nothern welding table - thoughts?

[oxford]

Here is the table I recently built. Yes it is probably overbuilt, but it should last almost a lifetime. And yes I have more than $70 in it, but the steel for the frame was all free. I had to pay for the wheels, top, and the feet. FWIW the top was $185 new. I could not find a used piece for the top in the time frame I wanted. The legs are 3"x4", the upper supports are 2"x4"(2 of the end ones are 2.25"x4") and the bottom cross pieces are 2.25"x2.25". It is all 3/16" wall except the 3 top supports in the middle with are .125" wall. The feet are 1"-8 threaded swivel feet, and they are 6"x2" casters. I also put a piece of 1"x1" across the one side for a clamp hanger. The top is 4'x4' and 1/2" thick. I also added a bumper mount hitch receiver so I can use it with removable tooling.

[HEATNBEAT]

Nice job Jeff!

[hlfuzzball]

Here is a neat table priced very cheap if you can transport it. (Not Mine !)

Fair haven, Mi. is North of Detroit on lake St. Clair.

Click on CL Link for photos.


http://detroit.craigslist.org/mcb/tls/3202648186.html

Dead Flat Cast Iron Work Table - $400 (Fair Haven)

Date: 2012-08-13, 12:30PM EDT
Reply to: bwds3-3202648186@sale.craigslist.org

Cast iron work table 42"X84"X 2" thick. Cast iron legs as well as under support.
Weight aprox 2400 lbs?? It's very heavy. $400 OBO need it gone..
Call 586 690-1110
586 690-1301
Thanks

[RockHillWill]

Hey Jeff: EXCELLANT table. Nicely thought out and expertly fabricated.

[Michael Moore]

Look at the Stronghand BuildPro welding table catalog

http://www.stronghandtools.com/pdf_c...log_1up_hq.pdf

for lots of really cool ideas. I've been thinking of trying to replicate one. I think that for a commercial shop the price of the tables and fixtures is pretty reasonable and I can see them paying for themselves pretty quickly. But for a home hobby shop I need to look at DIY, borrowing as many of the ideas as I can.

There's also a company on eBay that sells steel plate welding table tops with some laser-cut slots in them for clamps, but I have no idea how much shipping would add to the price:

http://www.jmrmfg.com

I'm envious of those of you with the space to allow walking around a big table. I have to have a narrower table as it needs to go against a wall in an area that is the width of a single car space. But then I run out of width on the table for some projects, so being able to shift the table top slats to temporarily widen the top as on the BuildPro would be very handy.

cheers,
Michael

[oxford]

Thanks for the compliments on my table. Michael, I barely have the room for the 4'x4' table that I built, I really would have been better off with a smaller one for the space that I am in now. But its on wheels so if it neds to get moved and stuffed in a corner at times, so be it.

I had given it a lot of thought about putting a grid of holes in the table top. I am still not sure if I did the right thing or not. Both ways have there pluses and minuses. If I ever have the room I will have a table that has them in one day as well. In the mean time I will tack work pieces and/or clamps to the table. I would prefer to have tapped holes vs straight through ones but the threads will probably get a lot of spatter in them if doing MIG. There is also the time/cost to have them put in.

[inlinr6]

Were I work they have Demmeler fabrication tables for prototyping.I found that Bluco www.BLUCO.com sells these,and was shocked on the price,I knew it was going to be pricy but wow! you can see Jesse James uses these on you tube but I'm sure he was given these.About 10g's for a 40"x80" table.then the clamps angles and the ball lock pins@130.00 to 3000.00ea.We figured our work has 3 million worth of these tables and accessories.

[HEATNBEAT]

Originally Posted by inlinr6

Were I work they have Demmeler fabrication tables for prototyping.I found that Bluco www.BLUCO.com sells these,and was shocked on the price,I knew it was going to be pricy but wow! you can see Jesse James uses these on you tube but I'm sure he was given these.About 10g's for a 40"x80" table.then the clamps angles and the ball lock pins@130.00 to 3000.00ea.We figured our work has 3 million worth of these tables and accessories.

WOW! that has to be some of the nices fixture tables I have ever seen

[Michael Moore]

Originally Posted by oxford

I had given it a lot of thought about putting a grid of holes in the table top.

A few months ago I added about 170 holes to the Blanchard-ground six foot length of 12" x 3" x 1/2" structural channel that makes the base to my motorcycle frame table. The holes are 5 across and in a 2" array. The middle and outer holes (#s 1, 3 and 5) are plain 1/2" (drilled 1/64" undersized and finished by plunging with a 1/2" end mill) and the #2 and #4 holes are tapped 1/2-13 to match my mill stud kits. I figured tapping those holes would let me reach a clamp to both the outer edge and the middle, and the plain holes can be used with 1/2" dowels for location, much like the BuildPro. That went reasonably quick as I've got a CNC mill and a self-reversing tapping head. I've done the "let's tap a bunch of 1/2-13 holes by hand in steel plate" trip and that's a recipe for REALLY sore hands and forearms. I probably spent as much time aligning the channel on the table so the holes stayed in the right spot (I had to shift the channel several times to get all the holes in) as it took to let the mill do the drilling and tapping.

The base is only about knee height and it isn't very comfortable to weld things that are down on the table surface. I've got a 30x30 piece of scuffed-up 1/4" plate on legs that I use as the main welding table, but it is neither terribly flat/even nor easy to clamp things to so it gets used for the non-critical welding projects. A nice table like yours with a BuildPro-style of top would be wonderful to have.

Welding things to a table top (and then cutting them off and grinding the welds down) seems like a good way to not have the table stay flat for very long. Some assortment of slots and/or holes lets you clamp instead, and you also don't have to worry about the fixtures being pulled out of alignment when you weld them to the table.

It may be that my opinion comes from approaching welding from a machinist viewpoint rather than a fabrication viewpoint. My fixtures get set up to thousandths of an inch instead of 1/32 or 1/16". If all you need is reasonably flat and reasonably close on the measurements then welding to the table top may not be an issue.

The BuildPro and Bluco stuff sure sets off my tool lust.

cheers,
Michael