[Todd Harrison] put together a welding cart that has all kinds of tricks built-in. The carcass is a cheap rolling cart that has been reinforced with steel plate and beefier wheels. The top tray can be loaded up with fire brick for oxygen-acetylene welding or with a grate for cutting. That grate lets the slag fall through and into the red-rimmed fire-box below. Finally, there’s a steel plate to the right of the cart that rotates and slides over the top of the unit to prepare it for MIG welding. Todd walks us through his versatile invention in the video after the break. This will nicely augment your other welding hacks.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mR1cLIOf_Vc]
Neat.
Just add a removable “top hat” kind of shell to that firebrick section and you’ve got a little forge too.
kudos to the camera person!
That kicks ass.
Wow thats awesome. I have one of those carts thats fairly old now. Looks like he took care of the problem areas, the flat parts of the shelves sag over time with that much weight on them. And the wheels, nice touch. Only wonder about the legs bending or getting wobbly, nothing some angle iron behind the sheet metal couldn’t fix, I guess.
+1 for the camera crew
Maybe I missed it, but there is one thing missing. Angle iron with the open side facing up along one long side of the cart, with an opening at the center. Nice job all on all, but I’m left wondering if Todd couldn’t had ended up with a sturdier cart for not that much more money, if started from scratch? My dad rarely passed up a post vise at farm or other actions. No one else wanted them, and generally they go cheap. Not the most perfect vises in the world, but good enough as a sacrificial vise for welding. When one is shot toss it on the scrap metal to sell pile, and grab another from the “warehouse”. For such a little man the videographer done well, and can only improve with age and experience. Dad should tell him to go ahead and do what he think is best
Ah harbor freight, how much I dislike that place. But great job for beefing up the cart and making do what you need it to do. Welding carts are great.
Very nice, complete with an etch-a-sketch too.
It’s a nice bit of work but not my cup of tea.
My two cents on welder carts of any sort is that when you make up power cords to supply power to the welder be sure run a neutral line out, even if the welder itself doesn’t need it, so you can install a 110v outlet for tools on the cart itself; then there is only one cord to manage.
That ledge around the workshop would trip me up daily…and its too clean ;)
Unless you’re looking to spend a hundred bucks (or maybe more), reinforcing one of these cheap $30 carts is better. However, if you are willing to look around you (and your neighboring cities) for auctions where shops/schools/etc are selling their stuff, you can get a much, MUCH better cart for maybe $50. I have the exact same cart in this mod, it has served me well over the last decade but is showing wear.
I bought a unit that weighs probably 4 times as much at an auction (for $40, lol) that will hold my MIG welder, plasma cutter and all the crap I have fastened to the top of it, and the wheels are big enough that they don’t get stuck in the cracks in my concrete.
Well done. This cart is kick ass. The kid did great filming as well. Awesome job man.