Welding Cart Project Part2

IF you missed Welding cart Part 1 click here to watch it

This is Part 2 of Building a Welding Cart.

In part 1, I cut up some 1-1/2" square tubing using a chop saw, and then framed up the bottom platform.

In This Video, I will frame up the other 2 platforms of the welding cart and mig weld them...and then I use scratch start tig to weld some end caps. 

Scratch start tig welding can be done with very simple equipment.

All you need is a DC stick welder, tig torch with a valve, flowmeter, tank of argon, and a few other small pieces of hardware.

click here for part 3

A Torch Switch for tack welding

The cheap imported tig torches you see on ebay usually have the same torch switch zip tied to the torch body.

I am always tempted to cut it off because I usually prefer to use a foot pedal amp control.

But I avoid that temptation because the torch switch is so handy for tack welding around a table....All I do is unplug the foot pedal, plug in the torch switch, and then I am ready to do a bunch of tack welding without dragging a foot pedal around.

So after getting everything square, on the fixture point table, I put  about 3 tack welds on each corner to hold it together for mig welding.

And then I used a Hobart 210 mvp....  A very good choice for a beginner mig welding machine because its dual voltage.

Today, I set the tap voltage setting on 3 and wire feed speed on about 30 which equates to around 18 volts and 200 ipm of wire speed using .030" er70s6.

That is a pretty cold setting but the square tubing is only about .125" (3mm) thick...at least its supposed to be but it looks a bit thinner.

After welding the 2 18" x 26" frames, I was ready to weld some end caps on some mitered ends ...for looks.

My riser pieces are 38" long and I decided to cut 45 deg mitres on them and cap them ...just for looks.

What is Scratch start tig good for?

So....I figured I havent done any scratch start tig welding videos lately and this was a good chance to do just that.

Scratch start tig is great for pipe welding, and a few other things but in my opinion it only makes sense if you already own a DC stick welder.

If you already own a decent DC stick welder, all you need is a tank of pure argon, a reg/flowmeter, a tig torch with a valve, and not much else and you are in business.

But if you don't have a DC stick welder, odds are pretty good that you don't have a place to plug one in either.

By the time you get wiring done, and buy a DC stick welder off craigslist for 300 bucks or so, you could have just about paid for a new tig inverter with a foot pedal amperage control.

A foot pedal amperage control lets you be a whole lot more versatile.

Scratch start tig is good for pipe welding because its portable and simple....and because a lot of pipe is beveled and thick enough to allow for a decent smooth trail out.

What I mean by trail out is this...

Say you are welding a root pass in a pipe...when you need to stop because you are out of rod, or out of position, or about to sneeze...what you do is move the puddle to the heavier part of the bevel, speed up a bit so that the puddle starts to shrink and resemble a comet tail...and then come out of the puddle with a snap of the wrist so that only a small area is oxidized that can be touch up easily with a file or grinder.

Scratch start tig is not as good as tig welding with a foot control for small tedious work like injection mold repair...or any other precision tig welding.

Could you fabricate a welding cart using only scratch start TIG?

In a word...YES.

In fact, one reason I chose scratch start tig to weld part of this welding cart is because I know there are lots of folks with basement or garage shops where mig welding must be done outside or else smoke detectors start going off.