Welding Practice

One of the main issues hampering my progress on Project Snake has been the state of my garage.  Never the tidiest person at the best of times, over the winter the garage has become a bit of a dumping ground.  I spent a couple of days having a very early spring clean which made things look a lot better.  However, I was still fed up of tripping over my welder(s) and gas bottles which always seemed to be in the way no matter where I put them.

Having added a TIG welder to the tool arsenal last year, I had decided that the disposable gas cylinders were a waste of money and invested in two Hobbyweld Plus size gas cylinders; a 5% C02: Argon mix for MIG welding and an Argon only cylinder for TIG welding.  

To tidy up the storage of the various welding paraphernalia and make it all a bit more portable (the MIG welder and gas cylinders are not exactly easy to handle) I decided to knock up a welding cart.  As well as freeing up some space I thought that it would also give me some good practice with the hot metal glue gun.

I produced a design for the cart in CAD and ordered the necessary lengths of steel section and plate.

CAD Design for Welding Cart

The bottom frame was made from 50x25 RHS while the rest of the frame was 25x25 SHS with 2mm Steel Plate for the shelves.  

Some various progress photos are shown below.  I think my MIG welding skills have improved somewhat after undertaking this project.  It is still very frustrating though, to lay down a series of really nice looking welds and think you've cracked this lark, to follow them up with the crappiest blobbiest bit of weld ever seen... Still, practice makes perfect.  Getting the torch angle right seems to be the key to getting a nice looking weld as well as a bit of a gap between the parts to be welded.

Steel for Bottom Tray cut and prepped

Looks nice - but a bit blobby...

Corner after welding and grinding

Bottom Tray complete

Steel for shelves cut and prepped

Shelf frame - various levels of weld quality...

Shelf top welded on

Using a gas cylinder to form Bottle bracket

Bottom bottle supports in place

Starting to take shape

Handle side cut and shaped...

...and end of handle notched to fit.

Upper bottle mount formed from 50x2mm steel strip

Tapping bottom tray for some casters

Heavy-duty casters - good for 200kg each!

Wheels and several coats of Hammerite Smooth

Have to say that I'm quite pleased with the final outcome.  A couple of bits need some fettling; the upper bottle stay doesn't quite tighten up with the bottles in place.  I also rushed the painting a bit, trying to beat Storm Ciara, and forgot to wipe all the grinding dust off the shelves before painting; this led to some vigorous sanding down and another two cans of Hammerite.  The finish is still not great but largely hidden by the welders, so it will do.

Cart loaded up...

...and ready for action

So that's tidied up some corner of the garage - time to get on with the rest of the Cobra build!!