Assuming one already had a MIG welder or access to one and safety equipment...

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Assuming one already had a MIG welder or access to one and safety equipment, what additional equipment would a person need to complete a useful welding cart like this in post #12, http://weldingweb.com/vbb/showthread.php...31#post3941031 and these two projects and what are the approximate costs of each additional tool or piece of equipment that I'd need-http://windowwellexperts.com/images/...ate/grate2.jpghttp://ep.yimg.com/ca/I/cleanairgard...2270_601343262http://www.hencam.com/static/uploads...esting-box.jpg--I'm thinking materials (hopefully some from a scrap yard), a basic welding table of some sort perhaps this table http://weldingweb.com/vbb/showthread.php...+freight+table, a grinder/discs, c-clamps, a ball peen hammer (I already have 1 but it might not be the right size), a bender and maybe a jig but what else would I absolutely have to have so I can start working out a budget for myself? --Also too... I looked up some prices on benders and jigs and they don't look all that affordable unless they could be picked up 2nd hand. Are benders and jigs something that could be rented like Home Depot rents out tile cutters and power washers?
Reply:What you "need" in tooling depends on how creative you are, how fast you need to get things done, and what you have to spend.I've seen some really great projects done "old school" with nothing but hand files, a hacksaw, a hand drill ( manual nor even electric), a hammer and chisels and a vise. These basics would allow you to cut bend and shape a of things, just very slowly. ( That's not always a "bad" thing.)Minimum you need something to cut with. A 4 1/2" grinder will allow you to both cut some things with a zip disk as well as grind for prep and to loose burs. A vise would also be high on my list of basic tools. Some sort of drill and some decent bits probably rounds out the bare minimum. I'd also suggest an abrasive chop saw or at least a hack saw for making cuts where the grinder isn't the best option.How much you want to spend depends on how good the tools are you want to buy, and if you go new vs used. This is a great time of year to hit the yard sales and flea markets for used tools. I've picked up any number of old decent quality tools for next to nothing. I got a really nice old metal cased 1/2" drill last year. It's heavy and clunky compared to the newer ones, but it's still variable speed and has tons of torque and will still probably out last me. Cost? less the $5. I'm always on the lookout for hammers, clamps, files, vises and other assorted tools, even if I don't need them if the price is right. I picked up my 3rd abrasive chop saw for $10. I don't "need" it, but at that price I wasn't passing up a nice metal B&D tool that I can trade to some one else or sell to a new guy just getting started.Harbor freight sells cheap tools. While I won't recommend them to most guys, for some one with a very limited budget, they'll get you started. Quality and service life are questionable at best. Not the tools for some one making a living at this, but for the starting hobbyist, they may be worth a look.$100 would be the bare minimum I'd suggest on tooling and then most would be garage sale finds or cheap HF stuff. $250-500 would allow you a lot more flexibility and let you pick up some quality new stuff in addition to the used gear..No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:Thank you. I'm not too creative because I haven't learned how to weld yet. I don't need to get anything done fast except maybe my rabbit hutches before minks get in and do a number on my meat breeders. I'm barricading my rabbits in every night which is a pain in the butt. A window well cover would be nice.... we've had two fawns fall down our window wells on two separate occasions and I ended up spending money and time I didn't have making sure they didn't break anything dropping down over 6 feet before I let them go outside where their mothers were waiting to charge me and bash in my skull or ribs with their front hooves all for taking their babies to a vet for too long.  I've got scrap plywood over it right now held down with some rocks but every time we get big gusts of wind... they're blown off and something else ends up down them. Chicken nest boxes would be really nice but... I'm using old cat litter boxes with hoods for now and most of my chickens are laying in them so that's down on the priority list. Tomato cages are down on the priority list too... I think the cages I have can be repaired. Old school is fine by me. --I  have a little vise that a friend bought for me 2nd hand that was $5. It may or may not be the right size. I use it to hold my chainsaws in place when I'm filing down the chains. I can't figure out how to post photos or I'd take a photo of it and post it to see if it's the right size. I could put a coffee cup in the photo for scale. I'm almost positive we have a hack saw. I totally understand what you're saying about HF but I'm probably going to have to buy that table from them to get going.... we're in the very limited budget group... kids in college, medical bills, and.... we're trying to sell our house and get into something smaller and just keep getting slapped with one bill after the next. It happens... on the positive side... it makes a marriage stronger!  --I'm pretty sure we have a good drill. I'll check on that. I doubt we have the type of bits for it that one would need for welding though. I have no idea what an "abrasive chop saw" is but I'll look online for photos. I'm pretty sure we have a hack saw. It might not be the greatest but it works so that's more $$$ I'll have to spend on other things. I know we have some metal files around here because I bought them when the kids were in scouts for some projects they were working on. I think I can add $250 to my budget over and above purchasing a helmet and small MIG gloves.... I'll be borrowing a jacket from the man teaching me and I already have steel-toed work boots. --PS... love the Reagan quote.
Reply:In my experience if you have to buy all the materials it would be cheaper to buy a cart. Harbor freight sells one for under $50.00 with a coupon, there are more expensive ones out there but the HF cart will get you by if your new to welding.Just my 2 cents from my experience.
Reply:I'm just a hobbyist, and learning to weld too. You could follow in my foot steps. Have a building built like this, or better yet bigger. Then spend at least $100,000.00 in tools like I did. Then you'll be well on your way.  Attached ImagesDon’t pay any attention to meI’m just a hobbyist!CarlDynasty 300V350-Pro w/pulseSG Spool gun1937 IdealArc-300PowerArc 200ST3 SA-200sVantage 400
Reply:Originally Posted by Equilibrium... a ball peen hammer (I already have 1 but it might not be the right size)...
Reply:kctgb> "if you have to buy all the materials it would be cheaper to buy a cart." I'm sure you're right. I'm not being charged for being taught how to weld and there's a scrap yard just 5 miles away from me so I was thinking I might be able to get a sturdier cart that could last me a little longer with the added bonus of experience from building it. I'll run what I was thinking and what you said by the man helping me though... a cart might be too much for someone with like me with zip nadda zilch no welding skill-set or he might have a better 1st project in mind. Ya never know until you ask so thank you for mentioning the costs. --CEP> Ummm.... you're just a hobbyist? That big girl's toy box you had built to put all your new playthings in is bigger than the house I grew up in. And... 100k in tools>>>? What does your husband do... rob banks for a living.  I'd either be in the poorhouse or a 12-step weldaholics program if I followed in your footsteps.  It is a beautiful new building though. I'm jealous.... I'd actually love to have it. It'd sure be nice parking inside a garage over winter again. I haven't been able to do that in years. Our garage if full of car parts and two old fixer-uppers because my husband is a gear head. --Oldendum> Yes! There's nothing better than a flea market or yard/garage sale to pick up tools. I have a cousin who has an ark welder and I know he knows what a MIG is. I'm going to ask him to be on the look out for tools for me since he goes to farm auctions all the time and comes home with some of the most incredible buys. I've got another friend who dabbled in just about everything... including welding.... before he retired about 20 years ago. All I have to do is give him a list and he'll start looking around for me. He knows the fair market value of just about everything and he's not shy at all about trying to get something for less than it's priced so I know anything he picks up for me will be at a good price.  I'm not familiar with the tools of the trade yet so to speak. I'm going to rely on others until I start learning. I can't wait until I know enough to start picking up odds and ends for myself from flea markets and garage sales. I sooooo love finding a bargain. --I have a girlfriend who reminds me of the man you mentioned with the hammer collection. She decorated the entire south side of her barn in old long handled gardening tools like rakes, scythes, and potato forks. Not my style of yard art but the assortment is fun to look at. Tool collectors are out there and evidently there are others collecting just hammers; http://www.maysville-online.com/scot...cc4c03286.html and http://www.centralkynews.com/theinte....html?mode=jqm.
Reply:Having a welding machine for fabrication is akin to owning a battery or radiator for a car......and NOTHING else.It's far smarter to have all the fab tools to be able to build, and get somebody else to actually weld it ; than to buy yourself a welder at first.I have maybe 4-6 grand in welding machine stuff and 70-100 in stuff to drill, tap, screw, grind, sand, paint, wrench, lift, heat treat, buff, measure, mark, store,sandblast, lock........ before I ever think about a weld.I don't even know ! I don't want to know ! I do all light, chikkenchit stuff ! Wait until the forklift show and attached mental di$$$$$$order$$$$$ arrive !Bubble gumTooth pixDuct tapeBlack glueGBMF hammerScrew gun --bad battery (see above)
Reply:Here is a pretty decent video made by a member here.
Reply:I think the cages I have can be repaired. Old school is fine by me.
Reply:If you price each one of Chucklez(very few) items in that video, and add them all up, it may scare you.Bubble gumTooth pixDuct tapeBlack glueGBMF hammerScrew gun --bad battery (see above)
Reply:Burpee> "Having a welding machine for fabrication is akin to owning a battery or radiator for a car......and NOTHING else." I started thinking I might be in over my head after reading a boatload of threads here which is why I decided I’d start this thread. I needed to figure out if I could move forward or not on an extremely limited budget. I think I'll be okay as long as I go at this project by project looking to friends to help me pick up tools and equipment I’ll need while I keep an eye open for anything I might be able to experiment with. Like the box of knives, forks, and spoons I saw out in my garage.  We’re having a garage sale and a few neighbors of mine have been adding some of their “stuff” to “stuff” we’re going to be unloading. I remembered the box of silverware out there and ran out and pulled it. Why... the whole box was only $5 and I might be able to use it to learn how to use auxiliary tools… like a bender….for some “down-the-road” fun things-https://www.etsy.com/listing/1559312...mes?ref=market and http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/73...f472efba61.jpg --Now…. what to do with the left over forks> Hmmm….http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-k7QaeoMvq9..._285745229.jpg and http://www.theartzoo.com/pictures/ho...t-hooks-09.jpg --And that leaves the knives... waste not want not-http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_SIZb_vX_g.../dragonfly.jpg, http://img1.etsystatic.com/004/0/734...12553_ob2b.jpg, and http://lh6.ggpht.com/-j7tCNCCokMs/UD...jpg?imgmax=800--And then there is the shopping cart I picked up a long time ago when a ma and pa grocery store went out of business. Quite a few possibilities for that however here’s one idea that caught my attention, http://cdn.instructables.com/FOI/9B6...0GP.MEDIUM.jpg.I’m sure there’s other “stuff” laying around that can be re-purposed.--"Wait until the forklift show and attached mental di$$$$$$order$$$$$ arrive !" Tee hee.... maybe you but not me. I’m in the phase of my life where I’m donating, passing on, selling, or pitching “stuff” that’s not useful to us any longer so I’ll stick to my game plan of buying only what I need while I’m learning on scrap. After I’ve got the hang of this, I’ll stick my neck out a little buying what I need to make some necessary repairs around here. After that…. I’ll stick my neck out a little farther buying what I need to construct things that make life easier for me…. like rabbit hutches that are predator-proof. Most of what I want is utilitarian so the finished product will be well worth the $$$ that went into it.--Canadian Welding> Very good video. Thank you. I’m pretty sure we have channel lock pliers. We don’t have the blue handled tool shown in the video at 11:46 for cleaning out a weld. I couldn’t catch the actual name of it because of the wind in the video so I went online and poked around.  Is that tool called a chipping hammer? I’ve seen acetylene strikers laying around out in the garage….they were used for camping. We have wire brushes but…. not the kind in his video. Now that I know what style of wire brush to look for, I can pick some up. Tape measures we have.  Angle finders will have to be picked up since I’ve never seen anything like them around here. Chisels… yes… have a few of those. Wire cutters and adjustable wrenches… have a few of those too. The metal tool box looks very heavy and would be even heavier once everything was in it. I don’t know if it would be practical or not but I’d probably go with a 5-gallon bucket just to keep things together. --maternhuo> I don’t know if my tomato cages can be repaired. I’m hoping they can. It would sure be a heck of a lot easier re-welding where the wire broke away from the frame as opposed to wrapping wire around and around and around those areas.
Reply:You are correct with the guess. It is a slag chipping hammer, or just chipping hammer.Also called welding hammer some times.
Reply:Thank you. Good to know the proper name for it given we don't have one and I suspect that is a tool I will need to purchase.
Reply:Testing something... please bear with me. I might have figured out how to add photos.trying again...Last edited by Equilibrium; 04-21-2014 at 10:43 AM.Reason: trying again
Reply:Incidentally, be careful of buying tools at auctions and flea markets.  This fellow bought a couple hammers at an auction and ended up amassing a collection of 12,000 hammers!  http://www.popularwoodworking.com/wo...-hammer-museumNote the rack of ball pein hammers in the foreground."USMCPOP" First-born son: KIA  Iraq 1/26/05Syncrowave 250 w/ Coolmate 3Dialarc 250, Idealarc 250SP-175 +Firepower TIG 160S (gave the TA 161 STL to the son)Lincwelder AC180C (1952)Victor & Smith O/A torchesMiller spot welder
Reply:Nice, Bambi delivers itself right up to the drive in window. I could shoot the cross bow from the easy chair in the den for Bambi burgers and jerky. ( we'd have to work out an automatic window opener) It gets any closer we could just leave the freezer door open and it can let itself in... .No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:Originally Posted by Equilibriumkctgb> --CEP> Ummm.... you're just a hobbyist? That big girl's toy box you had built to put all your new playthings in is bigger than the house I grew up in. And... 100k in tools>>>? What does your husband do... rob banks for a living.  I'd either be in the poorhouse or a 12-step weldaholics program if I followed in your footsteps.  It is a beautiful new building though. I'm jealous.... I'd actually love to have it. It'd sure be nice parking inside a garage over winter again. I haven't been able to do that in years. Our garage if full of car parts and two old fixer-uppers because my husband is a gear head.
Reply:Below is a photo of my 1st welding tool purchase. It’s a start. I bought them from Home Depot based on my notes from the video. I’m not so sure I should keep the chipping hammer because although it feels good in my hand…. the handle is a lot different than the handle in the video. Does anyone know why HD only sells chipping hammers with handles like what’s in the photo? It really was the only chipping hammer they had which is why I bought it.  --I had time to look at Farm and Fleet’s welders. They carry Lincoln and Hobart brands. I now have a better idea of what everyone was talking about as well as the actual weight of small welders. I'm going to try sticking to purchasing a good used Miller 211 MIG or maybe a floor model if I can find one in a price bracket I can afford. --Oh…. stopped in at Harbor Freight too. I looked at the little $59 welding table recommended by so many. It seems perfect for someone with welding skills beneath the belly of an earthworm. --Oldendum> "Incidentally, be careful of buying tools at auctions and flea markets. This fellow bought a couple hammers at an auction and ended up amassing a collection of 12,000 hammers!" Duly noted.... I'll do my best keeping myself out of a 12-step toolaholics program. --DSW> We have serious over-population issues with Bambis around me. They're breaching the carrying capacity of the land and we end up with a lot of boil orders on our water because of their feces so feel free to stop on by with your bow and arrow any time you want. We'll put you up.... you can shoot from the comfort of a 2nd floor bedroom window since our Bambis think nothing of walking up to my front door... eating from the salad bar of plants I've provided called landscaping.  --Bisteneau> Lemme take a stab in the dark  ..... I could be totally off base here but.... CEP isn't a female welder and.... you're not a female welder either. His avatar.... and yours.... should have been viewed by me as the equivalent of a girlie pin-up taped inside a tool box. Boys will be boys so show me photos of your "murse" collection.
Reply:Originally Posted by Equilibrium--Bisteneau> Lemme take a stab in the dark  ..... I could be totally off base here but.... CEP isn't a female welder and.... you're not a female welder either. His avatar.... and yours.... should have been viewed by me as the equivalent of a girlie pin-up taped inside a tool box. Boys will be boys so show me photos of your "murse" collection.
Reply:A murse is a man's purse.... I guess some guys had problems calling their purses purses. Whatever. They usually have a long shoulder strap and are generally made from black or brown leather or canvas but your saddlebag will do.  College kids use purses/murses for mini laptops and scientific calculators (big $$$ to replace) that they wouldn't want in a backpack that someone could easily pluck off them when they're riding a bike or taking a bus to classes. I've seen our kids toss gloves, hand lotion, and chap stick in their purses. --Thanks... I'll keep the chipping hammer I bought and be on the look out for the other style.--Are these chipping hammers sharpened the same way one would sharpen an ax.... with a puck?
Reply:Originally Posted by EquilibriumA murse is a man's purse.... I guess some guys had problems calling their purses purses. Whatever. They usually have a long shoulder strap and are generally made from black or brown leather or canvas but your saddlebag will do.  College kids use purses/murses for mini laptops and scientific calculators (big $$$ to replace) that they wouldn't want in a backpack that someone could easily pluck off them when they're riding a bike or taking a bus to classes. I've seen our kids toss gloves, hand lotion, and chap stick in their purses. --Thanks... I'll keep the chipping hammer I bought and be on the look out for the other style.--Are these chipping hammers sharpened the same way one would sharpen an ax.... with a puck?
Reply:Originally Posted by Canadian WeldingSome people just hit it with a grinder.
Reply:Most of us were cute WHEN we were young.    Then we grow up to grumpy ugly old men .
Reply:Originally Posted by BD1Most of us were cute WHEN we were young.    Then we grow up to grumpy ugly old men .Bisteneau!!!! You WERE a little cutie pie but…. go put that old avatar back!!!! It’s even funnier now that I know you two aren’t women… (slaps self up side of head). Besides which…. looking at that body will motivate me when I’m working around this house since I never had one like that even when I was young. Seriously..... your other avatar was fun….pin-ups at a welding website are totally fitting… they’re so red-blooded American male. !!!  --BD1> Liar liar pants on fire. You are not a grumpy ugly old man! Psssst…. I found my vise. I think it will work well enough for what I want to do. There’s a photo of it in another thread here somewhere. One less tool I have to buy... more $$$ to put toward a welder!!!
Reply:Originally Posted by EquilibriumBisteneau!!!! You WERE a little cutie pie but…. go put that old avatar back!!!! It’s even funnier now that I know you two aren’t women… (slaps self up side of head). Besides which…. looking at that body will motivate me when I’m working around this house since I never had one like that even when I was young. Seriously..... your other avatar was fun….pin-ups at a welding website are totally fitting… they’re so red-blooded American male. !!!
Reply:Ahhh.... much better!!! --That "Must Touch Shiney" orphaned juvenile (yes.... the computer literate person who added text misspelled shiny) had been off formula and eating a normal coon diet for months. He wanted the shiny camera. Why... had to be because the lens was shiny ... it's not like it was the shape of his old baby bottle and he had to know it wasn't a tasty crayfish. He was healthy enough to let go by the time he grabbed a chicken through the chainlink so he was held a few more weeks to better his odds of surviving on his own then released down by the river.... miles away from people's garbage cans, composters, and my chickens.