Stainless Table

[Gizmo.Y]

Hello Gents, just after some quick advice.

Took on a job of making a stainless steel dining table.

Ill cut to the chase. 120x60 304 2mm Stainless steel box section, Mitered 45 degrees on the short side.

I only have one chance at getting this table sorted as the material wasn't cheap. any tips regarding warpage and keeping all angles at 90 degrees?

 

[Brad93]

Hello Gents, just after some quick advice.

Took on a job of making a stainless steel dining table.

Ill cut to the chase. 120x60 304 2mm Stainless steel box section, Mitered 45 degrees on the short side.

I only have one chance at getting this table sorted as the material wasn't cheap. any tips regarding warpage and keeping all angles at 90 degrees?

Pray

 

[Richard.]

Easy stuff. Will be a walk in the park compared to your usual stuff of keeping exhaust sections true. Use plenty of clamps, sequence your welding and DONT weld it cold trying to achieve that rainbow effect. Just weld it normally and pick up the travel speed

 

[Gizmo.Y]

No need for Rainbows on this one Richard. Ive got to flatten and Mitre grain it.

These are the style legs im making. 120x60 box for the legs, 60x60 box for the horizontals to join both legs.

My only worry is making sure it has minimal warping.

I was thinking to tack the legs together before welding them up, hopefully prevent it warping.

 

[Richard.]

Get em stuffed in some good corner clamps. Tack em up.
Do the mitre butt joints first which will keep em square then out side and inside last. Just clamp them up where ever you can before welding and it will be fine. I have a pair of Home made corner clamps that give me access to 3 sides so I’m able to weld the inside and outside corners without unclamping it. A worthwhile thing to knock up if your doing mitres.

 

[Paul.]

As Richard says, just clamp em up and weld them, they will almost certainly pull in when you do the inside fillet but its a very simple structure and can be bullied back into shape very easily,


I've been making some frames today from 30 x 30 x 3 stainless box, I know they will pull its the nature of the material and the process, easily sorted with a jack.
You can see how far its pulled at the far end, and how much to push it back to get it straight again

This is afterwards, still the other end to do

 

[wookie]

When I used to do a lot of right angle joints in stainless I learnt how much it pulls and then set the joint out of square to begin with so the weld pulls it true, on a one off I'd either estimate based on experience and correct afterwards or if it was important I'd practice on a couple of bits of offcut first.

 

[Richard.]

When I used to do a lot of right angle joints in stainless I learnt how much it pulls and then set the joint out of square to begin with so the weld pulls it true, on a one off I'd either estimate based on experience and correct afterwards or if it was important I'd practice on a couple of bits of offcut first.

This is quite a skill and a very useful one to master. The problem is unless your doing them all the time keeping everything the same it probably wouldn’t work even after a few practice runs.
I’ve tried it with mixed success results. Slight variation in travel speed and its enough to either pull too far or not enough. I think looking at the simplicity of the job he’s looking to do id personally just try and keep everything fixed square and make any subtle corrections after.

 

[Gizmo.Y]

Well, one bench down...

Been a bit of a mare. Material took way longer to cut that originally thought. On top of that, the band saw used to cut it did not have a controlled down feed, instead using the weight of the head. Which as you can imagine caused the blade to wobble a touch (my new saw wasn't big enough) so fit up was not amazing. Material didnt help either, Folded and seam welded from flat sheet, this meant non of the surfaces where flat, they all have a slight bow to them.

But 1 bench down, 1 more of these and then the same again but thrice the size... Around 10 hours in this one bench. (Ignore all the grubby fingers marks all over)

 

[Richard.]

10 hours. Wow. Did you fold it

 

[Gizmo.Y]

 

[Brad93]

So you folded your rectangular hollow section?

Why not just buy the right size stainless box section?

 

[Gizmo.Y]

I did, i purchased 120x60 box.

 

[Kent]

Looks good. All I could add to suggestions given is
1. Spend a lot of time and care getting the cutting spot on square and without fit up gaps.
2. Clamp it flat as much as square
3.tack four corners

Ten hours sounds way too long if that doesn't include a perfect polish out and regaining.

Don't do stainless now as shop will contaminate and scratch it up, it's a lot better done in a different clean environment and tooling

 

[Gizmo.Y]

Not my usual kind of work. I mostly do vehicle modifications. Exhausts and the like.

But I've been toying with the furniture idea for a whilst. Im just not tooked up for it, basic tools such as Grinders, Flap wheels and Mini-DA Sanders. It took around 30-40 minutes per corner mitre to get a decent enough finish. i think if i was to do it again, i would have to seriously consider tooling up on the abrasives side.

But i might have struck a deal with another local Fabrication firm, they popped in whilst i was doing it and took a keen interest. They don't/ Can't TIG Stainless. So they suggested they cut and prep the material with my only involvement is to do the welding which im more than happy with.

 

[Gizmo.Y]

 

[Richard.]

You’ve done a good job of them. Obviously if it’s a viable business area for you you’ll have to pick up the speed somewhat as 10 hours for one seat by the time you’ve costed in materials and overheads you’ll be on less than a fiver an hour.
Edit don’t read this comment as a negative reflection on your job. There is no denying they look good giz and your mitres are finished up lovely.
I’m just saying from a making money POV you’ll need to invest in ways to speed it up a lot. 1 chair a day doesn’t pay the bills

 

[Gizmo.Y]

its all a learning curve.

Watching this video -

Makes it all seem like childs play.

All in all, there where 6 ends to make up from 120x60 and 6 cross sections from 60x60. Took approx an hour to weld up each end section and about 10 minutes per cross section.

just need to tool up for the job.

 

[Brad93]

its all a learning curve.

Watching this video -

Makes it all seem like childs play.

All in all, there where 6 ends to make up from 120x60 and 6 cross sections from 60x60. Took approx an hour to weld up each end section and about 10 minutes per cross section.

just need to tool up for the job.

I use metabo which is pretty much identical to flex and fein stuff.