O/A cart

[whateg01]

Most O/A carts are similar to a hand truck in design. Is there any real reason not to do something with casters if the setup is never going to leave the shop?

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

How clean are your floors?

 

[finn]

I like the large wheels of the hand truck designed as opposed to the small wheels on the mig, tig, and plasma carts That get stuck on anything dropped on the floor, thresholds, air hoses, and extension cords, metal scraps, etc.

Plus, the two wheel dolly is easier to maneuver than the four wheel carts.

 

[alfadan]

My oxy/propane never leaves. I have the o2 bottle lashed to some shelves. I have a plan to modify a 2 wheel dolly for it and the bbq tank.

 

[The Cobbler]

I'm thinking the hand cart style is a bit more stable ( thinking top heavy) than a platform on 4 casters ? and when its just sitting the wheels are off the ground .

 

[LopezBart]

It would be pretty easy to make a cart w/ four casters, two fixed and two swiveling. The weight should be biased towards to the fixed casters. Cylinders are pretty top heavy, which is easy to compensate for w/ a two wheel traditional cart, however. If I needed to cover rough ground, I'd make a cart with two heavy duty cart wheels.

I use a Milwaukee hand truck to move the large cylinders one at a time.

 

[whateg01]

The reason that I was asked about making something that uses swivel casters is that in a tight space, it's sometimes hard to get behind the hand truck style to tip it back to move. Whereas casters would allow it to be moved more like a MIG cart. The bottles used in this case are just an 80 cf o2 and about the same in acetylene, so not all that tall.

 

[OccupantRJ]

I think a cart with two fixed and two swivel wheels/casters should work ok If bottle restraints and a convenient height grab handle is incorporated into it. If a shop constantly has debris all over the floor sounds like some cleanup is in order anyway.

 

[senlow]

Here is some inspiration for your project:

 

[lilredex]

This is my solution, made way back and still going strong. It started out as a cart for my buzzbox, but quickly realized it was better wall mounted.

 

[Beerhippie]

If I needed to cover rough ground, I'd make a cart with two heavy duty cart wheels.

A buddy made a torch cart to move his gear around the ranch. It's a handtruck style with 28" mountain bike wheels and tires. Goes over anything.

 

[The Cobbler]

hand truck style with 28" mountain bike wheels and tires. Goes over anything.

when I was a kid there was a machine shop in my neighborhood. they also took in scrap I think. the old lady ( owner) would move her tanks around the rough yard in a home made cart with car or truck tires for wheels

 

[whateg01]

Pretty sure if it's already difficult to maneuver with the 10" wheels or 8" or whatever they are now, making the footprint 3x as big by putting car tires on it isn't going to help.

 

[Beerhippie]

Pretty sure if it's already difficult to maneuver with the 10" wheels or 8" or whatever they are now, making the footprint 3x as big by putting car tires on it isn't going to help.

True. But bicycle tires have footprint about the same size as a caster--the thing that makes for maneuverable.

 

[whateg01]

True. But bicycle tires have footprint about the same size as a caster--the thing that makes for maneuverable.

Still have to be able to tip the whole thing back to get it on the wheels.

 

[dscheidt]

when I was a kid there was a machine shop in my neighborhood. they also took in scrap I think. the old lady ( owner) would move her tanks around the rough yard in a home made cart with car or truck tires for wheels

Junkyard I used to go to had cutting torch wagons. three oxygen bottles and a big propane tank mounted at 45 degrees in a four wheeled cart, along with long hoses and a huge fire extinguisher. they had car wheels on them, with mismatched hubcaps.

 

[LopezBart]

Junkyard I used to go to had cutting torch wagons. three oxygen bottles and a big propane tank mounted at 45 degrees in a four wheeled cart, along with long hoses and a huge fire extinguisher. they had car wheels on them, with mismatched hubcaps.

Here's my 110 lb CO2 extingisher,,,

 

[c39er]

An old hospital cart I got in the 70's..
Perfect for in shop and on nice concrete...

 

[whateg01]

An old hospital cart I got in the 70's..
Perfect for in shop and on nice concrete...

Not really a smaller footprint than a hand truck

 

[finn]

I have something similar for mu Miller Multimatic, except the box is a HF side box and the frame is angle iron. Works for a tig welder, but the commercial oxy acetylene dolly is more compact and maneuverable, and snuggles right up to the sass.

 

[DaveAndStuff]

In my last plant, we built most everything such that it could be moved with a pallet-jack,