My partner and i started our business venture; Triumph Machine in Stow, Ohio. We needed a table to handle our industrial weldments, which often times use < 2'' steel, and our government projects. To start we used the Amada to cut the lengths of 3x3x.25w for the frame and legs of the table. We wanted each foot to be adjustable so that when put in place it can be leveled easily. I burned .375'' thick caps the size of the inside of the tube, these get welded flush inside the tube and have the grade 8 nuts welded to them. To get good penetration i put a very heavy bevel on the caps. There will be around 2500lbs on these welds with just the weight of the table itself. Next, to make the feet i burned eight 10'' diameters out it 1'' thick A36. My partner Cory counter bored the diameters on the lathe so that the 7/8'' bolts can be welded flush from the bottom up and it gives them a much cleaner appearance compared to welding them on top of the feet. I used a spare piece of tubing and a nut to hold the bolt up square in the bore. I also tightened the hell out of it so it didnt pull when it cooled from welding.
We test fit the legs and feet to make sure they stood up staight and square. Then i welded the frame and legs together. There are eight legs total. I also put four more caps on the perimeter tubing so it looks finished with no gaps. While it was up side down i fixed a shelf in 2/3rds of the table made with 2x3.5x.188'' angle for the perimeter and 1x1x.188'' for the lateral supports. We topped the shelf with a sheet a 14ga A36. My favorite part and the cojones of the whole thing is the table top. One piece of 1.125'' x 54 x 144 was burned at our parent company G.S. Steel. It has 9 evenly spaced slots for our clamps ( yet to be made) and a protruding 9" diameter for our vice. This way we have more options when we need to heat and bend material. The top alone weighs 2480lbs. It was prepped and stitch welded on either side of the tubing all the way around being careful to switch sides and not get too much heat in one area. It sounds over cautious, i know but, with a 650 amp welder having a crooked top is a possibility. We also bolted a little sign to the front of the table made of 1/8'' aluminum shaped like our logo. More to come from us and some pictures of the table and clamps when we get the new shop ironed out. Thanks for looking and happy fabricating!
That has raised work table building to a whole new level. I'm sure glad I won't be there when it comes time to flip it over though. It will have some serous weight to it, the top alone should weigh just over 2756 lbs. King of the solid tables. <input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden">
Thanks for the words guys! oh and it was real exciting to flip it over, it took a crane and a forklift to not let it crash into the concrete. lol
"Honey, would you move that table over there?" Holy crap, how do you cut a piece of steel plate like that?
That's all? Here I thought you'd have used something impressive.............. I wonder how long it would take to cut something like that with a Sawzall. LOL
Wow i really wish i had a table like this in my shop! (i guess thats a joke nobody will get [it IS in my shop]) i'll step up to the plate and be the first to review it Pros: shelf for storage space able to handle 2- 15 projects at once Our logo is on it adjustable feet for leveling cut out circle corner for a vice Never loses value (scrap value still around $450) Cons: you need a team of forklifts or an overhead crane to move it maybe a bit redundant but did i mention its freakin heavy there is nothing else bad about this thing in all seriousness you tend to forget how awesome this thing is when you are around it everyday. good job Dan you never stop impressing me
When my brothers and I (and Roothawg on sabatical ) built a frame jig we tried feet that had a wider pad on them, like you did. We found the feet were hard to fine-adjust and kind of rocked a bit on the concrete. We ended up just using the head of the bolt as the foot, and the more precise point gave a more positive feel on the floor. If you have problems, try some plain bolts.
Great job----So far---Only problem I can see is the thickness of your actual top! At my shop I used 1 1/2 inch thick plate, welded to legs such as yours, believe me, this is an important part of the bench. That top never faltred or warped in the 20 years I was in business!!--------Don
i will put some pics up, i just got a 6' x 12" x 2.5" thick table with a 3/16 plate shelf for $500. So my old table 6' x 16' x 1.2" is going north. i am excited about it.
Another idea might be to use some large thrust-type roller bearings between a plate on the floor and the plate on the adjustable foot. I imagine the large foot shown to be rather difficult to turn given the 2400+ lb weight of the table; too much friction. A spherical roller would better allow for mis-alignment or a non-level floor. Code: || LEG: || PLATE: ------ BEARING: @@@@ PLATE: -------- FLOOR: ==========
Good point. We've done that on tables for some customers. We knew the concrete in the new building was pretty damn flat so it would hurt to have a big foot print.
Beautiful! I'd love to have half that table! Only suggestion I'd offer is to make it a tad more mobile. Weld spindles to the inside of the open area so that regular wheels and tires could be slipped on. Set them up so you have to jack it up a couple inches, then they bolt up. You could use a forklift or even a pallet jack to lift the other end and move it around.
Only thing that would trump that would be one of those 12" thick surface plates that the auto industry uses to do prototype work. Some of those were certified to be flat within .001 over a 10 ft. span. Frank
we just hooked up with an industrial grinding place down the street and built them a grit bin that uses an electric motor to seperate the grit and coolant from grinding. so our next table will hopefully have a nice ground flat top on it!
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