This is a reposting of an earlier article to fit in the new ‘series post’ organization.

Once upon a time I had a job that involved metal fabrication and welding. It was a fun job. I’ve always enjoyed creating things. About 3 years ago I purchased a MIG welder ( Millermatic 140 ), but never got around to using it for various valid and invalid reasons. So after 3 years of accumulating motivation, I’ve finally gotten around to doing something with it. As part of the ‘Garage Cleanup Meta Project™’, my first task was to push enough garbage off to the perimeter edges of the garage to free up some workspace. The second task was to build my own cart to pull around my little welder on. This project was functional ( I really needed a cart for it ), as well as a re-educational endeavor. It has been a while since I welded anything and needed some practice. So lets go to some pictures:

Everything starts as a sketch on a napkin ( or reasonable facsimile )

The welder is capable of using either solid-core or flux-core wire. I plan on using solid-core wire, so my cart needed to also tug along the proportionally sized gas bottle. So some general ideas on paper with some very general measurements, time to go shopping ! N and A tools sold me the nice pair of pneumatic wheels dirt cheap. P N J Metals sold me the metal stock 5/8 steel angle iron, precut (somewhat) to help fit in the automobile. Home Depot sold me the 5/8 metal rod ( wheel axle ) as well as the washers and cotter pins. So with most of the materials on hand, time to get to work

Cleared some room out, brought in workbench. Sectioned piece of plywood to hold my jig

Disclaimer : I’m using a Sony Cybershot DSC-W1 point’n'shoot. It seems to have focus troubles in the available light. As you can see the garage is a bit messy. When space is at a premium; it is both imperative and difficult to keep things organized and neat.

Setup a jig, started cutting some iron.

The ratchet clamps came from N and A tools. They are made from some plastic and I managed to snap the first one instantly by squeezing too hard. Its nearly impossible to find metal version of these ratcheting work clamps. Its a pity as they are invaluable tools. I’ve ordered some metal ones I found on an amazon store. I’m not holding my breath, but hopefully they will last a little while.

Read the awesome Miller instructions and assembled the welder, time to start tacking things together !

Miller have all instructions available online via PDF, excellent service. It still amazes me some companies refuse to make their literature available online.

Tacking at two points. I figured using lower voltage would create a really fragile tack, which could be broken if necessary.

I’m not sure if the low voltage tacks are a good technique, they will snap on you if you aren’t gentle. I never took shop class as a kid, and my work experience in fabrication was very limited. So a lot of this I’m making up as I go along. My father was a tool and die maker, so we’ve always had tools around but I don’t have any benefit of formal schooling. So feel free to comment on techniques and provide advice, just be civil about it ;)

Tacked square in jig.

My design consists of two equal sized horizontal squares supported by vertical columns, the square the gas bottle would sit on would be separate and welded on later. In hindsight the square for the gas bottle platform was hard to line up squarely. If i were doing this again, the bottom square would be re-sized to include the gas bottle platform.

Tacking the squares to the vertical column pieces

Starting to take a little shape. I don’t trust the accuracy of those 90 degree woodworking clamps though.

Hopefully with enough of these 90 degree clamps, any inaccuracy will be cancelled out.

Once I got this far and had it all tacked, I decided could probably lay down some real welds. Things were lining up pretty square, there wasn’t going to be a need to break it apart.

Welds !!! 3 years in the making.

So it isn’t the prettiest. 5/8 of an inch and tight corners really doesn’t give me a lot of time to build any rhythm or momentum in the weld. Not the most ideal situation for practice. After a few welds I found workable voltage/wire feed settings.

Lining up the gas bottle platform.

The washers are there to help my ruler clear the welds. This was finicky to line up squarely. As mentioned above; If I were doing this again, I would probably make my gas bottle platform and bottom square one larger square.

Attaching the handle.

Every cart needs a handle. You can see the ratchet clamp here, where my tack snapped. When I had this piece in the jig, it shifted when I tacked it.

Mocking up the axle and wheels.

I had to measure and cut the wheel axle before welding it in place. Somethings you can measure, cut, and put together on a napkin or in your head. But somethings you just have to wait for everything else to be in place first. I guess the professionals sit down in some CAD program first and measure and draft designs to near infinite detail. This project is a little more ‘humble’, and the process is a bit more ‘organic’.

Completed frame !!!

Here is the completed frame, ready for painting and final assembly. I hammered out my tack welds at this point so they wouldn’t interfere with the plywood that will go into the squares. It lined up all pretty squarely, and even though I would change some things, I’m pretty happy with it. Some of my welds are garbage and ugly, some of them are decent and pretty. It was trickier than I first imagined; access is a pain ( surprisingly ) and the joints are relatively small so there is no runway to build a nice weld. You squeeze the trigger, wave the gun, and hope in two seconds you’ve laid a nice weld down.

To be continued …