DarkMonohue
Well-known member
Building a welding cart, looking for ideas & guidance (got pics)
I've had a little Lincoln 120V welder for years and have been using it fairly frequently the last few years, and now that we have a reasonably sized garage to play in, I want to put it on a cart. After looking at a few pics around the net I have a fairly good plan roughed out. Nothing terribly fancy, but I want a few goodies like a storage drawer, AC outlets to run other tools (grinder, bandsaw) near the cart, etc.
Please pardon the grainy photos. This was done rather hastily at night under poor lighting, and I'm not looking to win any awards.
Here's the progress so far. It's a simple frame of 1" square 16ga steel tubing. The rear wheels are 7" ball bearing lawn mower wheels, and the fronts are 3" casters. There's a little left to add to the structure, like the missing cross bar at the front, but the heavy lifting is done.
The rear axles are made of 3/8" OD hitch pins, slid into sleeves that are welded to the bottom of the cart. The wheels are retained by hitch pin clips. I don't know why I wasted time coming up with this system, but it's slick and tidy. At the very least it makes wheel removal super fast, which is handy during the mockup and assembly phase.
I found a wooden shelf at the local recycled building materials yard, and although it is too long, it's just the right width to sit the welder on at the top of the cart. I couldn't find any conveniently sized sheet metal to use for this platform, but I'm not sure how dumb an idea it is to park the welder on a piece of wood. I'll be welding a few feet from the cart, not exactly showering it in open flame, but I'm plenty open to suggestions on this one.
Another score from the leftover bin is this oven rack. It is just about the right size to weld to the bottom of the cart and use as a bottom shelf. I wanted expanded metal, but this was cheap and will work just fine. Being open, as opposed to a solid shelf, means that dirt and garbage won't collect on it easily.
Finally, I found a pretty good storage bin in the form of a cast-off cash drawer from work. The lock is missing and the slides are in rough shape, but slides can be replaced, and the lock is of no consequence for this cart. The only bummer is that I didn't find this until after I'd built the frame. The front vertical struts will need to be moved forward an inch to mount the drawer inside the cart, just below the upper platform. A minor headache, but no big deal.
So that's what I have so far. Comments, suggestions, criticism are all welcome!
I've had a little Lincoln 120V welder for years and have been using it fairly frequently the last few years, and now that we have a reasonably sized garage to play in, I want to put it on a cart. After looking at a few pics around the net I have a fairly good plan roughed out. Nothing terribly fancy, but I want a few goodies like a storage drawer, AC outlets to run other tools (grinder, bandsaw) near the cart, etc.
Please pardon the grainy photos. This was done rather hastily at night under poor lighting, and I'm not looking to win any awards.
Here's the progress so far. It's a simple frame of 1" square 16ga steel tubing. The rear wheels are 7" ball bearing lawn mower wheels, and the fronts are 3" casters. There's a little left to add to the structure, like the missing cross bar at the front, but the heavy lifting is done.
The rear axles are made of 3/8" OD hitch pins, slid into sleeves that are welded to the bottom of the cart. The wheels are retained by hitch pin clips. I don't know why I wasted time coming up with this system, but it's slick and tidy. At the very least it makes wheel removal super fast, which is handy during the mockup and assembly phase.
I found a wooden shelf at the local recycled building materials yard, and although it is too long, it's just the right width to sit the welder on at the top of the cart. I couldn't find any conveniently sized sheet metal to use for this platform, but I'm not sure how dumb an idea it is to park the welder on a piece of wood. I'll be welding a few feet from the cart, not exactly showering it in open flame, but I'm plenty open to suggestions on this one.
Another score from the leftover bin is this oven rack. It is just about the right size to weld to the bottom of the cart and use as a bottom shelf. I wanted expanded metal, but this was cheap and will work just fine. Being open, as opposed to a solid shelf, means that dirt and garbage won't collect on it easily.
Finally, I found a pretty good storage bin in the form of a cast-off cash drawer from work. The lock is missing and the slides are in rough shape, but slides can be replaced, and the lock is of no consequence for this cart. The only bummer is that I didn't find this until after I'd built the frame. The front vertical struts will need to be moved forward an inch to mount the drawer inside the cart, just below the upper platform. A minor headache, but no big deal.
So that's what I have so far. Comments, suggestions, criticism are all welcome!
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