the bench I have is 50mm box legs and side/end rails and the top is 3' x 6'. It has a thin sheet, probably 3mm welded across the top.
It had lots of separate plates of various sizes but all 5mm thick butted up to each other in two layers. The idea was that spatter stuck to these and could be cleaned off easier, or something (I bought this ready made from an old welder who was packing up).
So I removed all the loose plates, dropped the 6mm sheet on and trimmed it to size with the plasma cutter. To protect the top from spatter I have about a dozen sections of what look like side panels off washing machines or something similar. They're painted white and have 90 degree 'lips' about 1" wide around all four edges but I trimmed the edges off a couple of these and they're now on top of the workbench. I used a flap disc to take some of the paint off so I get an earth connection.
It's flat enough for me to work on. The only slight problem I have is that the painting/fabbing bench next to it is very slightly lower so long lengths will probably need chocking at the far end to ensure they're level.
Having said that, it'll depend what sort of joint I'm doing...if it's a 90 degree joint and I'm using the jig I made a couple of weeks back then it won't matter if one end drops slightly as the jig will hold the two pieces in the right plane.
"It's flat enough for me to work on. The only slight problem I have is that the painting/fabbing bench next to it is very slightly lower so long lengths will probably need chocking at the far end to ensure they're level."
Too bad your painting bench is right next to it otherwise you could fab a nice little thing out of an old tire rim to support your,hum,long lengths...
The base is made out of the rim, then 2 pieces of pipe 1 a bit smaller in diameter than the other, make sure you drill a hole in both of them so you can adjust the height of it later on, you weld a roller ontop of it(make sure it rolls properly) and voilà...but i'm sure i'm not telling you anything new...
oh well, just a thought...
Sparkey
it's not a bad arrangement really, gives a flat-ish surface about 13' long (4m). I was making market stalls for a while and the two benches together allowed me to lay out ten foot (3m) rails for welding.
I have the basics for a roller, made from a car wheel, but it doesn't have a roller on yet, just a 'Tee' piece. It's used to support the tail-end of metal in the band-saw so it's set up to a minimum height of around 2 foot (.6m) and a maximum of about 4 foot (1.2m).
went back to mate, and asked for a bigger sheet, i measured the windscreen area on a vauxhall nova as 110 inches, i assumed the tapemeasure was in inches. it seemed abit big at round 2.8 metres, he told me to double check so i did, ordered up a 3 by 1.5 metre 2mm sheet and then on speaking to mum tonight, the tape measure is in cm's not inches, so i only want 1.5 metres wide not 3!!!!!!!!