Welding Table

[vtcnc]

I've been dabbling in FCAW for a little over a year now and I purchased all of my tools and equipment at Harbor Freight. Their little Titanium 125 has been very easy to use and with my limited experience - appears to work quite well for my needs.

Well, all of this pent up confidence has me welding, welding, welding! My next big project will require LOTS of welding a tube frame and the welds need to be good - at least by my hobby standards. So, I figure I need to two things for my next big project to be successful: 1) Practice, Practice, Practice and 2) a decent welding table to work from.

I purchased the Harbor Freight folding welding table and while it is OK for small stuff that doesn't have to be EXACTLY square - the table just isn't flat. It's also low, I would like a surface that is a little higher up so standing and welding isn't so much work on my lower back.

Anyway, here is the mockup in Fusion 360:



It stands about 40" high. The top is about 40" long, 28" deep and is 3/16" thick stainless. The legs are 2" x 2" x 3/16" wall steel tube. Overkill yes, but that feature is my practice for the bigger project coming in the next few weeks.

I purchased some 4" casters with 1/2-20 stems, 120lb. capacity each with locking casters and rubber wheels. OK, less talking - more photos!

Here is a video of the top being cut on the laser:

Total cut time was about 15 minutes. There was some slag on the back of the holes and edges that took me about 20 minutes to remove with the angle grinder. Normally, if this were not a one-off, the tech would fine tune the program to eliminate slag.s

Finished top:

weld tabletop.png

• vtcnc
• Feb 14, 2021
• welding fixture table

3/16" thick 304 stainless topper for welding table - 40" x 28"

Cutting up the tubes on my new "cold saw". Not a traditional cold saw. Evolution S389CPS. It's sort of a blend of cold saw and an abrasive cut-off saw. It runs slower at 1450rpm, uses a carbide 14" saw blade and uses the same abrasive saw cutting action. I can't get over how easy this thing is to use AND how accurate AND fast it is. I spent more time measuring and laying out the angles than I did cutting.

weld table cutting tubes.png

• vtcnc
• Feb 14, 2021
• evolution s380cps

First cuts with my Evolution S380CPS cold saw

More to come in the next day or two.

 

[Janderso]

Looking good.
Keeping the frame square and flat while welding is tricky.
I’d like to have or make those clamping frames like Fireball tool

 

[vtcnc]

Looking good.
Keeping the frame square and flat while welding is tricky.
I’d like to have or make those clamping frames like Fireball tool

I ordered the 8" Mega Al version. Should be here next week. I'll post pics of it in use.

 

[C-Bag]

I’ve made many a welding table and have never been able to get around the warping issue. Until I decided to repurpose some cast iron table saw wings I had from a CL table saw fail. It works so good and is so accurate I found another set for cheap on eBay. Spatter doesn’t stick to them, they are easy to clamp through and best of all, never warp. I don’t have the room to leave it set up so I use a HD folding music keyboard stand to hold the bolted wings and break the whole thing down when not needed.

 

[mickri]

That Titanium is a neat little welder. It wasn't available when I got my HF flux core welder so I converted mine from AC to DCEN. The type of wire you use makes a difference. I like Lincoln 211 the best. Using some Blue Demon now. Lots of splatter. Will go back to Lincoln when the Blue Demon is used up.

I made a welding table out of a folding table. The only place that I had warping was the support for the leg bracket. I got carried away and wasn't careful with the heat. My top is only 1/8" thick. I am sure that also contributed to the warping. Like C-Bag I have to be able to store my table when not in use.





So what's this next project that has a tube frame?????

 

[vtcnc]

That Titanium is a neat little welder. It wasn't available when I got my HF flux core welder so I converted mine from AC to DCEN. The type of wire you use makes a difference. I like Lincoln 211 the best. Using some Blue Demon now. Lots of splatter. Will go back to Lincoln when the Blue Demon is used up.

I made a welding table out of a folding table. The only place that I had warping was the support for the leg bracket. I got carried away and wasn't careful with the heat. My top is only 1/8" thick. I am sure that also contributed to the warping. Like C-Bag I have to be able to store my table when not in use.

View attachment 355491 View attachment 355492

View attachment 355493

So what's this next project that has a tube frame?????

I'm using the Lincoln 211-MP. I need to practice doing multiple passes and apparently that is the novice friendliest of flux core wires.

I won't be welding the top to the frame. I'm countersinking the top mounting holes to bolt directly to the 24" x 36" welded tube frame. If I experience bad warping during welding, I can opt out and replace the top if need be.

Folding vs. Stationary vs. Mobile - that is the one thing I appreciate about the HF table, it stows neatly out of the way. But then I have their small welding cart on wheels with the welder. Then a bag with a helmet and PPE, and then a cart starting to overflow with supplies. So, I'm opting for the mobile cart on wheels. I can eventually mount a vise to it if need be and have some other ideas to make the table multi-use. I am very short on space for my shop (16'x24') and need to be as judicious as possible.

Next project? I'm not quite ready to reveal yet but let's just say it throws me into the deep end of the machine building pool.

 

[mickri]

I have my welder mounted on a 3 drawer file cabinet that has wheels. Easy to move around. The top drawer holds the welding stuff. The middle drawer holds all of my soldering stuff. And the bottom drawer holds the helmet, gloves and welding jacket.

A vise would be handy to have on the table. I am concerned about the extra weight. Still trying to figure out to mount a vise that would be easy to remove.

 

[C-Bag]

I have my welder mounted on a 3 drawer file cabinet that has wheels. Easy to move around. The top drawer holds the welding stuff. The middle drawer holds all of my soldering stuff. And the bottom drawer holds the helmet, gloves and welding jacket.

A vise would be handy to have on the table. I am concerned about the extra weight. Still trying to figure out to mount a vise that would be easy to remove.

I love my similar setup. I have my plasma, mig and oxy/acetylene tanks, and all my welding stuff, and clamps all on that cart.

I’m curious what you guys use a vise on your welding cart for?

 

[mickri]

Not on the cart. On the table.

 

[C-Bag]

Aaa, ok. It’s funny that I don’t use regular vise for welding at all and very seldom use my bench mounted mechanic vise for anything anymore. The vise I use the most is a wood workers vise with UHMW in the jaws. Not for hot stuff of course, but holding stuff to work on it.