YAWC (yet another welding cart)

[Ray C]

So, here's the first project and pretty much the first time using a TIG welder. -Yet another welding cart. It's all aluminum with 1" square legs and lower struts with 3/8" plate holding the tank and wheels. The top & bottom panels are just 1/8" plate. Also plan to make some storage boxes for the front and possibly sides. There's picture of one positioned in the front, roughly where it will be mounted. The box is stitched together out of drops; figured it would be good practice. Had some struggles with inside corner welds on the bigger material but eventually saw what was going on and worked through it. I need to improve on those corner welds. They're a little tricky. Probably would have been helpful to have a helium mix. I made sure everything had deep penetration. It took a few days working a couple hours after work every day. I'll put a few more finishing touches on it as time goes. It was good practice and the cart came out nice & strong, rolls smooth. It's only for the garage and driveway which are both good surfaces.

Oh, that's my dog, Sash. She's great. Wish I could find a welding helmet for her so she can hang w/me in the garage while I'm messing around.

EDIT: BTW: The front legs are indeed 6 degrees off vertical to give it a little style... -Not an optical illusion or newby warpage error...

[Rambozo]

Oh, that's my dog, Sash. She's great. Wish I could find a welding helmet for her so she can hang w/me in the garage while I'm messing around..

You could always get some of that welding safety curtain material and make some little goggles for her.

[Ray C]

She'd probably wear glasses no problem. She loves her raincoat -won't go out in the rain w/o it. I really hate putting her on the front porch while I'm in the shop welding. Noise doesn't bother her from the mill or lathe -sleeps right through it.

You could always get some of that welding safety curtain material and make some little goggles for her.

[Rodsmachineshop]

lol these are cooler

[everlastsupport]

Cart looks good. Plenty of filler, might bump the freq up and heat up just a little (gussets). I see the welds getting better as you use the equipment. Have you done aluminum TIG before?

You plan on add hooks for the leads or drape the hoses over the top of the unit. We have hooks but only use on the lower units (multi unit cart, drape the top). Maybe tubes for filler later?

Nice idea on aluminum for a light weight cart. Did you have it around or buy it. What did it set you back, time and cash?

Throw a welding jacket over it for a dust cover for now and you are good to go. Thanks for sharing the project.

Our dogs are too old to hang, but eye protection might work, not sure if she will look when you weld after the first time, but TIG is bright. Also, the dark lens and she might be knocking things over. Maybe a sunglasses thought a #4 with good UV/IR rating.

[Ray C]

Hi Mike...

Thanks for the tip on increasing frequency. I'll try that. Id like to finish the tight corners in the gussets but since corners were giving me problems, I left them until I practice more.

I've never TIG'd before, at all. This is the first time, just bought a book and watched videos. Never MIG'd either. I bought the PP 205 and should have got the 250 but the few hundred bucks more put me out of the price ballpark -and I didn't know if I'd be able to learn TIG or not so I went with the less expensive unit. I'm thinking of getting an Everlast MIG unit. What's a good one? Would MIG be a better solution to handle corners with larger pieces? I have a totally unrelated day-job but, have a full machine shop (12x36 lathe, small industrial mill, shaper, surface grinder, bandsaws and OA torch -mainly for cutting and heat treating) occupying a 2.5 car garage. Been doing machine-shop work as a hobby most of my 52 years. I do some repair work for some local places and make custom boat parts for a friend whose a retired chief engineer (merchant marines). It just pays for the metal addiction. I do all manual machines (with DRO), mostly one-off kinda stuff. Everybody kept asking if I could do AL welding so I had to learn TIG. Won't do any real work till I get better. Once I got the torch problem straightened out, I spent 2-3 days practicing and cutting open the joints to check the bond so the cart probably won't fall apart.

Yes, I'll put some hooks after making the removable tool boxes that will flank the sides and front. I left several inches of the legs to stand above the top shelf and they serve as convenient posts to wrap the cables and serve as tie-downs etc. Also, I'll make a push handle that will extend in the front to guard the cable connectors.

Cost... I have a friend that works at a metal distributor. I can get AL and SS drops for $3/pound and mild steel for $1.5. Cost for that cart... Probably 90 bucks in AL and about 45 for the wheels. Time wise... I'd guess 10-12 hours but it was spread out over 3-4 days. Could probably do it faster now that I don't dip the tip as much as I used to. Now that the welding equipment is off the ground, next project is a rod oven to keep the 7018 dry. The inside liner will be SS (so I need to learn how to stick that together) and the outside will be AL will make a little heating element and circuit to keep the inside temp 20-30 degrees warmer than outside.

Sash is glad I'm done with the cart -but she still wants an official welding helmet -autodarkening . Spoiled dog! LOL...

Cart looks good. Plenty of filler, might bump the freq up and heat up just a little (gussets). I see the welds getting better as you use the equipment. Have you done aluminum TIG before?

You plan on add hooks for the leads or drape the hoses over the top of the unit. We have hooks but only use on the lower units (multi unit cart, drape the top). Maybe tubes for filler later?

Nice idea on aluminum for a light weight cart. Did you have it around or buy it. What did it set you back, time and cash?

Throw a welding jacket over it for a dust cover for now and you are good to go. Thanks for sharing the project.

Our dogs are too old to hang, but eye protection might work, not sure if she will look when you weld after the first time, but TIG is bright. Also, the dark lens and she might be knocking things over. Maybe a sunglasses thought a #4 with good UV/IR rating.

[everlastsupport]

Hi Mike...

Sash is glad I'm done with the cart -but she still wants an official welding helmet -autodarkening . Spoiled dog! LOL...

Not bad for the first time out for sure. Aluminum can be tough for many. If you keep the 7018 in an air tight container you will be good. The $5 one on the internet and even Harbor Freight has them too.

Heck, look at the $32 helmet for Sash. Maybe cut it down below the lens. hahaha.. Rod would have you speed $50 on cool looking shades.

In the tight corners you can rnu the gas up a little (if needed) and longer stickout too.

Good price on the drops, the aluminum is about double the scrap price (about copper). That is cheap.

[Rambozo]

...next project is a rod oven to keep the 7018 dry. The inside liner will be SS (so I need to learn how to stick that together) and the outside will be AL will make a little heating element and circuit to keep the inside temp 20-30 degrees warmer than outside.

That's fine for cellulose flux rods, but not low hydrogen. Here is a chart for required temps.
http://www.rodovens.com/welding_arti...rage_chart.htm
Buying small boxes as needed and using an airtight case makes more sense for the hobyist.

[Ray C]

OK, worked through it with a couple more brackets. Hit the 1" square with a few minutes of MAPP, positioned the piece and stuck it together in a few moments. Was worried the MAPP combustion would contaminate the work but that apparently wasn't the case...

[Ray C]

So, I'm putting some brackets on the legs of the cart and struggled with a weld because the bracket material is less than 1/8" thick and the leg is 1" square. With stick welding, this is no problem but with TIG, it took a while to warm-up the leg while not melting the thin plate. How are situations like this normally handled, do you pre-heat the big parts first or just avoid such situations and use thicker plate material? Anyhow, this was time consuming (had 8 such welds to do) and was done in the vertical position. When I tried doing it in horizontally, the heat was melting the thinner piece.

[Rodsmachineshop]

welding stuff like in picture is why i have a aluminum mig spool gun

[Ray C]

I made another box for the cart and this time, put some concentration into the piece. I had several good runs today but once in a while, the concentration slips and things get messy. Things usually go wrong when I'm adjusting the filler rod with the feed hand and it screws up the rhythm or better yet, accidentally touch the tip with the rod... In another post, someone suggested turning up the frequency to focus the arc. I'll give that a try as it would be handy for these outside corners.