Stainless Steel Welding Trolley

[Jarh73]

Bit of sneak peak of my stainless steel welding trolley as its finally coming together.



My first SS project and it has been challenging to say the least!

Will be fully kitted out including; Stainless top tray for MIG and tools. 4 x 10amp industrial GPO, 15 AMP input, 15 AMP outlet for welder and main isolation switch. Will have draws underneath made from melamine/mdf. Side clad in aluminium tread plate, Front of draws will have a stainless steel front over the melamine with SS handles. Bottle holder which incorporates a place to hold extension cable and MIG torch cable. Tie down points for transport.

More info to come.

Cheers

Justin

[Yonnee]

Nice work... and a fellow Pajero owner.

Is the trolley MIG'd or TIG'd?

[Jarh73]

Nice work... and a fellow Pajero owner.

Is the trolley MIG'd or TIG'd?

MIG, the welding bit is easy relatively it's the distortion that is the challenge!

Grinding flush and polishing is a only a little bit of a challenge but very satisfying once it's all blended.

That's my brothers Pajero. It's an Oddball Grey Import SWB. It's got the 3.5 litre motor but the body shape never came to Australia with 3.5.

It also has factory height adjustable suspension!

Cheers

Justin

[Wood66]

Looks good mate.

Nice idea, would love to have something similar to drag my little rig around instead of having to shift if every time I need to move 4 feet to another weld.

[Call Me Jack]

Looks good mate.

Nice idea, would love to have something similar to drag my little rig around instead of having to shift if every time I need to move 4 feet to another weld.

I threw one together using a bit of 25mm angle & some Bunnings castors. Took about an hour to make & cost less than $10 ($12 if you count the two cutting discs I shattered). It's not as flashy but it works (no offence intended Jarh, yours looks great).

[Jarh73]

I threw one together using a bit of 25mm angle & some Bunnings castors. Took about an hour to make & cost less than $10 ($12 if you count the two cutting discs I shattered). It's not as flashy but it works (no offence intended Jarh, yours looks great).

No offence taken!

With my old MIG i had a welding trolley much like you have described but decided with the new MIG I wanted to do some thing flashy and in stainless.

Why stainless? Cause its shiny

But seriously I have plans of making stainless steel outdoor furniture so I wanted to get a feel for stainless and that's why i decided to do the trolley in stainless as a practice run. Steep learning curve.

Cheers

Justin

[bill_i_am]

Any tips you'd are to share (on mig welding stainless)?

[Jarh73]

Any tips you'd are to share (on mig welding stainless)?

Early days but:

Make sure you use iron free cutting and grinding discs.
Never use any cutting or grinding discs that have touched steel.
Always use anti spatter spray. SS spatter sticks extremely well.
Lots of distortion, still dealing with that. Things need to be braced and or constructed in the right order.
I would recommend getting the right MIG gas too especially on thin material. (I haven't yet but I will)

That's about it so far but still learning.

Cheers

Justin

[Yonnee]

I would recommend getting the right MIG gas too especially on thin material. (I haven't yet but I will)

Cheers

Justin

So you're still just using Argon...?? I've been putting off buying a roll stainless MIG wire to try as I didn't want to have to change my gas too. Costs enough just renting the one bottle.

[Jarh73]

So you're still just using Argon...?? I've been putting off buying a roll stainless MIG wire to try as I didn't want to have to change my gas too. Costs enough just renting the one bottle.

Still using Argoshield Light.

It works but not ideal. Leaves a tough residue on the welds. Pickling cleans it up but would prefer not to pickle due to OH&S issues.

What I want to know is if stainless gas works fine with mild steel?

If so then I'd just buy that.

Cheers

Justin

[racingtadpole]

The bulk of your spatter issues and to an extent some of your distortion problems will go away when you use the right shielding gas.

Trolley looks very neat and very well thought out.

[Jarh73]

The bulk of your spatter issues and to an extent some of your distortion problems will go away when you use the right shielding gas.

Trolley looks very neat and very well thought out.

Thanks for that!

Would not have known that the right gas would make that much difference but it does make sense. Yet another good reason to get the right gas. Really appreciate the advice.

Cheers

Justin

[Jarh73]

Quick update and some teaser shots:







Almost finished. Tuesday night the cabinet gets fitted for the last time inside the frame and then stainless steel fronts for the drawers will be done.

Bit more finishing on some of the stainless too.

Cheers

Justin

[Yonnee]

"Noice"...

[Karl Robbers]

Still using Argoshield Light.

It works but not ideal. Leaves a tough residue on the welds. Pickling cleans it up but would prefer not to pickle due to OH&S issues.
You will still need to pickle or mechanically clean, (SS wire brush, Scotch Brite pad or Bear tex wheel) whatever you use.
What I want to know is if stainless gas works fine with mild steel?
Not terribly well

If so then I'd just buy that.

Cheers

Justin

SS has some characteristics that need to be taken into account when working with it. Distortion and spatter being just two. Gas will make very little difference to distortion, but will affect spatter to some degree. To be honest what you are doing really is Tig territory, ( I understand and accept that you are using what you have), you will always fight the spatter enemy, even with a $XXXX.00 pulse mig.
SS is a much slower material to fabricate with for these reasons.