Welding benches

[ovrszd]

Sure.

Sorry,,,, I think I mighta drooled on your pictures.... That's what I call a welding table. Only thing I'd add would be wheels and maybe a bottom shelf to collect junk iron. Very good indeed.

Can I get nosey and ask what the top plate cost ya??? Also you got any idea what it weighs. Thanks in advance!!! :thumbsup:

 

[joshuabardwell]

Can I get nosey and ask what the top plate cost ya??? Also you got any idea what it weighs. Thanks in advance!!! :thumbsup:

You can calculate the weight of steel here: Online Metal Store | Small Quantity Metal Orders | Metal Cutting, Sales & Shipping | Buy Steel, Aluminum, Copper, Brass, Stainless | Metal Product Guides at OnlineMetals.com

 

[MitchellB]

Having a dedicated heavy welding table is nice, but I find having 2 or three steel saw-horses work better for me, because all my projects are not small enough for a table. If I do need a table, then laying a small sheet of heavy steel on the saw horses give me a table.

 

[IslandTractor]

The Miller Motorsports forum has a section on projects where people post photos and a few comments about welding projects. You can search on welding table and see quite a variety of projects built by amateurs. Miller - Welding Projects - Idea Gallery - Welding Table I believe Miller also has some plans available for various types of table somewhere on that site.

 

[Shield Arc]

Can I get nosey and ask what the top plate cost ya??? Also you got any idea what it weighs. Thanks in advance!!! :thumbsup:

I didn't buy it. I had just retired, and wanted to build a welding table. I had the frame for years, it is what I kept a big engine drive welder I had on. I could back my 1-ton flatbed truck right up to the frame and come-a-long the welder off onto the frame. One of the benefits of working for a large construction company. I called one of my friends who was a project superintendent just starting an 80-million dollar project for the Navy about 10-miles from my house. I asked him the next time he was at the company's yard to grab me a plate for my planed welding table. Not wanting to drive 60-miles one way to the yard he went to the local steel supplier and bought the plate for me and delivered it to my house.

Joshua's calculator says the top plate weighs 978.0479 pounds. The whole table I have no idea.

 

[Mark @ Everlast]

A little late in the reply here, but I do think you have asked the perfect question that a lot of people need to think about before starting out to buy or build one.

I'd boil it down into two categories of welding table. One would be a layout/welding table. Another would be the kind you'd bang/beat around while welding things up.

I've got a few, including the cheapo one you talked about that I bought to do a video or two with for our customers describing what to look (or NOT) for. If I had to choose between the two, I'd get the square, true layout one first. You can always find someplace to bend or beat your item into place...even the floor if necessary. (will post some pics of several I have later...the good the bad and the ugly so-to-speak)

 

[daugen]

You can calculate the weight of steel here: Online Metal Store | Small Quantity Metal Orders | Metal Cutting, Sales & Shipping | Buy Steel, Aluminum, Copper, Brass, Stainless | Metal Product Guides at OnlineMetals.com

neat online resource, but of course it immediately showed me how little I know.
Guide to Buying Steel Online | Online Metals Guide to Selecting Metals for Your Project

now which grades should I look for doing light to medium fab work, and any to ignore?
Are these quality grades or descriptors usually stamped on the steel?

And Mitchell, I like your idea of KISS. Sometime you have to go to the job and not it to you.

 

[IslandTractor]

neat online resource, but of course it immediately showed me how little I know.
Guide to Buying Steel Online | Online Metals Guide to Selecting Metals for Your Project

now which grades should I look for doing light to medium fab work, and any to ignore?
Are these quality grades or descriptors usually stamped on the steel?

And Mitchell, I like your idea of KISS. Sometime you have to go to the job and not it to you.

Just plain old mild steel for a welding table. Total waste to use high strength steel for such a project and it would actually complicate the welding the thing together.

 

[joshuabardwell]

now which grades should I look for doing light to medium fab work, and any to ignore?
Are these quality grades or descriptors usually stamped on the steel?

In general, as long as I am buying mild steel, I don't think too much about what other type it might be, because there are seldom any options. Most of what you see in the "weldable metal" bins is going to be mild steel. Anything specialized, like stainless, galvanized, or aluminum, is going to be called out as such. Just focus on buying "mild steel" and you will be okay, I think. By the time you need to branch out into specialized alloys, you'll have more experience, and know why you're looking for what you're looking for. But specialized alloys (higher-carbon, stainless) require specialized welding techniques (pre-heat, respirators, special rods/wire), so at least in the beginning, better to stick with mild.

 

[CNC Dan]

josh is right, mild steel.

But sometimes it may be called something else like A36, or 1018.
Slightly diferent, but still mild steel.

 

[daugen]

I'd boil it down into two categories of welding table. One would be a layout/welding table. Another would be the kind you'd bang/beat around while welding things up.

Mark, I just went back and reread all these posts again, and looked at all those nice drawers with tools inside and the light bulb came on
how right you were. I don't want to beat on anything with tools stored inside, although I usually use rubber pads. I want to "beat on" something
really basic. And indestructible. With a large vice and maybe even an anvil built in. And lift points for the FEL... And then a layout oriented, more adjustable portable table to set outside on the gravel. Level gravel...

I think I'll buy the portable one and build the heavier one.

And since my new Everlast welder came in yesterday, it's time to get moving.

 

[IslandTractor]

Strongarm makes a convenient portable 20x30 table. Definitely not for pounding on but fine for clamping small and medium size pieces.

 

[muddstopper]

We had a Hardee's go out of business a few years ago. When they tore down the building, inside was a 3x6ft stainless steel table. Light gauge for sure, I think they rolled their biscuts out on it. I got the table given to me and its been in my shop ever since. Not much for beating on, but plenty big/heavy enough to throw heavy pieces of metal on for welding. For anything i cant physically lift by hand, I usually just put it on blocks of wood in the floor, attach the ground clamp and start welding.

 

[CNC Dan]

Strongarm makes a convenient portable 20x30 table.

StrongHAND, not strongARM.

 

[IslandTractor]

StrongHAND, not strongARM.

You are absolutely correct. Thanks.

 

[NOTV8]

don't get here often and have to request for new password . I posted this before and here's what I did.... a newbie job 1/2" plate and all 1/4" tubes and angles plus 1000 lbs. each wheels...

 

[IslandTractor]

don't get here often and have to request for new password . I posted this before and here's what I did.... a newbie job 1/2" plate and all 1/4" tubes and angles plus 1000 lbs. each wheels...

Very nice. How do the stabilizers lower? Are the wheels off the ground when the stabilizers are down?

 

[mjncad]

Dang...that's a nice table!

 

[daugen]

more than nice, wow. And the world's largest vice...seriously nice setup.

 

[joshuabardwell]

Here are some pics of my table, which I just (mostly) finished today. I still need to put casters on and clean the top, but you get the idea. Here are some ideas I incorporated into the table: Stinger holder on the front left side (I'm left handed) made from an old U-bolt that I cut off. Hooks for looping the cord for the electrical outlets--also made from an old U-bolt, cut in half. Four built-in electrical outlets. I found some "tamper-resistant" ones at the store that have a gate in front of the hot and neutral holes. I thought this might be a good idea for keeping dust and dirt out of the receptacle. I also went with a GFI, just in case.

The piece of 1" square stock on the left-hand side is for clamps.