Home built shop table, anyone built one?

[quarterstang86]

I have atleast 40' of 2x2" .125 wall tubing that was given to me recently. I would like to build a small shop/work table for the house garage. The top will be no larger than 2' deep 4' long made out of .25 plate, something to affix my vise to, weld on, etc.. .

I'm hoping to have a small back plate that would protect the wall from welding splatter and also have a base 6" or so off the ground that would provide storage space under the bench.

Just looking for ideas, or tables that you have a built.

Right now I'm thinking I'll be into purchasing the .25 plate and some 2" angle iron.. .



your thoughts?

[Matt@RFR]

Put casters on it!!!! Even if you roll it around once a year, you'll be very glad you did. Your top alone will weigh 84 lbs, plus all the tubing, stuff you store under it, and a (hopefully) heavy vice.

If you want any kind of accuracy (flatness and squareness), you need to use cold rolled plate. Hot rolled is no where near flat. Cold rolled is about 2.6 times the price of hot rolled local to me though.

You can put some round bar around the outside to hang your clamps and misc stuff on, but don't put it all the way around. Maybe just two sides. It does get in the way sometimes. (picture)

I don't know if it's a possibility for you, but think about moving to another garage someday. Drill a big hole (or have your steel supply broach or burn one) right in the middle of the table, and then make a lifting device to attach a cherry picker to. (picture)

Make your vice easily removable. Either a square tube receiver, or a swing-away setup. You'll thank me later. (picture)

Some of this you might disregard...my welding table is almost 2000#.

[Matt@RFR]

Forgot a couple things.

Hint: Build it upside down then flip it over.

Drill and tap the table top and bolt it to the base via tabs. I wish I did that, because it's almost time to replace my top, and I'll have to cut the entire thing off.

[sanddan]

Not to steal this thread, but to Matt I have a question. I just built a 4' square table and used hot rolled plate:( The top is 1/2" thick with 3" sq. tubing welded on for legs. No structure underneath as I didn't want to hit my knees on stuff when sitting and welding. Do you have any suggestions on straightening out the top? During the build I welded a lifting eye bolt and plan on cutting that off and drilling a hole for same style lifting eye. No casters on mine as I want the table to not move around when working on it. I have a cherry picker so not a big deal to move it. The only thing I don't like is how far from flat the top is. The top is out a 1/4" in the center using a straight edge. Any ideas?
Dan

[Matt@RFR]

Dan, man it's tricky to do stuff like that. That's why I recommend cold rolled plate and bolting...which is what I'll do when I replace the top on mine (4' x 8'), which is out 5/32 max.

If the center is high, you could try putting a torch on the bottom, heating til barely red with a rose bud, and quenching with water. If you try it, sneek up on it!! Honestly though, I can only foresee creating more problems than what you started with.

Until I can afford to replace mine, what I did is take a laser level and map the entire surface. Marked strategic points with number stamps, and then if I need to do anything precisely flat, I shim to those numbers. Pain in the ass for sure, but it works.

[quarterstang86]

Forgot a couple things.

Hint: Build it upside down then flip it over.

Drill and tap the table top and bolt it to the base via tabs. I wish I did that, because it's almost time to replace my top, and I'll have to cut the entire thing off.

Interesting for sure, I appreciate your help.

When you say drill and tap the table top, meaning to maintain and perfectly smooth work surface the bottom of the surface (table) would be tapped and bolted from underneath via tabs?

Wouldn't I need to increase the thickness of the table top to atleast .5 or so to do that, I can't see .25 being tapped more than a coupe of threads.

my apologies for the confusion.

[Matt@RFR]

Let's say you tapped it 3/8-16. That means that you'll have 4 threads of engagement in a quarter inch. Multiply that by however many bolts you use, and it will be plenty. Even if you used the grade zero hardware store bolts, it'd take a couple thousand psi to shear EACH bolt. (don't feel like doing the math right now, but you get the point.)

It takes very very little to hold a heavy steel plate down on something in this application. And the only reason I suggest tapping is to eleviate anything sticking up beyond the surface of the table (bolt head or nut).

As I think more about this, you could also drill a 3/8" dia hole for 3/8" bolts, cut the heads off the bolts and plug weld them to the table (studs).

[myclone]

Good info guys and messing with cars for 20yrs I thought Id add a couple of things that may come in handy to the mix.

I have more than once chased small parts that rolled off the work bench or at times lost a small part or two when it rolled off while I wasnt looking. Im thinking a 1/4" piece of angle welded around the edge of the table so that it forms a lip would go a long way to keeping small parts from being lost. You could weld it just below the edge so that the verticle side of the angle would be below or even with the table top so it wouldnt interfere should you need to work on something that hung over the top of the table. Although I havent added this to my present bench I will on the next one especially when dealing with transmissions as there are a lot of springs and check balls that never seem to want to stay where I put them.

The other thing I would add is a ~1 1/2" hole in the table top for working on something that needs to lay flat but hase a shaft sticking out of the opposite end your working on. I drilled a 2" hole in my bench top just to fit the input drum/turbine shaft combo into when Im stacking clutches in the drum and Im sure there are other applications where it would come in handy and clamping the parts in a vise isnt an option.

HTH

[quarterstang86]

I like the idea of having a catch lip/tray for parts, I would think placement of it would be the main concern for me atleast. I don't want any heat aquired through welding anything to the surface to warp it. It must be perfectly flat. If any welding is done, I was thinking of tacking some .5 pads maybe 2x2 to the bottom of the .5 plate, after drilling them and plug welding some 3/8 bolts (minus the head) per Matts suggestion in them. This way I could always grind the spot welds off if I ever change the top in any way.

Thoughts? Maybe I'm thinking to much about this.. .

I suppose with something like that, it could just be stiched in a few places to prevent much heat from warping the surface...

[Matt@RFR]

No, you're not thinking about it too much.

The only reservation I would have with the gutter is, in my shop, it would fill up with metal shavings/dust in no time flat, and I would definetely get tired of shop vac'ing it out.

[Piet]

I would box one end of the gutter... and have it tilt slightly (so liquid could run off). I would use a putty knife to clean the gutter (like a mini shovel) into a garbage can at the end.

My 2 cents (Now 1.75 American!)

[scottyz]

WHen I worked on transmissions. The table had a slight tilt from front to rear with adjustable feet to level it. It too had gutters at the rear of the bench that both flowed into a centre oil tank with a little faucet(????) Turn the knob and empty the tank. It was super durable and great to work with. I would have 3 trans apart on that bench at once.

[JohnUlaszek]

I just put together a 2'x3'x5/8" table with 3x3" .120 square tube legs.
My plate was hot rolled, and developed a .020 dip in the middle after I welded it up, it was pretty dissapointing after going through the trouble of buying $300 worth of steel to build the damn thing. If I had to do it over again I would have bolted it on.

[David Pozzi]

Here is a very simple small welding table I made, I left any leg braces out for (my) leg clearance, skip welded the top to the frame, left a good amount of overhang or lip to the table to allow easy c clamp placement.

The table size was dictated by the piece of steel I came up with but it's around 24" square and a nice size for small projects.

I made it tall so I can sit on a stool and be comfortable while welding on general projects up to the height of an oil pan, etc.

I put two casters on the far end, two non swivel wheels on the near end, the wheels are hard rubber not steel. The table can be rolled around but stays in place when hacksawing or banging around due to the two non swivel casters. Casters with locks on them would have been a great upgrade, I may add them someday.

[sanddan]

I especially like the pile of tools on your table. LOL I am glad that I am not the only one who does that.
Dan

[David Pozzi]

Yeah, any level surface get's a pile of stuff. I find the newest stuff is on top of my parts washer lid, because it's usually the only clean spot when I walk in with another arm load!

[Jim Nilsen]

I did a cabinet job with my brother for the head of a large steel company and asked him, What I had to do to get good quality flat steel that wouldn't warp easily ?

He told me that he has a 2000hp diesel that will flatten up to 1/2" steel . He said it is called Mechanically Relieved Steel normally identified by the letters MRS .

I asked him how much more it should cost me ? he said that his company charges a penny a pound for the service !!

When I asked , why don't you sell all of the steel that way ? He said that MRS is .005 thinner than spec because it smashes it and realigns the molecular structure of the steel and some people can't use it for the intended purposes they have so there is both and you just have to know what it is you are asking for to get what you want.

So the next time you want some good flat steel and thichness isn't of the greatest concern you can now know what to ask for .

It really makes a big difference in working with the steel since it's new original shape ( memory )is flat and not that of the coil it was shaped from at the mill.

I recommend 3/8 to as thick as you can afford or find for free to make a top out of. Mass is the only thing able to withstand the abuse if you clamp to it or mount a vise on it.

I have the same stack of tools on my bench most of the time too! It's there to protect the bench from others using it , isn't it?

You will never regret building your own bench and wonder why you didn't do it sooner.

If anyone wants to find a cheap heavy duty workbench that is already built. Try looking around for vibrating bowl platforms. They are usually heavy steel because it has to be able to absorb the vibration so it doesn't want to walk away from where it is mounted. I have seen many that were as stout as a professional welding table and sometimes surfaced on a grinder so it is perfectly flat.

Goodluck, Jim Nilsen

[quarterstang86]

This thread keeps getting better.... ...

Anyone have a good source for durable casters in differen't sizes? After I create this brute, I figure the table will only be as good as the casters it's being pounded against.

Has anyone else milled the ends for complete straightness or is that overkill? I don't see me cutting the .25 2x2 with a hacksaw, much less a sawsall. If I take the ends to my local "machine guy" I might as well have the ends checked for straightness before I start to assemble this thing right?

Side note: After the pieces are cut, should I taper the ends that are welded to each other for the framework or just butt weld them?

Suddenly I'm feeling like I'm not making sense.

[astroracer]

For casters look to Harbor Freight or Northern Tool Supply.

Milling the ends of tubing that is going to be welded to a table is overkill. The welding will warp it anyway. When I built my chassis jig tables last spring I used my 50 dollar HF cutoff saw to cut all of the tubing and it worked perfectly. I squared everything up and then tack welded all of the joints in two or three spots on the corners. After doing this I verified everything was still square and then finish welded the tables by skipping around and never welding for too long in any one spot.
Here is a pic of one with the adjustable "H" beams in place.

I put on (4) 4" swivel casters I got at a swap meet for 20 bucks and, when they are locked, the tables don't move unless I really bang into them. When I am using them as chassis jigs I have lugs welded to the legs that i run 3/4" bolts down to the floor for leveling. This also raises the tables off the casters and makes them pretty much immobile.