I hadn't thought about it before but now that you mention it we do look a little bit alike, except for the hair style. I've always respected the late Mr. Ross's ability to make seemingly difficult things look easy, and I hope I can do some of the same.
I just found your sight and like it a lot. I am a hobbyist welder myself and like your welder cart. I might suggest putting some type of restraint on your welders to keep them from falling off your cart when moving it or pulling a little to hard on your cables. Good job.
Nice video, good editing and sound. A valuable series of little lessons too. 23 minutes with you leaves the viewer eager for your other videos. Congratulations and thank you.
Nice cart. Nice work. I think you was overthinking about the top warping and distorting while you was welding. Those materials are so thick, none of that could warp.
Nice project! I like the use of the receiver for modularity and the electrical subpanel. Thanks for showing the acid etching. That will make my life easier when removing mill scale.
Soaking your steel in vinegar over night works pretty well, if you cover the tub, it can be reused later. Muratic acid works fast but is nasty to work with and requires all prudent cautions.. nice build, and great welding for a beginner, well done !
Great video ! Thanks for sharing. I have a plasma cutter and I love it, but I just bought a Makita metal cutting circular saw and love it even more. No fires to start and it makes a machine type cut that is so smoothe. Cheaper on electricity too. Best thing I ever bought for making straight cuts in metal.
great design. I like your accessory mounts under the table top and the protected sub panel on the back. I was wondering why the tool box wasn't in that space initially. Great solution to keep cords organized on your cart.
Excellent design and build. I love the receiver hitch idea, I will be stealing that one! I am thinking hitch receiver vise (as you did), bench grinder, chop saw, extension table surface (for bigger projects), and anything else I can think of!
Great video. I am adding hitch receiver to my big wooden workbench so I can transfer my vice, grinder, Etc. to different job sites as well as connecting to the back of my pick up truck. It probably goes without saying to be careful what objects you mount next to your gas tanks or their oxygen or acetylene, etc. if you’re not using them treat them like you’re traveling with them on a truck and put the safety caps on at least
Glad you found it useful. I only use inert shielding gasses so they pose no fire risk, although there is of course still some potential hazard because they are highly compressed and I am mindful of that.
Thanks, it was beginner's luck perhaps. After this project I really struggled trying to get an aluminum TIG weld that didn't look like crap. I watched many videos, tried many techniques and my welds were just terrible. I finally figured out that my argon cylinder was running low and while it still gave adequate flow rate indicated on the flow gauge, apparently I was getting impure gas from the dregs of the tank. I switched to a new cylinder and immediately my welds looked so much better, still not professional but at least not totally incompetent and I was finally able to start working on my technique.
Nice. My shop is tiny and space is a premium i have a ultra small cart just big enough for my HH210 MVP and 80cf tank. I have to lug the plasma cutter but for now it works. Like the design and color scheme
Might add a removable welding jig table to the top of the cart to facilitate project set up. Could use op from a Habor Freight welding table??? Nice ideas regarding the hitch mounts. Well executed project.
Awesome design and great video. Your cart design is exactly what I have been looking for and will work perfectly for me. Thanks for also including the skp on your site!
Nice Project, thanks for sharing. Couldn't help but have a giggle when the little fire started after you wet the area down :-) Glad it was kept under control. Look forward to more of your videos. New subscriber, Thanks Max
Thanks. The fire actually started before I wet the area down, and ironically it started among the plants about 6 feet away but not in the wood chips that were right under where I was cutting (and looking). After learning that lesson the easy way, since no real damage occurred, I have sprayed down the area each time I use the plasma cutter and so far no more fires.
Cast iron is not a great conductor of electricity. Also, if you hit a ridge in the floor will the welder tip over. Good video for view and speed and narrative.
Hello Jay M., congratulations on your channel, it is of very high quality and interesting. I am glad I found it. Nice project, well thought out and executed. You could become as big as Jimmy D. (1 M subs) or Matthias W. (1 M subs) , the quality is that good. ;-) You need to spray paint your name onto everything you make now, it is the new trend. Greetings from Netherlands.
Brian, Interesting build. And yes, weld long enough you will catch something on fire, mine was about 1/2 an acre in south Texas, started by a grinder of all things! I like the concept of your table, have a few thoughts, personally I would like to see more weld on the tubes holding the vice, although it is not really a heavy duty table, if you get to beating on something with a hammer, you may all of the sudden find one disconnected! And should the vice choose to alleviate it's self of her moorings and find your foot when it lands, well I suspect you will be inventing some new ways to string cuss words together! lol First one of your videos I have seen, I am subscribed.
Glad you liked it. The receiver tube wasn't my idea but it does work well. I'm planning to attach tubes to some of my other work benches so I can use the same accessories in other places.
just a friendly suggestion. Tig welding is by far the most temperamental process in my opinion. I think if you spend just a little bit more time cleaning weld zone, your welds will come out way better. also work on your arc length with the torch try not to move it up and down. Awesome video though I love the way you planned this out. I wanna start playing with software like that.
Thanks, yeah I know my arc length control is still pretty poor. I just got a smaller 9F torch with a flexible head that I think will help. The welder came with a big torch that feels like holding a baseball bat, no doubt usable with experience but not the best choice for thinner material and inexperienced hands. I guess they couldn't very well sell a 200A welder with a 125A torch though.
Cleaning with acetone or another suitable solvent is also a good idea. Also, would really help with the structural integrity to put chamfers on butt welds for good penetration. It looks like you just flowed metal over the surface in your case. Aside from that, excellent video and presentation. Quality!
Great cart! Maybe a detachable tank compartment would be a good addition. I like to move them away from the weld surface when using it for extended periods.
Thanks, that's an interesting idea. Most of the TIG welding projects I have in mind are fairly small but I might consider it if I start doing larger projects.
Thanks, yes I always weld it outside and stay upwind, and I try not to weld it at all. This wasn't really galvanized, just a very thin zinc coating on the fasteners so I wasn't too worried about it but I still did it with a breeze outside.
Yes I do have a smooth floor but it still takes considerable force to move it. Larger casters would make that easier but would also raise the work surface and I'd prefer not to have it any higher.
Nice build. Can you provide the details for the brand to your Tig/ plasma cutter? Would be great if you can provide a link or something. Great way to earn some extra cash from affiliates.
That sounds like good advice but I'm not exactly sure what you mean. More airflow for the plasma cutter? It seems to cut okay so what would be the benefit of more pressure?
love your bench question tho why didnt you just use a normal hitch pin to mount the vise and accessories wouldnt it be just as secure and quick to remove/interchange
A hitch pin would work but it would allow the vise to wobble a bit, probably not much but the bolt holds it securely and may also give a better electrical ground connection for welding things held in the vise.
I figure this vise is mainly for holding things while using a grinder and welder, where it's likely to get scraped and spattered up but won't be subject to much force. Not a good choice for hammering though!
Nice project. Question: How do you move the cart/table around? Is the weight of the top heavy enough that it doesn't come off if you grab the top to move it around?
I often move it around by pushing on the top since it's at a convenient height. It is held down with brackets welded onto the bottom side so it cannot come off.
Brian, great build. Thanks for the great ideas. I plan on using them for my cart. How did you weld the nut inside your tubes? Did I miss a larger hole on the opposite side? If not, what’s your trick. Thanks
Thanks, glad you found it useful. To weld the nuts inside the tubes, I held them in place with a short bolt and reached in the end with my wire-feed welder to tack them in place. That weld doesn't take much stress so a single tack was enough to keep it there
I used SketchUp Make 2017, which has since been discontinued. But you can now use the free online version of SketchUp available at app.sketchup.com/app, and this will load the SKP file that I posted on my website for this project.
so I'm "coming TO an understandingc that it's ok to weld tig with out the rod not sure of the actual name filler rod I'm finally got good with my wire welder.....love vertical down , flat can be challenge.....don't get in to much over head working on my projects I build a overhead crane..twin beam separated about 4ft plus....one hoist just lifts the second allows me to lift flat ... impressed enough one my first watch to subscribe.....
sir I hope you cut off the base of the vice....I see the handle in the seems to get close the base and can to be a knuckle buster....oh I see that your new wire welder is the same as,mine an the wire feed your using in the video is flux core......I hope you go with the gas they weld much cleaner......enjoyed the build I watch these videos to learn more and for future ideas and projects....thanks for the post
The handle does get a bit close but not too bad. I could move the vise farther out from the table but then it would interfere with a walkway where I store the table, so this works for me. Regarding your earlier comment, yes it is OK to TIG weld without filler rod in some situations. In my case I was welding outside corners where I want them to get rounded off a bit, and filler material could produce a stronger weld but I have no worries about the strength of these particular joints.
I made the top 25x48 inches and 3/8" thick because that's the size of the steel plate I found at the used metal store for $0.40/pound (127 lb for about $50). It had one bent corner where I made the cutout for the tanks. It would probably be okay a bit thinner but I wouldn't want it much thicker because it was hard to move around.
Excellent build and idea. If you don't mind I would like to use your idea/design to build one as well? With just a few changes to make it my own and not just a copy.
Hey Jay, I love the videos. What part of the world do you live in, and what do you do for a regular job. Thanks for taking the time to make these videos.
It should not cause a problem and as it happens, I only use this cart on a circuit that has a 50A ground-fault circuit interrupter breaker for other reasons, and it has never tripped the GFCI while welding or plasma cutting so I don't believe there is any grounding issue.
No, sorry I don't. It's basically the same as a small sub-panel in a house except that it's fed with a very large cord that plugs into a 50A range outlet.
Thanks. I considered showing the internals of the power panel, but it's an area where safety is especially important so I'd rather avoid giving electrical wiring directions over RU-vid. It is wired just like a sub-panel or "main lug" as it's called in the U.S., and for someone who has never wired one before my advice would be to either have it done by an electrician, or to research sub-panel wiring and do it yourself but have it checked by an electrician before using it. It shouldn't be very costly to have it inspected, and it's well worth making sure it's done right before applying power.
