise. It happens more than you might think. More than a few people here have sat and watched it happen. Seen it myself a couple of times.

A few people have success with multiple companies, but it's just a few, and it's those who already know where freight comes from, usually.

One thing I've noticed with some people here is, they are constantly trying to reinvent the wheel using their own brand new light bulb inspired ideas that everyone has already thought of many times before. New and inventive ways of keeping warm, or keeping cool, or finding (even if you have to build it) a cheaper, better generator, yet all of those ideas have been tried before. There's a reason no one uses them. It's because they don't work, and there are other tried and true methods that have proven time and time again to work. So, people end up wasting a lot of time and money to reinvent the wheel, and end up using the tried and true, the regular wheel that someone already invented a long time ago.

It's the same with signing on with multiple companies because you're not running enough. With very few exceptions, multiple companies is the answer. For most, it's signing on with a carrier that can keep you busier, one that is either not a bottom feeder feeding on leftovers, or one that has their own customer base.

If you're taking freight that takes you to bad places, and/or you don't know the best place to go to wait for your next load, then multiple companies aren't going to help. If you are taking freight to good places, and/or know where to wait for your next load, then multiple companies aren't even necessary.

So you first have to determine why your carrier can't keep you busy. It is that your carrier is a bottom feeder, or is it where you find yourself sitting? Either way, once you've got a handle on that, you can make the adjustment. Signing on with multiple companies is more often than not treating the symptom rather than the cause. And it's a far bigger problem than finding a small engine repair facility.

 

[xiggi]

Chef, I build a few of them, delco 120 amp alternator and a 4 horse engine does well enough. The muffler is an easy solution, one off of any 1.4L kubuto engine seems to work well.

I have to ask. Do you drive?

 

[OntarioVanMan]

Ya know..In all my years..there is no end of people like Mr. AMonger....trying not to beat the system, but re invent a new system...Do they end up with more money after all is said and done? I've not met one yet....nothing substitutes better then experience and finding that carrier that fits...Is Mr Mongers cash needs greater then the biz can provide? Maybe...

I too at the beginning thought i was re-inventing the wheel , always think of what i thought were novel ways to run and make more money...to think of all the money wasted on the toys and trying to do it on the cheap..all of which never panned out...except for my solar AA battery recharger...

 

[greg334]

I have to ask too, do you?

 

[AMonger]

Had to have some work done at the shop today, and I asked the mechanic what he thought of the lawn mower engine/generator idea. He said by the time you buy the engine, the alternator, the belts, the pulley, etc., you're almost up to the $600 Honeywell. Not quite, but close enough that it wouldn't pay to go on the cheap. He did say, though, that he bought a $250 generator from Aldi's, of all places, that runs perfectly well and he's very pleased with it.

 

[chefdennis]

I ain't buyin $600 in one of these at all....I good used B&S motor (including the mower) can be bought for alot less then $100...a rebuilt Delco alt for any parts house can be had for about $85...the rest of the needed parts can't be more then $100 new....you are looking at less then $300 if you can do the work yourself and maybe another $50 if you pay someone....

 

[xiggi]

I have to ask too, do you?

You did not answer the question.

I do drive myself.

 

[greg334]

I know I didn't answer the question. I asked as a deflection.

See Xiggi, I do drive but also manage a small fleet for some one else, take care of personal things and do a lot of other crap I don't like to do but I do drive. I stay very close to home and have for the last few months which I won't get into but I do drive and I make money.

By the way I never said I built them all at once, been building these things for something like 30 years so I can add something to the conversation.

 

[Turtle]

I too at the beginning thought i was re-inventing the wheel , always think of what i thought were novel ways to run and make more money...to think of all the money wasted on the toys and trying to do it on the cheap..all of which never panned out...except for my solar AA battery recharger...

Before I went in-service for the very first time ever, I removed the passenger seat from my E-350 and built my Turtle Desk. I was proud of my Turtle Desk and very pleased with myself for my original thinking. I went in-service and drove to the Flying J on Oal Grove to wait for my first load. I pulled up to the door in front of the store, right next to another expediter. I looked over and saw that his passenger seat was gone, and in it's place was something that looked an awful lot like my Turtle Desk.

Both pride and innocence were shattered that day, and I learned that whatever I could think of, someone else has probably already thought of it and is already using it. That was the last time I tried to reinvent the wheel without checking with someone first.

 

[AMonger]

when you're signed on with multiple companies, it's not unusual for all of the companies that you're signed on with to be bidding on the same freight, for you, and you and the carrier end up running it for less than you would have otherwise.

As long as I'm running for a flat rate, it wouldn't matter. It only matters which of the companies has the lowest overhead.