Mobile welding table

[Andy1969]

Just finished the mobile welding table I致e been planning on building for a while. Still have to drill and tap the top so I can easily mount and dismount my vise.

 

[HCJtractor]

Very nice. I wondered why you mounted the top rails (angle iron) “upside down” but it dawned on me that it was probably to facilitate using clamps. I always have trouble clamping on the edge. Good idea!

 

[Andy1969]

Yes primarily for clamping options around the perimeter. I left the top plate outboard of the top rail by an inch. That plus the open end of the channel gives me good real estate for clamps. Plus it gave me more surface for the welded joints at the channel leg interface. I’ll let you know how it works once I start my next project. It will be nice to finally have a decent work surface instead of cobbling everything up every time I build something.

 

[flyerdan]

Looks good, I would recommend that you weld the nuts to the bottom of the table so the vice can come off with a few blasts of an impact gun if the room is needed. Also, I'd weld in some studs so an angle iron fence could bolt up to one of the edges to clamp to and get square from, that could be dropped if overhang required it.

 

[Andy1969]

I’m going to drill and tap the top itself so no nuts are needed because I do want to be able to remove the vise when needed easily. As for squaring up things, I made the top absolutely square. So I use it for a guide in that regard I think. I may make removable guides that would be aligned with dowel pins so I could take them on and off without having to re-square. Will have to live with it for a while to see what else might be useful.

 

[davedj1]

Another suggestion is to drill some random holes and tap them in the center (ish) of the table, you never know when you will need to hold something down while working on it.

 

[Andy1969]

That’s a great idea. I’m borrowing a magnetic drill press this weekend to drill and tap the the mounting holes for the vise. While I’m at it I’ll lay out some more like you suggest and do those while I have use of it. Will certainly come in handy. Thanks for the idea!

 

[metalbender]

Nice solid table. When I built mine a few years ago I had the top laser cut and slots similar to the Miller portable table also laser cut. Top is 3/8 thick. Sure is nice to have a square top to clamp to.

 

[Andy1969]

Yeah I got a super deal on 1/2 diamond plate so that痴 what the top is made out of (flipped over with the diamond side down). I致e attached this photo of the underside showing the structure I built to make the top as stiff and flat as I could. I agree have a flat and square surface to use as a datum to build things on will make future projects much nicer.

 

[BukitCase]

Depending on whether the mag drill you borrow (may or may NOT already have a 3-jaw chuck option) and how MANY holes you want, there are annular tap drill sizes too - I have 2" depth cutters that're tap drills for 1/2-13, 5/8-11 and 3/4-10; there are also others for 1/2, 9/16, 5/8, 11/16 and up in both coarse AND fine thread.

Here's the 5/8-13 annular tap drill,
Evolution CC17/32L 17/32-Inch Diameter x 2-Inch Depth of Cut Cyclone High Speed Steel Annular Cutter - Hole Saw Arbors - Amazon.com
it's actually 17/32" - IMO, your tolerance for drudgery may dictate whether it's worth $30 in order for each hole to take you about 30 SECONDS to drill or not (vs. maybe 6-10 TIMES that) - personally, I'm gettin' too old to think drilling big holes in steel is fun unless it's FAST - YMMV

BTW, nice table - they sure beat layin' crap out on the FLOOR :thumbsup: ...Steve

 

[Andy1969]

Yes I’ve used those type of cutters at work before and they do speed things up a lot. Do the ones in your link fit a regular 3 jaw drill chuck? I think the loaner has a chuck with 5/8 capacity. And yes I’ve crawled around on the floor enough building stuff in the past. It will be nice to stand up for my next build :cool2:

 

[BukitCase]

"Do the ones in your link fit a regular 3 jaw drill chuck?"

Nope, sorry; those and the majority of annular cutters use the (for mag drills, anyway) "standard" Weldon chuck, 3/4" diameter with two flats/set screws - it's a more rigid mount, and deep annular cutters do NOT like side-loading - they tend to shatter with too much wobble. This
G&J Hall Tools 18Y17 Powerbor Weldon Chuck Adaptor, 1/2"-2 UN Thread Fitting, 3/4" Arbor, For All Electromagnetic Drilling Systems: Drill Press Accessories: Amazon.com: Home Improvement
is what the cutter shanks look like, the female of that is the norm for most mag drills.

Your loaner drill sounds like it has the (normally extra cost) 3-jaw chuck on it, might wanna ask if the Weldon mount is available for it if you're interested - maybe if the owner has that he'd be interested in gaining a cutter for the use of it. If there's TOO much "monkey-motion" involved tho, it might not be worth it to either of you

Sorry if I seem to be pushing spendy stuff, I just got hooked after trying too long to drill too big holes with hand drills - so far, my mag drill has its own "drilling station" I built, capable of drilling a 1-1/2" hole in a 2" square block of steel if I needed to. It'll also drill evenly spaced holes (has its own x-y table) over 12" distance per setup, drill exactly centered holes in square tube up to 3", and probably a dozen other things I've yet to dream up for it (including eventually building a line bore setup to re-bush parts of my backhoe) - at this time I've picked up cutters from 1/2" up to 1-1/2", including a few metrics; all in 2" depth of cut.



Did I mention I'm addicted??!? :laughing:...Steve

 

[chim]

Very nice! I fully understand how much of a difference it makes to have a good table to work on. Before building mine early this year I spent too may years crawling around on the driveway or using a piece of plywood on sawhorses.

 

[HCJtractor]

"Do the ones in your link fit a regular 3 jaw drill chuck?"

Nope, sorry; those and the majority of annular cutters use the (for mag drills, anyway) "standard" Weldon chuck, 3/4" diameter with two flats/set screws - it's a more rigid mount, and deep annular cutters do NOT like side-loading - they tend to shatter with too much wobble. This
G&J Hall Tools 18Y17 Powerbor Weldon Chuck Adaptor, 1/2"-2 UN Thread Fitting, 3/4" Arbor, For All Electromagnetic Drilling Systems: Drill Press Accessories: Amazon.com: Home Improvement
is what the cutter shanks look like, the female of that is the norm for most mag drills.

Your loaner drill sounds like it has the (normally extra cost) 3-jaw chuck on it, might wanna ask if the Weldon mount is available for it if you're interested - maybe if the owner has that he'd be interested in gaining a cutter for the use of it. If there's TOO much "monkey-motion" involved tho, it might not be worth it to either of you

Sorry if I seem to be pushing spendy stuff, I just got hooked after trying too long to drill too big holes with hand drills - so far, my mag drill has its own "drilling station" I built, capable of drilling a 1-1/2" hole in a 2" square block of steel if I needed to. It'll also drill evenly spaced holes (has its own x-y table) over 12" distance per setup, drill exactly centered holes in square tube up to 3", and probably a dozen other things I've yet to dream up for it (including eventually building a line bore setup to re-bush parts of my backhoe) - at this time I've picked up cutters from 1/2" up to 1-1/2", including a few metrics; all in 2" depth of cut.

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Did I mention I'm addicted??!? :laughing:...Steve

Very nice table! The next one I build will be patterned on yours. Not to change the subject, but your mag drill set up is sweet! Explain how you did that, as far as the vise and where did you get the movable XY carriage. I think that would be very useful.
I need to drill 50 holes in-line over an 84” long piece.

 

[Andy1969]

Got top drilled and tapped so I could mount my vise. And radiused the corners. Nice to have a home for my vintage Holland痴 vise. Plasma cutter fits on shelf well and I will add some hooks etc so I can hang grinders clamps etc.

 

[Big Barn]

Nice work. And pretty hard not to love that vise.

 

[Andy1969]

Thanks. Yes the vise was made in my home town. It’s unfortunate that no one really makes quality Stull like that anymore that will last several lifetimes. I was buying a jack from a friend who’s dad had passed away. I spotted the vise and asked what he was doing with that. He offered it to me for $10! Needless to say I couldn’t unbolt it from the bench it was mounted to fast enough. Should serve me for the rest of my life and then be in the auction when I die for someone else to use:laughing:

 

[yomax4]

That痴 a great idea. I知 borrowing a magnetic drill press this weekend to drill and tap the the mounting holes for the vise. While I知 at it I値l lay out some more like you suggest and do those while I have use of it. Will certainly come in handy. Thanks for the idea!

Nice Table. Very similar to mine. I used the smaller receiver hitch system for my vise (s). Pretty quick to change positions or like you stated. Remove completely. I have 10 locations.

 

[Big Barn]

I have a few vises receiver mounted also.





Most though are permanently bolted to a bench.

Don’t know what your Holland weighs but maybe it’s too heavy to receiver mount? That’s the case with my Reed. At 157 pounds I’m just too wimpy to be rasslin’ with it.

 

[Andy1969]

Nice setup. Not sure what the Holland weighs but I’d guess around 50 lbs. heavy enough that I plan to keep it right where it’s at unless I need the whole bench surface. I do like your pipe vise setup. I also have an old Holland pipe vise that I haven’t used in years. I’ll have to dig that out and come up with a way to mount that.