My worst project was buying a used Onan powered 5kw generator/welder. I
got it very cheap since it turned over with virtually no compression. I
figured that it would have only one major glitch, the engine was the
problem. Got it home, stuck valve, freed that up, started right up. But
no power output.

Spent good money buying brushes, flashing the stator, etc. No go. Tore
it down, half of the windings were completely burned out. Onan wanted
$1700 for the new windings. NOT! Scrapped the generator section.

Found a 5 kw generator head on a close out. Built a frame to marry the
two together. Not stiff enough, doubled the steel in the frame.
Additional welding caused it to warp badly. Got things aligned with a
lot of grinding and shims.

Used a Lovejoy coupler to marry the engine to the generator head. Just
enough misalignment left over to wipe out couplings within an hour or two.

Sold the unit for less than I had in it in parts, not to mention all the
hours of messing around with it. And still didn't have either backup
power or a portable welder.

ARGH!!!

Ignoramus689 wrote:
What was the most ill-conceived, unsuccessful, and worthless/expensive
DIY style project that you undertook (I would say without counting any
injuries as they could outweigh everything else)?

My biggest one is a shed that I built. Not counting my shoulder sprain
due to a posthole digger, the shed is way too narrow to be truly
useful. It is attached to the deck along its longer side, so it is
inconspicuous, but if it was 3-4 feet wider, it would have been a lot
more useful. The shed stands, is dry, and functions as designed, but
it was poorly designed.

i