welding table top what thickness needed /

[RAYJAY]

hi all going to build my first welding bench have a heavy duty cabinet for the base as for the top what thickness do i need ?? want to do 1in to 2 in over hang for clamping, as for moving it wheels or i have a pallet jack / will post pictures of the cabinet as soon as possible



Jeff

 

[Scooby074]

Try for 1/2 minimum for the top.3/8 maybe. Thicker the better IMHO.

 

[Ed of all trades]

Worked in a stair shop welding stairs and rails, the welding tables were 4' x 16' and 1" thick. they were level and well braced. you could tack things to it or use it for an anvil, you could not hurt it. I want to one day have a nice welding table like that. 4' x 8' would prob. be a good size and 1" thick. I say this to say the bigger and the thicker and stronger the better.

 

[Sfrankland]

I built mine as heavy as I could. The legs are 3" x 3" with a 1/4" wall and the horizontal pieces are 1 1/2" x 3" with a 1/4" wall. The top was 1/2" thick but if I can find a heavier piece for the top plate some day I will upgrade. The table has been a great addition to the shop.

 

[600rider]

I work at General Electric in Erie and I bought a table from the scrap yard that is 3'x3'x1/2" top with 4"x1/4" wall round for the legs and it sure is a heavy table. I have a 4" vise and an arbor press mounted on it and it does the trick!!! I think 1/2" minimum for the top is a safe bet!

 

[sdkubota]

I have an 1/8" top and have not experienced any downside. I don't do any heavy hammering on it and the 1.5" square tubing frame keeps things nice and flat. Although it has wheels...it is heavy enough for me to move around.

 

[MIKE R]

Ares has a 3/8thick top.

 

[Attono]

I've done all kinds of welding on my table and the top is 1/4. It's a 3x3 table top with frame all around the underside made of 2" angle iron.

 

[RickB]

If you have a 32 ounce hammer, plan on a 1/2" or thicker table top.

 

[Gary Fowler]

3/8" would be minimum and would need some good stiffeners under it if you were to pound on it with a large hammer. The thicker the better but with steel pricing the way it is, it would be quite expensive to put a piece of 1" plate down. We (Brown & Root) used that many years ago for fabrication tables in our onsite pipe fab shop with 6" pipe for legs and 2x2 x3/8 angle bracing between the legs and 6"x6"x3/8" angle turned up in a V on each side to set the pipe in. With that thickness, you really didn't need anything to stiffen the top plate but we sometimes put the same 2x2 angle in a box frame on top. A big heavy 8" forged steel vise went on one end usually in the middle since we used the sides to hold the pipe. The vise was used to hold fittings to be cleaned up prepping for welding. 4feet x 8 feet was a standard size

 

[Zebrafive]

I was able to buy a scrap table with a heavy top, guessing at least 1" thick (too lazy to run to the shop to measure it ) maybe 3' x 6'
I put steel wheels on it and a "foot jack" to keep it from rolling.
You need more than 1-2 inch overhang.
With a thick top you can drill and tap holes or even just drill thru and use bolts and nuts to hold things if required.

 

[bikerdib]

I just finished making one for myself. I used what I had on hand. 2X2X3/16 angle frame around the top edge (turned so I have the 2" clamping space around the edge), legs of 2X2X1/8 inch and running gear of 3" steel wheels (two of those being swivel. The top is two pieces, three foot long by ten inch wide 1/2 inch plate run parallel with a 4 inch gap between for clamping space and that also gives me a gap to use a O/A torch. To help when doing something longer than will fit on the table I have two roller stands to support long items.

 

[stuckmotor]

I don't have a table. AlI can afford is a small frame, about 2'x5' and I don't want a vise or anything else attached to the top. Mounted objects tend to snag any big object I lay on there. On a huge table a vise might be fine.

 

[PILOON]

One fellow around here made his table top out of 4 x 4 angle stock with about a 2" gap between the parallel angles.
The ends were also from the same angle stock.
His intent was to be able to use clamps just about anywhere. Seems to work just fine.
The table in question was about 12 ft long by about 3 ft wide with 6 HD legs.
I might add that his work was largely stair cases, gates, signs and such as against smaller precision items.
But then I often noted that he'd tack weld his parts to the table rather than clamp and simply grind away the tacks prior to the next job.
He also had his welder permanently grounded to the table.

 

[bikerdib]

I have never liked grounding the table unless I was also going to tack weld the work piece to the table.

 

[troutsqueezer]

I've been using a 1/4" top, works fine but I don't pound heavily on it.

I don't ground the table either. Ground clamp always goes as close to the welding joint as possible, clamped to the workpiece itself.

 

[Renze]

Mine was an old glue press of which i cut off the upper structure. 3/8" of deck on 4" C channel frame is enough meat to forge on the edges.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

Last year I got really lucky and found a nice table on Craigs List only a few miles from here. It's about 4' x 5' with a half inch thick mild steel top supported by heavy wall steel tube for a frame. It rolls on 6" steel casters with locks on two of the wheels. There's even a shelf underneath that's almost as big as the table. Before that I had to make do with a 2' x 3' wooden shelf with a piece of 1/8" aluminum for a top. Not much good for pounding, couldn't tack anything to it, and I melted places on it a couple of times. Still, it was better than nothing. If cost was no object, I'd build one at least 4' x 8' on a heavy steel frame, caster mounted, with a stainless steel top at least 3/4" thick. But that's probably off in the next life...

 

[flusher]

I've been using a 1/4" top, works fine but I don't pound heavily on it.

I don't ground the table either. Ground clamp always goes as close to the welding joint as possible, clamped to the workpiece itself.

Same here. Don't see the need for 1/2" thick tops if you brace the 1/4" top properly.

 

[jenkinsph]

If you spend much time using tables you will find there isn't a perfect table for everything. I have used everything from a card table to super heavy 30' long tables with 2" plate tops. Usually I don't have what I need at the time but manage to get by with what I have. Right now my tables suck and I need to build a better one.