Stacked Welders

[FusionKing]

Black Wolf...nice work as well...heavy duty

[Black Wolf]

Thanks for the compliment.

I had to use the pneumatic tires so I wouldn't shake the welder apart travelling up and down the cement pads outside the building as I weld in any of 9 different bays, or outside.

It comes in handy because I carry a bottle of Argon mix, and a bottle of Pure Argon on the back which allows me to GMAW, FCAW, and GTAW Mild Steel and Stainless Steel, all off of one single unit.

I also have the capability to SMAW and CAC-A up to 100' away from the cart.

It is overbuilt for most, but it suits my needs and application perfectly.

[Fishy Jim]

The snapon box only weighs about 400# when loaded (I just picked it up last night with the overhead crane). The frame uses 1" erw tubing with corner gussets on the back corners for the uprights, and then 1" angle to support the casters. It's a vertical load, and lived like that for two years with no issues. The original intent was to build shelves for under it, but I never got around to it. I finally parked that box on top of the matching lower cab I bought for it last summer. The top box came from a pawn shop.

Overkill you say; Have you ever noticed how thin sheet metal jack stands will hold your car? Are you aware your plasma cart could probably sustain a 20T vertical load.

I share your concerns about pulling the thing off, but if you're careful, that wouldn't happen. If it were me, I'd make a platform that bolted to the welder and allowed the whole top rack to slide sideways for opening the door.

[SundownIII]

Hey Black Wolf,

Nice work as usual.

FK,

What's not shown in those photos are the handle tabs welded to the underside of the 2" support below the lower shelf.

I took a couple tabs (if you will) and drilled 1" holes in them. Then took a burr and cut a notch off to the side at 90 degrees. Handle is a length of 3/4" pipe bent into two 90 deg angles with a 1/4" stud welded at the end where it goes thru the tabs. You simply slide the handle in, rotate up 90 deg, and lift the front casters off the ground.

Cart was built this way so that I could roll it out to the yard. We have 50A outlets (for plugging the boats in while in for service) and air drops at several points in the yard (and on the docks). Around the shop I don't use the handle since the cart rolls so easily. Size is a little misleading in the photos. Those rear wheels are 10" and the front casters are 4". First time my buddy saw the cart, he called it the "all terrain" plasma cart.

[SundownIII]

Fishy,

Hey man. Yea I know a little about vertical loads. Also understand a little about lateral loading also.

Just thought it funny to see your mig cart (built like a tank) and then there was that nice Snap On box sitting on those spindly legs. Glad to hear it's found a "proper home".

Guess I'm a little sensitive. We've got a guy who works for the yard who could break an anvil if it wasn't bolted down. Great guy and a hard worker. Just doesn't think sometimes. Went into the shop a couple of weeks ago. Laying on my woodworking bench was one of my cabinet chisels (Lie-Neilson honed to a razor edge) and the cutting edge looked like a saw tooth. When I asked him what the he!! he'd used it for, he replied "Oh, I just knocked some bronze plates off that sailboat mast." Oh well, an hour later after the Tormek grinder and the waterstones, my chisel was good as new.

[Fishy Jim]

The box sat between angle braced across the bottom of the top rails, so that the structure itself helped support the uprights from twisting. The sides were saddled in the lips of the vertical angle end plates, then the bottom support rails of the box cradled the crossmembers. The whole works was welded on one side, then clamped on the other. It was actually very rigid considering it only needed to roll around flat concrete. If I needed to use it on an angle (like my driveway), I would've done it a little differently.

The mig cart is actually more flexible than I had hoped for. The channel should've really been tubing, but it isn't so twisty as to need boxing (I thought about it). Had I used the channel in the other plane, it would be far more rigid, but then it would've taken up more width and made the whole thing wider. It's the price I paid for making it a single backbone design rather than a box. I also made the whole cart out of stock on hand, so that limited my material choices. The top skin was part of the old washing machine.

[SundownIII]

Fishy,

Fully understand using "stock on hand". I've "modified" many projects to use what I had available.

I'm pretty lucky in that sense. Got a good friend who runs a pretty large (50+ men) fab shop. I do a little consulting for him and did a lot of consulting for his dad when his dad used to own Atlantic Steel Fabricators. I have access to his dumpsters (Alum, SS, and mild steel). It's amazing how much "good stuff" gets thrown away. Having access to a water jet and a 10' x 20' plasma table (Hypertherm 260 cutter) is also nice.

I buy most of the steel I buy thru them also. Better price than I can get elsewhere and they get deliveries at least 3 times per week.

[Fishy Jim]

This is one of my stock on hand piles (yes, a material rack is on the agenda):


And here's the toolbox:


Now I get to migrate most of the stuff out of the top one into the bottom one after cutting some new drawer liners for it. It'll be nice not having to dig through my combination wrenches to find the right one. The bottom unit has been sitting empty since it came home.

[Bert]

SundownIII, yeah, I was thinking your cart didn't look THAT overbuilt!

Jason....now THAT'S a cart I want to build!!!!!!!!
but...ugh......RED??? JUST JOKING!!! I've used that mig before, and I know it kicks @ss!!!!!!!!!!!! The only thing I would have changed though, is tuck in those foot plates so they wouldn't have stuck out.
Other than that, that is a D@MN awsome cart!!!!!!

[Black Wolf]

Hey Bert - Thanks for the compliments...

I'm working on learning more Hawaiian, but I am not following "foot plates" I've enclosed a few pics of it in raw steel to show the front casters sticking out past the frame so I could use 3 bolts/caster, and also show why I needed the frame wider at the rear to accomodate the dual bottles.

I am curious though about the "foot plates"

Thanks.