[flatlander757]

So there was a semi-mangled shopping cart sitting outside my fiance's house so I took the opportunity to snag it and use as a base for my welding cart. I had previously built the top "shelf" out of 1-1/4" x 1-1/4" x 1/4" thick angle iron and was at a stop since I was too cheap to find decent casters/wheels for my project. The shopping cart put this idea in my mind so I grabbed it and just started cutting stuff up.













I used a bit more angle iron and some 1/4" rod for some handy hooks for grinding/cutoff/flapdisc wheels and for my grinder chuck/chipping hammer.

There's no plans for a gas bottle add-on but it could be adapted if I cut and stretch the wheelbase I've just got to clean it up and get some paint on it.

Total cost was no more than $25 I'm pretty sure.

edit: excuse the booger welds for the upper shelf, it had about a 3/16" gap which I had to fill

edit #2: picture links were messed up, fixed.

[jgtree]

looks fantabulous sirs.

[turtlerace]

Sweet. Some homeless guy is pissed at you!

[PILL]

Originally Posted by turtlerace

Sweet. Some homeless guy is pissed at you!

Keep that thing locked up good. A homeless guy might steal it and start welding on your Jeep.

[Woolecox]

Thats awesome! Stainless steel or chrome plated I guess?

[Unlimited04]

great idea! you make me want to go steal a shopping cart...

[BESRK]

"Attention shoppers...."

I like that!

[flatlander757]

Originally Posted by woolecox

Thats awesome! Stainless steel or chrome plated I guess?

I'm sure it's one or the other. I'm thinking chrome plated as some places that were dinged up had started to rust. Stainless won't rust if gouged will it?

Originally Posted by Unlimited04

great idea! you make me want to go steal a shopping cart...

Haha, or just wait until a homeless guy gets trippin' balls drunk and run for your life.

Originally Posted by jgtree

looks fantabulous sirs.

Thanks

Originally Posted by turtlerace

Sweet. Some homeless guy is pissed at you!

Yeah I'm thinking the same thing.

Originally Posted by PILL

Keep that thing locked up good. A homeless guy might steal it and start welding on your Jeep.

Yeah it stays in the garage with my other goodies.

Originally Posted by BESRK

"Attention shoppers...."

I like that!

Thanks Eddie!


Only thing I really need to add now is some method to lock the wheels to keep it from rolling into the street when I'm welding crap. I've got a few very simple and cheap ideas brewing in my mind but I'm open for suggestions. I think locking both rear wheels would be best since they're out in the open and could easily be operated by feet.

[mcneil]

Now you just need a sign on it:

"will weld for food"


Looks awesome. I'm going down to the wash to look for a cart..

[project240]

Excellent use of a stray shopping cart!

Without intending to divert the focus of this thread from the recycling-handiwork of flatlander, may I add some background on the history of this shopping cart?

I must admit that I am much more of a shopping cart person than I am a jeep person, although excursions with mcneil into the mountains may soon change that. There, evidently, is a project to classify stray shopping carts in much the same way as bird and field guides.

It is evident that the shopping which was so righteously reused by flatlander followed a series of transformations before ultimately assisting in welding jobs.

The cart's foray away from the shopping market may have started with someone pushing their purchased goods as far as possible along their route - to the bus stop, where reappropriated carts are usually abandoned and sometimes converted into chairs.
Type A/3 - Bus Stop Discard
http://www.strayshoppingcart.com/shopping_cart/3_images/3_a3.jpg

If not recovered by market agents, it may have been collected by a homeless person and used to ferry around personal belongings and soda cans.
Type B/4 - On/As Personal Property
http://www.strayshoppingcart.com/shopping_cart/4_images/4_b4.jpg

Somehow it must have been abandoned again, possibly in the street, and hit with a car or subject to wanton abuse, which rendered it:
Type B/12 - Simple Vandalism
http://www.strayshoppingcart.com/shopping_cart/4_images/4_b12.jpg

Although the subsequent transformation varies with the severity and effectiveness of the abuse, it is likely that the soon-to-be-welding cart transformed readily into a:
Type B/2 - Damaged
http://www.strayshoppingcart.com/shopping_cart/4_images/4_b2.jpg

The only thing worse than a shopping cart blocking the right of way (assuming it was in the streets) is a damaged shopping cart blocking the right of way. Some concerned citizen probably removed it from the road and by doing so, committed an act of reverse edge marginalization, which just barely
pushes the cart off the road and ending up by flatlander's fiancee's house.
Type B/16 - Edge Marginalization
http://www.strayshoppingcart.com/shopping_cart/4_images/4_b16.jpg

flatlander's artful reuse of the abandoned cart is obviously classified as a:
Type B/8 - Structural Modification
http://www.strayshoppingcart.com/shopping_cart/4_images/4_b8.jpg

The structural modifications are meant to increase the utility of the cart, which means it returns to a former classification of:
Type B/4 - On/As Personal Property
http://www.strayshoppingcart.com/shopping_cart/4_images/4_b4.jpg

Unless it is used for profit, in which case it is more appropriately labeled:
Type B/5 - On/As Business Property
http://www.strayshoppingcart.com/shopping_cart/4_images/4_b5.gif


Apologies again for the thread diversion.

[yellojeeper]

Originally Posted by project240

Excellent use of a stray shopping cart!

Without intending to divert the focus of this thread from the recycling-handiwork of flatlander, may I add some background on the history of this shopping cart?

I must admit that I am much more of a shopping cart person than I am a jeep person, although excursions with mcneil into the mountains may soon change that. There, evidently, is a project to classify stray shopping carts in much the same way as bird and field guides.

It is evident that the shopping which was so righteously reused by flatlander followed a series of transformations before ultimately assisting in welding jobs.

The cart's foray away from the shopping market may have started with someone pushing their purchased goods as far as possible along their route - to the bus stop, where reappropriated carts are usually abandoned and sometimes converted into chairs.
Type A/3 - Bus Stop Discard
http://www.strayshoppingcart.com/shopping_cart/3_images/3_a3.jpg

If not recovered by market agents, it may have been collected by a homeless person and used to ferry around personal belongings and soda cans.
Type B/4 - On/As Personal Property
http://www.strayshoppingcart.com/shopping_cart/4_images/4_b4.jpg

Somehow it must have been abandoned again, possibly in the street, and hit with a car or subject to wanton abuse, which rendered it:
Type B/12 - Simple Vandalism
http://www.strayshoppingcart.com/shopping_cart/4_images/4_b12.jpg

Although the subsequent transformation varies with the severity and effectiveness of the abuse, it is likely that the soon-to-be-welding cart transformed readily into a:
Type B/2 - Damaged
http://www.strayshoppingcart.com/shopping_cart/4_images/4_b2.jpg

The only thing worse than a shopping cart blocking the right of way (assuming it was in the streets) is a damaged shopping cart blocking the right of way. Some concerned citizen probably removed it from the road and by doing so, committed an act of reverse edge marginalization, which just barely
pushes the cart off the road and ending up by flatlander's fiancee's house.
Type B/16 - Edge Marginalization
http://www.strayshoppingcart.com/shopping_cart/4_images/4_b16.jpg

flatlander's artful reuse of the abandoned cart is obviously classified as a:
Type B/8 - Structural Modification
http://www.strayshoppingcart.com/shopping_cart/4_images/4_b8.jpg

The structural modifications are meant to increase the utility of the cart, which means it returns to a former classification of:
Type B/4 - On/As Personal Property
http://www.strayshoppingcart.com/shopping_cart/4_images/4_b4.jpg

Unless it is used for profit, in which case it is more appropriately labeled:
Type B/5 - On/As Business Property
http://www.strayshoppingcart.com/shopping_cart/4_images/4_b5.gif


Apologies again for the thread diversion.

I can't believe what I just read.

[Lifesgoodhere]

nice! gives me an idea....

I think thats stainless. Did you have to use stainless wire to weld with?

[flatlander757]

Originally Posted by Lifesgoodhere

nice! gives me an idea....

I think thats stainless. Did you have to use stainless wire to weld with?

Nah, just used flux-core .030 wire that my welder originally came with. I just made sure to grind every surface smooth to get them nice and clean before striking an arc.

[Burlbook48]

Originally Posted by flatlander757

Only thing I really need to add now is some method to lock the wheels to keep it from rolling into the street when I'm welding crap. I've got a few very simple and cheap ideas brewing in my mind but I'm open for suggestions. I think locking both rear wheels would be best since they're out in the open and could easily be operated by feet.

Pardon my venture into the fabrication forum, just another rookie looking for ideas, but...

Wouldn't a quick, cheap, and simple fix for a wheel brake be a pair of vise-grips or a strong spring clamp on the rear wheel? Seems like it would keep the wheel from rotating once the clamp made contact with the wheel bracket.

Just a simple fix until you cobbled together something more permanent.

[Idaho89YJ]

Originally Posted by yellojeeper

I can't believe what I just read.

I second that. Interesting to say the least.... either that or disturbing that someone took the time to do this.