Welding Table?

[Lelandwelds]

Pretty tables. The table isnt that useful without all the clamps, pins, and tooling made for the holes. I have never found that type or the platen type with the square holes to be that useful. A mag drill can easily add a couple of holes to your diy table if you need them some day. Carr Lane and McMaster sell the pins with the shoulder also.

Some jobs are best done on a couple of beams or sawhorses anyway. Make all your tables the same height and move them around in clusters for long or oversized jobs.

 

[Lelandwelds]

I have scored some excellent local deals by meeting or befriending owners and shop foremen at charity or enthusiest groups. Even traded beer and bbq for capabilities I dont have.

Tab and slot is common. There are more than a dozen waterjet or lasers within 50 miles of my door.

 

[cabinhollow]

Drops around here are $.0.35 to $0.40 per lbs.
Two things about this thread that jumps out to me.
A welding table is made from steel. You are going to be welding steel.
Weld up your own table.
Your metal supplier is x miles to far away for you to go get the metal.
Where are you going to get the metal for your welding jobs?

 

[Sysop]

Drops around here are $.0.35 to $0.40 per lbs.
Two things about this thread that jumps out to me.
A welding table is made from steel. You are going to be welding steel.
Weld up your own table.
Your metal supplier is x miles to far away for you to go get the metal.
Where are you going to get the metal for your welding jobs?

Those are about the same prices I see here for the scraps/drops/recyclables/leftover stuff too small to make what they normally make (whatever you want to call them).

OP's table site says the table he wants is 84lbs. At $.40/lbs that's $33.60 in material.

I personally look at those tables and the supplied videos and I see something that is geared for someone looking to spend a lot of money to start a new hobby and the assembly of the table would be their very first "project".

Sadly, it really isn't a good introduction to welding since most things you build or put together are not going to have all the assembly tabs to make it all fool proof. The company simply does these tabs to cover their own arses because they know they are marketing to people entering the hobby field.

I think the company marketing them simply purchased a big laser cutter for specific purposes, but with their purposes it left the machine with a lot of downtime, so they decided to create something for market (likely out of their own scraps) to decrease the downtime of their laser.

The software they use on some of those laser cutters allows someone good with the system to set down and design anything they can imagine, in very little time. After they design it, the software will automatically layout all the pieces so there is as little scrap left over as possible. A box with a grid of holes would literally be 5 minutes of work for a skilled operator to layout. The machine wouldn't take much longer to cut the parts for a small table like OP is looking for. Paying them $120 for an hour of their time, $33.60 for the materials; I think all parties would leave pleased with themselves.

 

[WranglerX]

Drops around here are $.0.35 to $0.40 per lbs.
Two things about this thread that jumps out to me.
A welding table is made from steel. You are going to be welding steel.
Weld up your own table.
Your metal supplier is x miles to far away for you to go get the metal.
Where are you going to get the metal for your welding jobs?

Most of my welding projects come from odd accumulations of scrap....

Dale

 

[Sysop]

Most of my welding projects come from odd accumulations of scrap....

Dale

Most of my projects never need anything large. I go to the local metal recyclers for a lot of what I need. I have four places within 30 minutes. They typically pay between $0.01 and $0.03 per pound for steel, I pay them double and can typically find what I need for less than $5.

 

[dragoneggs]

Those are about the same prices I see here for the scraps/drops/recyclables/leftover stuff too small to make what they normally make (whatever you want to call them).

OP's table site says the table he wants is 84lbs. At $.40/lbs that's $33.60 in material.

I personally look at those tables and the supplied videos and I see something that is geared for someone looking to spend a lot of money to start a new hobby and the assembly of the table would be their very first "project".

Sadly, it really isn't a good introduction to welding since most things you build or put together are not going to have all the assembly tabs to make it all fool proof. The company simply does these tabs to cover their own arses because they know they are marketing to people entering the hobby field.

I think the company marketing them simply purchased a big laser cutter for specific purposes, but with their purposes it left the machine with a lot of downtime, so they decided to create something for market (likely out of their own scraps) to decrease the downtime of their laser.

The software they use on some of those laser cutters allows someone good with the system to set down and design anything they can imagine, in very little time. After they design it, the software will automatically layout all the pieces so there is as little scrap left over as possible. A box with a grid of holes would literally be 5 minutes of work for a skilled operator to layout. The machine wouldn't take much longer to cut the parts for a small table like OP is looking for. Paying them $120 for an hour of their time, $33.60 for the materials; I think all parties would leave pleased with themselves.

I think you are quite optimistic in figuring 40cents/lb for the material required to make the table and also the finished weight is going to be quite bit less than the raw material required.

You say the CNC PC will auto layout the pieces... but you are also figuring on gathering drops to make this part. How are you going to lay out the drops??? :confused3: One hour labor... I don't think so for a one off assembly.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I never have bench space in my shop so I keep a welded together, lightweight, cut down to working height, section of racking, in behind the shop. Probably weighs 40# and I carry it by getting inside and holding each side, probably 36" X 72". I just throw on a plank or plywood to suit the job.

 

[Big Barn]

I never have bench space in my shop so I keep a welded together, lightweight, cut down to working height, section of racking, in behind the shop. Probably weighs 40# and I carry it by getting inside and holding each side, probably 36" X 72". I just throw on a plank or plywood to suit the job.

I keep a section of pallet racking set up same as you. It will accept a 4x8 sheet of plywood. Handy for temporary benches or work surfaces.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I think mine is a bit lighter, but will still carry probably a thousand pounds. It looks a tad wonky in the picture, but it's not. The trick is the welded joints. I drag it out for painting quite a bit.

I have this heavier clamp table from a furniture factory, used here to assemble a hot water solar collector. I welded stake pockets to it, but the other frame is much handier.



BIG BARN, Interested in parting with a vice? My lady friend just bought a house, and was happy the owner had left a vice on the work bench. On closing day, it was gone! Now I need to find a vice and yours seems like a dandy!

 

[Big Barn]

Industrial Toys, not at the moment. I have a another fellow interested.

Google the specs if you have time. Reed 4CA Combination Vise. 155 pounds.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Would have been good to have when she has to administer an antibiotic pill to the five pound house cat Emmy Lou!

 

[aczlan]

I think you are quite optimistic in figuring 40cents/lb for the material required to make the table and also the finished weight is going to be quite bit less than the raw material required.

You say the CNC PC will auto layout the pieces... but you are also figuring on gathering drops to make this part. How are you going to lay out the drops??? :confused3: One hour labor... I don't think so for a one off assembly.

What they would do, is when they are laying out their other jobs, they would add in the parts to make the tables on the otherwise empty spaces. That way the drop pieces are smaller and they don't need to pick up pieces and cut them again.

Aaron Z

 

[dragoneggs]

What they would do, is when they are laying out their other jobs, they would add in the parts to make the tables on the otherwise empty spaces. That way the drop pieces are smaller and they don't need to pick up pieces and cut them again.

Aaron Z

Agreed... but as a Joe Blow walking into a CNC PC shop, don't expect them to design your table, piece it in their other jobs and charge an hour labor and 40cents/per lb! They would be crazy to do it for something close to the what the OP is looking at.

 

[aczlan]

Agreed... but as a Joe Blow walking into a CNC PC shop, don't expect them to design your table, piece it in their other jobs and charge an hour labor and 40cents/per lb! They would be crazy to do it for something close to the what the OP is looking at.

Exactly. I was thinking more along the lines of a shop using that to design a use for what would otherwise be scraps and selling them.

Aaron Z

 

[Lelandwelds]

What they would do, is when they are laying out their other jobs, they would add in the parts to make the tables on the otherwise empty spaces. That way the drop pieces are smaller and they don't need to pick up pieces and cut them again.

Aaron Z

My former employers laser had a reduced power setting that would engrave a job or part name to help keep different jobs separate. The software would rotate and juggle and suggest parts from other jobs that could utilize the drops. The operator just needed to click "ok" when the option was available. I know of steel suppliers that offer custom cutting for a nominal price with no drops for medium sized fab shops. They reduce waste drastically for a bump in profit.

Those are pretty tables. I bet if it was waxed and never used, it would be worth the money as a prop for web posts. Personally, I usually find what I need at my local scrap yard and pay them twice the scrap rate. That is a really pretty table. I bought unnecessary but shiny parts for my favorite vehicle and some tools that I really didnt need. Who is to judge? It is pretty spiffy. Be sure and get their weld up square and some clamps and stuff.

I hope you get a Rogue Engineering tubing bender and bolt up some positioning jigs and weld up some plate and tube frames. I love reading web posts made with toys I want but dont own.

 

[WranglerX]

Exactly. I was thinking more along the lines of a shop using that to design a use for what would otherwise be scraps and selling them.

Aaron Z

But will shop see same dream as you see...

Dale

 

[WranglerX]

Agreed... but as a Joe Blow walking into a CNC PC shop, don't expect them to design your table, piece it in their other jobs and charge an hour labor and 40cents/per lb! They would be crazy to do it for something close to the what the OP is looking at.

Exactly...

Dale

 

[Sysop]

Lots of the shops here are so used to working on the same thing all the time, they welcome any sort of additional small jobs. Most are quite eager to help some local Joe Blow just so they can do something a little different.

Over the summer I stopped at one local shop that does large jobs for mining companies because I needed a special bushing made. The owner said "We typically don't do one-off stuff that small, but I never get to do any shop work anymore. I'll go out and turn that down when the guys go to lunch, stop back in a couple hours."

You never know what someone's answer will be unless you ask. Worst they can say is "no". Not sure about other folk, but my ego isn't so easily bruised that I'd avoid asking. Especially when there is a chance to save some money and build local relationships and contacts.

 

[dragoneggs]

You never know what someone's answer will be unless you ask. Worst they can say is "no". Not sure about other folk, but my ego isn't so easily bruised that I'd avoid asking. Especially when there is a chance to save some money and build local relationships and contacts.

No argument with that... I haven't been as fortunate trying to get a 'deal' at a couple of fab shops around me. It is either 'too small a job' or 'it's gonna cost you'.