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Not wood but I still made it

4K views 27 replies 10 participants last post by  Kenbo 
#1 ·
As some of you already know, I have been toying with the choice of what welding machine to get after taking an introductory course on stick welding. I looked into a lot of machines and made my decision based on availability, usefulness to me, and versatility (as far as stick welders go) I also made the choice for this machine due to the fact that it had the voltage that was available at my shop and it provided me with the option of AC and DC stick welding.
I decided on a Lincoln Electric 225/125 AC DC welder and so far, I am happy with it.
I actually got it a couple of months ago but due to my roll top desk build, I haven't had the chance to play with it other than to fire it up to make sure that it works. Now that the desk is complete, I can play with some other things such as my welder.
Well I finished my first project today and although some of you welding gurus could put this to shame, I am very proud of my first project and I'm looking forward to improving my welding skills and making more projects in the future.
The welder is rather heavy at 124 lbs and for my first project I decided to weld up a dolly so that I can move the welder around my shop. This is the design that I came up with.
I'm open to comments, questions and/or suggestions folks.
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#7 ·
Definitely some similarities and I enjoyed working on this project a lot. Thanks for the kind words.



Looks great. Welding will take practice is all. I took a class at college for 11 credits in 1990. got to try a little of everything.

the stick welder will work perfect for a home shop, that one has plenty of power. I would have made a very similar choice.
Iv worked in machine shops my whole life and got my fair share of welding time. There are so many time you could weld a couple pieces together and have a functional tool or beefy structural support you can then bolt right on.

I weld a nut on a circle of steel, drill some holes and its an instant face plate for the lathe, I made a couple of those.

When I need welding done I go to my brothers machine shop where I worked for years and they let me run anything I want.
It is coming to the time I buy a chop saw and a welder. I have a metal lathe and milling machine at home so it would complete my home shop capabilities very nicely.

Just for the heck of it id mount a fire extinguisher right to the cart so one is always handy. Ya never know when a stray spark will get something going.

Have fun, enjoy, protect your eyes at all times.
Thanks for the advice. I've got this one covered. My shop is heated with a wood stove so there is always a fire extinguisher within a couple of feet of the centre of the room. As for the sparks, I purchased some welding blankets and I cover the floor in the area where I am working. I then bought 4 more blankets and they are hung from the ceiling, touching the blankets on the floor and then fastened together at the edges to form a makeshift welding booth. It worked really well and I could concentrate on my welding without having to worry about the stray bits of hot slag and sparks travelling around the floor. As for the eyes......I couldn't agree more. I wear the full gear setup with welding gloves, safety glasses, welding helmet, welding cap and jacket as well as steel toed work boots etc. I don't mess around with stuff like this. Thanks for the kind words and the suggestion. I love it.
 
#5 ·
Looks great. Welding will take practice is all. I took a class at college for 11 credits in 1990. got to try a little of everything.

the stick welder will work perfect for a home shop, that one has plenty of power. I would have made a very similar choice.
Iv worked in machine shops my whole life and got my fair share of welding time. There are so many time you could weld a couple pieces together and have a functional tool or beefy structural support you can then bolt right on.

I weld a nut on a circle of steel, drill some holes and its an instant face plate for the lathe, I made a couple of those.

When I need welding done I go to my brothers machine shop where I worked for years and they let me run anything I want.
It is coming to the time I buy a chop saw and a welder. I have a metal lathe and milling machine at home so it would complete my home shop capabilities very nicely.

Just for the heck of it id mount a fire extinguisher right to the cart so one is always handy. Ya never know when a stray spark will get something going.

Have fun, enjoy, protect your eyes at all times.
 
#6 ·
You cheated ....

You ground all the welds down so we can't see your welding skills. :frown2: Then you it painted with primer and top coat so we'll never know.... :grin:

Since I got my MIG I haven't used my Miller 225 Thunderbolt in years.
I bought it in the '60s and I don't even know if it still works. I'm pretty sure I don't remember how to use it. The MIG just "sprays" metal in any direction and makes me look "professional" . :nerd2:

Looks nice!

You need a place to wrap or the wires?
 
#8 ·
You ground all the welds down so we can't see your welding skills. :frown2: Then you it painted with primer and top coat so we'll never know.... :grin:

Since I got my MIG I haven't used my Miller 225 Thunderbolt in years.
I bought it in the '60s and I don't even know if it still works. I'm pretty sure I don't remember how to use it. The MIG just "sprays" metal in any direction and makes me look "professional" . :nerd2:

Looks nice!
Thanks Bill. I only ground down the beads that were exposed on open faces on the surface of the cart/dolly. The beads were actually not that bad but I wanted a more seamless look for this cart. You know what they say......"if you can't weld, you'd better be able to grind and paint."

ha ha ha ha ha ha. Thanks for the compliment sir. Great to hear from you.
 
#15 ·
I started off with a static lens in my helmet and I found it to be terrible. I couldn't see where to start my weld and getting a spark from a rod was hit and miss and most times, I just stuck the rod to the metal because I couldn't see. I did end up getting an auto darkening lens and have been away to the races ever since. i can actually see now when I am trying to strike an arc instead of guessing where the metal is. Love my auto darkening lens. Thanks for the kind words.
 
#12 ·
Nice looking cart.

I couldn't survive without a welder, well I could, but they are so handy to have around and like woodenthings wrote after I got my Miller 251, the Synchrowave hasn't been used much. I got a spool gun for the mig welder it is nice to weld aluminum with, I still have the TIG machine but I am getting old and shaky, and with tig you have to be steady
 
#13 ·
You may have missed this edit above ...

I threw in this comment at the last second ..... You need a place to wrap or hang the wires... Mine hang from 2 sturdy hooks, but 2 studs or long bolts would allow you to wrap them around in the back.... no welding required, just two 1/2" holes. :smile3:
 
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#14 ·
I threw in this comment at the last second ..... You need a place to wrap or hang the wires... Mine hang from 2 sturdy hooks, but 2 studs or long bolts would allow you to wrap them around in the back.... no welding required, just two 1/2" holes. :smile3:
I did miss this Bill. Thanks for the suggestion. I appreciate it.
 
#17 · (Edited)
Looks great Kenbo. Now take up the fine art of bondoizing for getting rid of grinding marks and so on. I'm kidding. Only mad dogs and Englishmen want to sling bondo these days.
I built my garden cart with a HF mig flux core dohickie.. So far it's been able to haul around 500 lbs of brush at a time on plastic wheel chair wheels.
Welding is fun until you get a glob of molten steel down inside your shoe or boot and your shoestrings melt together. At this point fun is relative to your ability to withstand pain...
Looks great!

You should be ashamed of sideways pictures. Shame, shame, shame! Tisk, tisk, etcetera and so on and so forth. ;)
 
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#24 ·
it's a demo ....



I'm demonstrating the "table" part of table saw....... :|
A vertical panel saw would stay much neater........... :|
 
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#28 ·
The course was free for me but I had to purchase a student package for the course which was $200. The student package included welding gloves, leather work gloves, a welding jacket, 2 beanies, safety glasses, a slag hammer, a wire brush, a welding helmet, auto darkening lens, static lens, soap stone "pen", the textbook, a duffle bag, a respirator with cartridges, oxy cutting goggles and a few other odds and ends that you would need to get started. I couldn't have purchased all that stuff for $200 if I went out and bought it myself so it was a fantastic deal. Good luck getting into the course and I hope you enjoy it.
 
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