Welding Tips and Tricks

Greetings,

I am new to welding, having taken it up as a hobby. I am using a Lincoln Electric 125HD, Flux Core. I need a welding table. I ordered a Klutch from Northern Tool and as you can see in the photographs it left allot to be desired upon arrival. It arrived last week and going back tomorrow. The photograph shows but one of seven such marrings on this table.

Can someone recommend a decent welding table for relatively short money? I don't need on larger than, say, 48 L x 21 W x 36 H.

Until such time as I can get a welding table what can I weld on? Any advice greatly appreciated!

Many thanks!

- L

Welcome LG.

I guess the answer to your question depends on context and expectations; what you'll be welding and what you expect a table to deliver.

I started welding in earnest about a year ago. I found an old light duty bench frame on the side of the road and topped it with a slab of 3mm steel. It was meant to be temporary, but I'm still using it and have now built and repaired dozens of items on it, from motorcycle race stands to occasional tables.

That said, I don't strictly require lots of space, fixture points or certified flatness. When I come to really need a new table, I suspect I'll just make one.

What will you be welding? Can you 'make do' like I did in the meantime, or do you want your first table to be a lifetime table?


Kym

You can make a pretty basic table your self. Depending on how heavy you want to go. I would recommend for a light weight table you could make a square frame from 2in x 2in x 1/4 angle for a top.. Then just use 1/8 in sheet for the top. Use 1-1/2 in sch 40 pipe for the legs. That would be about as cheap as it gets. Plus it will give you some experience welding and fabricating.

MosquitoMoto wrote:Welcome LG.

I guess the answer to your question depends on context and expectations; what you'll be welding and what you expect a table to deliver.

I started welding in earnest about a year ago. I found an old light duty bench frame on the side of the road and topped it with a slab of 3mm steel. It was meant to be temporary, but I'm still using it and have now built and repaired dozens of items on it, from motorcycle race stands to occasional tables.

That said, I don't strictly require lots of space, fixture points or certified flatness. When I come to really need a new table, I suspect I'll just make one.

What will you be welding? Can you 'make do' like I did in the meantime, or do you want your first table to be a lifetime table?


Kym

Thanks Kym, much appreciated. I will be welding whatever steel I can get my hands on for now for practice purposes, short of galvanized which from what I understand can cause major issues with the ingestion of Zinc. As a friend of mine who has been welding for 40 years put it: "At 5:00 you'll feel sick. At 8:00 you'll feel like you're going to die. At 11:00 you'll wish you were dead. And coming morning all is normal again". So I'll be avoiding galvanized for now.

Ultimately the purpose will be to repair items that are in need of repair. Nothing heavy duty.

I do not need certified flatness. That answers a question I've had about why some tables are in the $4K price range I would assume. If I can locate as you did a sheet of 3mm steel I'll be happy as it will more than suffice for now. Just not sure where to acquire it. Even tables on, say, Craigslist, are very expensive.

I was livid when I saw the condition of that Klutch table. It would have been for the most part fine for now but apparently you get what you pay for :-/

Again, many thanks!

Best,

Lyman

Poland308 wrote:You can make a pretty basic table your self. Depending on how heavy you want to go. I would recommend for a light weight table you could make a square frame from 2in x 2in x 1/4 angle for a top.. Then just use 1/8 in sheet for the top. Use 1-1/2 in sch 40 pipe for the legs. That would be about as cheap as it gets. Plus it will give you some experience welding and fabricating.

Thanks Josh, that's an excellent idea. My sources though for steel are pretty much limited to Home Depot (not much) and Craigslist. But it would be an excellent start, that's for sure.

Thank you!

Lyman

Where are you located? Here is a good deal on Craigslist in Georgia.
http://valdosta.craigslist.org/for/5860524696.html

Have roughly 50$ in material in this build

http://forum.weldingtipsandtricks.com/v ... =9&t=10454

I'll add a quick extra thought.

If you make, or 'make do' with a table for now, using it it will help inform you of what you really need in your ideal second generation table.

For instance, my current temporary table has tall edges, is quite small and immobile. That makes working with bigger projects, particularly long tube, a pain.

When I build a table it will be bigger, have no edges sticking up to limit what I can place on the flat table, and I will build it on castors so that I can roll the table into the middle of the room if necessary should walls get in the way of what I'm working on.

At the end of the day I suspect everyone's ideal table is a little bit different.



Kym

MosquitoMoto wrote:I'll add a quick extra thought.

If you make, or 'make do' with a table for now, using it it will help inform you of what you really need in your ideal second generation table.

For instance, my current temporary table has tall edges, is quite small and immobile. That makes working with bigger projects, particularly long tube, a pain.

When I build a table it will be bigger, have no edges sticking up to limit what I can place on the flat table, and I will build it on castors so that I can roll the table into the middle of the room if necessary should walls get in the way of what I'm working on.

At the end of the day I suspect everyone's ideal table is a little bit different.



Kym

My welding table is a catch-all for everything that I am too lazy to put away when I'm done with it...then I complain I have no room...I am a pain in the ass to myself

Check with your local scrap metal yards they often do sales of new steel and good pices of stuff others threw away.

electrode wrote:Where are you located? Here is a good deal on Craigslist in Georgia.
http://valdosta.craigslist.org/for/5860524696.html

Thanks but I'm located in Massachusetts.

AndersK wrote:Have roughly 50$ in material in this build

http://forum.weldingtipsandtricks.com/v ... =9&t=10454

That's really nice, and you've only about $50 in it?

Thx
Well 50 was little low, rather 65 but thats about it.
Steel, alu tubes, pipe clamps and wheels accounted for.

AndersK wrote:Thx
Well 50 was little low, rather 65 but thats about it.
Steel, alu tubes, pipe clamps and wheels accounted for.

Building a table won't be hard, but that said would I be able to use 36 in. x 36 in. x 0.025 in. Diamond Tread Aluminum Sheet steel on top of plywood? Would grounding be an issue with the aluminum? HD has it online as their SKU number 1001206884

Thanks again!

I'm no expert, but given that your needs for now seem pretty modest (...don't require certified flat, using for general repairs, etc...) are scratches on the table that you got really a deal-breaker? I understand you would like something that you purchase new to arrive in pristine condition, but a welding table will take a certain amount of abuse by design. Maybe Northern will give you a partial refund or something if you ask.


My welding table is smaller and is made from a cast steel storm drain grate. Black iron pipe legs with casters on the bottom so I can roll it out into the driveway when I want to MIG or cut with a torch, etc.

Depending upon where in MA you are, there may be a Metal Supermarkets location near you(https://www.metalsupermarkets.com/bostonnorth/). They specialize in small cuts of anything you want. I buy an enormous amount of material from my location, even my recent welding table stock. They will even cut your material to length and size to save you the hassle.

As for using a thin piece of metal for the top, I'd encourage you to avoid that. The heat from what you weld will effect the top. If you want something to remain flat, square or true while you weld it, then you need a substantial surface to weld against. My latest table (first I built I used 3/8 aluminum plate) is now a 5/8 hot rolled steel plate (4'x6'). Weighs over 600lbs and sits atop 3x3x3/16 square tubing on leveling casters. It ran me about $500 and its a beast. But, it will last me a lifetime and then some and I have ample material and area to mag drill if for fixturing.

2x2x1/8 square tubing would be more than sufficient to support most table tops. At least grab a piece of 3/8" plate and weld the thing up yourself. Its a decent project to learn by, and you can make it in a few hours from start to finish.

i built a purpose built wood work bench with shelving for my welders and then put a folding hobart welding table on top of that.. worked out good for me, got my big Miller 2e stored under it.

cj737 wrote:Depending upon where in MA you are, there may be a Metal Supermarkets location near you(https://www.metalsupermarkets.com/bostonnorth/). They specialize in small cuts of anything you want. I buy an enormous amount of material from my location, even my recent welding table stock. They will even cut your material to length and size to save you the hassle.

As for using a thin piece of metal for the top, I'd encourage you to avoid that. The heat from what you weld will effect the top. If you want something to remain flat, square or true while you weld it, then you need a substantial surface to weld against. My latest table (first I built I used 3/8 aluminum plate) is now a 5/8 hot rolled steel plate (4'x6'). Weighs over 600lbs and sits atop 3x3x3/16 square tubing on leveling casters. It ran me about $500 and its a beast. But, it will last me a lifetime and then some and I have ample material and area to mag drill if for fixturing.

2x2x1/8 square tubing would be more than sufficient to support most table tops. At least grab a piece of 3/8" plate and weld the thing up yourself. Its a decent project to learn by, and you can make it in a few hours from start to finish.

Thanks CJ, excellent advice. I'd like to get the table from Tabs and Slots (http://www.weldtables.com) but again, I'm new at welding and really don't want to screw up (burn through, etc) an expensive table like that. In the meantime I'm going to buy a 1/4" plate of steel and take it from there. Thanks for the link, as it turns out they have a store about 30 minutes from me.

Again, thanks for the advice!

Lyman

My small "everyday" table is a piece of surplus AR plate. 1/2" thick and about 30x48 inches. I used some 3x4 inch box iron for legs and some steel casters I scrounged from somewhere. I also weld a piece of angle on all my tables so that the legs are dead flush with the top surface. That makes it great for welding and holding odd pieces, especially round stuff. My second table is an old forklift dock plate made from 3/4 diamond plate and about 5' square. I cut the ramp area off, flipped it to smooth side up and used scrounged 4x4 box iron for legs. This one is stationary, but also has a full width piece of 2" angle welded to it. It also has a 6" vise bolted to it. I also have a shelf underneath for drops. This one has had in excess of 2000 pounds on it. My big table is a simple sheet of 3/8 plate on a framework of 3" channel and 4" box iron legs. This one is on super heavy duty rubber wheeled casters and will roll at the slightest nudge. It has flip down brakes on all 4 wheels. I traded something sometime for this one. I've had it so long I don't remember. Having smooth top plate makes it great to work on most anything. I can weld a fixture to them and grind it off later. I also have a home made weld positioner that has 2 clamps that rotate 360* and also rotates on a plane as well as height adjustment. I welded that to a 6" sq plate and clamp it to a weld table as necessary. I have a total of zero cost out of my pocket. Several hours of welding time invested and years of scrounging. For what I weld and repair a 3/8 top is minimum. I can weld on it and grind it flat and never hurt the surface.

I would like to thank everyone for their excellent input, it is greatly appreciated.

For the time being I have bought small welding table from (I hate to say it) Harbor Freight. For now it serves my purposes and once I get a handle on welding I will order a large table. Before doing so I want to make sure I know what I am doing as I really don't want to burn through a new table.

Again, thanks!

Lyman

Nothing wrong starting cheap until you learn what you really need. I think that HF table is the same as sold here and not so bad at all. Plenty adjustment possible and about same thickness as the Nomad table.

My first table consisted of 6inch Chanel iron. That I cut and welded into approximately a 2ft square. It had 1-1/2inch pipe for legs. I made it flat and square. It was rough but I still use it today. Let's be honest it's a table you are going to weld stuff on it wont last forever and your going to abuse it.

Chanel Iron?

That's the really fancy stuff isn't it Josh? My wife has some of their fragrances...wasn't aware they'd moved on to Designer Metals.



Kym

Channel iron
I could of called it c channel. But made a unconscious decision to spell it rong. I do that from time to time.

Santa just brought me a Harbor Freight Welding Table. For my home shop use it will be just fine.

Jim