Wow! I am surprised how many replies I got in less than 24 hours. This really is a friendly and helpful forum! I just found out that the PM-1030V with DRO is back ordered 10-12 weeks! The PM-1030V without DRO is available now. I will stick to my original plan and wait patiently. Like I said, my machining classes aren't until Oct-Dec of this year anyway. I had hoped to rent an engine hoist just once, but I guess that I will have to do the rigging on two separate occasions.
After paying $7,500 for the two PM orders (all of the money borrowed), I am actually too broke to buy casters at this point. My mill arrives in 2 weeks, so I will have time to mull over all of your informative responses (which I greatly appreciate).
A friend and I worked on a project this weekend which was a bicycle frame modification. With no mill or lathe in the shop, we did have enough room to work. Five of the eight (earlier reported to be seven total welding carts) of the welding carts were rolled into the side yard. I will try to upload pictures taken at the midpoint of the operation in the next post.
Just for fun, my eight welding carts are (1) Dynasty 210DX for TIG, AC stick welding jobs, E6010 or stick welding applications that call for adjustable arc force, (2) Millermatic 252 with .035" solid wire and C25 shielding gas, (3) Miller Thunderbolt 210 for all DC stick welding except E6010 (this machine does not run E6010), (4) Dual cylinder gas welding cart with medium and heavy duty torches as well as cutting torch, (5) currently inoperable Lincoln IdealArc 250 which was gifted to me and needs a cosmetic makeover (future project which includes painting it blue and slapping Miller badging on it--ouch!) for AC stick, E6010 and jobs that require over 210A, (6) TIG accessory cart for purge box, filler rod, TIG fingers, TIG pens and tungsten sharpener, and (7) PPE cart for gloves, welding helmets, respirators, and shading lenses. Seven of the carts have hangers for steel brushes as well as trays for a gas cylinder, so I have my spare C25, Argon and Oxygen cylinders on my stick, TIG accessory and PPE carts respectively. All of my cylinders except for the acetylene are only 80 cubic feet, so they don't last long. I am not so happy with these small cylinders, but this is about all that I can lift without worrying about my back. I need to have a healthy back for my day job. I store my filler rod on the gas and TIG accessory cart, and my stick electrodes live on the stick welding cart; as such, these carts are heavy. I spend a lot of time rolling these carts around.
I will be reading a lot of this forum every night. My neighbor across the street has asked me to cease operations at 9 PM.