Makeshift welding table

[IslandTractor]

OK, here is a challenge: What have you used as a makeshift welding table in the field?

I had to weld up some simple hanger fixtures and found this to be a handy arrangement for stick welding with 1/16" 6013 on some 16 gauge curtain rod hangers.

We don't have Rednecks up here in the Northeast, we have Swamp Yankees so this is a Swamp Yankee set up. Ground was hooked to the thin strip of 14 gauge that lays across the grill. I thought about just using the grill but figured I'd get better ground with the non greasy hot rolled sheet. Worked fine.

 

[undercut]

OK, here is a challenge: What have you used as a makeshift welding table in the field?

I had to weld up some simple hanger fixtures and found this to be a handy arrangement for stick welding with 1/16" 6013 on some 16 gauge curtain rod hangers.

We don't have Rednecks up here in the Northeast, we have Swamp Yankees so this is a Swamp Yankee set up. Ground was hooked to the thin strip of 14 gauge that lays across the grill. I thought about just using the grill but figured I'd get better ground with the non greasy hot rolled sheet. Worked fine.

Against me anyway, you win hands down!

 

[deereman75]

I used an old home made bbq stand, with some rebar welded across it. It sucked, I had to be on my knees to use it. I have also used a concrete pad, some scraps of angle iron to prop pieces off floors, I think I have used a brick. The worst was a 4x4" piece of 1/8 plate, on a wood table. I was soldering or brazing some pieces of coat hangers together to make some little decorations. Got a few burn marks on it, luckely it was a shop table.

 

[Shield Arc]

OK, here is a challenge: What have you used as a makeshift welding table in the field?

Oh this could be an endless list, but lets see. Chunk of 12" x 12" creosote timber. Chunks of beam. Wood saw horses with 2" x 4" for table. Tracks on crawler cranes. Out rigger beams of mobile cranes. Concrete floor.
I'm sure there are more, just can't think of any now. :laughing:

 

[IslandTractor]

I love the tracks on crawler cranes one. :thumbsup: I hope he had his battery disconnected!:laughing:

 

[yankeerider]

I use my Harbor Freight portable work table- like the one Island Tractor's welder is on- with a piece of 12 gauge plate sitting on it.

 

[jake98]

Now we need a new line of 'you might be a swamp yankee...' jokes.

 

[IslandTractor]

I use my Harbor Freight portable work table- like the one Island Tractor's welder is on- with a piece of 12 gauge plate sitting on it.

I forgot to mention that the Mark I version Swamp Yankee welding table was the same portable work table with a piece of aluminum foil covered particle board.:laughing: Worked fine for the first two hundreds of a second until the arc blasted right though the four layers of foil.

 

[Baby Grand]

Now we need a new line of 'you might be a swamp yankee...' jokes.

You might be a Swamp Yankee if you use a metal 55 gallon drum for a welding table?

Works for me. Have a piece of bed frame angle iron welded on the edge for a flat surface and a place to clamp the ground. Have a bearing outer race welded to the other end as a stinger holder. The top is at a comfortable working height and it's easy to move - just tip it and roll it to where the action is.

-Jim

 

[IslandTractor]

You might be a Swamp Yankee if you use a metal 55 gallon drum for a welding table?

Works for me. Have a piece of bed frame angle iron welded on the edge for a flat surface and a place to clamp the ground. Have a bearing outer race welded to the other end as a stinger holder. The top is at a comfortable working height and it's easy to move - just tip it and roll it to where the action is.

-Jim

I've seen 55 gallon drums used as cutting tables which makes a lot of sense, especially with a slatted top and a bit of water in the bottom. Making a convertable 55 gallon drum that could serve as either a welding or cutting station would be great. It could even serve as a shop trash can when not needed for metalwork.:thumbsup: