Welding Table
 

I've been needing a welding table. Welding on top of the wood work bench has some problems. :lol: I looked at the Harbor Freight welding table and it looks a bit flimsy. I'm sure I could blow holes in it with my fancy welding skills. (cough) The HB is not real cheap, for what you get either, but I suppose it is better than nothing. But I put it off again and again because i just wanted something better.

Soooo I finally got something better. A lot better. Back story: My company builds test machinery. Due to changes, sometime the steel scrap bin is a treasure trove. This time the treasure was a 4ft 5in X 30in by 1/4in plate. Not one but two! Each plate was folded 4in on each long side. So the top was 22in deep. Those folds meant a very stiff table top. I made a be line to my boss and we rescued the doomed metal. And because I do not steal from the company, I replace the metal "scrap" with real scrap. About 300 lb of rotors and drums. All is good.

Pics to follow.

Re: Welding Table
 

Table top of the future welding table.

Re: Welding Table
 

I also scored adjustable feet left over from our new work tables at work. I just bought the correct size nuts( 12-1.75mm) and welded them to small plates I cut and drilled.

Re: Welding Table
 

I scored the "legs." All i still need was stretchers for the legs. TSC had just the right stuff.

Re: Welding Table
 

Suddenly I cannot load pictures. Something about a security ring.

Re: Welding Table
 

Very nice find for a great price! Will make a nice table.

Re: Welding Table
 

Nice.
I was in the garage tonight working on an old drill press and laughing at my ghetto welding table. Its a short computer rack door screwed to a piece of cement backer board backed by a OSB to give it stiffness, all mounted on a Sears version of a Workmate.
I put a flywheel and pressure plate on it and squashed it so I need to get some 3/4" square tubing to make it more sturdy.

Re: Welding Table
 

Craptastic doesn't do it justice...

Re: Welding Table
 

Could be worse. My "welding table" is a 8"x12" piece of 1/4 inch plate with a 2" piece of 1/4 plate welded perpendicular on the bottom. I put in it my vise when I need to use my "table".

Re: Welding Table
 

nice score on the metal :D
amazing what is thrown out on jobs
i use to score a lot from work...
not working for 15 years has dwindled my steel reserves :D

Re: Welding Table
 

Great find. I just cannot walk by a steel scrap bin and not look in it. get a lot of stuff that way

Re: Welding Table
 

I took some time to align and square things up. Not shown is the digital protractor so I could ensure squareness in all directions. I checked and shimmed the tube level and clamped it to the bench. I moved the assembly off the wooden bench for final welding. See why I need a weld table? And of course the machine that did the deed.

Re: Welding Table
 

One leg set complete. The second is just like it. The leg welded to the top plate. And the long stretcher. The long stretcher overhangs the other end by about 4in. The plan was to slice it off even after welding. After looking at it, maybe I should mount a ground lug on the tail. Or i can still cut it off. No hurry. The last pic you can see those nut plates I made welded to the legs with the adjustable feet.

Re: Welding Table
 

And done. The top is coated with spray oil. 711 brand, not that it matters. I still need to place it and setup a weld area. Figure out how to hang the grinder on or close to the bench. Decide if I need to mount a vice to the table. Did I mention just how sturdy this thing is? Far better than I hoped it would be. I thought the legs were on the small side but they seem very rigid. Oh I almost forgot, I have a whole $30 in this including the Rustoleum paint.

Re: Welding Table
 

Next up Grinder type stands from old 6 lug drum rims (3 nub). I have some plate steel from the golden trough scrap bin to weld into the rim. Still looking for a riser. I have a couple pieces of 3/8" plate for the tops. But that will be a different thread.

Re: Welding Table
 

Yes it sure did. Not too big, not too small, juuuuust riiiight.

I feel you. That was my reason not to get the HB weld table. it is not real sturdy.

I was thinking about that using the 3/8" plate you can see in the finished pic.

Amazing isn't it? My plant is still small enough that asking the right people can get stuff done. Especially if you share.

I check several time a week. Our TIG weld area is next to the scrap area so I have a easy reason to look. And only 3 of us are allowed to use the TIG welder and area so I can hide stuff. The MIG welder is for the maintenance guy. It is outside the TIG area. We do share the Oxy torch.

Re: Welding Table
 

Security ring thing. Apparently some of my pics were bigger than others. Resizing took care of it.

Re: Welding Table
 

Building it is always the way to go!

Theres a guy over on YouTube named ChuckE2009 who has a welding channel and built himself a few different epic welding tables and he did pretty good long videos showing the way he did it, if anyone is looking for more ideas as well.

Re: Welding Table
 

Dad blast it BR! Now I have to watch hour after hour of Chucke2009 and then more on his buddies channel. :lol: He makes it look easy.

Re: Welding Table
 

I've been thinking about putting a vise on the weld table. I both need it and don't need it. So how about doing both and make the vise removable?

Currently the vise mounted on a 3/8" plate with a receiver hitch mount welded to it. I have an "L" shaped receiver tube set up the plug into my F250 then the vise sets over the upper end. This set the vise at work height for grinding outside.

So I thought I could cut off the receiver, replace it with tubing and mount the receiver in the table. Pull a pin and remove the vice.

What do you think?

Re: Welding Table
 

Nixed this idea. Once I laid out my parts for a possible solution, I realized the bolts the mount the vise are very very in the way of this working. To get around this problem would stray far from the KISS method of cabbaging stuff together. So back to the Grinder Stand thread.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=673415

Re: Welding Table
 

You watch him too eh? I'm taking a mini course in welding this summer and the substitute instructor told us to watch youtube vids on welding for extra "instruction time." I came upon Chucke2009 and I can't get enough. His "a grinder and paint makes a welder what he ain't" made such an impression on the main instructor (when I said it in passing) that he RAN to his office and wrote it on his whiteboard. :fro:

I've been thinking that when I get my own welder and plasma cutter (those rock!) that I will need a welding table. My garage is small though so I think I'll have to get super creative and make one that I can disassemble for storage.

If your table works, then it's a great table. Congrats on scoring the parts on the cheap.

Re: Welding Table
 

Can you not just bolt and then unbolt a vise to your table?

Re: Welding Table
 

Oddly ChuckE2009 used to live about an hour away from me, of course now he is 21 hours away! Could he tell us it is a 21 hour drive again? I'm not sure I got it the first 15 times. :lol:

I noticed some improvement on his designing as time passed. But I was watching him for the welding, which is very good, not his engineering. His vids are enjoyable and I stayed up way tooo late watching them.

Re: Welding Table
 

Hahaha ya. I found him through Welding Tips and Tricks channel, and ChuckE was recommended. He's easy to watch, and tends to do things in "our" mentality (i.e., why buy it?)

Some of his older car/tractor vids can be hokey, but the honest fab stuff he does in his new place in TX is all legit.