New (old) Welding Rig (pic).. whats missing?

[duncan_m]

I've converted one of my 1967 Bedford Trucks to a mobile welding rig with the aim of starting a Mobile Welding Business in my local area.. Here's a photo:



I've got it fully stocked and equipped.. MAYBE.. I've done a couple of projects at home with it and not had to fetch any tools from the shed.. But I'm unsure on exactly what work I'll be getting at this point.. in my area there's lot of wineries, plenty of construction, lots of earthmoving equipment being used etc.. I figure I need to be prepared (dib dib dib) for a wide range of tasks.


The truck is equipped with:

Bobcat 250(K)
Miller 12VS Suitcase Wirefeeder
Miller HF Tig Unit
Lincoln Procut 25 Plasma Cutter
18CFM Air Compressor (electric)
Bernard MIG Gun
TIG Torch
Retractable 65' compressed air line
Retractable 32' Oxy/Acetylene Line
Bosch Abrasive Chop Saw
Large Engineers Vice (at rear)
Large, extendable ladder (18')
3 Dewalt Grinders (cutting disk, wire wheel, grinding disk)
100' Work Cable
100' Electrode Cable
IR Thermometer
300Watt/240V Rod Oven
Blow Nozzle
Tyre Inflator Nozzle
Welding Gloves (lightweight and gauntlets)
Welding Mask
Leather Welding Jacket
Leather welding "sleeves"
Hearing Protection
Safety Glasses
First Aid Kit
Utility Knife and spare blades
Full Set AF and Metric Sockets
2 large adjustable spanners
240V Heat Gun
Full set of screwdrivers
Fluorescent Work Lamp
Full set metric and imperial drill bits
Power Hammer Drill
Numerous G Clamps
3 x 80' 240V extension leads
2 x RCD protected power boards (15A)
Pens/Pencils
Tape Measures
Engineers Square
Digital Vernier Calipers
Chipping Hammer
Mallet Hammer
Claw Hammer
Wire Brushes
Bullnose Pliers
Sidecutters
Large Bolt Cutters
Large Steel ruler
Small steel ruler
Spray Zinc Paint
Spray Black Paint
Cutting Oil
WD40
Lens Cleaner
Suncream
Spare baseball cap
2 small fire extinguishers
Handful of rags
Some lengths of rope
Varied TIG Tungstens
Varied TIG Filler rods
Varied Electrodes
Varied MIG wires both self shielding and "traditional"
Mobile Phone Charger
Invoice Book
Product Spec sheets for all the electrodes and wires
Full range of rollers for the MIG Unit
Full range spare MIG Tips
Spare Plasma consumables (tips etc)
Oxy Torch
Oxy Cutting Head
Small range of oxy cutting and heating tips
Oxy Igniter
Misc collection of screws, bolts, nuts, rivets etc.
Spare grinding disks
Spare cutting disks
Spare 14" Abrasive Disks
Digital Multimeter
D Size Oxy Cylinder
D Size Acetylene Cylinder
D Size Argon/C02 Mix Cylinder
Various "Vice Grips"
240V Impact Wrench (no point in struggling with a tyre change!)
12V Battery Charger

No gas on board for TIG work yet (there's one slot left on my bottle holder).

Any thoughts on things missing gratefully appreciated!

And.. check out the killer personalised plates I have on the truck!

[duncan_m]

Beautiful rig!
Really detailed list of tools, was that for the insurance company?

No, I took most of it off a list I typed up on my computer before stocking the truck.

Sure you wont need bigger bottles?:confused

Yeah, long story.. without modifying the bed of the truck to recess the bottles down they were going to sit really really high, would've looked stupid.. and aesthetics are important to me.. luckily the gas supplier is only 5mins down the road from my house!

I have another truck that I'm building up (same cab, larger tonnage, longer bed) with a custom body on the back, it'll incorporate storage for the E Size cylinders.. for now, I have to make do with the littlies

[fun4now]

i think you should send it out to me to use for a year or two and then I'll know better what you may need to add to it to be complete.
wile i test it out for you , you can go ahead and set up my 1953 GMC the same way and i can do the final changes if needed.

great looking truck.

[Bob the Welder]

Without a doubt the classiest welding rig I have ever seen!

Very good list of tools, very thorough. Couple of things you may consider adding though.

Good insurance agent
Sleever bars
Bull pins
Tiger paws for grinders
Hard hat (for when needed)
Extra pair of safety glasses
Stainless brush (for stainless ONLY)
Wrap Around
Silver streak marker
Larger set of bottles if possible

Looks like you have a good start, best of luck and be careful!

[Bob the Welder]

Two more possibilities; bottle jack and halogen work light. Just a thought.

Bob

[DSW]

Things left off, Hmmm.... no partridge in a pear tree.

For heavy equipment repairs I would say
Open end/ box end wrenches up to at least 1 1/4" min. std and metric
Sledge hammer 20 lb min, preferably bigger.
Large prybar / digging bar.
Small shovel to remove dirt from area to be worked on.
Good sized rosebud for heating bent stuff. Definate need for bigger bottles for this.
Slings or chains for moving heavy parts so you can work on them.

If I missed any of these on your list just ignor me. You do seem to have made a very well stocked list.

[Green MT Welder]

Nice

Very nice rig.....but i think you forgot the kitchen sink

[Sberry]

I will go with the 12 ton jack, a cum-along, some rigging, battery drills and lights. Here is one of the handiest tools I have on my truck. http://www.hobartwelders.com/weldtal...589#post324589 As well as the above the stock is important too.

[Fabtec]

Hello!
Very nice truck!
Just for thoughts, how about a hydraulic jack, a laptop computer w/ wireless access, and a printer, and last but not least....an assistant to do all the work!!!
Good luck!!

P.S. Is it true that the women outnumber the men there 8:1?!

[JTMcC]

I think you'll find the short oxy/ac hoses a hindrence. If you're parked on one side of a piece of equipment, 32' won't even get you around to the opposite side. I've always had 125' of everything: leads, electricity and torch hose. I can't imagine doing with less than that.

I often go thu a K size oxygen per day, your small bottles would be a problem for me. Stopping in the middle of a job, rolling up, driving to a welding supply, swapping bottles, driving back, rolling out and then continueing where you left off (in my world) would only irritate the contractor and most would demand I knock several hours off an invoice because of that on a time & material job. On a hard money bid job that time would kill me on profit.

My two observations based on feeding the kids with a welding rig for several years.

Good luck,

JTMcC.

[duncan_m]

i think you should send it out to me to use for a year or two and then I'll know better what you may need to add to it to be complete.
wile i test it out for you , you can go ahead and set up my 1953 GMC the same way and i can do the final changes if needed.

great looking truck.

1953 GMC.. Nice! Big exuberant grille, the Bedford J Series trucks took all their styling cues from those trucks.. not suprising.. Bedford was a Vauxhall company which was of course a GM company. Good luck with it and thanks for the positive comments.

[duncan_m]

Without a doubt the classiest welding rig I have ever seen!

Very good list of tools, very thorough. Couple of things you may consider adding though.

Good insurance agent
Sleever bars
Bull pins
Tiger paws for grinders
Hard hat (for when needed)
Extra pair of safety glasses
Stainless brush (for stainless ONLY)
Wrap Around
Silver streak marker
Larger set of bottles if possible

Looks like you have a good start, best of luck and be careful!

Thanks! A few obvious things I missed.. can you tell me what "Bull Pins" and "Tiger Paws" are? Perhaps I know them by a different name?

"Classiest Welding Rig".. aww shucks

[duncan_m]

Things left off, Hmmm.... no partridge in a pear tree.

For heavy equipment repairs I would say
Open end/ box end wrenches up to at least 1 1/4" min. std and metric
Sledge hammer 20 lb min, preferably bigger.
Large prybar / digging bar.
Small shovel to remove dirt from area to be worked on.
Good sized rosebud for heating bent stuff. Definate need for bigger bottles for this.
Slings or chains for moving heavy parts so you can work on them.

If I missed any of these on your list just ignor me. You do seem to have made a very well stocked list.

Some more good suggestions, thanks!.. I'm regretting the small bottle decision already

[duncan_m]

Hello!
Very nice truck!
Just for thoughts, how about a hydraulic jack, a laptop computer w/ wireless access, and a printer, and last but not least....an assistant to do all the work!!!
Good luck!!

P.S. Is it true that the women outnumber the men there 8:1?!

I quit an IT career to weld full time.. the last thing I want is a laptop!

There's no truth in the 8:1 women/men thing.. its about 50/50 and they're mostly chubby, self-absorbed, entitlement princesses.

[duncan_m]

I think you'll find the short oxy/ac hoses a hindrence. If you're parked on one side of a piece of equipment, 32' won't even get you around to the opposite side. I've always had 125' of everything: leads, electricity and torch hose. I can't imagine doing with less than that.

I often go thu a K size oxygen per day, your small bottles would be a problem for me. Stopping in the middle of a job, rolling up, driving to a welding supply, swapping bottles, driving back, rolling out and then continueing where you left off (in my world) would only irritate the contractor and most would demand I knock several hours off an invoice because of that on a time & material job. On a hard money bid job that time would kill me on profit.

My two observations based on feeding the kids with a welding rig for several years.

Good luck,

JTMcC.

I'll sort out some longer torch lines.. thanks for the headsup on that.. the small bottles are going to be a pain I see... I have a bit of room left, maybe I need to revisit this decision sooner rather than later.. my new truck is still 6months away from rolling out of the shed. Thanks for the input.