PROJECT 2 from Jerky: welding cart

[jerky]

just got off the phone with my metal supplier and ordered some 1"x1"x1/4" aluminum angle. it may not be the best choice, but it will give me a chance to play with my 250ex. im not going to go to fancy, some casters, handle and a shelf. i will probably intergrate the water cooler into the frame, and have a spot for the bottle. havent drawn it up yet, but im thinking around 3' should be good. i was hoping to get it done this weekend, but the angle wont be ready till monday. so pics and specs will be up next week.

[donor76]

With great interest will be watching for your project.
I am also working on my welding cart .
good luck.

[67cudafb]

I will be watching also. one inch aluminum sounds a little light. I am in process of building a cart also but it is 1 1/2x1/8 square tube. I will be adding pics and specs soon, but let me tell all I am not a fabricator or a welder so I am a little sheepish about throwing it on forum because of quality of everybody else project mine looks pretty crude. I will get some pics and post in a day or two.

[Powertig]

I will be watching also. one inch aluminum sounds a little light. I am in process of building a cart also but it is 1 1/2x1/8 square tube. I will be adding pics and specs soon, but let me tell all I am not a fabricator or a welder so I am a little sheepish about throwing it on forum because of quality of everybody else project mine looks pretty crude. I will get some pics and post in a day or two.

Cuda, I put up a crappy project that I doubted was worthy and got a few pats on the back so don't worry about that, Everyone here is great, they follow moms rule, "If you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all."

[Jake98]

I'm always more interested in the designs and ideas than how pretty the welds are. My welding cart is an old supermarket shelf-stocker's cart. I'll post pics when I put a raised shelf on it to get the machines up around eye level, and magically produce a couple more feet of storage space.

[Jason]

I dont see why that stock would be too light.. If its built right, I bet it will be more than sturdy enough as a cart.

[jerky]

Well got my aluminum today, turns out its only 1/8". To bad i started cutting it already. Basic specs are 2'L x20"W x3'H. Its only 2'9" in the back to have a slight angle. Ill have two pieces down the center on the top to support the plasma and tig. The middle will have a shelf to hold project 1, the water cooler. Ill put some abs tubing on the side to hold rod, and also have a small platform to hold the gas. The first pic is the highly accurate blueprint, and then just some cuts. I didnt get all the pieces cut tonight, maybe tommorrow.
EDIT : did this on iphone, cant flip the pic sorry. Maybe if i find time tommorrow ill fix it.

[jerky]

So i went in today, started tacking up the cart. Took a little bit to even get the settings down for ac. Ran into a few issues. One is since its aluminum, the heat distortion is greater and now its crooked. I still have to put the top on so maybe i can pull it back. Also welding inside corners is tough as i cant get in there. Finally my bud brought up a good point in since the thing is so light, the tig and plasma are going to make it very top heavy. I might end up putting the plasma on the middle shelf to help weight. But as for the actual material not being sturdy enough, with just the few tacks i have on now its plenty strong, stable and ridgid. Heres two pics of the shape. And yes thats an old 300.

[jerky]

Got some work done tonight, decided to put the plasma on the middle to help weight. I was just using it to check fit and clearences.
So the back pic shows that the cord and air hose just clear. Same with the front. I set the front back a few inches so that the connections at the front are protected and wont stick out past the cart. I cut the angles down so the fit flush. Everything is still basically tacked in place, once i have everything wherr im happy ill goto town welding.

[Joe from NY]

Hey jerky - I flipped your drawing the right way.

[Jason]

Looks good so far.. Are you going to add on to it to hold a bottle or two for the welder(s) that will sit on it?

[Joe from NY]

It looks top heavy to me. Is that bottom shelf area to put a few cinderblocks on to help prevent tipping?

[everlastsupport]

My very old bed-rail welding cart has three shelves.

TIG on top, MIG in the middle and PP60 on the bottom. So drop a plasma cutter on the bottom to prevent tipping.

[67cudafb]

I stand corrected about strong enough. I have found out the hard way that I have over built my cart with 1.5x1.5x1/8 steel tube it is very heavy. Like I said I am not a fabracator and should have had better plan instead of winging it. I hope my next build will be better. Your cart looks great.

[jerky]

Well, dont ever use aluminium. My middle shelf wasent big enough for the plasma, so i took the handle off and jammed it it in there. I dont have casters yet so its probably going to wtay inthe corner for awhile.

[Powertig]

Looks good to me, why not use aluminum? I think it looks great and it would be great practice. I was curious too what you were going to do to move your bottles around? but maybe mobility wasn't important to you, that explains why casters weren't high on your shopping list...

[Joe from NY]

Can you show a close up of the welds, and tell us what settings you used? I am trying to get it right with aluminum now, and I am using the same thickness pieces as your stock.

[jerky]

Most of the welds arnt that good because of going into an inside corner. But settings are as.... Main amps were at 125, pre flow at 2 seconds, post flow at 5 seconds, up slope is 2 seconds, down slope is 3 seconds, start and end amps at 50. I will have a place for the bottle at the back, but ya, not really concerned yet because my table is right there. Getting casters soon. I say dont use aluminum because of all the stress and distortion. My rack is crooked and bad. Ha ha ha. Also i was using 2% throiated tungsten as well with #6 cup