New cart design, am I nuts?

So with the addition of the new 200DX, planned additions of an Everlast plasma unit and MIG unit later this year, my existing cart isn't going to cut it. I had a moment of inspiration the other night, but I'm not sure if it was a great idea or a stupid idea that sounded great in my mind.

I bought a TON of this system of a friend who was closing up part of his shop http://www.discountshelving.com/Cate...?CategoryID=35

Have about a dozen 3x6 panels, and three boxes of shelves, baskets, brackets and hooks.

I was thinking of using two of these, or parts of two of these, to build a new cart. I'd have one front to back and one side to side in a T shape. Bottles stored in each corner of the T (one 75/25 one straight Ar). Weld them to a base with wheels, welder and plasma on one side, pair of MIGs on the other, brackets/baskets/hangers above and behind to offer flexibility of hoses and consumable storage.

Whatcha think folks?

Is that going to be strong enough to hold a welder??? Or are you going to mount it low??? Looks like a good place to hold shoes!!! Creative mind you should come up with something neat.

This sounds plausible Trip, you are going to have a lot of weight on it so you may want to frame out in square tubing around the base and square or angle up the sides … keep the heavier stuff low. BTW how are you liking your 200DX? Was worth the wait wasn’t it?

The racks I have came out of a motorcycle shop and were holding heavy steel and aluminum parts. Of course I'll keep an eye on stresses and weights and will add in supports or reinforcements where needed. The main consideration was using it to provide massive areas and options for organization above and behind the welders.

BTW, this stuff is thick, 1/4+ thick wire, all welded together, heavy and thick brackets, up to 3/8"

As far as the welder... plug is on, wife is picking up Ar today for me, but I've been too damn busy with work and training the new pup to even set foot in the shop.

I like the all the possibilities of the stuff you can hang off of it, sounds like a pretty good plan. The only thing I might suggest would be to put your bottles on the other side of the T (or make it lower case), then you would gain more hanging area in front of the cylinders. Are you going to use the same stuff for sides too? That would add a bunch of rack space.

Hadn't thought of sides, I don't want stuff hanging off the sides, just both sides of the center. Lowercase T might work, but I pretty much wrote off the space behind the welders for bottles, tough to get in and out of. Figure above the bottles and welders and off the back of the cart.

I greatly appreciate the input and suggestions, I'll be holding the thing together with wire initially to play with configurations and will try everything out before cutting and welding.

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Originally Posted by Trip59

Hadn't thought of sides, I don't want stuff hanging off the sides, just both sides of the center. Lowercase T might work, but I pretty much wrote off the space behind the welders for bottles, tough to get in and out of. Figure above the bottles and welders and off the back of the cart.

I greatly appreciate the input and suggestions, I'll be holding the thing together with wire initially to play with configurations and will try everything out before cutting and welding.

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It is your cart and should meet YOUR needs, I just like to maximize the amount of stuff I can fit in a given space. I never even considered the back as storage space since mine will probably spend a lot of time pushed up against a wall, plus you have to walk around the cart to get tools/supplies that are hanging there, although there is quite a bit of real estate there. As far as sides, I think I wiil have a rack on one side for filler rod, and maybe hang the leads on the other.

The way my shop is set up, the back has room, the sides don't, it rolls into a space between a wood rack and tools.

I was thinking filler rods in tubes right over the top of the welders, slight incline.

And before someone says something about how do you hold the short ones... not sure if anyone has done it, but a trick from gas rods in an old muffler shop, pair of pliers and bend a J into the end of a short rod so it hangs on the edge and doesn't slide down into the holder.

Back would be for hanging things that don't get used often, extra cables, extension cord, wheels and discs for grinders, etc.

May adjust organization for now, I planned for now to have a welder on each side, bottle on each side, but I went 125, so I may put both welders on one side for now to offset the difference between a 40 and 125 till I pick up a 125 75/25... IF I pick one up before I get the other MIG

Post pics when you start building it ... sounds good.

Oh yeah, pics from mock-up to completion, this is going to be a project for the contest. Then I'll post pics of my welding the cutout from my other cart back in so I can use the cart again (was a HF 3 shelf cart I cut a D section out of the middle for a 40ft bottle, saved the cutout :) )

Outstanding ... I look forward to seeing the updates.

Just another teaser... got the wheels and some storage containers today... went with 8" 1100lb rated wheels... all 4 of em, no damn casters for me!

http://www.harborfreight.com/media/c...image_9445.jpg
Two of these for all the TIG consumables

4 of these
http://www.harborfreight.com/media/c...mage_16473.jpg

One for each corner

Yup, it's gonna be a fun build, some neat tricks I'm going to pull that will change some thinking about welding carts for sure... When I start this weekend I'm going to start an actual build thread, as I forgot to name this one (or can I get a mod to change the title so I can add it to the contest?)

Whoa, those are some heavy duty wheels. Can't wait to see this thing take shape! Have you figure out how much weight your setup will be?

Those wheels look really solid ... that reminds me I scored some pretty heavy duty wheels off of some stack chair carts I got from the my hospital a few years ago I need to find a use for them ... too nice to just let sit around, being lazy like I am ... I tend to procrastinate.

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Originally Posted by Trip59

went with 8" 1100lb rated wheels... all 4 of em, no damn casters for me!

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No casters??? Do you have plans for making the cart turn??? Unless you are thinking of a pivot like a wagon... But would that be unstable??? I am drawing a blank. Unless you pick it up to make a turn???

No idea of the final weight, but steel, two welders for now each around #60, a big 200+ MIG and a Plasma (likely a 60-70), 1 (for now) 125' bottle and a 40' bottle to be replaced with another 125. Toolbox (three drawer from my old cart) and storage boxes, room for all hoses, accessories, rods, electrodes, spools, helmet rack, grinder/powertool storage... it's gonna be a heavy bastard, thus, no casters, big wheels and lots of steel for framing. 1" tube with 3/4" bracing throughout, gussets and plates on the base. Oh, and a pair of cupholders :)

Honestly, it only really moves to be able to store it out of the way, there's only a few small areas I'll be welding without yanking machines to take with me somewhere. I could set up a central location, but I weld in the driveway most, and with the chopper project in the center of the garage. it won't be mobile as much as moveable. The wheels are that weight rating because everything else they had was crap and really low, like 100# and I wanted solid, non inflatable.

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Originally Posted by Brian Ski

No casters??? Do you have plans for making the cart turn??? Unless you are thinking of a pivot like a wagon... But would that be unstable??? I am drawing a blank. Unless you pick it up to make a turn???

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Ah, but that would be ruining the surprise :) Yes, I have a solid plan for making it turn, and it will be very stable, more stable than casters even.

I guess the nice thing about all the other stuff going on in my life right now, lots of time to think. Hell, I even came up with a plan to put a motor on it to make it less strain on my back pulling it. Not implementing that, but it was a neat idea and would work great (no real need, no extra $$)