Show me your utility carts please.... I'd like ideas.

Equilibrium · Aug 29, 2014

Here's what I started with. It had good "bones". It was on the back of a PU headed for a scrap yard... I "saved" it-
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So far I've added a drawer and extended the height of it. I don't know that there's much more that can be added to it beyond the casters and a handle but.... with as creative as you guys are.... who knows what features will show up in photos.

wb4rt · Aug 30, 2014

You will never have enough work space. Make the height the same as your welding table so you can use it as an extension for larger objects.

Some expanded metal for a lower shelf is a good idea and some grinder hangers.

shortfuse · Aug 30, 2014

Tack a hook or hanger on it for an extension cord. That way, if you need to wheel it somewhere and use an extension cord for power tools, you don't have to grovel around on the ground for your cord.

FarmDad · Aug 30, 2014

Dont have a pic of it with the welder in back , but you get the idea LOL

Equilibrium · Aug 30, 2014

wb4rt> Too late on making it the height of my welding table.... it's at 36". I did use angle iron on top so I should be able to hang the grinders off the side of it. That's a great idea. If I can't hang the grinders off the side.... I'll add something that will enable me to do so. Why expanded metal for the bottom shelf as opposed to plate or a piece of plywood? Just curious. I can do what you're telling me to do since I haven't gotten that far. I should have enough left over from the sheet of flattened expanded metal that I'm picking up to use for the lower shelf on my welding table for this utility cart without having to buy any more.
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shortfuse> Great idea.... I'll add a hook or something.... it gets old tripping over extension cords. Sheesh.... I might add a hook or a cord to the welding table I'm finishing up too.
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FarmDad> That "cart" of yours is all dirty and dusty. Mine will be all shiny and new looking when I'm finished. Since you've been at this a lot longer than me and since I'll never amount to more than a hobby weldor.... I've got an idea. I'll take that used dusty and dirty cart off your hands and you can have my shiny new cart. How's that.

Suchadeal.

BD1 · Aug 30, 2014

With a all steel frame you can do anything at any time. If you want a additional flat surface just get a couple of hinges, a piece of plate, and make one or two fold out or screw in legs. The maximum size would be the size of cart side. The hinges would be welded to plate and top angle and would hang along the side of cart. Add a couple of fold out legs or a couple of pipe couplings to screw the legs into. So it would hang on the side and when needed just lift up and screw in the pipe legs. If you prefer the height of your table, just add a additional angle 6'' below the top to match height. It would be like a POLISH tray table from the old days or a kitchen table with hanging extension. Hey I'm POLISH so it's ok.

Depending what you use for a top shelf you could drill holes to drop in tools or even a recessed cup holder. The cup holder could be used for markers, center punch, scriber, soapstone, whatever. After you start using it the ideas will start popping out. That is what is great about welding. You can build what you can't buy. Why buy it for $10 when you can spend hours making it for $30 . It is all part of the experience. I know many of us have invested more time in making something that you could have went and bought. The difference is YOU made to fit what YOU wanted and it will last !

Equilibrium · Aug 30, 2014

I have no idea what a Polish tray table from the "old days" looks like so I'll take your word it looks like a kitchen table with a drop leaf on hinges. You crack me up. I love your posts. At least you didn't suggest a make up mirror for me like you did when I copied your welding cart design. BTW..... many thanks again for being such a good sport about me duplicating your welding cart. It's a really functional cart.

gxbxc · Aug 30, 2014

Maybe try thinking "GATE LEG TABLE "

Tackit
that's a great way to make wheel locks ,think I'll steal that idea
gxbxc

richey · Aug 31, 2014

Tackit Looking good as always with your project. By the way the stand looks great and I know it will be very useful to you. Do you remember what is the model number of the clamp that you used ?

tekstar · Aug 31, 2014

The expanded metal shelf idea keep iron filings, debris and such from building up. It all ends up on the floor and leaves your shelf cleaner. I used it for the shelves on my welding cart and it has worked out great.

Oldendum · Aug 31, 2014

And add a swing-out stool so you can take a load off your mind when you get tired. This one is an old prison desk. They were also used on streetcars and restaurant tables.

VPT · Aug 31, 2014

And a gas grill on the end of the cart/table for heating parts before/after welding and the occasional brat or hotdog.

Equilibrium · Aug 31, 2014

Ohhhh…. here’s a really nice utility cart re-build done by a new guy Lumpy G and his little “assistant”, http://weldingweb.com/showthread.php...amp-Other-Info
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Here’s where I’m at on the utility cart-
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Equilibrium · Aug 31, 2014

Here’s how it looked before I added a drawer with a new front…. I’ve got a “thang” for shiny metal and try to use diamond plate anywhere I can.
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tackit> The casters I used were taken off a small HF wooden dolly that I picked up for about $8. I can’t use that really great idea of yours on my utility cart but….. I sure can use it on the little produce stand I’m planning so big thank you for that idea, http://weldingweb.com/showthread.php?408701-Small-produce-stand-on-wheels. Here’s my casters.
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tekstar> flattened expanded metal it is then for the bottom shelf!!!
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notsooldordum> Uh huh…. I’ve got a nickname for you.

The swing out seat is way cool. I like it so much I’m trying to figure out where I could use it….. hmmmmm…. thinking…. thinking…..
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VPT> No space to add a gas grill or I won’t be able to fit it in the garage but….. why would I want to heat parts before or after welding? Sincere question.

DSW · Sep 1, 2014

Equilibrium said:
VPT> No space to add a gas grill or I won’t be able to fit it in the garage but….. why would I want to heat parts before or after welding? Sincere question.

It's a specialty process. Some specialty steels like high carbon tool steels and things like cast iron are very finicky about things like how fast the material cools or if it gets hot too rapidly. Also by preheating you can drive off trapped moisture that can cause hydrogen cracking in high strength steels. Something you regularly see when they are welding structural steels with low hydrogen rods to code. Probably never a need for pre/post heat for your applications.

The exception might be cast iron. Preheating cast iron and then cooling it slowly often improves the chances the piece will not crack as the weld cools. Welding cast is still tricky, and simply getting it hot and cooling it slow does not guarantee success. If you had a cast bench leg you were trying to repair, heating up the piece 1st, then making you weld and then keeping it warm so it cools slowly would improve your chances of success.

Preheat can also help gain a bit of extra thickness out of a machine that's right at it's maximum. However it's not a cure all for a machine that is too small like some people want you to think it is. Heating up 1" plate isn't going to really make a small 110v mig the right machine for doing code quality welds. Most times it's really more trouble that it's worth.

Also shade tree preheating can cause more problems than it solves. For example alum is a big one lots of guys want to try and preheat, since alum is such a great heat sink, and it takes a lot of amps to get it to weld well. However, most alum alloys are very heat sensitive, Take some over 300 deg F and you take them back to annealed state where they loose all the strength gained by hardening the alum. So even if you weld is "nice" you have turned the whole piece of material butter soft and would then need to reheat treat the material. Something most are not equipped to do.

BD1 · Aug 31, 2014

AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW, I like them plug welds on the casters to plates. It gets me dizzy going in circles, ok, dizzier . :dizzy:

Spike440 · Sep 1, 2014

I gutted an all steel strapping machine to use as a utility table, works well.

-Spike

Antibling · Sep 1, 2014

I have to get on building mine, but I got the tool chest part of this for $20 from the local scrapyard, they haul all the scrap from Menards, I think someone took the casters and the other pieces or they just scrapped them, there was a real small dent on the edge of the lid that a hammer and dolly took out right away. I need to finish building the frame for it.

http://www.menards.com/main/tools-h...storage/tool-chests-boxes/performax-four-drawer-rolling-tool-cart/p-1448435.htm

Willie B · Sep 1, 2014

I go to the job, it's rarely the other way around. I find myself parking far from my work. With few exceptions, space is at a premium. I long wanted a cart or at least a folding work bench I could spread out tools for a more efficient way to work, and better odds of getting all of my stuff when it's time to leave. One lady said she had a perfect table for me. Well designed, rugged, folding into a small suitcase size, it was most convenient. I used it a while, one day, a young lady admired it and asked about it. I moved enough tools to expose the manufacturer's name. _______ Mortuary Supply. It was a portable embalming table from the day when the undertaker came to you. As it hit her what its purpose was she flinched and said "That's creepy, get it out of here!" It was early spring, I put it in the van. It got hot that day, the van in full sun baked like a solar oven. The odor was intense! It hadn't been used on at least 70 years, but the odor was still strong! I gave it to the carpenter's wife, she coated it in lacquer, and proudly uses it as furniture.

Willie B · Sep 1, 2014

Let me apologize for yet another irrelevant, rambling story.

Oldendum · Sep 1, 2014

Preheat can be useful to prevent thermal shock if you have to weld on something that is hardened. Post heat is good if you weld old bed frames or the hardenable grade of rebar. It can remove the brittle zone, just like tempering a tool after its been hardened. Not much of a problem if you weld with Oxy Acetylene.

Equilibrium · Oct 7, 2014

The cart was primed & painted a bit ago but I never got around to taking a wire wheel to the drawer front or the diamond plate I used for the top shelf. Overall, I am exceedingly happy with how it looks and best guess is.... it'll be loaded with "stuff' by the end of the week.
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BD1> Yes they were plug welds. Totally unnecessary. I just liked playing in swirls.

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Spike440> Don't know what a strapping table is but it makes a really nice work surface. I'm thinking it's probably easier starting out from the ground up as opposed to adding to someone's "bones" that need realignment. I do like that what I started with didn't end up at a scrapyard though.
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Antibling> Didja ever get going on building the frame for the toolbox you picked up?
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DSW> "Probably never a need for pre/post heat for your applications." Good. I'm fast approaching circuitry overload.

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I do happen to have one piece of cast iron. It called out to me to buy it. It's an oak leaves with acorns bracket of some sort. I'll figure out something to do with it that doesn't require welding.
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Willie B> I think I would have kept the portable embalming table and just covered up the manufacturer's name so as not to upset a customer's apple cart. What was it made out of that it stunk up your whole van the way it did? All the tables I've seen have either been enamel or stainless steel. Didja replace it yet?
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Notsooldordum> "Post heat is good if you weld old bed frames or the hardenable grade of rebar. It can remove the brittle zone, just like tempering a tool after its been hardened." Speaking of old bed frames.... that's what I made the upper portion of the utility cart out of.

BD1 · Oct 8, 2014

Very nice and '' SHINNY " . :drinkup: I like the fancy rounded handle, :cool2: Those shelves will hold what ever you place on it , as long as you can still move it .

Willie B · Oct 8, 2014

My latest one has been in my mind for years. Three trays 30 x 48 three inch sides of 16 gauge 6061 aluminum sit on 26" diameter horse sulky wheels. The bottom tray has holes for the wheels, middle sits above the wheels. I use tool boxes now marketed by Home depot online, sold as Klein. I can spread two such boxes on these trays. It's convenient when the truck is far away. It keeps everything handy and off the floor.

Equilibrium · Aug 26, 2015

It's been almost a year since I made the cart. Good thing it was on wheels since it's fully loaded with cigar boxes filled with metal goodies. So much so that I'm going to have to make another cart sooner or later!!! I'd like something along the lines of Notsooldordum's prison desk with the swing out seat. That swing out seat is really nice and I could see using an old metal tractor seat in my design.
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Willie B> About that three-tray cart that's been in your mind for years... didja ever get around to making it a reality? If so, I'd love to see a photo.

Willie B · Jul 1, 2016

I did indeed. Posting pictures is tough, but I'll endeavor to do it. I used wheels made for horse sulkies, Three pans of 16 gauge 6061, with minimalist frame of six vertical 1/4 x 2 6061, and two lengthwise under the bottom tray. It works perfectly for my need. Some of the welding was during my novice stage, so the stacks of dimes are a little irregular, but as a prototype it came out perfectly.

Willie

old jupiter · Jun 30, 2016

DSW said:
. . . . . Also shade tree preheating can cause more problems than it solves. For example alum is a big one lots of guys want to try and preheat, since alum is such a great heat sink, and it takes a lot of amps to get it to weld well. However, most alum alloys are very heat sensitive, Take some over 300 deg F and you take them back to annealed state where they loose all the strength gained by hardening the alum. So even if you weld is "nice" you have turned the whole piece of material butter soft and would then need to reheat treat the material. Something most are not equipped to do.

DSW, I liked almost all you said in that post (and yes, a welder needs to learn what should and shouldn't be pre-heated), but I wonder about this part of what you wrote. The aluminum is going to be annealed in and near the weld zone in any case. And some part of the lost strength comes back with aging (like a month or so, I understand, for the 6000 series). Granted that 300F is over-doing it, but I like to get most aluminum parts up to a least 175-200F before welding. As to being careful about exact pre-heat temperature, sometimes I am not . . . figuring that TIME AT temperature is "the rest of the story," and therefore that a quick heat input probably isn't going to effect any change in molecular structure. In fact (and as you suggest), I'd rather have ANYTHING I weld warmed up enough to drive off the moisture.

Equilibrium · Jul 1, 2016

Willie B> Awesome! Being as how it's now 2016 and I'm still in the novice stage... I promise I won't look at your stacks of dimes.

I do need another cart and made space for one so please do hit me up with photos if you can.

Show me your utility carts please.... I'd like ideas.

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