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Welding Trolley


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I'm thinking I'd benefit from a trolley for my mig and bottle .... I don't move it around a lot - but it'd be nice for it to be easier to do so - and also good to have the bottle, welder, and spares tidier and in one place.

Has anyone any recommendations ?

I was looking at this machine mart one: https://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/gwc-1-welding-cart

I originally actually thought of making one - but they seem cheaper than I'd expected.

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I'd been thinking similar things, but then decided that actually I'd probably make better use of a lifting table, it being dual-purpose then.

something along the lines of : https://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/htl500-500kg-hydraulic-lifting-table?da=1&TC=SRC-lifting%20table Just the first example, there are others. More expensive, but dual purpose, rather than a dedicated trolley for one job. Most of the time it would live with my welder on top and so not take up any extra storage space.

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on a side note, i have noticed when i use my welder, i just stick it on top of my tool trolley. which seems the perfect size for the welder plus grinders etc next to it on the top. the added bonus of 2 drawers and a bottom tray to keep consumables, welding tools etc. It is a more expensive way of doing things but works well.

P.s. if you do build one, please share the project with us :)

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I thought about one, but decided it would just take up valuable workshop space. My Welder has wheels and lives under the bench. Just to save bending down to adjust it occasionally it didnt seem worth it.

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I'm thinking I'd benefit from a trolley for my mig and bottle .... I don't move it around a lot - but it'd be nice for it to be easier to do so - and also good to have the bottle, welder, and spares tidier and in one place.

Has anyone any recommendations ?

I was looking at this machine mart one: https://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/gwc-1-welding-cart

I originally actually thought of making one - but they seem cheaper than I'd expected.

Don't bother, they are made of tin and, well, you get what you pay for.

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I converted a steel table that had been say outside at work for atleast 10 years. I put some wheels on it and a gas bottle holder. Now I have all the kit on the bottom and a flat enough surface on the top to weld on and ground through. It's great as you can use magnetic clamps etc to line stuff off and just knock or flap any bits of splatter off from time to time. I can also wheel it to the car or even outside which makes things much lighter. You could easily fabricate one out of some bits of angle and plate.

20141126_204346_zps3of0zqhg.jpg

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I thought about one, but decided it would just take up valuable workshop space. My Welder has wheels and lives under the bench. Just to save bending down to adjust it occasionally it didnt seem worth it.

Im guessing that the OP doesnt have a welder with decent wheels on it... ;-)

If the collective here convinces you to make your own, try google image search for the Americanese 'Welding Cart', especially with 'site:garagejournal.com/forum' in the search string. Should provide you some ideas of what works, and what doesnt.

I made one for £0 out of an abandoned shopping trolleybig mistake as it scoots all over my uneven drive like a distant cousin of Rincewinds Luggage.

Were I to do it again Id try to keep the COG as low as possible by giving lowering the gas bottle shelf to cruising altitude of as low as possible whilst still having decent ground clearance. Oh, and only making the front wheels steerable.

Matt

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I dunno about you guys but my MIG weighs a ton! Definitely wouldn't want to lift it, luckily it has a built in trolley with wheels which works very well. Lives under my workbench.

If I were to design a trolley it would be as low to the ground as possible, first of all to save lifting the thing but also to enable it to tuck under the bench.

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...

I made one for £0 out of an abandoned shopping trolleybig mistake as it scoots all over my uneven drive like a distant cousin of Rincewinds Luggage.

Were I to do it again Id try... only making the front wheels steerable.

Matt

Just to pick up on this point, I made a tool trolley with 4 independently swivelling wheels, but fortunately realised the problem during the construction phase. The design is such that I stand behind it and push or pull on a high level handle, much like a shopping trolley in fact :-) Once the wheels were fitted I pointed the rear wheels backwards (axle behind the vertical pivot)* then drilled and screwed a large self-tapper through the 'skirt' of the wheel swivel. The front wheels are left free to swivel into the trailing position that suits the direction of travel.

On really uneven surfaces I pull back on the handle lifting the front wheels off the ground, so all the weight is on the rear wheels, which don't swivel around a vertical axis When moving forwards I brace the toe of my boot against the rear of the base and pivot the trolley from side to side and walk it over significant humps. Yes it will try and run down hill, but it's freedom of independent movement seems to be sufficiently limited to not cause a problem.

* I think pointing the rear wheels forwards (axle in front of the vertical pivot) might work as well, but 'backwards' is what I choose, and have seen no need to modify it.

The "large self-tapper through the 'skirt' of the wheel swivel" is the significant suggestion here, as it takes very little time to implement, and is easily reversible, if required.

HTH

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Wow loads to go at here ! Great.

My MIG weighs a ton and lifting it out from under the bench isn't something I want to keep doing, and it doesn't have wheels.

A table would be brilliant - except I don't have a lot of space.

I'm still relatively new to welding - so perhaps a project is well worth the time investment. I'd thought of buying to save the time (which is in sparse supply).

I'll certainly discount the MM one on the strength of what's shared here - not just the quality, but something lower would be better suited to moving around.

I think I've just found a local place that will sell me off cuts - so time for a trip there I guess.

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These days shopping trolleys have carp wheels for our purposes. They are either intended to grip on a travelator or lock up when you try to walk off with them.

I had an old skool shopping trolley that converted to a perfect engine trolley. Good quality rubber wheels that run well on all surfaces, and have taken some serious weight.

As for a welding trolley, my MIG has its own decent wheels, but I keep thinking about adding some hangers for a cables and torch (bit like a hospital drip stand). It also needs a tray on top to store clamps, wire brush, gloves, marker pens, tape measure etc.

My plasma cutter is a real pain though, it's a small portable device, and the cutting lead is 4m long. The leads always end up in a tangle. I did contemplate sitting it on top of the welder....

I'd say make your own, once you've had a good look at lots of other home made/modified examples.

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Go to your local Garden Centre and ask if they have any old / rusty / broken trolleys you could have? They normally chuck them when the wire cage has rotted through - but the chassis / wheels are normally fine. These are designed to carry a couple of hundred kg of garden stuff and are ideal for a MIG + bottle.

Most have two wheels in the middle with skids on either end so you have to tip / lift slightly to make it move. Again ideal for MIG.

Si

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Find someone who lives near a supermarket - I used to have trolleys discarded in my back passage all the time :moglite: even got a lovely brand-new 6-wheeled Wickes one but couldn't find a good use for it so him next door now uses it as a toast-rack style trolley for moving his dinghy in & out of his garden gate.

Big vote for those MM lifting trolleys, a mate had one of them round his yard and it was amazingly useful for standing things on, as a mobile bench, engine/gearbox/motorbike stand, for jacking things up (we did the rear springs on a RRC using it as a jack, probably not recommended) only drawback is they are quite spendy.

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I've made a few now for different welders (current one is big enough it came on wheels)... here is a couple of suggestions

Don't do inflated tyres unless they are big (car tyres) and your cart is wide or low.... long story lol

Make your casters as large as you can.... makes it easier to roll it over extension leads and the odd stone that gets into the shed

On the note about extension leads make it just tall enough to roll over a power plug..... alot easier to pull the lead out from under the trolley than have to maneuver it around to get the lead back from under it

Make it narrow enough it clears a normal doorway but as wide as you can

If your going to make a hanger for the earth lead and torch make them high.... this means its easy to loop up once or twice and the lead is off the floor down low you have to coil them up tight every time with lots of loops this bends the leads hard at the welder and will eventually kill them

The rest really depends on what you do with it or if your cheap like me what you find to make it from lol for me I like to build em so they have all the spares and stuff I'm likely to need plus storage for markers, tape, magnets, clamps

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  • 2 weeks later...

post-8970-0-25716900-1436825187_thumb.jpg

Knocked one up tonight from some device of which i am not familiar. Its was a set of paper trays on wheels so the paper pushers could literally push papers around! :hysterical:

anyway its much better as a welding trolley and has the benifit of being free, not expecting the office castors to live forever but when they let go ill fit some sturdier ones

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Just wanted to say thank you again for all the good input.

At the moment I'm considering using a walking aid that's available - it's sturdy, large wheels, even has a couple of shelves, and is narrow enough to fit through doorways - so it may be a reasonable base.

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