Welding Tips and Tricks

Is it just my imagination, or is there a glaring lack of carts made for propane outfits?

I bought a propane outfit, and I ended up converting a Home Depot handtruck into a cart. The welding carts I found online had tiny bases only wide enough for 7" bottles.

I'm in the same boat.
I have my oxy tank chained to a hand truck but I'm a bit perplexed by what to do with the propane.
Can you share a pic of your customized handtruck?

Google is your friend.
https://www.harborfreight.com/welding-c ... gI5l_D_BwE

cj737 wrote:Google is your friend.
https://www.harborfreight.com/welding-c ... gI5l_D_BwE

Thanks CJ, the challenge is that carts like that won't take a 20lb propane tank without modification.

My plan (at this point) at to basically cut my cart in half vertically and add in whatever width is necessary to accommodate both tanks, plus add some additional depth to hold the base of the propane tank.
My oxy tank is 7" in diameter, a 20lb propane tank is 12" in diameter, so 19" in total. Make it 20" for some clearance.
My hand truck is 16" between the wheels so I need to add 4" of width and maybe 3" in depth to the flat plate at the bottom.

Here is what I have so far. It wasn't hard at all. I cut the base of the handtruck away and replaced it with a bigger piece of plate that extends under a propane tank.

I still have not made a bracket for the propane. I am planning to use a rubber strap instead of a chain, since I own the propane tank and don't particularly want to take the paint off.

I'm going to paint the bare parts with truck bed coating. That stiff is incredible.

Harbor Freight sells solid rubber wheels for $7.50 each. The pneumatic tires are unbelievably stupid. Of course, they're Chinese, so they're always flat when you want to move the cart.

If anyone wants tips on how to keep a clean and orderly shop, I'll be happy to pass on my secrets.

I should add that I did find a cart for propane. I think it was on Amazon. It was $190 and didn't look all that great.

I would discourage you from rubber straps alone. They can fail and the very last thing you want is to topple a cylinder of compressed gas. Especially if it is not inert. Use aircraft cable (you know the plastic coated wire stuff). A couple of clamps and some carabiners. Quick, safe, and won't scratch the paint.

A propane tank isn't going to fall over and explode.

Maybe no but an oxygen tank isn't so funny.

BugHunter wrote:Maybe no but an oxygen tank isn't so funny.

Exactly.

As you can see, the oxygen tank has chains on it.

Decided to put some tabs on the base of the cart to prevent the tanks from going anywhere. These weren't really needed, but what the heck.

I finished the cart. I taped it up and used truck bed coating to cover all the bare metal. Hard to see in the photos. I still need a strap for the propane tank, and I'm going to buy solid tires and get rid of these ridiculous pneumatics.

I got rid of my pneumatic tires. Today I bought solid wheels from Harbor Freight, and I put them on the cart. The offset was not the same as the offset on the original wheels, so I made spacers on the lathe.

I think this thing is basically done, although I would like to come up with some kind of fork to hold the torch.

Have had the same issue, I did find a cart designed for it, in Finland. Just gonna make my own from a hand truck however, similar to this:

Chips O'Toole wrote:A propane tank isn't going to fall over and explode.

unless it falls so something makes it through the neck guard, not impossible.

I use the cheap orange ratchet straps on most of my bottles, not because I am worried about scratches, I just don't like messing with the chains.

I have a wheel chair I have been wanting to take the wheels off of for a LP/ oxygen cart but always seem to have something more pressing to deal with.

Chips O'Toole wrote:A propane tank isn't going to fall over and explode.

unless it falls so something makes it through the neck guard, not impossible.

I use the cheap orange ratchet straps on most of my bottles, not because I am worried about scratches, I just don't like messing with the chains.

I have a wheel chair I have been wanting to take the wheels off of for a LP/ oxygen cart but always seem to have something more pressing to deal with.

A small propane tank has a very low center of gravity and is highly unlikely to fall. If it did, it would roll over very slowly. There is no way it would move fast enough to snap a valve. Even if it could happen, how would it overcome a rubber strap? It's impossible. Use a strong rubber strap to attach yourself to a pole and see if you can break it.

If having things defeat propane tank valve guards was a real problem, lawyers would have discovered it, and small propane tanks would look a lot different.

I have a hundred pounder so my mind jumped straight to that, as far as the neck goes it is well protected but what can go wrong will go wrong although I agree it would be less likely with the short tank.

I'd personally worry more about the oxygen cylinder, those thing's aren't just rockets, EVERYTHING burns in pure oxygen, well just about everything anyway. If it were an acetylene cylinder it would be different because the stuff is explosive in the right conditions, shoot a big balloon filled with propane and nothing'll happen, shoot one full of acetylene and it'll blow your eardrums out if you're too close, and blow you apart if you're holding the balloon when a spark sets it off.

I have a chain on the O2 tank.

Not to my knowledge but what you can do is get a piece of 1/8 by 2 flat bar I believe I cut 41 inches for the propane tanks. Do a bend either cold bend where you work with your clamps or tack and keep bending with torch. Make a perfect circle (keep up with your clamps because the flat bar will not be perfect) Remove from 12” piece of pipe. That should be the correct diameter for your typical propane tank for a grill. Once you have that perfect circle formed weld onto piece of square tubing or flatbar.