Show your Welding Table!

[California]

Following on from Lefty's thread where he decided to go ahead and buy a $20 welding table, let's see what others are using. There may be some inspirations here for new weldors just getting started.

I welded together four scrap mystery objects into a 1 x 4 ft welding table with an old tractor wheel for the base. To reduce fire hazard this is often taken outdoors so it has to be portable.





And just for fun to critique, here's the tractor wheel! I can't imagine what the prior owner did to cause this mess. Both front wheels looked like this - worse, with the welds all rusty and uneven - when I bought the tractor. I ran them without breaking anything for 15 years before finally replacing this one with an unblemished wheel. When I need to get a flat fixed I'll install my other replacement wheel. This tractor is semi-retired to backhoe use only, so the wheels don't see much stress now.




Comment - this software shows pictures strangely. Click a thumbnail to see it full size, then you need to click the box in lower right to see the wheel in the first photo. I tried uploading a smaller photo, same thing.

 

[A-one]

I'm cheating. My dad was in Northern Tool and caught it on sale for $60. I was just waiting to run across some 1/4" plate for a top. I guess he knows how much trouble it is to do everything on the ground.

https://m.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200712275_200712275

 

[Bearskinner]

Most of what I weld up is either on a trailer, or three point hitch, or is the trailer itself. I picked up one of the cheapie HF welding tables as they are small and can be moved out of the way. It’s good for small projects, but not large or heavy welds.

 

[A-one]

Every now and then I get something that I need to be as straight as possible and it doesn't fit on the table. Lookout floor

 

[California]

... I picked up one of the cheapie HF welding tables as they are small and can be moved out of the way. It’s good for small projects

When HF was promoting those tables, I was tempted. But I already had an impulse purchase that I hadn't found a use for, their grinder stand. I used it for a while as my portable sawhorse / welding table before I made the table in the first post above.

Here I'm straightening the trailer tongue from the little 4x4 HF trailer, that bent when I backed it uphill in the orchard, loaded to 2.5x rated capacity. I reinforced it with bedframe angle iron.

 

[Yomax4]

I also use a rolling table most of the time. Well when its above zero. For cutting and welding. A friend just picked up a large stainless steel gas grill for free. He did a few light mods and that is his roll out cutting / welding table. I imagine it would hold 75# or so and the stainless grates seem to work for him. Actually not a bad idea for a plasma cutting table. When it burns up throw it out and find another.

 

[bplayer405]

Versatility is a must. What I'm using is working pretty well for now. Small and easy to move around in my garage. Just a section of grating sitting on a frame with wheels. Fairly strong too.

 

[Gary Fowler]

My two welding tables. The top photo is the one my buddy found on the side of the road. It has 1/4" plate on top and 2x2 angle for legs. I added the shelves and the wheels came from Harbor Freight
The second photo is of the table I have used for 10 years. It is 2" thick particle board with Formica covering. A couple of years ago, my neighbor gave me a piece of 1/8" thick aluminum plate that I put on top of one end where my vise is located and where I do all my welding. I also installed a piece of 1/2" thick plywood over the Formica top to protect it. As you can see, I use my Titanium 125 on this table for my light duty welding. The large table in front of my shop is used with my plasma cutter, Miller stick machine and my OmniPro 220 for the heavier welding activities.

 

[California]

As you can see, I use my Titanium 125 on this table for my light duty welding.

What are you finding to be the practical limit to weld with that one? It looks easy to set up, an advantage over a larger welder.

My shop is an open barn stall - see my first photo above - so my welding gear is stored in locked cabinets. It would be trivial to pull that out and get started on something. I'm tempted!

 

[Gary Fowler]

I wouldn't try to weld more than 1/4" thick plate with it . So far I have only welded up test coupon that is 3/8" thick but just welding fillet welds I have never had the machine overheat with at least half an hour of constant welding. I dont think I would start a trailer manufacturing business with the Titanium 125 but I think it could do most any around the house repairs to equipment. I have repaired my brother in laws bush hog skid plates, welded up cracks in the frame and patched holes in the deck all none stop and it worked fine. The only draw back to it is the spool capacity (2#) so they dont last very long. BUT you get a fresh roll pretty often so that is a plus for the occasional user so the wire doesn't go bad. Nothing like have a $50 spool of wire go bad and have to discard it.

 

[California]

Gary you're leading me into temptation! That sounds like all pluses and nothing negative, for what I usually need the welder for.

 

[Gary Fowler]

It only runs FCAW but it runs it well. You have to step up the to Titanium 170 to get MIG/FCAW capability but then it is about $500

 

[California]

[Titanium 125] only runs FCAW but it runs it well. You have to step up the to Titanium 170 to get MIG/FCAW capability but then it is about $500

I expect to stick with FCAW for its simplicity so that's not a limitation. I have HF's now-discontinued MIG-180, which was heavily upgraded by a prior owner then sold to me for near nothing. (photo in the first post, above). Its only deficiency from ideal for me is its heavy, transformer based. So this little Titanium 125 would be easier to carry from my locked storage, plug in anywhere, and get to work. It's a temptation, for its convenience.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I expect to stick with FCAW for its simplicity so that's not a limitation. I have HF's now-discontinued MIG-180, which was heavily upgraded by a prior owner then sold to me for near nothing. (photo in the first post, above). Its only deficiency from ideal for me is its heavy, transformer based. So this little Titanium 125 would be easier to carry from my locked storage, plug in anywhere, and get to work. It's a temptation, for its convenience.

It is convenient for sure. I used it to weld some bracing to my chain link fence corner post. In one instance I had to stretch out over 100 feet of cord to reach one corner and that little machine welded perfectly.. It does come with a shoulder strap to carry it but I removed it from mine since it was a nuisance when it is setting on a table.

 

[tommy49]

I got the table free off craigslist, Its from the 1920's, had it sandblasted, added the back shields & added a power outlet.

 

[Bearskinner]

Great table. I wish I had enough small projects to be able to sit in a comfortable chair and weld with good light on a table.
I’m usually cutting, grinding and welding on an implement or the under side of a trailer on cold ground.

 

[Lis2323]

This is the welding table I built when I was 15. (55 years ago)




It now sits outside the man door of my shop.

 

[sonny580]

cant get to mine to take a pic of it, but its a 30 x 48 sheet of 1/4" diamond plate stuff with triple wall pipe for legs. also bolted a big vise to one end of it and used it for many years. right now its in a moving trailer that didnt get moved yet!

 

[Lis2323]

Over two months of brainstorming and planning...

The awesome crew at Texas Metal Works helped me to create this custom welding fixture table incorporating many unique features.

 

[Gary Fowler]

That is very nice and VERY EXPENSIVE. If in the fabrication business full time, it is a justifiable expense. As for me, I couldnt justify the cost of all the clamps you have. Still, that is a very nice table that will be around long after you are gone. I would put that thing in my will and make sure the wife know the value so you doesnt sell it for $100 after you pass on.