Let's say you're building your dream welding table...

triumph7 said:

I saw a guy on Youtube that made a welding table from an old table saw.  After removing the saw/motor he had a really strong flat table.  the only downside was the lack of holes for clamping.

This is my plan for a cheap welding table with clampability.

I watched a video on YouTube where a table saw like that was used as a top donor.  It didn't really seem that great; the sides are too open to make for easy clamping surface, it's small, etc.  Maybe a couple old saws could be cut up to be metal donors?  Just didn't seem worth the effort.  As a stop gap one could be used as a work surface, like for building a real table, but I don't think I'd want to use one long term.

Getting off topic here, but the argument I make for the table saw top is the low cost. 

I can get a used saw for $50 or less, spend a few hours stripping, cleaning and adjusting it and have a low grade (and lower priced) welding table the same day. 

Absolutely not a precision or high end deal, but for a hack welder like myself that doesn't make things that require much precision, it's hard to beat

birdmayne said:

triumph7 said:

I saw a guy on Youtube that made a welding table from an old table saw.  After removing the saw/motor he had a really strong flat table.  the only downside was the lack of holes for clamping.

This is my plan for a cheap welding table with clampability.

I didn't say it wasn't clampable, just not like having the holes for the off the shelf welding clamps.

In reply to birdmayne :

I like the idea of the saw table but make sure it's steel and not aluminum.  I wonder if it would hurt to keep the saw on it as a lot of us would need, for space reasons, a multi-purpose solutiion.

Every time the welding table topic comes up my instinct is to try to explain just how good a deal and how nice the certiflat tables from weldtables.com are. 

I have used the 36X48 ProTop for a decade now and when the need arose I built a 4X4 FabBlock and hope to add another soon.  The precision to dollar ratio is very high. They are easy to build, so very nice to use and quite attractive (if shop jewlery is important to you). They are quite strong and flat and are engineered to not need to be a massive plate of steel so they are easy to move. Yeah, don't hit them with sledge hammers or cook them with the rosebud on the torch. You want a vise and anvil type thing for that stuff anyway.

I sketched up a 4X4 table with a 3/4" top and gave the cut list to my steel supplier and was quoted more than the 4X4 FabBlock cost so I easily went that way.

But this is GRM so, find a local plasma table operator to make friends with and hand them these DXFs

https://www.instructables.com/DIY-Professional-Grade-Welding-Table-with-FREE-Pla/

I'm loving all the links, but they still show small tables with 4-figure price tags.

I want the GRM solution that costs $150 when I factor in all the scraps I have to make most of it.  I'm more interested in best practices, brilliant ideas for adding clamps, what leveling casters would be baller.... I've never built a welding table, so I don't want to dive in and end up making something that didn't function as well as it could have.

For instance... the two dedicated welding tables I have used in the past were solid tops.  One had a grid of machined lines, the other had threaded holes with jig and clamp drop-ins.  I had never considered a slatted top for clamping.  That's pretty cool.

Just tryin to make something that works (and is big) on the cheap.  Not looking to have custom stuff built for me, or buying a $7000 top that is 1/4 the size I'm hoping for.

https://www.practicalmachinist.com/forum/threads/c-channel-top-welding-table.301995/

I like this ^^^ channel style for versatility and the ability to be potentially made from scrap.

I've made some from pallet racking as someone earlier said. Cheap and strong.

All welding tables are going to be a compromise. We still make things on the floor and sawhorses even though we have about 3 4x8 'standard' welding tables, a Siegmund 4x8 fixture table (my baby) , a 4x10 machine table, etc etc.

Adapt these scaffold castor wheels and leveling jacks to fit together, although I would almost swear that someone already makes that. Than find an old 45' trailer house. Some dismantling may be required. 

I like the scaffold screw jack idea.

Off to inventory my pallet rack inventory to see if I can spare enough