welding trailer write up

Nathan,

You did a great job on that trailer and on the write-up. It is noce to see this type of write-up. Usually when I do something like this I forget to write it up until I am done and then I don't have any in progress pictures. Glad to see you took the time to document so well and to SHARE. I already have two trailers that I built for utility and am considering building a welding trailer and yours is very well thought out.

II will print out your write-up and file it in my "SOMEDAY" notebook.

Thanks for taking the time th share.

Bob

Forgot to say, I am very envious of your new welder. Maybe someday I will get the welder of my dreams.

Bob

thanks, although it definately increases the build time, i enjoy documenting projects as i build them. one day maybe it will help me reflect, and hopefully it will help others who want to do similar projects.

awesome, i hope you find it helpful!

if youre interested in other tech papers ive written, see

its hard to beat a bobcat, especially for the money. ive retired many of them over the years and keep going back to the bobcat. the machine this latest one replaced was a bobcat 225g i bought new around '93. i paid $1800 for it new, and sold it 10 years later for $1900. not bad!

I wish the Bobcat included the 14 pin remote or some provision for remote amperage control with a foot pedal for TIG.. The Trailblazer has it.. I can't really envision TIG without it, where I sort of modulate the pedal until I get the perfect puddle and then concentrate on keeping the arc length, and then back off the power at the end..

Has anyone done TIG with the Bobcat (or similar) and can comment on the experience?

__________________ Note: To reply, replace the word 'spam' embedded in return address with 'mail'. N38.6 W121.4

Thank you for posting how to build your nice trailer. Clicking on thumb nail of the hitch welded to tounge should link to.

i hope you found something in it you can use.

oops, thanks!

Thank you for sharing the information. When I built my trailer i would have loved to have your write-up as a reference. Thanks again for those that come behind.

Scott

thanks scott, feels good to hear that some might find my stuff useful. see

before the move to mondak.

i contacted the highway patrol years ago. as they explained it to me (unless its changed since then), in north carolina when you permanently mount a welding machine to the trailer the trailer is considered a piece of equipment, not a trailer. there are restrictions in that the trailer has to be built specifically for the welding machine. you couldnt mount a welder on a 16' car hauler and call it a piece of equipment. i pull welders for several thousand miles each month and ive never been ticketed because of the welding trailer, but i always make sure you can see the vehicle tail lights.

(unless its changed since then), in north carolina when you permanently

useful info from the government? ;-)

Mr. Collier

What brand of containers did you use on your trailer setup? I like the cable & oxy-act storge. Any help would be appreciated, Thanks.

those are 37" plastic toolboxes sold at walmart in the automotive section (most toolboxes are in hardware, but these are in automotive) for $25 each. they seem to be decent quality.

I own a Bobcat. I do DC TIG with it (its AC TIG performance is marginal). The lack of a pedal is only one of its limitations. It also doesn't have a remote contactor, so the torch is always hot. No gas solenoid or HF start either (though the latter is available as a separate box). But even with all that, it is a workable scratch start DC TIG machine, no worse really than the Maxstar 140 Ernie bragged on so much when he first got it.

If I were to do it over again, and if I were using the machine mainly for TIG, I'd buy the Trailblazer 301G instead. But most of the use of my Bobcat is for stick, or to run a 30A spoolgun, or to act as a generator. It is fine for those things, and it is considerably cheaper than a Trailblazer.

Gary

agreed. if i were more of a tigger id spend the money on the trailblazer, but since 100% of what i do in the field is structural anymore i have no need for a portable tig rig. any tigging i do is usually for my own personal recreational welding and i do that in my shop.

"Nathan Collier" wrote in news:RnrHb.213061$ snipped-for-privacy@twister.southeast.rr.com:

Excellent job Nathan. Glad to see you took the time to take the pics and document things. Some folks don't realize how much extra time this takes especially when things are going so well you don't want to stop in the middle to take pics!

Thanks Marty

thanks marty!

heh....it really does increase the time but if anyone finds it useful then its all worth it. i cant count the times ive gone to build a new project and wished i could have found a write up on it to at least give me a template to work from. hopefully these will serve their intended purpose.