# Welding table project



## John Conroy (Oct 16, 2017)

I'm planning to build a fold-up welding table some time this winter. I've bee keeping my eye open for some cheap metal for the project and a deal came along today. At my work, we have an electrical contractor replacing all the parking lot plug-in posts and underground wiring with new stuff. They were tossing all the old post in the scrap bin. The are 4" by 4" square tube with 1/4" wall thickness. After the base is cut off each piece is 2 feet long. The bases plates are very rusty but the tube is in great shape. I got 13 of them for free and just had to strip out the electrical stuff and used my horizontal band saw to cut off the bases. This will be a big part of the material for the table build!




 



 




 




 




 

I love free stuff!!


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## Janger (Oct 17, 2017)

Great project. I've been mulling this over myself. Needs to fold up, not take up too much room. Needs to be very stable too. Wheels.


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## John Conroy (Oct 17, 2017)

I'm still working on design. It will be based on the material I can come up with


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## PeterT (Oct 18, 2017)

I'll be watching with interest. What are your thoughts on the table top itself? Some of those pre-fab slats with hole arrays look very functional & universal for setups, but $$ and I suppose it depends on what kinds of things you see yourself welding. This link might work before the irritating ad curtain pops up. I should really subscribe to Pinterest, seems like some neat metalworking ideas there.

https://www.pinterest.ca/explore/welding-table/


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## John Conroy (Oct 18, 2017)

Thanks Peter, there's lots of good ideas there. I'll continue to keep my eye open for cheap material to make the top and  come up with a plan when I find it.


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## John Conroy (Oct 24, 2017)

I found a design I really like  for the welding table. I picked up 20 feet of 1/2" X 6" hot rolled flat bar to use for the slats. I have found that it's really hard to build a flat welding table without a welding table!!

More pics to come.











John


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## Dabbler (Oct 24, 2017)

nice!!


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## John Conroy (Oct 24, 2017)

https://johnconroy.smugmug.com/Welding-Table/i-DqL8B9b


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## Bofobo (Oct 25, 2017)

I dig the tilt ... are you planning on the expanding option as well?


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## John Conroy (Oct 25, 2017)

No the top is going to be 4' long by 3' wide. I'm working on having the lower arms fold to reduce the total width to 2' when stored. My goal is a footprint of 2' X 5' when in storage mode.


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## PeterT (Oct 25, 2017)

Actually, do those lateral joiner support tubes have to be so long? If it was cut closer to the side frame but still welded as a similar socket, you could save a lot of storage real estate. It would just require a longer inner bar section.


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## RobinHood (Oct 26, 2017)

That is a really nice design!


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## PeterT (Oct 26, 2017)

Your table end segments with rotation axle almost resemble this sort of assembly - how some guys set up their bike frames for welding, painting, orientated access work. Not sure if this matches your work requirement but another design consideration.


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## John Conroy (Nov 2, 2017)

I made some progress on the welding table project. I had 16 two foot sections of 4" square tubing with 1/4" wall thickness and need to butt weld some pieces together to form 4 foot long pieces. I used a bunch to clamps and a couple of 8 inch long pieces of 3" angle with 1/4" thickness that I have. they have same thickness throughout and the inside corners are square so they make great braces for this kind of job. All the pieces I butt welded came out nice and straight.





I had previously picked up 20 feet of 6" X 1/2" hot rolled flat bar at General Steel at a discount as it was quite rusty. I cut it into 6 three foot long sections on my bandsaw then milled all the pieces to exactly the same length. These will be the table top.













I drilled countersunk mounting holes for mounting, 3 pairs of holes in each piece on 12 inch centers for 1/4" socket head fasteners. I used woven stripping discs on a 4.5" angle grinder to remove the rust and mill scale. that was a filthy job.









I got the base frame welded together, the front of the horizontal legs have a 1 foot long section that will fold inward when not in use to reduce the footprint. There will be two 1/2" thick pieces welded to the top of the vertical legs to mount a couple of pillow block 1" ID bearings for rotating the table top.









I am making a couple of shafts that will pass through the sides of the table top and the bearings. I have some 1.375" mystery steel for those parts. There will be a disc brake rotor mounted on one end with some way to lock the table in any position. I machined a hub for the rotor from a piece of the 5" 4340 steel that we picked up last year. The 4340 has a 1'"hole through the center that I will bore to 1.300". will then machine the shaft for a press fit into the hub and weld it to the shaft.

















I bought some casters that will add 5" to the height on Amazon and got them mounted to the base frame.









This is a fun project! That 4340steel machines beautifully.


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## PeterT (Nov 2, 2017)

Nice work. Giving your new bandsaw a good workout too.
I hadn't realized your 4340 log had a hole down the middle, interesting. Sure looks like it machines well.


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## John Conroy (Nov 2, 2017)

More pictures.


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## John Conroy (Nov 2, 2017)

PeterT said:


> Nice work. Giving your new bandsaw a good workout too.
> I hadn't realized your 4340 log had a hole down the middle, interesting. Sure looks like it machines well.



The 5" log of 4340 has a hole. The 6.75" and 4" logs of 4140 don't. It machines so much nicer than cold rolled.


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## DPittman (Nov 2, 2017)

John Conroy said:


> The 5" log of 4340 has a hole. The 6.75" and 4" logs of 4140 don't. It machines so much nicer than cold rolled.



So I got some of that round log material also last year...I believe I saw "4340" faintly written on one of my pieces and so I assumed the whole lot was the same as I saw no other markings....
Were your pieces better marked?
Don


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## John Conroy (Nov 3, 2017)

I got some 4 inch logs and a 6.75 inch one that have no markings but some of the others from the same piles were marked 4140. I have machined some of that stuff and it is quite different from the 5 inch log I have that is marked 4340. The 4340 machines smooth as glass and seems harder. When I tapped  the holes to fasten the brake rotor to the hub I machined I went with fine thread becàuse I was worried about breaking a half inch coarse thread tap in it but it tapped pretty easily with the fine thread.


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## John Conroy (Nov 3, 2017)

As you can see in the pics above I drilled 1/2" holes around the circumference of the rotor every 22.5 degrees. I guess I only needed 8 holes as the table will never be used with the top inverted but I didn't think of that until after they were all drilled. I don't plan to add a large round wheel to aid in turning like the sample pictures above. I made the locating pin from 1/2" cold rolled rod and the handle from a piece of the 1.375 mystery steel. I added a knurl to the outside of the handle and reamed the inside hole to .499" to provide and .001" press fit onto the pin. I heated the handle up with a heat gun to 400 degrees F and it dropped right onto the pin, I used a little red Loctite to be sure it never comes loose.


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## Dabbler (Nov 3, 2017)

I have overbuilt things in the past (!) but have not regretted the lost time as much as the regrets when I've had to rework a piece...  I love your project;  I'm sure you will put it to great use!


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## John Conroy (Nov 5, 2017)

This project has sort of taken over my garage so I mad a major effort this weekend to get it as finished as possible. It may have to wait until next summer to be stripped down and painted. I used thirty six 7/16" X 1.75" grade 5 bolts to make the adjustment stands for the 6 table top slats. I turned the heads flat in the lathe and center drilled them. The I moved them over to the mill where I already had the super spacer centred under the spindle and drilled and tapped each one 1/4" N/C. That was BORING but I got it done. I laid out the slats one at a time and transfer punched all the holes. This would have been a major pain to set up in the mill so I just drilled all the holes by hand.  I used a v-block to assure that my transfer punch was perpendicular to the table.





















I also got the center crossbrace welded into the table top.





































After getting all the holes drilled and 36 nuts welded to the table top I installed all the leveling bolts and spent about 2 hours getting them all adjuste4d to the same height. I used the newest 4 foot long level I have. It checks out nice and straight on my milling machine table. I used a .003" feeler blade as a guage and got them all as close to perfect as I could to + or - .003"


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## John Conroy (Nov 5, 2017)

It turned out very well. Having the holes drilled 12 inches on center allows the total width to be adjusted to over 5 feet if needed.

















I built a couple of threaded jacks so the folding legs can be jacked off the floor to be folded. Total foot print when folder is 28" X 57".

































I'm going to work on a fixture to attach a bench vise that can be easily removed when not in use but it is pretty much done except for some small details and paint.

Cheers,

John


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## PeterT (Nov 17, 2017)

More welding/assembly table bling bling ideas ~ min 11:00
I figured they have been lurking here & copied Johns


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## John Conroy (Nov 19, 2017)

Thanks for the link Peter. I watch Jodys videos often. I'm pretty sure the design copying was done by me, not them!


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## John Conroy (Nov 19, 2017)




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## John Conroy (Dec 16, 2017)

Every once in a while I find myself in need of a table saw. After looking on Kijiji at a bunch of overpriced worn out junk I decided on a portable contractor saw and had a 15% off coupon at Lowes. The had the larger of the Dewalt saws on sale already and with the coupon it was lower in price than any of the used ones I looked at. I had a plan to add attachments to my welding table project so it could be used as a table extension for the saw when needed. I cut off the part of my brake rotor lock device so it no longer extended above the table surface and made up some quick removable brackets to mount the saw. 2 screws hold the saw onto the platform and after the saw is removed the rest of it comes off by loosening 6 set screws. I turned out well and works like a charm. The welding table is heavy enough that even ripping a sheet of 3/4" plywood doesn't make it feel tippy.


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## DPittman (Dec 16, 2017)

Very nice work John and smart engineering! 

Don


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## Bofobo (Dec 16, 2017)

Im half expecting it will double as a welding cart in another month. I love the whole concept


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## buckbrush (Dec 14, 2018)

very,very nicely done.


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## Brian H (Dec 22, 2018)

That is an excellent table. Lots of room for expansion and very versatile


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## Everett (Dec 22, 2018)

That table looks awesome so far.  Good scrounge on the square tubing, gotta love free material!  Using a cross drilled brake rotor for indexing table angle is genius, too.


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## buckbrush (Dec 22, 2018)

If I may, a larger radius on the corners of the plates might be an improvement. Other wise it is fantastic in my eye's.


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## Janger (Mar 4, 2021)

Hi John,
Still liking your table? Any thing you would do differently now? 

I notice the commercial tables have 5/8 holes and a there is large variety of pins, blocks, clamps and other accessories you can add. What do you think of those accessories?


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## John Conroy (Mar 4, 2021)

I wouldn't bother with the folding front legs if I was doing it over and I might go for 3/4 inch plate for the top instead of 1/2 inch. The gap between the top slats makes it so convenient to clamp things I don't think I'd have any use for the 5/8 holes and accessories but I have never tried a table like that. Over all I'm still really happy with it and use it often. And not just for welding. It's  very handy to just roll it out and have another horizontal flat surface for big projects and it never get permanently cluttered because it needs to be folded and stored to restore access for my wife's car. One of these days I will paint the frame.


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## John Conroy (Mar 4, 2021)

It came in really handy for a big metal table project I did a while back. I was able to clamp all the parts in place and tac weld as well as turn the table to different angle to get easy access to all the tight spots for easy finish welds.


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## ShawnR (Mar 5, 2021)

I don't belong here.....

The planning, utilization of available materials, adaption of the rotor, workmanship is amazing!! Very nice John! 

I think I will go see if Red Green has a machining forum....


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## Hruul (Mar 5, 2021)

ShawnR said:


> I don't belong here.....
> 
> The planning, utilization of available materials, adaption of the rotor, workmanship is amazing!! Very nice John!
> 
> I think I will go see if Red Green has a machining forum....



I hear you ShawnR.  A lot of the stuff on this forum is way beyond my ability.  Only hope that it gets me motivated to do more and maybe get better.


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## John Conroy (Mar 5, 2021)

Thanks guys, I learned the required skills from many mentors during more than 40 years as a tradesperson. It is nice to be able to still use those skills in the fun projects that I now have the time to take on.


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## ShawnR (Mar 5, 2021)

Thanks Hruul

Misery loves company. ...

Cheers


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