No Welding Table?.... Improvise.

[Danno1]

.


My "welding table" is a piece of I beam bolted to a log!


.

 

[jaxs]

My welding table is an old Craftsman table saw that went bad. I stripped the parts out and put it on casters. You work with what you have.

Great minds Kenny . So is mine,,,,,,and welder I mostly use is a Lincoln Pro-Mig 180,,,,,,,plus a blue can with an eagle on it is usually within easy reach.
I grabbed the table thinking it would work until I could do better but I;ve decided I can't do better. I move in and out of building alot depending on weather and follow shade of a tree during Tx summers that often reach triple didgits. It's easy to move,the top is aluminum so it doesn't rust and spatter doesn't stick. What bettter could a 1/2" thick steel top do for me?

 

[CalG]

I bought a motorcycle lift several years back. It's an ideal welding table.
It's hydraulic power lift is handy for getting things in the right attitude. The "gap" for the rear wheel drop out is very handy for getting at stuff. And being long and skinny, It lends it's self to most welding projects.

The one I have is pretty spendy bought new. I got it for a fair price.

Much like this,

KLS356355, MC625R Heavy Duty Air Lift, Red / Gray

hd.snapon.com

But mine has a hydraulic power pack to operate the lift cylinder.

 

[Sberry]

The motorcycle thing is a pretty good idea. I had a bud sold one wash and built out of heavy plate, should have got it as replacement to my old bench. Mine are not about the "quality", they were scrap when I moved in and got attachments as needed and worked well enough there was no real incentive to make it better. There are 2, one with vise and one plain top. The location is everything, super ergonomic and would only make slight changed to do it again starting with a bit nicer top.

 

[Sberry]

scrap tacked.

 

[TractorGuy]

Do you weld on that top? I have a 3x8 bench with a plywood top and was thinking of putting a piece of 3/16 plate on top. But, I'm wondering if it would be a fire hazard?

I haven't had these long. My first welding job was done in the vise I bolted to the corner. I figured the spatter scars would give it character. The black spots on the light colored wood bugs me. My old boxes had a dark wood top and the spots didn't show.

I've only welded on top of them once with the aluminum on top. As far as I can tell it will protect the wood surface fine.

It is way more comfortable to weld standing up instead of crouching on the floor.

 

[Sberry]

You dont always need a lot but the floor gets old fast. My neighbor gets by as a minimalist but he got benches for other work. My workbench is ,,,, the bench,,,, or my bench on occasion. We say, take it to the bench and we know what it is and its a bench for lots of stuff and I keep grease to a minimum but it foes all kinds of duty besides welding and got the vise on the corner of another one. I dont care if its not fancy but the layout is super. I have a 180 makes its home around the vise and end of the welding bench and can reach back for the bigger machines, the air fitting is unique and benches have gfci 120V for 4 1/2 grinder mostly and occasional little drill press.

 

[Sberry]

A full time fabber might use some advanced clamps but I like common multi purpose for this work. My world would stop without some 11R. Others are not as used to fire direction as I am but I keep picked up and isolated, contained to the point I can cut in the can, weld over it some or do in a fashion I dont need to fire wait every spark. Can run in, cut weld a gadget and leave without sweating fire safety.

 

[Sberry]

.


My "welding table" is a piece of I beam bolted to a log!


.Nothing wrong with that. A good share of the worlds welds are one simple piece to another and not all complex weldments,,,, very few of mine are and can make do. In a real busy fab shop there might be some benifit to custom table and specialized clamps but I really prefer simple and general with most common clamps and really dont need every variation they ever invented. As useful as all that is some scraps to be abel to jig up is a huge asset.

 

[Buggs67]

My last weld was the box blade so that wasn't going on a table. But before that I used an old steel table top on saw horses. When I get around to it I'll reinforce that table top, add legs and a vise. Bending over and crouching next to that box blade made my legs and back ache.

The sanding stand I made on the table was nice. Sitting comfortable. I used an old truck brake rotor as the base.