Heavy Duty Welder Cart Plans

After getting my new welder from Harbor Freight i realized that it would be nice to have a cart for it.  That way i could roll it around and more importantly, all the other things i needed for welding would be in one organized, portable place. 

I looked at a ton of examples online.  There were a few reasons why i didn't just go out and buy a cheap metal one for $70.   First i didn't like the thin metal design.  It looked flimsy to me.  But the main reason why i didn't like it is because it looked very top heavy.  I didn't like how the heavy welder sit at the top.  Not that it would tip over, i just didn't like how it was laid out.

A lot of people that build their own welder cart use metal, which makes sense.  They get to use their welder to join the metal pieces together.  And because metal won't catch on fire if a spark lands on it.

But i decided to use wood for the cart.  Mainly i used wood because it's cheaper.  But it is also plenty strong for the cart i was making.  It's also more forgiving and i think it looks better.  Here's my final plan that i drew.  These welder cart plans would just as easily work for a Miller or Lincoln welder.  I might have gotten a little carried away with how much stuff i plan on attaching to the cart though.

I didn't want to just butt up a couple of 2x4's and nail them together, so i tried making some lap joints.  I don't have a table saw so i cut these by hand.

Here's the bulk of the pieces i needed.  You can see that i did use some metal pipe.  It's some old copper tubing i had in the basement.  I used copper rather than cheap electrical conduit for the same reason that Doc Brown from Back to the Future use a Dorian.   " The way I see it, if you're gonna build a time machine into a car, why not do it with some style?"

Here it is with some of the shelf boards laid out.  I used pine 1x6 and 1x8 boards for the base.  They were just glued and nailed to the 2x4's using my nail gun.

This is the rough framework put together.  You can see how the copper tubing fits together.  I just drilled part way through the boards and slid the pipe into place.   Also the rounded boards at the bottom are for a fire extinguisher and blowtorch.  They will be strapped to either side.

This is with one of the many attachments i plan to add.  It's just a piece of PVC pipe to store the welding tip.  It's possible that it may melt if i put it in there right after welding.  If that happens i guess i'll have to replace it with a metal one.  But i think it will be ok.

After a rough sanding with the belt sander i filled in as many gaps with spackle as i could.  Then i sanded the spackle down and painted everything with white primer.  I put tape at the edge of the copper tubing so that it was protected.

I wasn't too picky with what color to paint the cart.  I chose red because that's what i had.  Just a left-over can from painting a bedroom so that's what i went with.

Here's what it looked like after the first coat.  Not real good.

This is after 2 coats of red paint and 2 coats of polyurethane.  It looks a lot better and the polyurethane should protect it for several years.

This is what it looks like all done.  I attached the PVC welder tip holder on the side.  I painted it black with some spray paint.  I attached allen wrenches as hooks, 6 in total.  And i ended up using different wheels then i had originally planned.  The yellow wheels are rubber and have a stop on them so that i can lock the cart in place if i have to.

Here's a closer view of the welder tip holder and allen wrenches.

I needed a way to hold the fire extinguisher and blow torch in place so i cut this PVC pipe and painted it black.

Here it is all done and in the garage. 

This is another view from the back.  You can see the 2 hooks i have on the back too.  I figured that i couldn't have too many hooks for things like the cord, mask and gloves.

This is what it looks like all loaded up with everything. 

Here's the welder tip in the holder.  Nothing fancy but it seems to do the job.

Here's the propane bottle on one side.

 And this is the fire extinguisher on the other side.  Hopefully i don't need to use it.

I'm actually pretty happy with how it turned out.  Real simple but sturdy and well thought out.  It rolls around really well and should help me with any future welding i get to do.