Best material for a welding table?

Ive been thinking about welding up a welding table for myself. I dont have a lot of room in my garage. So I thought I would go with something that I can make unique to my situation. I am surprised to find some stainless cheaper than some regular steels? I was also thinking about if having a higher melting point would be a better material? Anybody have any suggestion on the best material to make it out of? I am talking the actual table itself. The part that will basicly act as the ground. I had thoughts about using aluminum to make it light and be able to move around. Then I thought about its low melting point. One of those projects I been keeping in the back of my head.

Aluminum is too soft in my opinion. Aluminum is a poor electrical conductor. If stainless is cheaper, then why not use it? Cast iron is probably the best material to use.

I would do stainless.

how thick would be too thick? Looking to rebuild mine that uses wire greating now.

Have you seen this thread, http://www.everlastgenerators.com/fo...ewreply&p=7818
Don't just think "metal" . I would draw the line at cardboard though!!

Tables that I have built over the years have always been steel. 1/4" thick top with tubular legs. Makes it real easy to get a nice ridged surface that you can weld jig elements to directly. When the job is done, grind off the tack welds and your ready to do it all over again. I saw Aluminum mentioned as being a poor conductor, not sure what they meant, it is a really good conductor. Perhaps too good for a welding table in the sense that if it where to contact the welded item near the HAZ all your heat is going into the table. Aluminum Oxide on the other hand is a poor electrical conductor (perhaps what he was getting at). Certain stainless steels are going to work harden over time and use and be a PITA down the road. I like being able to drill a hole on my table for a bit of fixture and weld it closed when I'm done, not impossible with other metals, just not as compatible.

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Originally Posted by dgarnier

how thick would be too thick? Looking to rebuild mine that uses wire greating now.

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Too thick is when you can't move it when you need to.

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Originally Posted by wruehl

... I saw Aluminum mentioned as being a poor conductor, not sure what they meant, it is a really good conductor. Perhaps too good for a welding table in the sense that if it where to contact the welded item near the HAZ all your heat is going into the table. ...

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I was referring to the electrical conductivity, not the heat transfer. Having the ground clamp on the table and the work piece sitting on top, I was thinking that the aluminum would not be a good choice for the electrical path.

Hello,

Thanks all for the great advice on this. I never really thought about the hardness or welding jigs to it. This is exactly why I asked it. Glad to get some good advice on this. As far as aluminum is concerned, Not to be a SA, but aluminum is a great conductor. Of both heat and eletricity. They use aluminum in most high wire power transmission. Thought not nearly as good as copper, its strength to weight make it ideal. I would say this though. I am talking about 100% pure aluminum as electrical grade. The various grades of aluminum may not be good conductors. I know 6061, 6063 and 2021 all have silicone in them. Silicone is such a bad conductor its a insultator. Thats both my industrial electrician and my aerospace electronics specialist speaking. Again, thanks for all the help everybody.

Nikola

I had to go with a different approach than others. My shop is so full that I do not have the luxury of a large welding table. (wish I did!) My solution was a 10 foot metal bench along one wall that I got at an auction. OK for small projects and I do mean small. For larger projects I welded up two metal saw horses using heavy wall 4" channel steel. Not angled like a wood saw horse. Simple 90 degree joints, very stable. All at the same height as my other tools and benches. They are heavy enough to tag weld or clamp to. But are still portable enough to move about the shop. Or place out of the way when not needed.

get some 1/2 inch to 1 1/4 inch thick steel plate depending on how heavy of stuff you are going to make anything smaller then a 1/2 tends to turn into a bowl after some use and is no longer flat for me a flat surface is important

Use stainless if you've got it, at least for the top. It's easy to clean, durable to most abuse. You can use steel for the legs and any supports.

I would NOT use stainless.
It has a problem with attracting BB's and warping with only a little heat pressure. Sure it may look cool, but is absolutely not practical at all, unless you can get it in a thick plate, which you won't be able to find easily, and is very expensive.
I'm going to have to post s picture one of my tables. I used 3/8" plate. Plate metal is the only thing I would use, because heat will draw and warp metal. The only other way I would make one is to make one like I saw out of 1" by 4" flat bar placed side by side with a 3/4 in or so gap between the bars. One of the finest tables I have ever seen because not only did it have leveling legs for making the surface true, it was great for fixing any number of jigs between the bars and bolting them down so no welding was necessary.

I did have a round table built out of a feller buncher blade. IF I could have afforded to have the blade turned flat in a lathe, at a cost of several hundred dollars, I am sure it would have been the best table a person could have because it was about 2.5" thick. I had to cut the teeth off, and it had a raised hub in the center, but it could take pounding over and over. If you find one, it will be worth the money to buy one if you have a machine shop that could handle truing it up.

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Originally Posted by performance

It has a problem with attracting BB's

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what are BB's?

BB's: Slang term used in the industry for molten spatter that forms little balls and rolls across the surface until it welds itself to the metal then cools.

"Acorn" style tables are definitely the best for welding. They are made of gray cast iron, and are very thick and heavy, so there is no issue with heat, warping, and all of that. They have square holes cast in them every few inches which makes them very adaptable to jigs, clamps, and bench dogs. Warning: They are very heavy! They were originally used in the ship building industry and can be rather hard to find today. Although there is a source for an adaptation of this concept at Acorn Iron and Supply Company in Philadelphia, PA http://www.acorniron.com/index.html.

Several companies make them still. I think Strong Hand has one now that may be reasonable.
The key is that they have a milled finish that makes them excellent for layout and design.

Those Acorn tables are gorgeous! Like a Unisaw something to pass down through the generations. I assume the price to purchase and the shipping costs are the same. Two reasons why I will probably build when I replace my shop and get dedicated working table. My current plan is 1/2 solid surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch plate with some cross bracing underneath. I agree that a flat true surface is paramount. I have my two steel saw horses and an anvil for pounding. The other half would be large open steel squares for clamping and cutting. Depending on the span, but probably 2.5 inch bar stock welded into to six inch squares. its a lot of welds but you only have to do it ounce.

I look at a welding table like tools. Always buy(build) quality and you will never be disappointed.

You can also find Acorn tables on eBay. The "standard" seems to be 5 foot square. They weigh in the neighborhood of 2500 pounds. Most seem to be selling for around $2000-3000. Many years ago when I was living in San Pedro, CA I witnessed the dismantling of the old Todd Pacific shipyard as it was readied for sale to the Chinese for a shipping terminal. I saw hundreds of these Acorn tables in piles being auctioned for scrap iron. Now there was a crime!


These tables (platens) are originally machined to within "0.005 tolerance. So they start out flat enough for the most anal retentive fabricator. But their true beauty lies in their ability to absorb and disburse heat as it builds up during the welding process. That, and all of those holes that are so handy for jigging just about any imaginable form.

So, it sounds more like you're lookin for a table that is smaller. Me and Hooda's Grampa made this table many years ago from some kind of skid that a hydralic pump came on. It is 2 feet by a little over 3 feet by 34 inches tall. the vice has had a pipe put to the handle more than once. It's an old Columbian. The top is actually 2 pieces of what had to be 1/4" scrap welded together, cuz gramps wass a depression era kid so he would have NEVER used new stuff to make something like this. The second picture is below the tabletop where he made cubicals to store different sizes of rod. It's a sturdy little deal that any guy with 30 bucks worth of scrap and a welder could put together in an afternoon. Load it down with a couple hundred pounds of bits and pieces as pictured. and you got stability! It's been 10 years next month since we lost Gramps, and it's nice to have stuff like this around to remind us of him.