I've seen welding tables of several different kinds. Actually, I saw a professional shop that just had a 1/2" sheet of steel 6' x 10' laid across a couple of steel saw horses.
Well, some of us don't have fancy buildings with concrete floors and possibly an overhead crane or fork lift to move things around so we try to design something that will fit our "shade tree" situation.
I weld (well, practice) on pretty days, when it's not too windy, etc. in the back yard with a water hose close by. Yesterday I started to make that welding table I decided a month or two ago that I needed in order to clamp everything flat. I had some 2" angle iron that came from under a mobile home to hold the two "I beams" together. It was only 1/8" thick but figured it would do for what I wanted.
So, what did I want? I wanted something that *I* could move without a forklift, etc. but possibly with the help of another set of hands. I decided not to weld the top on - or the legs - this way I could disassemble it to move it around. Further more, I could tuck it away in a corner if need be. The plan was to use floor flanges to screw some 1
1/4" rigid conduits into for the legs. Thus, I'd have the flat plate for the top, the table frame, and the four legs. This way, I'd also have a small amount of adjustment on the legs for leveling purposes.Before I could make the frame I needed a flat surface to fit it to, so I managed to get the flat plate laid across an open, empty, 55 gal. barrel. Instantly, I figured I HAD a welding table. So simple! Yet, I already had the other plans in my mind so I wasn't about to settle for a plate over the top of a barrel. I got the frame made but have to wait till next Wednesday for four black iron floor flanges to come in to the local hardware store. When they get in all I have to do is weld them to the bottom side of the "table" and screw the legs in, flip it over and slide the "top" onto it. The "top" is so heavy I won't have to worry about it sliding off too easily and I'll still be able to spin it around
90 degrees if needed to clamp on the edge of it, should I not have enough deep throat "C" clamps to clamp across the 2" angle, top plate and the work.I purchased the "top" a couple months ago and it was larger than I remembered - about 48 3/8" long by about 27" wide and 7/16" thick. The
1/8" angle was not too impressive so after framing the outer edge (all edges down and to the inside) I grabbed a couple of bed rails (1 1/2" angle, also 1/8" thick) and put four cross pieces inside the 2" angle iron. The end supports were close enough to the end that the floor flanges could rest across three supports with the other two being fairly evenly spaced the rest of the length of the table.The only thing I had to buy were the four flanges and the plate for the top. The rest was "junk" I had laying around.
I'll let you know if it ever "crashes" -- and I'm able to tell about it. :-)