Welding Tips and Tricks

Building my first plasma table. I cut a lot of aluminum sheets down to work on boats. I have been just putting sheets on saw horses and cutting them in the driveway but want to contain the mess and make setup easier. So I am gonna do a 5x3 frame. Slats level with the top so I can hang a full size sheet off the side to make longer cuts when needed, don’t have room for a bigger table. My first questions probably come up with others, is slat thickness of 1/16” thick? And straight across or bent? I see some bent at a hard 45, some straight, some slightly bowed and some in an S shape. Why? And what’s the advantage? Is it more support for straight cuts? Anyone have any pictures of how your slats are supported or held in? I have some ideas drawn down and in my head. Just unsure of what I might be missing.

Also what kind of spacing do you put on your slats? I was thinking 2”

I built 2 cutting tables. One is attached to my welding table and hinged to fold out of the way (also only 2 foot x 30 inches). The second is 3x4 and on its own frame of 2x2x18 tubing mounted to wheels so I can move around and place beside my fixed table. The slats are 2 x 1/8 flat stock placed at 2 inch centers..They mount to 1 1/2 square tube x 3/16 wall that is welded to main frame and allows the slats to be level with top of main frame. I cut the slots with metal saw laid on edge and cut with metal saw then dressed so the slats would sit flat on the bottom of the cut. The slats are just a touch out of square side to side and will stay in place with just a bit of tension from being straight across the frame.

This is what I did for a 4x4’ table. Slats are just bowed and dropped in. ~2.5” spacing.
The hardware cloth is on a frame that can be slid out if needed.
4” pot growing tray for water.
Still working on the CNC part.

This ones pretty cool, not the size you want to make but might be good for some ideas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlQzB6Dfvlw&t=7s