Fabcart Build Thread

[jeepinmatt]

Nothing too fancy here. Just consolidating, sold off some of my bigger equipment, and trying to organize things a little better in the shop. I have this real bad tendency of spending 1/3 of my time in the shop walking somewhere else to get the thing I need and know where it is, 1/3 of my time looking for the tape measure (which I have like 4 of, all brightly colored, always set in an easy to find spot that I can never remember and never see from wherever I am), and the other 1/3 cussing and cobbling stuff together.

Some low hanging fruit was the welding/fab/grinding side of things. I always have a few C-clamps and some gloves and a grinding disc on the welding table, my grinders either in the top of the toolbox, under the back workbench, or wherever I last used them, my welder parked over in a corner with half of the stuff I need to weld hanging on it, and the plasma on a totally separate cart in a different corner of the shop.

Step 1 was to sell my big Miller welder and Esab plasma (thanks @Mac5005 and @KrawlerTJ ), figure out what was wrong with my trusty old Hobart 175, and buy a smaller plasma cutter. The Hobart had been haunting me for over a year with feed issues (only feeding wire at 90-100% speed) and it turned out to simply be an overtightened feed roller tensioner that i forgot to loosen after I did this.

Next step was to buy a smaller plasma and a toolbox to put it all on. I wanted all drawers to generally keep it dust/slag free, and deeper drawers to fit taller items instead of a bunch of short drawers that would be nearly empty and a couple of packed big drawers at the bottom. Craftsman and Husky both had 4 drawer toolboxes for $150, but the Husky seemed a little better built. Then found a great deal on a Firepower plasma which is an Esab/Thermal Dynamics brand (that I had never heard of either).

Pretty sure this is the first shop tool I've ever owned with a fancy digital display...

So here's the plan, everything in this pic needs to be in or on the new cart. Using the angle to build a new subframe that holds the toolbox and tanks and forms a beefier base for it all to roll on, with a longer wheelbase and wider spacing on the casters for stability.

 

[jeepinmatt]

Since I don't have that "new metal" money, I spent a good half-hour plus with the wire wheel cleaning up the old rusty 2x2 angle for this project.

Next step was to cut the 6ft piece into a pair of 36" pieces, and the 5ft piece into three 18-1/4" pieces.

Toolbox had a footprint of 18x27", and instead of building everything too tight like I always do and having to hammer it in, I decided to leave an extra 1/4" this time, haha.

A smart person would have just cut the angle and welded it together, but I've never liked the mismatch that occurs when you do that...

So I chopped the bottom flanges off, with a nice triple cut of course

Got it all squared up and tacked together.

Then did a little test fit.

Burned it all in, and added some thin plate for tank town.

The casters were a little funky, instead of 4 bolts, they had 2 bolts and a tab that slipped into a slot. Broke the tab off and welded them on. Cocked the swivel bases to get better support and more weld area. Should be a heck of a lot stronger than the same casters on the thin sheet metal base of a tool box.

Threw a coat of Rustoleum Rust Reformer on it to finish it off. I really like the matte finish of this paint, and it's a great things for us poors to keep in stock for our rusty metal.

Then threw the toolbox on it and called it a day.

 

[jeepinmatt]

Got everything moved in tonight. Which is phenomenal considering I started at about 4:30 yesterday afternoon and worked the day job all day today. I thought this would drag out for weeks or months, haha.

Still need to figure out cord management, relocate the toolbox handle, secure the tanks, maybe add some pegboard on the back, etc. But so far I'm rather pleased.

Basically everything here (except the big old Craftsman grinder):

Is now in here:

And takes up a lot less floor space, and can easily park by the welding table.

 

[justjeepin86]

This really makes me think of dumping my big roller Miller 210 for a newer smaller welder. I'd love to have my mig, tig, and plasma on one cart.

 

[1stgenxxx]

Wow Matt. I’m so triggered by that unchained tank. What if it falls off the cart and torpedoes through a mint square body Chevy.

 

[WARRIORWELDING]

Those C-Clamps do not match the ability of the welding equipment present. You need to pass them to me......

Make some loops to hang the cords on the side or rear. Small pole like item to puts hooks on for the helmets or make a ring rack thingy for the bottle. Keeps the regulator from getting turned all the time and the helmets off the ground and table where all the sparks get thrown.

I'd skip the peg board, for the square inches available it'll clutter in no time.

 

[ghost]

Nice. I never thought of makeing a base and setting the roll cart in it.

 

[jeepinmatt]

This really makes me think of dumping my big roller Miller 210 for a newer smaller welder. I'd love to have my mig, tig, and plasma on one cart.

You just reminded me that I have an old Harbor Freight TIG squirreled away somewhere too. And a Sharpie tungsten grinder. I should probably just sell it, but if it happens to fit between the MIG and the Plasma...

 

[1stgenxxx]

 

[NickMaul]

You know shopping carts at Home Depot are free right?

 

[jeepinmatt]

You know shopping carts at Home Depot are free right?

Close, but "I wanted all drawers to generally keep it dust/slag free"

 

[jeepinmatt]

Wow Matt. I’m so triggered by that unchained tank. What if it falls off the cart and torpedoes through a mint square body Chevy.

The tank, like my jeep, is only for pictures, and never actually moves.

 

[jeepinmatt]

Those C-Clamps do not match the ability of the weldor using them.

FIFY

Make some loops to hang the cords on the side or rear. Small pole like item to puts hooks on for the helmets or make a ring rack thingy for the bottle. Keeps the regulator from getting turned all the time and the helmets off the ground and table where all the sparks get thrown.

I'm debating between hooks off the back, or fabbing a long push handle that also doubles as a lead holder.

I'd skip the peg board, for the square inches available it'll clutter in no time.

Interesting. I've found most of my pegboards just have a pile of crap at the bottom, so I didn't figure anything at all would accumulate on them.

 

[rodney eppes]

Well Mr. Hobart, is Very jealous of the Fire Power & Huskey! They are all pretty & shinny, while he is dirty & dusty. He wants a Facelift!

 

[NCJeeplover]

A smart person would have just cut the angle and welded it together, but I've never liked the mismatch that occurs when you do that...

I've never understood this. It takes like an extra 15 minutes to trim the angle and make it nice. Well worth the little effort.

 

[1stgenxxx]

I should’ve given you the blueprint for this cart. My corner joints are to spec

 

[jeepinmatt]

I should’ve given you the blueprint for this cart. My corner joints are to specView attachment 387767View attachment 387768

 

[jeepinmatt]

At my own behest, I considered @1stgenxxx's request. And it was part of the plan anyway. Securing the tanks. I plan to have 2 tanks on there, so wanted to have enough room. I started with a piece of 2"x1/4" aluminium (got it from the UK) and a gate hinge. Had to guess a little on the length since I didn't have a clear plan and was designing on the fly. Used my old "taco gusset" dies that I made a decade ago to put a nicely radiused bend in it at the 90s. Did a test bend on the first one to see where it shook out. It was off by 1/4" because I forgot to account for material thickness, but close enough.

Next one I needed 9", so I mark the center at 8-3/4" to align with the center of the upper die, and put marks 3/4" on either side to help line it up with the lower die and keep it square.

Got em nice and square and test fit looked good.

 

[Paul]

A unsecured tank is a death sentence in my world.
I'll bring you a piece of chain to secure it so you don't kill women and small children.

 

[jeepinmatt]

So the next step was to figure out how to latch it. Easiest thing seemed like a vertical pin, so I set about figuring that out. I figured I could fashion some type of bracket to use a tractor pin since I had a couple laying around. For the aluminum side, I wanted to form up an eye, so I basically did a double bend to try and get it closer to 180 degrees.

Then I moved over to the little big vise and tried to squish it around a little more. I hate doing stuff like this with aluminum, because you'll be bending along just fine and then suddenly it will crack and break. I went as far as I could, but wasn't comfortable forming a fully closed eye.

Once I had that done, I could figure out the latch bracket. In typical fashion of the poors, I found this old piece of cracked metal from a tire carrier I reworked 10-15years ago, and kept around just for this moment

With the right series of cuts, I churched it up a bit...

And a little grinder and belt sander magic to make it pretty.

Looks good enough for me. Here's the finished product.

 

[1stgenxxx]

Wow….now you’re just showing off. Blueprints only called for an orange HF clencher style strap

 

[jeepinmatt]

Next step was to add a little more storage on top. I had this old network rack style drawer that I wanted to use. Flipped the base, redrilled a few holes, and put a coat of paint on it.

Of couse it was Christmas weekend and friggin cold. Had to improvise for my heated paint booth.

Then spot welded some drawer slides on it.

 

[jeepinmatt]

I had this piece of 7" wide plate that has been in my floor for at least 5 or 6 years.

Decided it would be more useful as a drawer frame, so put a couple bends in it and chopped off the excess.

if it fits, it ships!

 

[jeepinmatt]

Painted it all up real nice and riveted the slides to the drawer frame.

Then remembered I was supposed to add a 1/2" spacer before riveting on the back side slide.
So I did the logical thing...waited a week, did nothing, and then...

It just seemed easier than grinding off the rivets and figuring out a spacer and some low profile screws.

 

[jeepinmatt]

Next step was a top. I thought about plywood or melamine, but I wanted to make sure there was nothing combustible on the fabcart, plus I had a nice piece of stainless and a new plasma cutter...

I still hadn't thought through how to attach it all, so i was just winging it this afternoon. First step was to weld the drawer frame to the top.

Then finish it up with some mounting flanges on the bottom.

Drilled a few holes in the bottom flanges, and a few pilot holes in the top of the toolbox, and 4 sheet metal screws later it was pretty dang secure.