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New welding/fab table

jermfab

Cast Iron
Joined
Jul 25, 2013
Location
atlanta, ga
I’m sure it’s too light duty for some here and probably not accurate enough for others, but this is my newest fabrication table.
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48” x 96” x 3/4” top

All the tubing is 3/16” wall, except for the clamp rack round tubing. That’s some very light DOM I had about.

I made leveling feet from a couple of the slugs I got from the holes in the table:
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They’re 3” diameter, punched with a mag-drill and Milwaukee steel hawg carbide-tipped annular cutter on 16” centers.

The holes allow for a 4800# Bessey clamp to reach pretty much anywhere on the table to clamp a part:
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I believe the deep 2400# Besseys have about the same throat, so they will get the same clamp coverage in a lighter clamp.

My theory is that if you can easily employ a clamp there’s less time spent messing about with fixtures and welding/unwelding things to the table. Hopefully the surface will stay smoother and flatter a little longer that way. I’m also not limited to a proprietary clamp that doesn’t work anywhere else in the shop. If I need to I can always drill and tap a 1/2-13 hole and using toe-clamps, etc, if the need arises.

The spreaders on the long sides allow the table to be moved quickly and easily with a pallet-jack and the open ends on the short sides makes pushing a broom under the table easier.





Anyhow, I just wanted to share. I don’t claim the design is perfect and won’t meet everyone’s needs, every time. The design has proven versatile for my typical needs.




Be safe and stay healthy





Jeremy see
 
Thinking out loud how you could add a ground connection point, to make a quick & easy
place for the clamp.
On the table edge, seems to get knocked off easily.
 
The whole things a ground clamp. Looks like the round tubes are a good size for a clamp

I've tried that in the past, they kind of hang there, not tite, and slip around, and spark.

I'm wondering if some kind of simple burnout could be made, welded under the top
that the ground clamp will positively engage, and keep the cord angled inwards, to not be a trip hazard.
 
One of the places I worked cut out trenches in the floor and laid conduit with wire already inside, connected at the ends to a piece of copper about 1" diameter with a ½" or so threaded hole. Filled over with grout or cement afterward so only the copper end/holes were exposed. No tripping hazard and could easily be connected at the ends - one end to the welder and one end to a short ground strap connected to the welding table or even to a regular ground cable. They had these run to several different places in the shop so the welder only had to haul his stinger. They were blocked with a set screw to keep the holes clean when not in use.
 
Typically I try to ground through the work-piece where and when I’m able. I can generally get an open tube end or something of the like. In any case I assume things will get added as the table goes into use. Someplace to clamp a ground, or hold a MIG torch will probably find its way to the underside. For right now I like the clean look.




Be safe and stay healthy




Jeremy
 
One of the places I worked cut out trenches in the floor and laid conduit with wire already inside, connected at the ends to a piece of copper about 1" diameter with a ½" or so threaded hole. Filled over with grout or cement afterward so only the copper end/holes were exposed. No tripping hazard and could easily be connected at the ends - one end to the welder and one end to a short ground strap connected to the welding table or even to a regular ground cable. They had these run to several different places in the shop so the welder only had to haul his stinger. They were blocked with a set screw to keep the holes clean when not in use.

brilliant. even better than my work lead running under the flooring


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
fwiw: i use a piece of 1/2" x 2" SS (3 series) bar as a work lead attachment point, welded to my table base. up high and out of the way. SS so it doesn't add any undue resistance in over time due to corrosion.
probably overkill but it works for me.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
its too clean :D add a bar on the long side higher up for clamps, and hang em all.
that way your ends are still clean for sweeping and you have some more heft to the bench and a dual use of your table as a clamp rack too.

nice build

I would also add holes and thread them for some quick inserting of studs so you have some right angles and 45s... just butt the steel up against the studs and clamp... and weld... just another idea.
 
Anyhow, I just wanted to share. I don’t claim the design is perfect and won’t meet everyone’s needs, every time. The design has proven versatile for my typical needs.




Be safe and stay healthy





Jeremy see

Doesn't matter what anyone thinks really...if it suits your needs that's all that counts. Unless there was a safety issue, which I don't see any.
 
Very nice. I wonder why you didn't make a lower shelf. On my table, I used some expanded metal to allow dirt to pass through but it's strong enough to hold steel pieces.

Your answer might be "Because I knew if I made a shelf I would stack a bunch of junk on it and it would make the table less useful because I can't fit my legs or anything else under it." I'm guessing that.... because that's what happens with mine!
 
Yeah, that’s about my answer. A shelf makes it harder to sweep without moving the table and just gives another place for accumulation to start. I am thinking about some sort of tray on a pintle-hinge to put stuff like squares and tape measures, soapstone, etc on. to keep the table surface clean while you’re working on it.




Be safe and stay healthy




Jeremy
 
fwiw: i use a piece of 1/2" x 2" SS (3 series) bar as a work lead attachment point, welded to my table base. up high and out of the way. SS so it doesn't add any undue resistance in over time due to corrosion.
probably overkill but it works for me.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

not at my shop for a pic, but cleaned up and welded 2 big 3/4 inch bolts to the legg closest to my machines, one for the plasma cuter ( i hand a lot of stuff off the side) and on for my miller 252. works like a charm.
I'm more of a what do I have? kind of guy, rather than a what do i need?!

that's a cool idea with the holes, i used my mag drill and made me a row of around 8, 5/8 holes off to the side of my table for accouple of those fixture type clamps with the stud you jus stick in the hole, changed my freakin life i tell you! so much easier to cut stuff on with the plasma cutter, or any cuter, or grind for that matter! highly suggest, one day I may build me a poor mans fixture table, got a sheet of 1 inch just setting out in the back begging to be done something with!
 
Fasten a 1" by 1/2" strip of bright bar down the long side near the edge and another one on the short side butting up to the long strip at exactly 90 degrees. Use cap head screws, bar laid down flat. Makes setting up frames etc at 90 a lot easier.

Of course all the real welders I know would just tack the flat bars down on the outside edge !

Regards Tyrone.
 
Years back I worked in a big architectural metal fabrication shop. Forming, machining and welding all under one roof. 1/16” was the generally accepted tolerance, looks good, is good, visual work. Talented guys, but nothing resembling JPL expertise.

The story was that in the business’s early days, a new hires first job was to build himself his own table, his bench. A piece of plate, 5/8” or 3/4” and tubing was made available.

By the time I got there the business was shrinking along with the Great Recession economy. No more money for a new hire to build his own bench, especially not with the pile of prior employees tables stacked in a corner.

Many of them excellently conceived, added to over time and incredibly effective... on their own.

None of them were the same height. None seemed to share a common fixturing solution. Some had lower shelves, or some sort of rack below the tabletop. I can’t remember exactly how it worked, but I remember a tractor seat on a swivel or a track on one table. The tops of some were so flat and straight they almost seemed Blanchard ground, others were scarred and pitted. Some tables had 5/8-11 holes on 6” centers, others 1/2-13 on 4” centers. Random holes, threaded and not. Permanent, welded fixtures that always seemed more in the way than not.

My biggest takeaway was the height thing. I like adjustable feet, even if they tend to catch a MIG whip or stick stinger. I really don’t care about level/plumb so much as I don’t want the table rocking. This table design was originally dictated by the height of my table saw, on its skid. It’s a comfortable work height and any table in the shop could be a table saw out-feed. Sometimes they get pushed together to make a bigger work surface... or a stage once.

I drilled and tapped holes: 1/2-13 on a 6” grid on my first steel table. I made fixtures for it and still have it. Thankfully it’s the right height, with adjustable feet. It’s strictly a Heli-Arc table now, as slag and bbs tend to gravitate to the threaded holes.

I left all my wood tables behind when I left my last shop. I brought my three welding tables, two 48”x48”x3/4” and one 48”x80”x1”. The one in this thread makes four and it’s the third one with 3” holes on 16” centers. The 3” hole accepts a bigger Bessey clamp easily. It’s possible that changing the layout to 12” centers would add some versatility, but it also weakens the whole thing. The same clamps that drop through the holes work out in the field and in other shops just as effectively.

I was envious of the guys that preceded me at that architectural shop. I got stuck with their cast-offs and no matter how good or bad they were, they weren’t MINE. I’ve worked really hard to have my own tables. This is what I’ve come up with. I’m happy with them, as they sit, aesthetically, ergonomically and practically. That said, they’re designed and built to help me make other, far more interesting things than a work surface. And I will surely consider all of your suggestions in that regard. When the time comes that any of your suggestions helps me, I hope to revisit this post and give credit where it’s due! Until then:






Be safe and stay healthy






Jeremy
 








 
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