okay not a motor or car question but im sure guys on here have had the same thoughts before. I am going to build my self a new welding cart because i plan to by a tig welder and get back into it havent tigged in 20 years but hey. Anyways the cart will have three shelves. bottom one has my plasma middle the tig and my smaller mig on top do to the need to open the side door. So i wake up this morning and must of had welding cart thoughts in my sleep!!. I am thinking holy **** thats alot of leads and grounds that will be hung individually all over the cart. My thought why couldn't i make jumper grounds from each machine to a common ground on the cart or have a common ground bar that each ground lead is clamped on to and just have one ground lead that you hook up to your welding table, frame or whatever the project is. this would eliminate the extra ground cords if you had short jumpers from each machine when you hook up the ground clamp from the cart every machine on it is grounded. I think as long as the ground wire size i use is rated for the largest machine on the cart it would work and help clean up the side of the cart by not haveing the extra hooks and ground wire loops to deal with. anyone done this idea at your own shop?? the only dwn to this i see is if someone was wanting to use the plasma on one project and im welding at my table and his project isnt connected he would not have a ground and have to wait. But i work alone 99 percent of the time, and i can't use to machines at ounce so i dont see that as a constant issue?? On my current two shelf unit that holds my mig and plasma a electrian buddy wired up a double 220 box on that cart that each machine is plugged into so that i only have one cord to plug in and both machines are powered.i would do the same with the power cords on my new cart also. anyway give me some feedback
Why not. Dont see why it wouldn't work. I use dinse plugs. One bolted to my table for use with plasma or my tig welder. I also have a separate lead with a dinse I just unplug and plug into whatever machine for off my table, car etc.. The only issue I see is the mig welder. I dont think those come or can be set up with a dinse.
I have my welders on separate carts, that way I don't have to lug all my machines to what I'm working on...only the one I'm using.
I also have my 2 welders, one Tig and one mig on separate carts. Trying to get everything on one cart would be a major pain and in my opinion not worth the effort. What’s best about separate machine carts is that they can be small and easier to move in a cluttered or crowded shop than a bigger cart with multiple machines on it. The bigger cart will be heavier too. With that being said I would love to get rid of both my machines and buy a new Esab multi function machine. Stick ,Mig and AC-DC Tig in one machine. I’ve been a Miller fan up to now but I recently had the opportunity to try out the Esab machine and I was impressed.
I'm building a cart for my mig and need it to float so it will go over gravel yet small enough for my tight shop. Welder gets in the driveway every so often and it's full size. I'm not sure about having all the welders and plasma on one cart, all but the mig fit under the bench.
I have my MIG / Spool gun in a shopping cart and my plasma cutter hanging underneath. I have a pony tank that lays in the "kiddy" seat along with extra spools. The cables are hung on the side or along side the MIG welder housing. My Hobart TIG/Arc welder has a separate cart with the argon tank. If I want to use the spool gun to weld aluminum I just roll the carts together to use the other tank.
I think the big problem is that you are going to have a "conglomeration" rather than a nice compact uniquely engineered machine package. Not saying that to be a smart a**, just trying to be honest. While separate machines may take a little more space, they will be much handier to use. Electrical connections aside, I use 75/25 for my Mig and straight Argon for my Tig. If you do that, you will need two heavy bottles in addition to the machines and the cart itself. That will require some heavy duty wheels. If you decide you want water cooling for the Tig......where does the tank, pump and fan go? Making it work well will be complicated at best, and I think moving it about may be ***bersome. If you bought a multi-purpose Mig/Tig/Stick machine you could do it more easily. But again you need 2 gas bottles. My suggestion is for separate carts. Purchase gas tanks.....don't lease or rent. If you buy a used tank, it can be recertified for about $40 and lasts 10 years. If you look at a tank it will have a date stamped on it and next to the date there will be a star and a plus stamp. The star means 5 yrs and the + means another 5 years from the stamped date. When purchasing used tanks you can bargain better if you tell the seller they are out of certification. Check with your local gas suppliers to see if they will recert tanks before you buy any. My Mig machine came with its own cart but smaller machines require you to build or buy a cart. When buying a new welder, buyers often don't consider that additional cost......thinking they will just carry the welder to wherever they need to use it. I don't even consider using flux core wire........thats my opinion. So additionally the welder decides they need a way to move their bottle too. So, I would consider buying a Mig that has a built in cart. Harbor Freight sells a decent little cart that you can use. I'll show one below that I modified to use with my Plasma cutter. For Tig, I would consider something that will allow you to have water cooling. Then you can use a smaller torch. If you start trying to Tig with an air cooled torch, they are bigger and you have issues with thick long welds getting the torch hot . I made my own water cooler using an O/A cart with big wheels that I got cheap at a yard sale. Used a vending machine pump, and Ebay fuel tank, a transmission cooler, and some small fans from some test equipment.....and a filter. It was a lot of work.....but it works well for me. I bought a second Mig welder because its too much trouble (lazy) for me to switch the rollers, tip, and liner to take my Mig down from .035/.030 wire to .023. The small wire "nests" very easily if the liner is not changed when you want to use the smaller wire. I'm a Miller guy, but I got a good deal on an "only used once and returned" Esab. I hooked it up and after just a few minutes it quit. Contacted Esab and after conducting a few tests while on the phone with a tech, he decided to send me a replacement. So far it works fine, but the rollers aren't as beefy as the Miller and it has a cooling fan that runs a lot. I like the machines display, but if I were doing it again I would just buy a Miller. This is the only experience I ever had with Esab and I only plan to use it for .023 wire. Water in your air hose is the enemy of your plasma torch. Add a cheap water separator and clear hose. I had an old cabinet so I just used that for the Esab welder. This is my homemade Tig Cart. Lot of work but it has more cooling capacity than a small store bought cooler that will set you back about $600 (?) not including a cart. This was made from an old O/A cart I found at a yard sale. BIG wheels are a plus on any cart. Accomodating the water cooling was a lot of work so it may be easier and just as cheap to buy a cooler. At least this way I have it all incorporated into an easily movable unit. I paint my name on expensive tools because I had $6K worth of welding stuff stolen a few years back. Now my shop is much better prepared to deal with thieves.........
I put my plasma cutter and tig on the same cart. Cheap HF casters and wheels, but man! Does it roll easy!
I’ve got my plasma and mig on one cart. Both machines are underneath and the top is flat and makes for a nice work surface for little stuff. I’ve got the Cart wired so when I plug the cart in both machines are powered plus there is a 4 gang 110 out let on the cart. It works quite well and it’s a task to not get the plasma leads and mig whip tangled up some days. Over the last 10 years that I’ve had this set up just 2-3 times I’ve had the cart on one end of the shop welding and someone needed the plasma on the other.
Good to see you are going to weld up a cart,I don’t like to see a new welder just sitting there and wasting good money on a over price cart. I think 3 welder high is to tall and will be tippy. When I did mine I had 4 caster on it, very tippy so I replaced 2 caster with wheels.
I started out with a cheap hand truck that I had had for years and welded part of a dual purpose had truck to it along with some angle iron to make a welding cart for my mig. Counting the angle iron and yard sale cost of the dual purpose cart and the new 30 something years ago price of the hand truck I have less than 25 bucks in it and probably more like ten if you don't count the hand truck as it had already been stuffed in the back of the shed when I bought a bigger hand truck. The handle and bigger wheels of the hand truck let me tilt it back and wheel it around easily and with my 60 Ft SO cord I can get out in the driveway to weld something.
My Mig welder came with wheels. I have thought about putting wheels under my Tig, but it's so big there is no place to move it to.
10 yrs ago it was slapped together out of need. Been working hard every day since. Could be prettier but no better. It does have very very good wheels on it.
My welding cart came courtesy of a former employer, when they were tossing it out. It had been an audio-visual cart with recorders, cameras, and tape players mounted to it. All it really needed was new casters, and I got those replacements from Harbor Freight. I have my old Sears buzz box arc welder on it, my 110 volt MIG, my 220 volt MIG, and my Oxy/Acet setup, and still have room for accessories and consumables. I still need a shielding gas bottle for the MIG's, but I hardly use any of the stuff anymore, so it's not real high on the list of everything else I have going on. The three "shelves" all tilt towards the "front" (there's a ledge at the front so nothing can slip off), and a queen size bed sheet covers it all to shield from dust and cobwebs. And, like all the rest of my tools, it all goes to my nephew when my time comes. O'Brien, what's the kitchen stove (next to your air compressor) for? I am Butch/56sedandelivery.
I've had more than a few great weldin' instructors in my life. They each said if you can't build your own welding cart your are not going to be a great welder. I think they were all just trying to motivate you so show case you skills. Mine was made 100% of s**** steel and even the wheels are recycled ...found them somewhere ??? Its painted in Rustoliem from an old can of "Chinese Red" when you could say that.
[QUOTE="56sedandelivery, post: 13441054, member: 22935" O'Brien, what's the kitchen stove (next to your air compressor) for? I am Butch/56sedandelivery.[/QUOTE] I use it once in a while for powder coating. Think I gave $50 for it .
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