Advice Please.Using "L" Shape Tubing Build Welding Table

[fst2015]

Hello everyone,

I'm extremely new (Duh, LOL) but trying read & learn as much as possible about welding. It started with needing to fix or create things around house for my disabled son. Ins does not cover and 1 of the more important things I plan on welding once I learn more is a track system to move him around. From medical co, it costs about 30k and Ins doesn't cover. So hope to DIY something soon.

Anyhow, I found these pieces of metal tubing that to me seem strong but again I'm not experienced in this yet so could be wrong. They were used from a either Lowes or Home Depot as product racks...you know the racks with inventory above item.

They have like an "L" Shape. Look about 1/8 thick, maybe little less. I'll try post pic but just incase doesn't work. Imagine square tubing with 4 corners but instead one corner is pushed inside.

My question, can I use these to build a welding table and as legs for the support or should i use only to frame it out and buy "square" tubing for leg support?

Is this "L" Shaped tubing weaker or not strong enough because it has that shape? Vs. Same thickness metal tubing but is square? The table if I can find it, will be either 3/8 or 1/2 thick plate. Last question is there a min thickness i need to be able to support table 5' by 3' @ 3/8 to maybe 1/2 thickness?


Thanks so much for taking time, looking forward to reading some great advice.

Mark

Pic where taken in different areas of property but they are both same piece of tubing.

 

[red baron]

That's pallet racking, should be fine for a table.

 

[BD1]

It depends on what you plan on doing on that table . I would use square tube or pipe and at least 3/16 thick. Everyone has different uses for a table .
Weldingweb site should provide all the answers and suggestions that will help.
Here's one on tables,

http://weldingweb.com/showthread.php?377311-Welding-table-picture-thread

 

[Aroberson77]

I got a bunch or similar stuff from work and am planning on making a welding table from it as well. The L shape wont affect the strength too much, I would at least try to make something and see how it looks.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 

[2oolhound]

It's lighter than most welding tables I see in the fabrication section but it often comes down to "do the bet you can with what you've got". Lighter material may require more bracing than heavier tubing but then it doesn't sound like you'll be welding loader or other heavy equipment parts on it. It ought to work fine. That perforated sheet you have might make a good lower shelf (added for support to the legs) and all slag and grinding debris will fall through.

Draw a plan and do the math to make sure you have enough tubing for the frame and legs. Wheels are nice as they can be difficult to move.

 

[Sliceddeuce]

Mark...post your location...You`ll be pleasantly surprised by the number of members willing to assist you.

 

[fst2015]

I truly can't thank you guys enough for taking out the time to share some advice. As most people here I'm trying to cut costs when I can, thus trying use that "L" Shape Tubing. However if the overall census was that it's not safe or etc... then I would just delay building and try save up more cash.

As mentioned in planning on buying a plate about 5 feet long by 3 feet wide & either 3/8 or 1/2 thick. Wish could find it for free. Anyhow is there a way to calculate or etc to see if this size & weight plate would be stable on the type tubing I plan to use? Or is it more of a experience thing that you learn?

I'm just novice welder, not going to be doing any crazy fabricating or etc. I was able to get really good wheels for free only down side they don't have locking mechanism. Oh well it's free so I'll have figure something out or temp use wedge.

Any other advice on the tubing or etc would be greatly appreciated. I'm hoping to buy the plate this coming week.


Thanks again so very very much

 

[Aroberson77]

You can use some calcs to figure out if the legs will not buckle. What I would do is build a frame that is well braced using the tubing you have and then set the plate on top, I think for what you are doing 1/2" plate is over kill as well, 1/4" or 5/16" should be plenty, a good way to cut your cost.

 

[zak77]

Those legs will hold more weight than you could ever put on them so dont be afraid to use them for a welding table build. My welding table is 3/8" which is more than enough for what i do. Just remember if you are going to weld the top to the frame just use small spot welds or bolt it down. No use building a table then warping the top before you even use it.

 

[matt_i]

The legs should work fine as others have said, but as usual, how they are braced to the tabletop is important. Imo you want to make some gussets (triangles clipped from square flats) to assist a fillet weld to the underside of the tabletop.

I would try to stiffen the plane of the tabletop by stitch welding a piece of flat bar (or even the L-shaped beam) to the underside. Angle iron would also work if you can find it, 2x2x1/4 would be nice.

Last tip is to try to source some leveling mounts (its a round metal "foot" with a swivel at the center and then a threaded stud sticking out) and place either a tapped piece of flat stock, or else heavy-weld a hex nut to the top side of the plate centered on a clearance hole for the stud. The idea is to give you 4 feet that conform to any angle plus are independently adjustable so you can at minimum prevent rocking of the top and can also get it more or less level on the top. That's sometimes useful for fixturing and aligning if you can reference the main top as level to the earth.

 

[greenlizard]

Pallet racking will support way, way more than any reasonable load on a home workbench. I'd love to have a bunch of it available. Practice your welding on trivial stuff before starting your bench.

 

[2oolhound]

A nice thing about 1/2" is you can drill and tap it for hold down clamps and there's lots of thread there. You can clamp your project down flat and tack all the joints before any part can warp out of shape. With welding tables it's better to be too thick than too thin. I have 1/4" and wish it was 1/2".

 

[fst2015]

Wow...by far one of the BEST forums! As novice as my questions are no one tried to flame me or troll me. I appreciate that!

Ok, so I'm going to move forward with building frame. I understand everyone says it will work and truly believe. But I'm asking the next question only to try and better understand how this all works.

Question: so the 2 main reasons I was asking about the "L" Shaped tubing was cause I thought the "L" Shape design made it weak. 2nd reason, I've always thought thin metal could not hold up a "specific" weight limit. I tried measure it again and it looks like 1/16th or little bit over but not much. I was wrong about the 1/8th. ** Does this new info change anyone's suggestion about using 1/2 steel plate? Just checking. I went to metal yard and spoke with owner. He has bunch of huge to small odd shape steel road plates all over his yard. Said I could get one between $150 to $200. Size would be 5ft x 3ft 1/2 thick... also said weight is between 300 to 400.

Different question about the "leveling mount" with swivel are these expensive to buy? Are they difficult to DIY? Oh and thanks for mentioning, would not have thought of that idea

Once again I really can't thank you guys enough. I'm actually starting get little excited about building this. Once it's finished I have so many cool project ideas to help my son move around the house. Thank you everyone!!!

 

[MarkG]

A LOT of the tables strength is going to come from the way it's designed. You need to have a basic grasp of what makes a design structurally strong and sound before fabbing anything that is going to hold a lot of weight.

An amateur can make an unstable, unsafe-to-use table out of very strong, heavy steel and conversely, an experienced fabricator/designer can make a very strong structure out of relatively lightweight structural members. A lot of the outcome will depend on your skill/experience as a designer (or at least your grasp of the concepts) and as a welder.

 

[gearhead1]

They put a lot of weight on pallet racks in wharehouses and stores. They’re pretty strong and like MarkG said, it’s the way it’s designed.

Yes, there is a way to calculate. A lot of guys are going to be hesitant to do it for you because to do work for the public, you have to have a PE (Professional Engineer) license. Most engineers know this and don’t want to get in trouble. I use the calculations all the time for my own stuff, but I can’t just start consulting to the public without the license.

I can tell you the failure mode of legs might be buckling which has to do with the slenderness ratio and Euler’s formula. Google is your friend. Try to find someone local who has this expertise. Where are you? I’m happy to help if you’re local.

Do you really need a 1/2” thick table top? I cut and weld on mine which is made from some grate. The legs are unistrut, and the leg gussets are rebar. It just happened to be what I could get free and had laying around. Unless you’re doing precision, 1/4 will work. I didn’t do any calculations, but I’m not trying to put a big block engine on it either.

FWIW, I’ve used a bunch of that ‘L’ tubing as the door crush prevention bar on my demolition derby cars.

 

[matt_i]

The leveling mounts are reasonably cheap. I think you can get them around $5 per each one. Google search for many choices. You could also just use the head of a larger hex bolt, turned upside down, but its not as finished as the mounts.

My opinion is that the L-shaped beams, in actual use are horizontal and loaded with 1000# pallets, thus subject to beam-bending...a much more severe stresser than a column loaded axially with (? 150-200 lbs). The column buckling isn't even close to being a thing imo for something that's max ~40" long and from the size of the person's hand above, maybe 4" across...

make sure you grind the paint off the areas you intend to weld....which brings also to the need for a 4-1/2" angle grinder and some flap wheels. I would also buy some thin metal-cutoff disks for slicing welds and fixing "oops!" As you weld you will learn that as the metal puddle cools it imparts tensile stresses and pulls things out of alignment. That's a significant part of the welding craft...managing the distortion.

 

[Richard D]

Where are you located? I might have some material you can have for free.

 

[racingtadpole]

Run what you brung.. if you need more mass, cap the tubes and fill them with dry sand.

Depending on how you use that section you may have some sectioning cuts to make, no big deal if you are competent with a small grinder.
16G tube section will hold a 400lb plate top no problem, just comes down to design as others have said.

If you want some help with a design, PM me.

 

[LennyTheLizard]

fst2015 -
Like already mentioned, that is pallet racking. Where I work we put 2 skids on one rack that weigh 1,000 lbs each. I would search for the actual uprights that fit those beams. They typically just slide in a cam shaped groove, and snap lock into place. Just cut the uprights to the height you want your bench and put a top on it. There are a lot of used equipment dealers that sell pallet racking, but maybe you can inquire wherever you found the beams, and they may have some uprights as well.

I can't imagine that your going to be making something DIY in your shop that the pallet racking system couldn't hold up. If you want to make sure, you can add a lower shelf with another set of cross braces, to stiffen it up even more.

 

[fst2015]

Hello again,

First want to apologize for the late reply. Your advice & time is important to me. As mentioned in my first post. I started this cause of my son, so could try and make things little easier. With out going into full detail, he started having seizures again... they are kinda normal but when has multiple in one day, then have bring to hospital for checkup. Was long day but he is feeling better now.

Also want to really thank everyone for taking the time Hope sharing. I had thought this tubing would be Ok, mainly cause it was used for pallets but cause I'm new , didn't want to assume and have this break apart. You guys had allot of great ideas and going try and use some of them.

The plan was/is(maybe) to use all the "L" tubing to make frame and as legs. However I was looking thru the small metal pile I started for this build and found few different possible pieces to use as legs. I'm gong post the pics if you guys could take look & share opinion.

Do I just make whole table from all of the "L" tubing. Legs will look strange as L tubing, also thinking might be extra work to weld trailer hitch or etc to that style leg but I'm sure it can be done.

Or (white)
Its not a solid piece, but they are welded together. They feel extremely heavy & strong. Do you think I should use these as the legs instead?

***
ALSO... last thing. In this pile I also found about 4 stainless steel tubing about 10ft long. Instead should I just make whole table out of the stainless tubing (providing they are 100% straight) or is it not good material to use as welding table? Its nice material but as of right now, aside from this table not sure what else i would do with it, so not sure its worth saving.


Ok... that's all the info. Also for those that ask about area...i live on Staten island, NY. Those that offered me to PM them for design tips, will take you up on offer once I'm a day way from build day.


Thanks so very very much!!!

Ps: I just noticed pic are not correct angle, I'm doing from my phone and it's acting up so I don't know how to edit the pics. Sorry

 

[zak77]

I can understand what you're trying to do and where you're coming from, you want to use what you have BUT i've used a lot of metal i had "kicking around" and although it worked, the prep to use it was getting to be a bit much. I'd spend more time grinding paint than i did welding. Since you seem to a have a decent scrap yard by you maybe see about getting decent angle or tubing with the top. Or get the top from scrap yard but get new steel for the frame. A bunch of 1/4" thick angle can be had for a decent price and will work just fine. I respect you for trying it this way but just throwing this out there to think about. I wouldnt use that stainless since it'll be a waste.

 

[joe49]

You have enough L you can marry 2 pieces for the legs, if you're worried about the strength.