I'd love to see your home welding tables for some inspiration

[SafetyThird]

From advice on here a decade ago I picked up a portamig 235 when we bought our little farm. It's been used when needed and I can just about knit metal with it I planned to get better and do projects and become more competent but I always end up just fixing something when needed and moving on to the next thing. Along the way I picked up a 2mx1m sheet of 10mm steel to make a welding table along with some box section for the frame. As so often happens, life got in the way and it's still sitting in the barn waiting for me to make it happen. In a year or two we'll be selling up and downsizing for our retirement and I'm pondering whether to just build the table and hope it'll fit wherever we end up ( damned sure I won't have a barn ) or just make something smaller.

I was wondering what sort of home setups folks on here have and would love to see what everyone gets by with at home instead of at work to get a bit of inspiration to get my **** in gear and start building.

Pic of the steel

 

[fizzy]

Do NOT just weld the plate to the legs. I have a table with a top literally 30mm thick. I can it my ton table. Bought it cheap online. The legs are RSJs. They managed to warp the top slightly where the legs are welded on

 

[RobCox]

My welding bench/junk storage (99% of the time) consists of wooden legs, shelves and drawers which used to have a 25mm thick pine worktop, a bench I made 30? years ago to mount firstly a woodturning lathe, then a minilathe. When I got a TIG welder a couple of years ago I replaced the wood with some 10mm thick plates that I welded together (it's more conductive than the wood). The top just rests on the base. I obtained some 20mm angle to make some brackets to bolt it on, just never got round to it.

 

[BrokenBiker]

mine is just some 50x25 box welded together for the frame/legs and some 10mm plate welded on top

 

[Mark 2]

Really depends on what you envisage doing. Solid top is not so great if you need to clamp things flat.

 

[E T]

Mine is 1mx2m made of 120mm C-channel on 4 pipestands for legs. Half of it is a plasma table.
1mx1m tray from 2mm sheet on castors under it to catch chipped of slag(most my welding is stick) and the dross from plasma cutting.
If need be I can dismantle it fairly quickly.

 

[addjunkie]

Frame is 40x40 x5 box top of frame is 50x50 angle. Top is just stitch welded on. Feet are adjustable for level

 

[SafetyThird]

some interesting options, really fun to see what people come up with at home.

I wasn't planning to weld the top to the frame, I'd read about that being prone to warping the top. Plan was to build a frame from the box section and just tack the top at a few points along the rails, shouldn't cause much, if any, warping and be easy to remove the tacks with a grinder if I needed to change it around.

I'd thought about the clamping issue and, if I was looking for a top nowadays, I'd pick up a smaller one pre-cut with slots for clamping, like the one addjunkie has on his table above, didn't even know that was a thing when I picked this top up from a local supplier. I could always rent a mag drill and put some holes in it at some point.

 

[Laurie Tedcastle]

View attachment 528252
Frame is 40x40 x5 box top of frame is 50x50 angle. Top is just stitch welded on. Feet are adjustable for level

Mine as originally built

Laurie

 

[sako243]

Unloading mine after fetching from @MattH

 

[Laurie Tedcastle]

Unloading mine after fetching from @MattH
View attachment 528268

Welding/fabrication tables can be heavy! There are a few examples, on the forum, of raise/lower castor systems for
moving heavy tables.

In post #9 the table top is 940mmx450mmx25mm (over 100Kg) because that was the size of material I had available. I need to move it around. The following photo shows the castor arrangement and it works very well for my purposes.

A single bolt, at each end, is used for the raising lowering. Normally I use
a cordless drill, but have since added windlass type handles to the bolts so
it can also be done manually (without a spanner).

Photo showing bolt screwed right in and table raised off it's feet. For my purposes a 1/2in
lift is sufficient.

Laurie

 

[sako243]

JCB works fine for moving it about

 

[Laurie Tedcastle]

JCB works fine for moving it about

I think most on here are envious of your facilities!
Laurie

 

[addjunkie]

JCB works fine for moving it about

Not if the door is too low to get the cab under it! My shed gutters have tractor roll bars indentations….whoops put the roll bar down you idiot!

 

[Nick DV]

JCB works fine for moving it about

Alternatively ..........

 

[henry Kadzielski]

My two cents worth. I built mine in December 2017 as needed to build stuff on. Was originally 1200 by 2400mm.

Top is 16mm plate, frame is 75shs by 6mm. Holes in the plate are 16mm to suite the clamps. The side that you can't see (long side) has a vertical plate to which I can and have added an extension. The extension is 600mm wide and 2400mm long and bolted so that all the top section is perfectly flat. This gives me an area of 2400mm by 1800mm. The wheels that you can see had to be changed as thy are urethane rubber and due to the weight was almost impossible to move. This thing weighs almost 900kg . Did I plan it that weight, NO, it just happened. Does it work, YES. Was it much work, YES. Was it worth it, YES, every bit. Could I have improved on it, Yes also. I could have got the cnc plasma to mark out the hole pattern instead of doing it by hand, but we live and learn. I have had some big things on it and it doesn't look that it has bowed any, so it is good

 

[sako243]

Not if the door is too low to get the cab under it! My shed gutters have tractor roll bars indentations….whoops put the roll bar down you idiot!

Door archway was very specifically sized so it could get in . It's tight but it fits.

 

[8ob]

Over the years I have collected a few of these slotted benches for less than scrap money, always handy being able to clamp down fab work.

Bob

 

[SafetyThird]

My two cents worth. I built mine in December 2017 as needed to build stuff on. Was originally 1200 by 2400mm.View attachment 528299
Top is 16mm plate, frame is 75shs by 6mm. Holes in the plate are 16mm to suite the clamps. The side that you can't see (long side) has a vertical plate to which I can and have added an extension. The extension is 600mm wide and 2400mm long and bolted so that all the top section is perfectly flat. This gives me an area of 2400mm by 1800mm. The wheels that you can see had to be changed as thy are urethane rubber and due to the weight was almost impossible to move. This thing weighs almost 900kg . Did I plan it that weight, NO, it just happened. Does it work, YES. Was it much work, YES. Was it worth it, YES, every bit. Could I have improved on it, Yes also. I could have got the cnc plasma to mark out the hole pattern instead of doing it by hand, but we live and learn. I have had some big things on it and it doesn't look that it has bowed any, so it is good

what did you use to do the holes? that must have taken a while