Show your Welding Table!

California

Well-known member
Messages
377
Good Post Points
144
Location
Sonoma County
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.

20200514_152819rWelding in shop1.jpg



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.

20170224rCrackedWheelGroundFlat.jpg


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.
 
Last edited:

Bearskinner

Well-known member
Messages
270
Good Post Points
85
Location
N. Idaho
Welder
Miller
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

Well-known member
Messages
175
Good Post Points
29
Location
Pine Bluff, Arkansas
Welder
Lincoln Pro Mig 180
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

Well-known member
Messages
377
Good Post Points
144
Location
Sonoma County
... 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.

p1670281rweldwateringtrailertongue-jpg.1195
 

Yomax4

Well-known member
Messages
169
Good Post Points
52
Location
MN.
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

Well-known member
Messages
211
Good Post Points
55
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. 20201210_180052.jpg
 

Gary Fowler

Well-known member
Messages
715
Good Post Points
199
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.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0056[1].JPG
    IMG_0056[1].JPG
    657 KB · Views: 33
  • IMG_0057[1].JPG
    IMG_0057[1].JPG
    778.6 KB · Views: 34

California

Well-known member
Messages
377
Good Post Points
144
Location
Sonoma County
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

Well-known member
Messages
715
Good Post Points
199
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

Well-known member
Messages
377
Good Post Points
144
Location
Sonoma County
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

Well-known member
Messages
715
Good Post Points
199
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

Well-known member
Messages
377
Good Post Points
144
Location
Sonoma County
[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

Well-known member
Messages
715
Good Post Points
199
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

New member
Messages
2
Good Post Points
2
Location
Kaleva, Mi
Welder
Miller 180 Auto-set, Miller Diversion 180
I got the table free off craigslist, Its from the 1920's, had it sandblasted, added the back shields & added a power outlet.

New welding table.JPG
 

Bearskinner

Well-known member
Messages
270
Good Post Points
85
Location
N. Idaho
Welder
Miller
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

Well-known member
Messages
99
Good Post Points
34
This is the welding table I built when I was 15. (55 years ago)

IMG_9745.jpg


It now sits outside the man door of my shop.
 

sonny580

Well-known member
Messages
78
Good Post Points
38
Location
Arrowsmith, Illinois
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

Well-known member
Messages
99
Good Post Points
34
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.




IMG_0295.jpg

IMG_0374.jpg

IMG_0364.jpg
IMG_0380.jpg
IMG_0349.jpg
IMG_0352.jpg
 

Gary Fowler

Well-known member
Messages
715
Good Post Points
199
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.;)
 
Top