Hybrid Welding Cart Phase 1, Project 1 In Progress

Here are a couple of pics of the new cart i am building, I used 2x2x.200 Aluminum angle for the frame and .100 aluminum sheet for the shelves.All the angle and sheet was cut in the wood shop on a 16" radial saw or 12" mitre saw,sheet was cut on a 10" table saw with 80 tpi blade. I made the tank brackets out of angle also and cut a half moon shape in them to hold the bottle. Used a new military strap with a spring loaded latch to hold the bottle.The tires i have had for years and figured i would use them someday.I used a piece of pipe for the axle and inserted a 5/8" bolt in each end and welded it to the axle to serve as a spindle, a locknut was used to hold the wheel on the spindle.Had to go to HF and get 2 casters for the front mine all mounted different and would not work.Some of the welds were to say the least difficult my nerves are gone due to disease and i am not as steady as i used to be but they all worked out and after a little bit of fine tuning everything is good.Attachment 7543Attachment 7544Attachment 7545Attachment 7546Attachment 7547

I will post more pictures next week as this cart is long from done i have some interesting things to add next week.My old hospital cart from the earlier pics is now back to its original use short steel and clamps is what it's for.Hopefully i can get some welds that allow you to rest your arm and not be free hand.

Very nice cart! Do you mind me asking what you have in it for cost? I like it.

So far $12.00 in casters, $1.00 per pound in aluminum ( 35 pounds ) everything else i had

Phase 2 has been added, I fabricated a new roll out drawer 23" long x 14" wide x 11" high, Used .100 aluminum sheet some .100 aluminum tread plate and 2- 24" ball bearing drawer slides. Gives me a place too store my hood ,sleeves ,gloves tig consumables and tungsten along with the pedal. I left the drawer sides hang out on each side about 1 1/4" to act as a pull area to open. Also included a picture of the stich welds on the drawer edges used 1/16" filler rod 120 amps gas flow 9cfm, and 3/32" 2% ceriated Tungsten.Attachment 7613Attachment 7614Attachment 7615

That's a good start. Keep us updated as you add and grow it.

Very clean and light weight, I have TIG/MIG/Plasma on a steel cart. Pain to move it around. I think you have the right balance there.. And a big drawer is great. Wish my Tillman's were that clean, great choice in gloves.

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Originally Posted by cbmkr

So far $12.00 in casters, $1.00 per pound in aluminum ( 35 pounds ) everything else i had

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Awesome price! Nice work on the cart and drawer.

]Well i have finished with my cart, i added many other options to a standard cart design that i needed for my use. The cart was built from 2x2x.200 aluminum angle and .100 sheet, I added a drawer and got it functional.The next step was to make the plasma portable also for the simple reason it will go places like outside.I added a fold up door combo ramp and a couple of magnetic catches to hold the door closed. A little cart was fabricated from some angle and a couple of pneumatic tries i had and 2 casters added a removable handle to pull it around outside.I added some .060 6061 tubes to hold small amounts of filler rod on the cart. The to 2 angles on each rear upright were notched to make a place to hang the torch and the cord. I had a couple of SS Steel coated hooks with wood thread on them removed that and threaded them 3/8" -16 to hang cables on.My cost is less than $65.00 as the aluminum sheet and angle came from the scrap dealer.Attachment 7620Attachment 7621Attachment 7622Attachment 7623

Very slick. I like the roll out plasma cutter. Maybe add a rope to pull it around with. Price is not bad either. Lighter than steel too.

Nicely done! I like the portable plasma cart too. The ramp is a cool idea. I saw the first picture and was wondering how you were going to get that guy out of there! :D

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Originally Posted by everlastsupport

Very slick. I like the roll out plasma cutter. Maybe add a rope to pull it around with. Price is not bad either. Lighter than steel too.

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The handle is hanging on the LH side of the cart, used a piece of 1/4" round steel with a loop on the end to hold it and a hook to grab the cart

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Originally Posted by everlastsupport

Very clean and light weight, I have TIG/MIG/Plasma on a steel cart. Pain to move it around. I think you have the right balance there.. And a big draw is great. Wish my Tillman's were that clean, great choice in gloves.

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I Had to get new gloves they looked like my old sleeves.Attachment 7624

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Originally Posted by cbmkr

I Had to get new gloves they looked like my old sleeves.Attachment 7624

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They are really nice gloves, thin and great for TIG feel. They went up $2 a pair last year. But the price is still pretty good. My sleeves look nicer than yours for sure though :D

You did a great job on the cart! I really like it. Good place to use that welder.

Nice work.

That is an awesome cart. I am still trying to figure out exactly what I want to do on mine.... I would love to build mine out of AL but don't have access to a scrap like that.

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Originally Posted by ShaneJackson

That is an awesome cart. I am still trying to figure out exactly what I want to do on mine.... I would love to build mine out of AL but don't have access to a scrap like that.

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I once got a quick lecture from a welding foreman. He was always giving me drops when I needed steel and aluminum. One day, after visiting him, nice guy, I said I'm gonna go look in the scrap area. He stopped me and said "those are not scrap, they're drops". I was fortunate I was getting them, and still do for free. But it made me think about the deal I had there. When I buy a 20' stick of 1x1 and use 16 feet I hang on to that 4' drop left over ;)

Drop are something that can still be used and can be sold at a lesser rate. Scrap is normally something not worth the time (to most shops) and the scrap man takes them away (mind you I dig in that pile when I visit there too). :)

Just a heads up if you go looking for cheap and free material.

You are absolutely right they can be used and there is nothing wrong with them.
We called them shear cuts or drops, Our scrap dealer pulled out 2 containers a month with about 30,000 pounds ea of misc sheet material and structural,A lot of punch outs flame cut sheets ect.We saved all the steel shavings from our automatic saw's for roses and trees. All the lathe shavings went for other uses . Most of our shear drops under 4" in width went to scrap if we had punched enough flat washers for our own use.Any 10 ga & 7 ga strip over 6" was sold to a fabricator we new that stamped out parts for The GM Fairfax Plant in Kansas City Kansas.All of our sheet steel was ordered from Chicago in coils and cut to length, our structural came from the Nucor Mill in Nebraska, all the Square Tube , DOM Tube and Chrome cylinder rods came thru Marmon Keystone.After we fabricated all our parts there was not much left we were not big on waste.

I am looking at more 2x2 angle right now but do not know if i need to sit on about 45 pcs 17' long.The price is good but i don't need that much now.

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Originally Posted by cbmkr

I am looking at more 2x2 angle right now but do not know if i need to sit on about 45 pcs 17' long.The price is good but i don't need that much now.

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Wish I lived close. Would buy some off you. Lucky you.

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Originally Posted by cbmkr

You are absolutely right they can be used and there is nothing wrong with them.
We called them shear cuts or drops, Our scrap dealer pulled out 2 containers a month with about 30,000 pounds ea of misc sheet material and structural,A lot of punch outs flame cut sheets ect.We saved all the steel shavings from our automatic saw's for roses and trees. All the lathe shavings went for other uses . Most of our shear drops under 4" in width went to scrap if we had punched enough flat washers for our own use.Any 10 ga & 7 ga strip over 6" was sold to a fabricator we new that stamped out parts for The GM Fairfax Plant in Kansas City Kansas.All of our sheet steel was ordered from Chicago in coils and cut to length, our structural came from the Nucor Mill in Nebraska, all the Square Tube , DOM Tube and Chrome cylinder rods came thru Marmon Keystone.After we fabricated all our parts there was not much left we were not big on waste.

I am looking at more 2x2 angle right now but do not know if i need to sit on about 45 pcs 17' long.The price is good but i don't need that much now.

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I am going to need a ton of 2X2 angle soon when I start building my solar mounts. The local place I get metal from isn't cheap and then if they do any cutting they charge you an arm and a leg for labor!

cbmkr,

I really like your cart. Nice design and love the way the little one on the bottom comes out like R2D2.

I found my note pad in the shop today this was the first and only sketch i did, I just don't use cad anymore i have done to many drawings over the years.Attachment 7840

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Originally Posted by cbmkr

]Well i have finished with my cart, i added many other options to a standard cart design that i needed for my use. The cart was built from 2x2x.200 aluminum angle and .100 sheet, I added a drawer and got it functional.The next step was to make the plasma portable also for the simple reason it will go places like outside.I added a fold up door combo ramp and a couple of magnetic catches to hold the door closed. A little cart was fabricated from some angle and a couple of pneumatic tries i had and 2 casters added a removable handle to pull it around outside.I added some .060 6061 tubes to hold small amounts of filler rod on the cart. The to 2 angles on each rear upright were notched to make a place to hang the torch and the cord. I had a couple of SS Steel coated hooks with wood thread on them removed that and threaded them 3/8" -16 to hang cables on.My cost is less than $65.00 as the aluminum sheet and angle came from the scrap dealer.Attachment 7620Attachment 7621Attachment 7622Attachment 7623

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