--Well I've fallen in love with my new MIG machine so it's sitting on top of my old welding cart, the one that's got a TIG machine beneath and a water cooler beneath that. Bottom line: with argon bottle on the back my little welding cart weighs upwards of 250 lbs and it's becoming a real bitch to bump over thresholds and small curbs. I'm thinking of maybe adding a geared down electric motor (maybe one of those kewl surplus windshield wiper motors?) and a small battery. Has anyone tried this?
A note about windshield wiper motors I saw mentioned. somewhere....
They are built to only turn in one direction so the case is often (always?) connected to one side of the motor. This means that if you want to reverse it, you have to switch the polarity of the case - which often means you have to create a motor mount which electrically insulates the case from the rest of your system. So if you want to make an R/C like control with two motors - one for each wheel - so you can turn it and reverse it by changing motor direction, you have to electrically insulate the two motors from each other (and often encase them to prevent accidental shorts) - which can be a pain.
If you only use a design with a single motor, and the rest of the cart doesn't have any electrical systems that require a physical case ground (like car electronics often do), or, you only need it to turn in one direction, then the limitation shouldn't be an issue. Otherwise, a better choice would be something like a surplus motor from an electric scooter, or if you don't need a lot of speed, a power tool motor.
You might be able to get some good pointers from the guys in comp.robotics.misc if you decide to move forward with the idea.
--I musta been the lucky one; I've got a box of reversible ones. I'm using PWM and a Stamp to do it and I've noticed they run better in one direction than the other but that part of the problem is solved.
--I've got 8" wheels now; I'm using the hard plastic ones; I recommend these over rubber wheels as they don't deform when the cart sits in one place for a long spell.
--Tight shop; no room for a second cart and no I'm not going to move to a bigger shop: I'm broke! :-)
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