How to Build a Wire Feed Enclosure With Boom
Being a one-man welding and blacksmithing shop, I am always trying to come up with ways to make my life easier.
Another approach I have is to always buy multi-process welders for my business (I now have 1 shop & 2 portables). This allows me to swap back and forth with air arc, stick, tig, wire feeders, and spool gun.
One of the ideas that worked well for me has been a wire feed enclosure that houses my S-22P12 suitcase feeder. I found the 27 lb. suitcase all right, but when you add 33 lbs. of wire & 50 lbs. of gas, leed, & control wire, your suitcase becomes less and less portable @ 110lbs.
The enclosure-cart as you can see by the pictures, allows one to roll it around the shop with all clamps & tools on the bottom, or you can pull the bottom cart off and hang it from a boom on your portable units.
The addition of a 2-way boom that stays up or swings down allows you to work on many different projects and only be holding half the weight of the gun all day! That makes a difference.
If you add quick couplers and a leed rack to this unit it makes it all the easier to change to different machines and trucks.
Author: Ralph J. Sproul – Bear Hill Blacksmith