Made this welding table from 2" plate

Just what I need for riveting firearms. The solid you can clamp down parts to rivet, the better the job.

Thought I'd stop by after a LONG absense

Welcome back, Karl.

Hul

Wow! My welding table is topped with a piece of 3/8" plate (4'x4') and I don't remember any time I wanted something thicker...

BobH

Hey! Long time no see!

I can make and sell you a welding table like this with about 1

It is not so big but great for riveting.

Neither do I, but I know that when it comes to welding tables, size and thickness matter.

Your table is probably small. That's why 3/8" plate is OK.

For a large table like 7x10, 3/8" plates would have hard times staying flat and straight, unless they had solid frames underneath.

I have two welding tables for small stuff. One is a Lyon workbench, and another is a cart with 3/8" top. Works fine for me. The big stuff, I weld on concrete floor. ;-)

I love this business, getting plates from one place, legs from another, doing some welding and making money. I am also thinking of making blacksmith tools. Something where $5 of labor can be parlayed into $30 of added value.

I have such a table in my blacksmith shop on a pallet:

"Ignoramus31816" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com...

Why is it that I need an hour of labor to make a $5 tool?

I spent several hours this week making spacers and washers.

Imagine if it had a cement table-top.

Many years ago a company where I worked made some 4 by 8 feet concrete table tops. We picked some smooth places on the concrete floor and put down Visqueen so the fresh concrete would not bond to the floor. Formed up the mold and put in rebar.

The tables worked well. No warping. Probably would not work well for a welding table.

Dan

FWIW, reinforced concrete (150 - 160 lb./cu. ft.) has almost the same density as aluminum (167 lb/cu. ft).

Plain concrete is only slightly less -- around 145 lb./cu. ft.

Steel is around 500 lb./cu. ft. So a reinforced concrete top the same weight at the steel one would be around 3 times as thick.

Cement can spall due to high heat and that is a hazard.

Portland cement that is. a.k.a. "normal cement".

Refractory Cement I used is a Non-water based cement. It starts with water and chemically reacts, gets hot and boils most off. It is a Hard and flame / furnace good to 3800 degrees F. I use a forced air (no fan) but Venturi torch with propane to drive the furnace. It is heavier than the water borne Portland mix.

Martin

One could always use a sheet of say 2" thick AR500. That weighs in somewhere close too 3+" of AR400 and so forth. Heavy atom metal. Not just Fe. AR Abrasion Resistance the number is the BHN number. But the cost is high. AR500 is registered and 'tracked'. Used on Mil Spec stuff.

When I was into heavy target making - I mean Heavy use and big gun or large gun close I'd use AR500F. I'm looking at 4 silhouettes now even though my company is closed. My range (I'm a Director) needs 4.

Martin

I sometimes weld on firebricks. They withstand the heat well enough but spatter sticks and removing it degrades the surface. They are fine for occasional hobby use and since I store them under the wood stove they don't take up valuable storage space.

-jsw

Those are a pink/tan foam based refractory. Wood stoves use them also. They make sacks of material using Alumina that hot temp Pottery places use and it will give you better service. Then there is my rock based process and there is another that is even higher temp.

I had some 'extra' mixed up and poured them into small tin foil (Al really) that the wife had - created 6x6" 2" high temp 'bricks with a wave bottom - holds work in the air on the ribs and the brick takes the heat and heats from underneath as well.

Martin

Now imagine SWMBO saying "Darling, wouldn't it be much nicer to have the table over there".

My "concrete explodes" lesson came 30-40 years ago, too. Sure glad I had a pair of goggles over my glasses when it spalled, or it could have bounced off my cheek into my glasses and back into my eyes.

- The list of Obama administration disappointments would take three rolls of toilet paper to record. --BMF

plate as good as new

I did not measure it. To my eye, it looked very flat as I looked across it.