Welding bench

[Ford tractor]

Hi,

I just pushed a hunk of steel 18"x48"x1.75" off a buddies truck into my FEL bucket. It has a lot of holes in it as it was used in some equipment or tooling. It looks to have been ground flat, but it is rusty now from being in the scrap pile. Bought it and a few other pieces for 8cents a pound. It will be a welding table eventually. Couple questions.

How high should I make the table?

Should I make it flush against the wall or leave some space behind it?

What useful additions should a welding table have?

After sand blasting it clean, what surface treatment to keep it looking decent?

Thanks

 

[Argosy]

Comfortable height will be different for everyone. Look at what other benches you have, kitchen base cabinets and decide what would work best for you. I would also think about how you will get 'things' on and off, once welded up some can be real heavy.

Coating it is counter productive. The good thing about a welding bench is everywhere is ground. They get pretty beat up pretty fast with slag and dust from grinding anyway. Every few years I take a disk grinder to mine and clean it up, welding isn't a neat clean operation.

 

[weldingisfun]

How high should I make the table? Go with the advise Argosy gave.

What useful additions should a welding table have? This too is kind of a personal preference thing. I added a bar to hang clamps and a couple of power strips to my table.

Should I make it flush against the wall or leave some space behind it? This depends upon the size of your workspace. Being able to move around your project is a whole lot easier than moving the project around. If you have a large enough workspace, put casters on the legs of your table so you can move it out from the wall to get around it. When finished with your project, just move it back out of the way. And, if you do add casters, be sure to factor them into the overall height of the table.

After sand blasting it clean, what surface treatment to keep it looking decent? Nothing, again, back to what Argosy said.

You can check out my thread, maybe it will give you some ideas. http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/welding/183165-welding-table-build.html Good luck and have fun.:thumbsup:

 

[gregkabob]

Take a look at the Miller site. Miller - Welding Equipment - MIG/TIG/Stick Welders & Plasma Cutting
They have plans for a welding table on it and one thing I like about it is it has a place for using a plasma cutter on it. Thats the one I plan on building this winter.

 

[Ford tractor]

Thanks for the thoughts and the link. 4x8' -- that's large!

I will try a mist coat of "The must for rust". It's a rust preventative that leaves a weldable / paintable surface. I might just paint the whole thing, then sand the top open and treat. Still debating.

In the light of day I measured the metal. I was wrong. It's 42 1/2" wide, 24" deep and 1 3/8 thick. Has a regular pattern of what looks like 1/2" fine threaded holes and some larger tooling holes. Should work fine, even if it's been stored outside on the ground for 2 years. Hey, at 8 cents a pound it's still a good deal.

 

[sjames]

i wouldent go crazy with treating the top. mine seems to do fine with only a occasional shot of WD40.

As for thing to incorporate into the design.

leave sufficint overhang for all your clamping needs.

make holders for grinders so you can access them easily.

have some hooks to hold your stinger so you can easily set it down between welds/repositioning.

Not sure how long you want the final table to be, but I wish i had incorporated a grated section into mine for flame cutting.

 

[jayste]

Sounds like you've got the makings for a great table. You could plan in an idea for quick attach for a vice and bench grinder. You could also make the legs "telescopic" where one piece of pipe or tubing slides inside the other and have holes in it for putting pins in to so you can adjust the height. Also, I'd plan on getting some 1/2" fine threaded set screws to screw into the holes in the top while you weren't using them to keep spatter and such out of the threads.:thumbsup:

One more after thought. I once worked in a weld shop that had weld tables and positioners connected to a common ground strap that was ran along the floor. Each welding machine was attached to this common ground but also had the ground lead still attached to use as well, if needed. This works great if your not rolling things (tables and such) around.

 

[Shield Arc]

I have my welding table a little low, makes it easier when working on something. If I'm doing a lot of Tig welding on small parts in the vice I set down. Building bigger things I stand up. There are no hard and fast rules.

 

[gauthier]

Don't paint it,piece of heavier angle on one side edge is good for laying pipe in,combination vise,thing of some sort on one edge to hang stinger,and welding curtains,,,those holes will come in handy.

If your putting it against a wooden wall,leave room to put a welding curtain/screen behind it.

 

[HCJtractor]

Dumb question, but if you use casters with rubber or synthetic wheels, does this interfer with the ground? Or does there need to be metal contact with the floor?

 

[rus_geek]

HCJ -- For welding, the ground is a system ground provided by a cable and clamp from the welder, rather than an earth ground, where you would need continuity to the floor/ground.

-rus-

 

[Ford tractor]

make holders for grinders so you can access them easily.

have some hooks to hold your stinger so you can easily set it down between welds/repositioning.

Not sure how long you want the final table to be, but I wish i had incorporated a grated section into mine for flame cutting.

Ah yes, the grinder or as I call them "welding erasers" -- much used around here!

Sounds like you've got the makings for a great table. You could plan in an idea for quick attach for a vice and bench grinder. You could also make the legs "telescopic" where one piece of pipe or tubing slides inside the other and have holes in it for putting pins in to so you can adjust the height. Also, I'd plan on getting some 1/2" fine threaded set screws to screw into the holes in the top while you weren't using them to keep spatter and such out of the threads.:thumbsup:

The threaded holes are a regular pattern of 7 x 15 or a hundred holes. Lots of screws needed for that! Still, it would probably be smart to keep the threads usable as I can see it could be handy to be able to bolt stuff down.

 

[gauthier]

wd40 sprayed on top of your welding table?

 

[weldingisfun]

Dumb question, but if you use casters with rubber or synthetic wheels, does this interfer with the ground? Or does there need to be metal contact with the floor?

Use metal casters. Titan Casters 3 in. Sintered Iron Plate Caster Swivel - 3520449 | Tractor Supply Company The others are too light will not hold the weight.

 

[gregkabob]

Fordtractor,

Yes it's a big table and I don't plan on making mine that big but it's a starting point on the construction of the table and when I was researching tables it's the first that I saw with the area for plasmsa cutting and that caught my eye.

 

[crazyal]

One think I like about a welding table is you can tack things to it while working on them or weld a jig to it to align things if making more than one of the same thing. Anything you put on it will interfere with the welding process. I would just leave it bare unless it's going to see water or be left outdoors.

 

[jayste]

One think I like about a welding table is you can tack things to it while working on them or weld a jig to it to align things if making more than one of the same thing. Anything you put on it will interfere with the welding process. I would just leave it bare unless it's going to see water or be left outdoors.

I agree with all who recommend leaving the top bare. It's almost a must to weld something to the top of it or even the side of the top while your fabricating. After you're done cut or break it loose and grind the weld smooth. While you won't always need to do this it is nice to have the option.:thumbsup:

 

[jayste]

Here's a few shots of my welding/cutting table. A while back I wanted to attach my vice but didn't want to permantly attach it. I was concerned that I might want to utilize the whole top without any permanent fixtures in the way. I ended up making a hinged plate to mount the vice on. It's not painted yet and may never be at this rate.

 

[Jim in ICT]

Jay, I like how your mount for the vise allows it to hang vertical out of the way when not in use. Keeps it handy without being an obsticle to bang your knee into. I may steal your design and mount mine the same way.

 

[rjmack]

18"x48"x13/4" sounds like a pretty heavy piece. i would consider building it lower rather higher if for no other reason than to reduce the likelihood of knocking it over. something that heavy would do some pretty serious damage when it hit the floor.

a lot of tables are 1/2" or 3/4" plate (i bought one already fabbed up out of 1/2") the problem with them is that welding the legs directiy to the plate causes warpage and you end up with a table top that is not flat... this is a real pita if you are going to be using the table for fabrication.

when i finally get around to building a larger table, i'll probably go with 3/4" plate and lightly stitch weld a strongback (6" channel iron, tube, etc) to the bottom of the table 6" or 8" back from the outside edge and then weld the legs to that. hopefully i will end up with a table top that is nice and flat.:thumbsup: