Broken Welding Carts and METRINCH Parts

[Bob La Londe]

I have two of the cheapo $50 Harbor Freight welding carts. They are NOT
built to the same standards as their tool boxes. They do work mostly.
I have a full size AHP TIG 200 on one with a tall (210CF?) argon
bottle. The other came from my dad's shop with the Weldmark 187
(Hobart/Miller) MIG machine and a middle size C25 bottle. The wheels
broke on mine.

Loading Image...

I guess when they said it has a 100lb limit they meant it.

I didn't have to unload it to fix it though. I just happened to have a
couple wheels I saved off of something on the shelf that were the exact
same size. One of my Vevor toe jacks lifted it up so I could replace
the wheels without unloading the cart. Done.

The cart that came from my dad's shop had loose casters. By loose I
mean most of the bolts fell out, and the casters were hanging on by a
thread. Literally.

Okay, after fixing the one welding cart I decided to deal with the loose
casters on the other one.

I have some parts trays I bought years ago with hardware assortments in
them. My thought was they were cheaper than the same/similar parts
trays/racks empty. I figured even if I threw the hardware away the bins
were worth it, and that was my plan. Rather than throw it all away
though I doubled up the hardware from two tray racks into one. This left
me with usable parts racks, and all the hardware. Sometimes I even use
some of the hardware.

Today I grabbed some 1/4-20 bolts, and some 1/4-20 nylocks out of the
trays to replace the hardware on those welding cart casters. The nylock
nuts take a nice standard 7/16 socket, but the bolt heads are 10mm. No.
Not a sloppy inch measurement that a 10mm works on. The heads are a nice
fit in a 10mm wrench.

Here are some of the parts bins. I have 6 of these racks all together.
They are every bit as durable as the Durham/Klein boxes they resemble,
and they were a fraction of the price including the metrinch hardware.

Loading Image...

I have Durham boxes too. I am sure Durham made the Klein boxes. I also
have one rack of Klein boxes. These "Olympia" boxes were probably made
in China.

Anyway, both welding carts are good to go again.

[Snag]

I have two of the cheapo $50 Harbor Freight welding carts.  They are NOT
built to the same standards as their tool boxes.  They do work mostly. I
have a full size AHP TIG 200 on one with a tall (210CF?)  argon bottle.
The other came from my dad's shop with the Weldmark  187 (Hobart/Miller)
MIG machine and a middle size C25 bottle.  The wheels broke on mine.
https://www.yumabassman.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/HF-Wheels.jpg
I guess when they said it has a 100lb limit they meant it.
I didn't have to unload it to fix it though.  I just happened to have a
couple wheels I saved off of something on the shelf that were the exact
same size.  One of my Vevor toe jacks lifted it up so I could replace
the wheels without unloading the cart. Done.
The cart that came from my dad's shop had loose casters.  By loose I
mean most of the bolts fell out, and the casters were hanging on by a
thread.  Literally.
Okay, after fixing the one welding cart I decided to deal with the loose
casters on the other one.
I have some parts trays I bought years ago with hardware assortments in
them. My thought was they were cheaper than the same/similar parts
trays/racks empty. I figured even if I threw the hardware away the bins
were worth it, and that was my plan. Rather than throw it all away
though I doubled up the hardware from two tray racks into one. This left
me with usable parts racks, and all the hardware. Sometimes I even use
some of the hardware.
Today I grabbed some 1/4-20 bolts, and some 1/4-20 nylocks out of the
trays to replace the hardware on those welding cart casters. The nylock
nuts take a nice standard 7/16 socket, but the bolt heads are 10mm. No.
Not a sloppy inch measurement that a 10mm works on. The heads are a nice
fit in a 10mm wrench.
Here are some of the parts bins. I have 6 of these racks all together.
They are every bit as durable as the Durham/Klein boxes they resemble,
and they were a fraction of the price including the metrinch hardware.
https://www.yumabassman.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/20240731_153655.jpg
I have Durham boxes too. I am sure Durham made the Klein boxes. I also
have one rack of Klein boxes. These "Olympia" boxes were probably made
in China.
Anyway, both welding carts are good to go again.

I have a few of those metrinch bolts on my '86 GMC pickup motor .
3/8-16 threads and IIRC 15 MM heads . I exercise my cuss word vocabulary
often when working on it .

[BobEngelhardt]

Post by Bob La Londe
[...]
Here are some of the parts bins. I have 6 of these racks all together.
They are every bit as durable as the Durham/Klein boxes they resemble,
and they were a fraction of the price including the metrinch hardware.
https://www.yumabassman.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/20240731_153655.jpg
[...]

https://olympiatools.com/collections/storage/products/4-drawers-2500-hardwares-organizer

[Bob La Londe]

Post by BobEngelhardt

Post by Bob La Londe
[...]
Here are some of the parts bins. I have 6 of these racks all together.
They are every bit as durable as the Durham/Klein boxes they resemble,
and they were a fraction of the price including the metrinch hardware.
https://www.yumabassman.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/20240731_153655.jpg
[...]

https://olympiatools.com/collections/storage/products/4-drawers-2500-hardwares-organizer

Wow! Not counting any value of the hardware those are more expensive
than a rack of Durham boxes.

Mine were purchased many many years ago. There used to be a warehouse
store called Max Club. Kinda like CostCo or Sam's Club. They had a lot
of Olympia stuff in their aisles. I bought a bench grinder and a
screwdriver tip driver set there that both turned out to be very good.
I carried the tip driver set in my service truck for years, and I still
have the bench grinder and still use it. I didn't buy the Olympia boxes
there. Max Club went out of business and I saw Olympia stuff appear
places like Heartland America and Sportmen's Guide. My dad actually
pointed out the Olympia boxes to me as I already had Durham boxes and
Klein boxes. The Olympia boxes are about half way between the large and
the small Klein/Durham boxes for size. I seem to recall the Olympia
rack and trays complete were about $70 ($68 something comes to mind)
from one of those online/catalog sales companies. The Klein and Durham
boxes were not much cheaper than they are today. It was a deal. I
suspect after losing Max Club as an outlet Olympia was looking to dump
excess inventory to raise revenue any place they could. Now I wish I
had bought more of then, although to be fair I kind of under utilize
them. Some have small bearings. Some have tube fittings. Some have
cable connectors and fittings. Half of them still have the hardware
that came in them.