Budget Welding carts – Any good?

[Taf_PembsParticipant @taf_pembs]

[Taf_PembsParticipant @taf_pembs]

Morning folks..

I need a welding cart for my Tig, I use a 30 Ltr argon bottle so fairly large and weighty.

Has anyone had any experience of these cheap – £50 – £80 welding carts all over ebay & amazon and the likes?

I am happy to fettle it to make it better / more substantial but it needs to be big enough to take the bottle and preferably with some draws.

I don't really want to buy one if that are matchbox size and made of chocolate, I know they are going to be fairly crap but It only has to move a meter or 2 round my workshop and keep stuff out of the way and tidy.

I sort of have enough 1" thick wall steel tube and some other odds and ends that could just about cobble 1 together but this was previously used to build a gravity racer that had to carry a lot of weight down a serious hill dam fast so most of the tube is 'shotgun' stitch welded together with lots of other bits welded to it so would take a LOT of cutting and cleaning to be usable (I've already used almost a box of cutting discs to cut the frame into straight sections).

Problem is, the cost of the cutting / grinding / flapper discs + rods and gas would probably cost more than buying one of these cheap o ones.

Cheers all..!

[alan ord 2Participant @alanord2]

I don't have a problem with mine. Mig welder sits on the top and as its gas less I sit my oil cooled stick welder where the gas bottle resides at the back. My plasma cutter sits on the bottom shelf and my mask and consumables are located on the middle shelf.

Very happy with it.

Alan.

[Colin HeseltineParticipant @colinheseltine48622]

I found a hospital oxygen bottle trolley on Ebay. I made a few mods and added an angled shelf for the TIG welder. It works well.

Colin

[Jonathan RichardsParticipant @jonathanrichards78237]

I bought one of the cheap versions I think you are referring to. Less than £40 including delivery from eBay 2 months ago. On arrival and unpacking I thought the components were simply too flimsy to make a useful structure.

However, once assembled it was surprisingly rigid. I had to extend the top shelf with a plywood surface to mount an R-Tech 180 MIG satisfactorily but the trolley copes with the 19kg weight of the welder plus a new full 20l hobbyweld cylinder and a cheap and small plasma cutter on the bottom shelf with no issues at all. It rolls and manoeuvres reasonably well on a smooth concrete floor but I suspect it would be less happy on a rougher surface.

I thought when ordering it that I would need to beef up the metal work but I have since seen no need. If you give one a go, you might be pleasantly surprised!

JR

[Taf_PembsParticipant @taf_pembs]

Thanks for the responses, appreciate it..

I may well give one a go then, I would prefer one with drawers being for a tig welder there are all the different size cups and inserts etc but they tent to be around the 80 – 90 quid mark .. maybe find some second hand draws to fit to it.

Still trying to save for some Unistrut to make a lightweight overhead gantry set up as I can no longer lift the parts of the mill around the workshop for refurbishing.. nearly 400 quid for 4 x 6m lengths of channel and 20 odd hangers – may be a while yet..

Cheers again!

[WingoParticipant @wingo]

Hi, if you are looking for 'Unistrut' type material have a look at F W Brundle. Their pricing is normally very keen. It's unbranded but to the BS.

Lots of other useful things in the catalogue.

Michael

[Paul LousickParticipant @paullousick59116]

Spending £80 on a welding cart and extra to modify it would go a long way for buying materials for making a better cart.yourself. You already have a welder.

[Chris CrewParticipant @chriscrew66644]

I was happy to see this thread as I have one of these carts on my eBay watch list and will hit the 'buy it now' button next pension day.

[Taf_PembsParticipant @taf_pembs]

Posted by Jonathan Richards on 24/06/2023 23:27:36:

I bought one of the cheap versions I think you are referring to. Less than £40 including delivery from eBay 2 months ago. On arrival and unpacking I thought the components were simply too flimsy to make a useful structure.

However, once assembled it was surprisingly rigid. I had to extend the top shelf with a plywood surface to mount an R-Tech 180 MIG satisfactorily but the trolley copes with the 19kg weight of the welder plus a new full 20l hobbyweld cylinder and a cheap and small plasma cutter on the bottom shelf with no issues at all. It rolls and manoeuvres reasonably well on a smooth concrete floor but I suspect it would be less happy on a rougher surface.

I thought when ordering it that I would need to beef up the metal work but I have since seen no need. If you give one a go, you might be pleasantly surprised!

JR

Thanks again folks, appreciate it..

Jonathan – You have a 20L bottle on yours, the 30L I use are about 9 1/2 inch diameter. Do you think that would fit on the bottle stand, also, does yours have metal hub wheels or plastic as there only seems to be 2 types that I can find..?

After reading many reviews, the 80 odd quid ones with 4 drawers seem OK but the drawers seem to let them down so I'm leaning more towards the basic 40 ish quid ones and find a second hand set of drawers or something suitable to put the parts in.. As Paul says, at that price it would probably be better to build my own.

Cheers!

Edited By Taf_Pembs on 26/06/2023 18:11:28

[Taf_PembsParticipant @taf_pembs]

Posted by Michael Cottle on 25/06/2023 12:35:41:

Hi, if you are looking for 'Unistrut' type material have a look at F W Brundle. Their pricing is normally very keen. It's unbranded but to the BS.

Lots of other useful things in the catalogue.

Michael

Hi Michael, Yes..! I found them last night by accident and cut the cost by about 150 quid to get what I need!

They seem to have a dam good range of stuff..

[Jonathan RichardsParticipant @jonathanrichards78237]

Hi Taf

I'm sorry I haven't yet worked out how to select text from previous postings in order to generate a specific reply. In response to your queries, the bottle stand area on my trolley is just over 10" by 11" and the bottle retaining chains are much longer than I need for my 8.5" diameter cylinder. The wheels are moulded plastic retained by washers and split pins on a steel bar axle.

I hope that helps!

Jonathan

[Taf_PembsParticipant @taf_pembs]

Thanks Jonathan, that's perfect.. cheers!

Oh.. click where is says Quote at the bottom of the Post, where is says Message Member – Ignore Member, send to friend etc…. the existing text will have a bar down the left in the reply then and you can delete as much as you like..

[Taf_PembsParticipant @taf_pembs]

Well eventually got round to getting one of the budget £41 welding cart's form the bay of tat.

On unpacking I was surprised that the flatpack metal work was actually a bit thicker that I was expecting.

Instructions – no.. just an exploded view of the parts (labelled wrong!) but hay, it's not difficult, there is a picture.

As said, I've got a 30L bottle of gas but from the comments above it seemed like it was going to be ok and it was .. just!

The fasteners are all a bit too long so you either have them all sticking into the shelf areas or have them sticking out and attacked by them every time you walk past. Will have to set to them with a cut off wheel and cap them.

Because the top shelf slopes backwards the welder then sitting on it is pushed forward by the bottle, so much so that it's jammed against the cart handle.. not a real problem, it's not hurting anything.

I put a piece of plywood in the bottom under the bottle for a bit of extra support and to spread the load a bit.

The other down side of such a bit bottle is the top chain is barley half way up the bottle.. will do something about that.

I'm going to have to get some padding to go round the base of the tig so it doesn't slide around the top shelf and gouge itself on the protruding bolts.

The caster bolts have to come up through the bottom rather than down as they jam the castors so they need dressing down too as they mess up the bottom shelf.

Need to add some rod tube mounts but other than that, for 41 quid delivered I am surprisingly impressed. I couldn't have made one for that money as I would have had to buy the materials.

Yes it's cheap and rough but it's only to keep the clutter down in the workshop.

[Nick WheelerParticipant @nickwheeler]

I've had the Machine Mart supplied version for some time. It's handy enough that I wouldn't consider making a cart now.

The casters are not very good; expect to replace them soon with better ones

[Dave HalfordParticipant @davehalford22513]

Both of those cylinder chains would scare me, the bottom one can slip under the bottle and you have reduced the angle iron ability to restrain the bottle with your wood 'Improvement'

[Henry BrownParticipant @henrybrown95529]

Posted by Taf_Pembs on 25/06/2023 11:22:25:

"Still trying to save for some Unistrut to make a lightweight overhead gantry set up as I can no longer lift the parts of the mill around the workshop for refurbishing.. nearly 400 quid for 4 x 6m lengths of channel and 20 odd hangers – may be a while yet.."

Taf, I used some second hand pallet racking beams I picked up for a few quid, officially they can't be used unless they have a known carrying capacity, for insurance reasons.

For my MIG welder I welded a bit of scrap angle from an old bedstead and got some good used castors of about 150mm dia so they would roll around easier. I appreciate that isn't as fancy as you need but maybe worth a look…

[Taf_PembsParticipant @taf_pembs]

Hi Dave,

Yes the bottle is too tall for those chains. When I get some small angle iron I intend to try and add a pair of uprights to the outer edges of the panel and use that to set the top chain somewhat higher. Having said that, I have tried to pull the bottle over and it only pulls the cart over and the bottom doesn't slip out, there is enough lip left to stop it. As I said, it's hardly being moved about just able to keep it out of the way.

It certainly does the job..

[Martin King 2Participant @martinking2]

Hi Taf,

do you have the EBay link for that trolley please?

martin

[Taf_PembsParticipant @taf_pembs]

Hi Martin,

This is the one I bought but there are several very similar / same.

Welding Cart

[Martin King 2Participant @martinking2]

Thanks very much! Will order one as it look as thought it will take my small plasma cutter (Lidl!) as well!

Cheers, Martin

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Posted by Dave Halford on 15/07/2023 09:42:19:

Both of those cylinder chains would scare me, the bottom one can slip under the bottle and you have reduced the angle iron ability to restrain the bottle with your wood 'Improvement'

Hi Dave, I can't see any problem with them, although I wouldn't bother putting the bottom one on even. Every industrial one I've used, only has one chain, and they are more or less fixed at the same height proportionally, with a full size cylinder. My own Supermig 170/1 has just one chain, about the same height as the one Taf_Plems has shown, and it doesn't even have any type of bar at the bottom, in fact the cylinder hangs over the edge of the platform by a little bit, and its never been a problem.

Regards Nick.

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