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Up Topic Welding Industry / General Welding Discussion / What would you do to my welding rig.
- - By Morph Ind. Date 09-19-2008 21:28
Hi there.

Here's my rig.  I have a ranger 305 thts in my shop right now and will be running oxy(250cuft)/propane torches.

I weld all sorts of stuff can't really pinpoint an industry and don't want to yet.

I will need storage for 2 highpressure tanks and a medium sized propane tank.20lber i think.

What would you guys do in my situation?

ALSO if there is anyone in vancouver or BC for that matter who could use my services please let me know.

thanks
Attachment: MorphIndustriesLtd-ServiceTruck.JPG (769k)
Parent - By Black Wolf (**) Date 09-19-2008 23:43
Nice looking deck, at first I was thinking Bradfort Built, but then I say the Big Tex logo.

For rigging, we have several here in town that have a similiar setup, so I will relay an idea:

Mount your Ranger on a skid sideways on your bed.  Oxygen bottles are horizontal in a rack between Ranger and existing toolboxes (on side of 305 that doesn't open for maintenance) Your Acetylene or Propane bottles mount vertically in a rack on the passenger end of the Ranger leaving a little room for air circulation.

Here is the kicker, mount all the items above to one single skid, that secure to your bed with 4 pins or bolts.... That way, if for some reason this truck is in for repairs, you have to option to lift off your welder/Oxy-Fuel setup and drop it into another truck to make the job.

Good Luck.
Parent - - By up-ten (***) Date 09-20-2008 02:23
If your looking for work and don't mind a drive, why not head up to Fort St. John or Fort Nelson. Winter is always a busy time up there and you being provincially local, could get you a spot quick. And you have a very practical deck with not many limitations for setting up. But check your weight after rigging it up, DOT's have a big woody for rig welders.
Parent - - By Morph Ind. Date 09-20-2008 18:10 Edited 09-20-2008 18:18
It's a 2wd.  Will chains do?  Alot of the work i do i supply materials/ship and install(profit reasons+business is still small).

I'm going to build a bumper with receivers for a steel rack on the front.  Am i right in assuming that there is no reason to plan on hauling steel if i'm up in the forts?

For gasses i was thinking 1-250 of oxygen and 1-250 of CO2...........sound right?  Do you guys have any pictures of what your talking about?  What kind of material would one use? 

Anyone run an aluminum deck?

I think the next truck will have an aluminum deck, advertising and weight savings.

What certs. would you go up to the forts with.

Right now i have WCB,PST,GST.  No liability insurance at the moment and my CWBs were never registered under a company out of school.  I'm assuming renew all the CWBs but getting my company CWB certified(in order to register my own CWBs) cost $3000

What have you guys done?

thanks
Parent - By vagabond (***) Date 09-20-2008 19:38
I like the diamond plate with your logo,  looks sharp!!!!  Did you cut it out with a waterjet???
Parent - By up-ten (***) Date 09-20-2008 21:53
Chains will do but they will certainly expect you to have a 4x4. As far as bottles go,you won't be needing any C02. One acetyline and two oxygen is what most guys run with and FSJ will have a welding supply outfit in town to keep you running. Your  BC pressure ticket and a CWB w/all positions will suffice but you won't need to certify your company, just your name is needed on the ticket. Your good on the GST, PST, and WCB but will need $2 million commercial liability,  and possibly another $2 million on the truck, but that'll depend on the company your working for too. And you won't be hauling any steel to the jobs,ever! Any material required will be brought up by the contractor. If you still want to build a bumper w/receivers go ahead, but I think you'll be hauling around extra weight for nothing and it'll just mean more fuel consumption. Hope some of this helps 'cause I'm sure there are other ideas out there.
Parent - - By sbcmweb (****) Date 09-20-2008 21:53
Cactus has the line on Insurance. He works outta TX, but I think his agent will cover other states as well. Here's the link:

http://www.aws.org/cgi-bin/mwf/topic_show.pl?pid=102830;hl=

He said she saved him a bunch of money. Worth a look at least. She specializes in rig welders.

You got a nice truck & bed. Waterjet on the diamond plate? I would look into what was mentioned about a pallet system, so the bed of your truck could be used for many different things. A pin lock system would do fine. You could chain it too & keep your bottles & welder on it. I'm not a fan of propane, but you could mount a couple tanks on it & use straps to hold them in place. This is what I did on my trailer. I added the bottle racks after the fact, so I had to work with what I had. 

I would consider a bigger diesel powered machine in the future, if you want to do structural gigs & CAC on a regular basis. The 300 amp machines just don't cut it for that.

Here's a pic of how I set my little trailer up. It's nothing special & some think because they own big contract companies, that you need every tool under the sun to work. A good welder, torches, a GOOD vise & some grinders & hand tools will do 99% of any structural you will ever encounter. A 20+ CFM gas powered air compressor is a really nice tool to have as well.

Good luck!! Steve.
Parent - - By raftergwelding (*****) Date 10-20-2008 22:01
i'm glad you posted ur number for all of us to see now we can prank call you lol
Parent - By sbcmweb (****) Date 10-20-2008 23:32
Yep, I aim to please! :-)
Parent - - By snuffman (***) Date 09-20-2008 22:09
I dont no the terain you are going through but after reading upten's post about them wanting 4x4, it wouldnt hurt to mount a winch in the front. Make sure your front bumper secure and I would make sure the winch mounts directly to the frame. You can ask Sourdough about running around in a 2 wheel drive in the mountains, tire chains, a winch, sledge hammer, a big stake, a few chains are pretty much a necesity. I would say a 12000lb winch. Thats my 2 cents hope it helps, I no haveing these items sure helped me. 
Parent - - By sbcmweb (****) Date 09-20-2008 23:01
Good addition Logan. :-)
Parent - - By up-ten (***) Date 09-20-2008 23:55
Very practical setup you got there Mr. Webber.  But I can imagine you pretty much get some slushy  messy roads thru the winter months so I'm wondering if you cover up your machine when you head out?
Parent - - By sbcmweb (****) Date 09-21-2008 00:05
Why, thank you!! I will admit, I NEED to get a cover for it. I got a place that will make one, just need to get the bucks up to do it. My father in law let me keep it in his garage before, I'm going to hit him up this winter again. I rarely weld anymore & it just sits there most of the time. I put new springs on it this summer & re painted it. As soon as the next machine sells, I'm gonna get that cover made. I do have a Miller cover for it, but it's crap & would probably last one season, maybe two.

It's been reconfigured about three times. Here's a pic of what it looked like in the beginning. Thanks again!! Steve.
Parent - - By up-ten (***) Date 09-21-2008 01:59 Edited 09-21-2008 02:09
Hey thats a cool tag you got "SMAW 40". If you don't mind me asking,what's the 40 represent? Also if your interested in some pics of my rig, you can look at the 3rd page of "building of welding bed's" in Shop Talk. There's four pics using the photobucket thingy to view.
Parent - - By sbcmweb (****) Date 09-21-2008 02:09
It's actually SMAW 4 U. The pic's a little blurry. I still have that tag on my truck now. Been on three of them.

Now, I should have one that reads "REPAR 4U, since I repair more machines that I ever weld with.

I'll be sure to check out your rig pics!!

Maybe one day, I'll be a real weldor again! S.W.
Parent - - By stkwldr (**) Date 09-21-2008 18:02
Tis is my welding trailer.  Everything from the welder to the yellow extension cord is on a skid that will fit in the back of a truck bed. The trailer it self has a frame that the skid is bolted to. So I can have it bolted on the trailer or in the back of a truck.  It works for me.
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Parent - - By stkwldr (**) Date 09-21-2008 18:06
sorry the pictures are so big, I have not figured out how to reduce them yet.
Parent - - By up-ten (***) Date 09-21-2008 19:39
Yeah, I had that big pic problem too but my daughter set me up thru photobucket and that made it simpler. Nice setup stkwldr but does the DOT not give you any grief for having your regs on the bottles?
Parent - - By stkwldr (**) Date 09-21-2008 21:09
I have not had any trouble at all here in Oklahoma. I have run down I-35 from oklahoma city to Waco, Tx and never had a problem in the last 5 yrs.  Hopefully that will not change. Thanks for the compliment though.  Maybe one day I will get a truck set up too.
Parent - - By shorthood2006 (****) Date 09-21-2008 21:30
rick, where ya from in oklahoma?
Parent - - By stkwldr (**) Date 09-21-2008 23:44
I'm pretty close to you shorthood2006,  Perry, OK.
Parent - - By shorthood2006 (****) Date 09-22-2008 00:26
can ya weld pipe...plenty of work over here. 6G, 12"Branch?
Parent - By stkwldr (**) Date 09-22-2008 13:03
I have passed the 6G several times, but I have no experience on the 12" branch test. I have done plenty of TIG & Flux core work on expansion joints when I worked for Senior Flexonics in New Braunfels, Tx.  But Alot of my time was spent in Rock Quarrys in central texas mainly doing structual work, water lines, repairs, and maintaining of earthmoving equipment. Maybe if you have some time you could give me some pointers on the 12" branch test. 
Parent - By jeff parker (**) Date 10-25-2008 02:40
hey stkwldr are you haveing any problems finding work on pipelines and other rig jobs using a riged out trailer I tried that once and they shotme down quick as a matter of fact centerpoint energy here in arkansas wouldnt even let me test with a trailer I have a lincoln classic 300 and they said throw the machine and my tools in my truck and then come back you have a nice setup just wondering how that is working for you.
Parent - By JTMcC (***) Date 09-21-2008 22:26
The title asks: "what would you do to my welding rig"?

I'd get out there and put that dude to work!

They are just expensive yard art sitting in the driveway : )
They are money making machines when you're billing it out 60 + hours per week (stolen from Pile Buck).

Good luck with it,
JTMcC.
Up Topic Welding Industry / General Welding Discussion / What would you do to my welding rig.

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