Please God help --- or maybe welder know what to do here?

[tom2207]

Oh come one , how much would it cost ?? It is not such a big sheet.
Ask for some quotations

price a decent table ,,, make sure your sitting down when you get the quotes ,,, steel has basically doubled in the last year , and try finding someone who will cut the parts for you ,,,
you may just take up woodwork instead.
surface tables have never looked so cheap.

 

[Justme]

Would filling the holes with braze work?

Less heat so should not warp & softer to re drill.

 

[Dutch Welder]

I would insert some grub screws in the baddest holes, with loctite.
Insert them flush and redrill one size larger.
Or indeed insert a second set of 16 or 28mm holes (most real tables use either 16mm or 28mm holes) between the existing hole pattern.
If the larger untapped holes are aligned square you can use pins in these holes for squareness and use sliding clamps in your existing threaded holes for clamping the materials.

You could make up a jig, that locates in the first 2 holes and mounts the magdrill.

I made one with some plate and some square tubing which i tack welded onto the plate the witdth of my magbase, but slightly oversized lengthwise the size of my magnet drill base, with 2 threaded holes to clamp the magdrill to the jig (so that if you turn off the drill magnet the jig did not shift.
I started drilling in the front left of my table top
I used the mill at my work to get a perfect 100mm spacing and a 28mm endmill to drill 2 holes into the jig plate

I then used 28mm shaft steel to make 2 pins.
Drill the first hole, and insert 1 28mm pin in the first hole of the jig.
That way the spacing is always 100mm, because the pin locates in the first hole.

Turn the magdrill around and mount it so that the 28mm drill goes through the second hole in the jig
Use a large square to square the jig/magdrill.
Use some regular F clamps to fasten the jig to the table and drill the second hole through the existing hole in the jig.
That way I ended up with 2 holes at 100m exactly and square against the table top.
I then turned the jig 90 degrees again using my large square, and clamp it again
That way you end up with 3 holes, the original one and one next to it and one above it

The jig fit perfectly in the 2 holes, I turned around the magdrill and checked that the magdrill center bit was at 100mm from the second hole.
My jig was of a minute amount so used some thin shim stock to get it to 100mm.
Thats why I made the width an exact fit but the length slightly adjustable with the 2 grub screws.

That way you drop in the jig in hole 1 and 2 and can drill number 3, then remove the jig from 1 and 2, put it into holes 2 and 3 annd drill hole nr 4 etcetera.

 

[Erie Fred]

Tapped holes aren't really for locating anyways.
Why not layout a new pattern interlaced with the tapped holes, having accurate smooth reamed dowel holes ?

 

[magnethead123]

Thanks for your excellent feedback, some seriously smart advise here I never would have come up with half those solutions, I'm a total DIY guy who doesn't get a heap of time to play with welding, This table was the start for a lot of potential projects, I just wanted it to be perfect for everything that was to come after.

I'm come back and let you know what the final decision is with this ...with some pictures...

The Zen 'It is what it is' ....actually really helped me stop doing backflips.

 

[Screwdriver]

It's still an excellent welding table! What you will discover when you start working with it is that you do not need to rely on the fixture holes for precision. There's a good chance that your workpiece/stock will not be precise to start off with and you will be using squares/321 blocks to set the join in place and using the bolt downs as god intended; just for bolting stuff down.

A jig table is an entirely other kettle of fish and they typically would not use threads but plain precision fit dowels which jam themselves into place etc.

Even still, you could make up or have made up, some off centre threaded or plain sleeves to fit over the hold down bolts. Off centre so that you can rotate them into perfect alignment. If you have one or two holes that are "way off" make up a dedicated sleeve for use in that exact position...