Thoughts on this used welder?

[joshuabardwell]

You really need to work on wrapping your corners.

I was really trying to wrap them, too! I tried to either carry the puddle around the corner at the end or start the weld around the corner and come around at the beginning.

EDIT: Although I do see in one of the photos above where I just totally missed the corner. Whoops.

[CNC Dan]

The final result is that there is about 1/16" of wobble, but I concluded that was about as good as I was likely to get and left well enough alone. I plan to take out that last bit of wobble by shimming the caster with washers.

That could be your floor too. Try turning the cart to see if you can get it to not wobble.

[joshuabardwell]

That could be your floor too. Try turning the cart to see if you can get it to not wobble.

That's actually reason number 2 why I decided not to push the issue.

[joshuabardwell]

I put the floor of the lower shelf in today. Expanded metal. It was a treat figuring out how to weld it in without just melting it to nothingness. The two things I figured out were, 1) weld on the thick part where the two pieces come together, not the thin part where I made the cut, and 2) start the puddle on the angle iron, then just barely flick it up until you see it bond with the expanded metal. I put on a few other small touches, like a bar for clamp storage, a flat piece to put the ground clamp on, and I cut the "U" off of an old, rusted U-bolt to make a hanger for my stinger.

Next step is to weld on the top. It's a 1/2" piece of plate, 3'x2' in size. I only plan to put a few small stitches to hold it in place, in case I ever need to take it off for anything. My plan is to just lay it on the ground, then set the frame on top of it, then weld, then turn the whole thing back over. After that, I'm going to paint it, install the casters, and install a 120v receptacle for accessories, and I should be good to go!

[CNC Dan]

Sounds great Josh. You've come a long way since you replaced those diodes.

[joshuabardwell]

I finished putting the table together today. I may put on some place to coil the cord for the 120v receptacle I'm mounting, but other than that, it's ready for paint! I had another one of those "duh" moments while I was wandering around the hardware store thinking about how to attach the electrical box to the table: self-tapping screws? What? And then I realized, duh, I can weld it. In order to keep things nice and attractive, I had the idea of knocking out two of the knock-outs and putting tacks on the inside like a plug weld, but just with tacks instead of full seams. The welds are totally invisible now!

The top turned out to be a little cupped. I was hoping with 1/2" plate that I would dodge that bullet. I don't have a single mechanism for straightening it, so I just welded it on and figured I'd deal with that another time if the inclination took me.

I'll post some pics tomorrow after it's light.

[joshuabardwell]

Here are some pics of the table. Only thing left to do now is let the paint dry, put the faceplate on the receptacles, install the casters, and clean off the top.