Welding Tables

[Joe from NY]

I just a borring person I guess my posts are lame and don't interest anyone. Oh well I won't start anymore threads.

My, my, the impetuousness of youth...


Sal, just throw up a post, and give it a couple of days at least. Sometimes its like trying to sell something on ebay, nobody bites right away. If you really want alot of quick replies Just put the word "Obama" in the title, and brothers will jump on it.

[Jake98]

More like poke it with a stick...

[charger891]

i had a big 2 post snap on hoist years ago! nothing feels better when you have a big diesel 1/2 ton and your working under the engine and somebody goes to the back and just slightly lifts up on it by hand, you just about crap in your undies!!

[Mike J]

I sometimes have people come over and borrow the lift - so we are under a car, I am working on something, and the guy is at the other end of the car just reefing on something repeatedly way harder than you would with several thousand pounds of steel over your head, and that setups up a harmonic where the car just starts rocking- holy crap! In you head, you know these lifts can take an amazing amount of stress, but in you heart you know you can die if something fails...

But I do love working on my car with the lift - best tool I have in the shop!

Cheers,

Mike

[Cippee]

The nice thing is I left to ends open and you can see in the one pic I use it for storing my tig rods. Also I use the ground clamp to hold the torch. I know I have to clean I'm a slob.

[Paul Moir]

Mine's just a cheap thin gauge tool cart that I got because I had to get welding. It has two really nice features for welding though: it's supported on a central pedestal and it's got a series of holes drilled along the edge of it's top. The central pedestal lets you spin the table & work around and you can get a clamp anywhere near an edge. The holes fit the torch's cup letting you set it down anywhere.

Tough it is not, and I suspect the paint fumes are going to end up killing me. Also the cross beam that goes to the pedestal is forever in the way of the foot pedal or the foot operating it.

Glad to see this topic getting some action. I didn't want to start with my lame excuse for a welding table...

I really like that rod storage. Need to do something like that.

[geezer]

Mine's just a cheap thin gauge tool cart that I got because I had to get welding. It has two really nice features for welding though: it's supported on a central pedestal and it's got a series of holes drilled along the edge of it's top. The central pedestal lets you spin the table & work around and you can get a clamp anywhere near an edge. The holes fit the torch's cup letting you set it down anywhere.

Tough it is not, and I suspect the paint fumes are going to end up killing me. Also the cross beam that goes to the pedestal is forever in the way of the foot pedal or the foot operating it.

Glad to see this topic getting some action. I didn't want to start with my lame excuse for a welding table...

I really like that rod storage. Need to do something like that.

I wouldn't call that LAME, I say that is practical and having wheels on it makes it better than most, looks good.

[Cippee]

Thanks. It just about 80 without to top. I stand in the middle and lift it when I have to move it. Since I got the parts from the scrap yard the pieces had little pieces welded on them. Instead of cutting them off I decided to just use it as they were since they were perfect 90 deg angles already. To cut the aluminum I used the diablo non-ferrous 12' blade on a sliding miter saw. It cut the 1/4" pieces like butter. You can see in the pic where I'm holding the piece what I nice polished cut it leaves. The only thing is the sawdust so to say is tiny sharp pieces of metal biting you all over. After the first cut I wore a face shield. Latter when I took of my jacket there was a piece of aluminum in it and cut my down my whole arm. I used the spool gun to weld the table together. I have to say I love using a spool gun. Once they are dialed in they are fun. I always set it on a piece of scrap of the same thickness as what I am going to weld because sometimes they can suck to set. I'm lucky the tips mine uses are notched so if the wire does burn back it doesn't scrap the tip.

[dyethor]

Yea I did notice how smooth and shiny that cut looked. Some how metal shavings like to work their way onto my socks and make their selfs known at in opportune times. Like either when I'm driving or carrying something heavy.
`I like using my spool gun, though it makes lots of gray white smoke, you can make nice looking beads. I use it on the big fuel tankers you see going down the road. I cant weld on the actual tank, but can on all the frames and support structures, and piping. I'm working on getting an "R" stamp so I can though.

[Cippee]

Thanks Gunner. A 1" 4 x 8 sheet would be one solid table. I got all my metal from the junk yard. I know the guy who owns it so he takes care of me. I told him I wanted a thick piece of alum. for the top. He told me to look around the side they have a piece. It was 1" thick about 3' x 5' of aluminum. I tried to move it and it was so heavy I said heck with it. At the time I was going for a light weight table. If I knew the table was going to be 80 lb I would have used that piece. After looking at the table posted with wheels on it I want to build one like that so I can move it around. As for the rod storage I didn't even realize or intend for that. One day I was going to close them off and realized the rods would fit in there.

[Ram48]

The table I made after looking at many versions on line has many of the features that have been mentioned here.
The slats are removable and can be adjusted to fit odd shape items you may need to weld. They also make it simple to clamp anywhere on the table.
The fourth picture is of an insert that I use for plasma cutting. I have since added a hopper underneath to catch the sparks and slag, both are easily removable.

[sportbike]

Wow Ram, that is a kickass setup.

I like the vise off to the side. Do you have other places around the shop that it can "plug" into? (looks like it is a 2" hitch receiver type mount)
Is the vise pretty rigid when mounted like that?

[Mike J]

That is nice work!

Do the slats slide back and forth on the table top? They look like 1/2" or thicker plate?

Cheers,

Mike

[Ram48]

That is nice work!

Do the slats slide back and forth on the table top? They look like 1/2" or thicker plate?

Cheers,

Mike

Mike
The slats are 1/2 inch x 6 and 1/2 x 8 inch hot rolled
They do slide to configure as needed and are easily removable.
here are a couple of pictures of the clamp system I devised. And the setup for the vice, I cut the base out to match the vice mount with my plasma cutter.

[Cippee]

It has never happened on my lift but when I was a mechanic I have seen people rock a car so hard it slips on the posts. They didn't make sure the car/truck was properly lifted and it slips off onto the body. I saw this kid bend the step side of this new truck it was terrible.

[Cippee]

I moved and the barn I have has got 15 foot ceilings. The first thing I did was put in a lift. I have a ford f-250 with a powerstroke diesel and the first time I lifted it I was waiting to get crushed. The list is rated for 9000lbs and the truck it only 6000 or so but still it's a heavy bitch. I worked on my back for so many years it's nice now not to have to.

[Joe from NY]

I have a ford f-250 with a powerstroke diesel and the first time I lifted it I was waiting to get crushed.

i remember that feeling. i put my truck up on the lift friday afternoon, and left it up there over the entire weekend. i only went under it monday. i figured anything would have settled by then.

[geezer]

Very nice setup, practical and versatile, I like the vise, have one of those myself, the dropin inserts is winner, good idea. I'm sure your build will inspire others to do something similar.

[Dne007]

Hi, I bought this lightweight welding table from Northern tools about a year ago. This table is great for my needs! This is my brother adding some things for me to weld up.. These cost about 80 bucks. Just wanted to share
; )
Dne'

[DaveO]

Hey, welcome back Dne! Haven't heard from you in a while. Did you get that panel into your truck, and did you use MIG or TIG?