Kevin is welding 1/4″ steel plate for a new commission of a large steel gong and stops to talk about the cool new welding cart he built. When he got the Longevity ProMTS 200 and wanted to have two types of gas handy so he could more easily switch from MIG to TIG (you need argon for the TIG, and argon and C02 for the MIG). He looked around for a ready-built cart that would hold two bottles and couldn’t find one, so he made his own cart.
Kevin points out the two gas bottles, and the wide platform that lets him also put his Longevity ForceCut 42i plasma cutter on the cart. So now he has TIG, MIG, stick (arc) and plasma cutting – the four functions he would normally use when he is working – all available from this single cart. He added some shelves under it, too. The top one is a supply shelf he is considering adding some drawer slides so he can add a lidded tray that will roll in and out and have a “tackle box” like container on it. The bottom shelf is for his water cooler for the TIG torch, once he gets one for this welder.
He also added some half hose reels for cables. He bent the 16 gauge steel plate body in the slip roll, cut out the front retaining plate with the plasma cutter, then added some 1/4″ x 1/4″ solid square steel stock on the sharp edge so the cables don’t get sliced accidentally. The reels hang on steel plates that are welded to the top and middle shelves.
To keep rod handy, he welded eight 2″ steel rings on the corners of the cart to hold 2″ round pipe made slightly smaller on the lathe, then welded shut at the bottom. Now he can have as many as four types of rod available at once rather than having to go back into the tool room to get them. Big, hard rubber wheels on the back help the cart roll smoothly. He did not include a lip or ramp on the back for the bottles, but Kevin included two sets of retaining chains just to keep the heavy bottles secure.
Because it’s running two different kinds of gas (for the MIG and for the TIG), he also added a splitter he got at the welding store. The argon comes in on one side and the mix on the other, with the outlet going to the back of the machine. You have to turn on and off two valves each time, but it’s much better than having to hook and unhook the gas each time. Kevin also added a magnetized strip on the front that was originally used to hold knives in a kitchen to hang any metal tools on.
Kevin’s been using the cart for about three weeks, which has helped him refine some aspects of it. In addition to the pull-out tray, he may look at a little more cable management. As he says, it’s a work in progress.