Find me a Fab table

[FL Guy]

I want to keep my other post just on the issue I'm having with the fireball table.
I figured I would start a new post seeing if anybody can help find a decent manufacturer.

Looking for a 1/2" - 3/4" thick table top only. Don’t need legs as this will sit on my existing work table.
Size needs to be 2' x 3' or 3' x 3'
5/8" holes, 2” on center.



Post names of manufacturers that you’ve dealt with and are happy with the table.

 

[Firebrick43]

I think you really need to invest in a straight edge and really think about exactly what the scope of your work and the specs you want.

Nothing cheap is flat

Even expensive tables flatness is relative. What is acceptable to one class of work is not to another. And lightweight table tops are usually not in this class of tables.

The force and way you slid the try square across the table in the first video is demonstrative that your inexperienced in this area.

 

[FL Guy]

You are 100% absolutely right. I am inexperienced in this area, just took welding up last year. But when Im told my products are superior and this is what to expect and I get the complete opposite, thats a problem. I should not have a lip where one plate joins against the other nor should I be shimming a new table.
If you have any more criticism, please post it on the other post as I would like to keep this one open for recommendations on a fab table.

 

[PCustoms]

Make one?

I've welded a lot of stuff on a 3x5 table shimmed "flat" and bolt to a tube frame.

 

[jblnut]

I have a planer table I’d sell ya depending on where you are. If it’s not dead “flat” already it could be machined to be. It weighs a literal ton or more. Like this one. The center chunk with the grooves in it.

 

[Swervyjoe]

https://www.langmuirsystems.com/arcflat
Might work for you

 

[Firebrick43]

Its not criticism. We were all "green" once including me.

My point is you have created no specification to what "decent" is.

Without those specs to gauge what you want, decent is just peeing in the wind.

You will find plenty of people unhappy with Arcflat, Certiflat, Build pro, even Acorn because they don't meet their expectations, sometime reasonably so, some times the expectations are unrealistic.

 

[Jswain]

1/2" plate, some legs, a welder, and a mag drill with a 5/8" annular cutter.

Be smart about welding the top to the base, or bolt it, and you'll probably have something just as flat, with no lips on the top. I see you actually don't need legs, even easier

Being flat to within a couple thousandths & then mig welding it is an internet thing, if it is a hobby for you highly unnecessary.

Being able to prep your work, tack & weld things in a specific order to make it flat and square is very necessary however

Same with all the coating **** nowadays they offer. Spray your table/clamps/the material down with anti spatter(no name pam/pan coating spray works amazing).

You have to be a pretty busy fab company to NEED one of these tables

 

[no704]

Had a couple Strong Hand tables at a previous employer. More bolt together slabs than a real table. Things were not cheap but worked great.

 

[FL Guy]

Had a couple Strong Hand tables at a previous employer. More bolt together slabs than a real table. Things were not cheap but worked great.

I just saw that BuildPro that makes the Rhino Cart sells just the top plate only. It’s a little bigger than what I need. So we shall see.

 

[PCustoms]

If I was paying $1800 for a table it damn well better have some flatness specifications.

 

[FL Guy]

If I was paying $1800 for a table it damn well better have some flatness specifications.

If I was paying $1800 for a table it damn well better have some flatness specifications.

It does.. it was on another page

 

[Bigblue&Goldie]

I can tell you most old Bridgeport tables aren't even "flat".

If you think you need something beyond what's being commercially offered, I'd go buy a big plate of steel (as thick as you think you need) and go drop it off for blanchard grinding. You can then build whatever support structure for it to help keep it flat.

I understand your frustration with products not meeting the claimed specs, as I hate bogus claims as well, but I don't think you will find the specs you're looking for in the price range of the table you bought. I also don't think you need those type of specs in a welding table. I doubt there are more than a few pro's on this site that can fab within those specs. The fact of the matter is the raw materials aren't held anywhere near to those specs, and to achieve them in a final weldament would require post welding operations.

 

[no704]

 

[jblnut]

I have a 1” thick 4x8’ piece of plate with a leg welded in each corner as a welding table. I cannot count the amount of stuff built on it over the decades since it was created. Never once really gave its true “flatness” a second thought. Everything gets trued up with a square anyway and nothing has fallen apart yet. I once welded on a buddies prostatic arm and he had no clue the table wasn’t perfectly “flat”.

I also 100% agree that if something is advertised as such it should be that way BUT most of us here on GJ do not actually need that level of machining in a table to do what we need to do. You might be the exception but I don’t think so.

Heck, until I got this table I literally had two pieces of 3/4” birch plywood with a piece of 1/8” HDF on top as a welding table. Literally a wooden welding table and it worked great and is still working great in a buddies shop.

 

[Walkers]

I want to keep my other post just on the issue I'm having with the fireball table.
I figured I would start a new post seeing if anybody can help find a decent manufacturer.

Looking for a 1/2" - 3/4" thick table top only. Don’t need legs as this will sit on my existing work table.
Size needs to be 2' x 3' or 3' x 3'
5/8" holes, 2” on center.



Post names of manufacturers that you’ve dealt with and are happy with the table.

I read your other thread. It seems like a lot of frustration and fret about accuracy to weld horseshoes. I am a professional fab guy, and unless you are making aircraft quality parts most any table will work fine. Just build a frame and put a sheet of steel on top and level it out. My tables are 1/2 and 3/4 thick. I think 1/2 is a shade thin, but 5/8 is great. Mine don’t have holes and they have worked fine for decades. If you want better accuracy buy cold finished shee, but hot rolled is just fine. If you want holes, just drill holes.

 

[Retroman]

Get a Langmuir table without the leg kit, everything your asking for at a reasonable price.

 

[Nofries]

I can tell you most old Bridgeport tables aren't even "flat".

If you think you need something beyond what's being commercially offered, I'd go buy a big plate of steel (as thick as you think you need) and go drop it off for blanchard grinding. You can then build whatever support structure for it to help keep it flat.

I understand your frustration with products not meeting the claimed specs, as I hate bogus claims as well, but I don't think you will find the specs you're looking for in the price range of the table you bought. I also don't think you need those type of specs in a welding table. I doubt there are more than a few pro's on this site that can fab within those specs. The fact of the matter is the raw materials aren't held anywhere near to those specs, and to achieve them in a final weldament would require post welding operations.

This ^^^^

 

[NUTTSGT]

I'm in the boat of build what you want yourself.

I'm in the middle of building my welding table, the way I want it. Do I really need what I am building, maybe, maybe not, but it's what I want.

Find a nice piece of plate, new or used, and if it takes another year to design it gather the rest of the materials, so be it.

Not to distract from the thread, but I sat on the 1/2" plate, I bought used for 2 years before I could finally get started. Still working on it now.

 

[PugetDude]

There is nothing commercially available that will provide you the tolerances you think you need.

You might reach out to NASA and find out where their contractors source their weld tables.
Point is you aren't going to buy anything deliverable in a UPS truck that meets your expectations.

 

[gorilla]

You can buy cast aluminum tooling plate 3/4" or thicker that has a flatness spec of .005" . Used lot's of it for fixtures and such like. our shop had Acorn cast iron welding tables about 10" thick that were blanchard ground when you unclamped a weldment it still moved. If you need really flat surfaces you machine after welding.

 

[PugetDude]

You can buy cast aluminum tooling plate 3/4" or thicker that has a flatness spec of .005" . Used lot's of it for fixtures and such like. our shop had Acorn cast iron welding tables about 10" thick that were blanchard ground when you unclamped a weldment it still moved. If you need really flat surfaces you machine after welding.

Weld, rough machine, stress relieve, then finish machining for the best chance of success. And then the finished weldment will still move with thermal expansion and contraction.

 

[GeoBruin]

I bought the Langmuir Arcflat table because it was cheap and fit in my tiny shop. It has actually been great. Here's a video I posted recently testing the "flatness" of my particular sample (for what it's worth)

 

[whateg01]

1/2" plate, some legs, a welder, and a mag drill with a 5/8" annular cutter.

Doesn't fireball sell a fixture for cutting the holes now?

 

[Jswain]

Doesn't fireball sell a fixture for cutting the holes now?

They probably do but if you can't fab one yourself you probably don't need a fixture table...

 

[whateg01]

They probably do but if you can't fab one yourself you probably don't need a fixture table...

I could see the argument made that a fixture table is used mainly for fab work. Most welding shops I've seen don't have a milling machine, so getting hole locations spaced correctly +/-0.005" or so could be difficult.

 

[bb29510]

hgrinc.com

 

[bb29510]

Used Weldsale Acorn Welding Table For Sale

Used Weldsale Acorn Welding Table For Sale

hgrinc.com

 

[Jswain]

I could see the argument made that a fixture table is used mainly for fab work. Most welding shops I've seen don't have a milling machine, so getting hole locations spaced correctly +/-0.005" or so could be difficult.

And which hobby welder is building things square within .005", or even has the ability to accurately measure that repeatably?

If you spec .005" at a welding shop it is going to a machine shop after welding, welders measure with measuring tapes, not machining tools.

Except on GJ

 

[tarbellb]

Hey OP what's in your project queue besides welding horseshoes?

 

[Monza Harry]

Too bad you've reconciled with FireBall and are in Florida (I'm assuming BC of the FL reference) as I have an old Cast Iron surface plate that needs to go this is heavy so it would need truck shipping, if you were close enough a trailer or P/U would do, this has to be near enough to 2500#'s so a lift of some type is needed to unload I unloaded with my cherrypicker.

 

[cretedog]

I have a planer table I’d sell ya depending on where you are. If it’s not dead “flat” already it could be machined to be. It weighs a literal ton or more. Like this one. The center chunk with the grooves in it.

Used mine just this afternoon- along with the 5/8" shop built plate table beside it...

 

[whateg01]

...
If you spec .005" at a welding shop it is going to a machine shop after welding, welders measure with measuring tapes, not machining tools.

Except on GJ

None, except those with a fixture table! Haven't you watched his videos?

 

[whateg01]

Too bad you've reconciled with FireBall and are in Florida (I'm assuming BC of the FL reference) as I have an old Cast Iron surface plate that needs to go this is heavy so it would need truck shipping, if you were close enough a trailer or P/U would do, this has to be near enough to 2500#'s so a lift of some type is needed to unload I unloaded with my cherrypicker.

Too bad you're so far away. I would gladly help you find a new home for it. I fly to ON in June, but I don't think United will let me carry that on!

 

[Jswain]

None, except those with a fixture table! Haven't you watched his videos?

Yep, mostly clickbait. You see his fixture table did nothing to change how much the steel welds by clamping it down & ultimately had to prebend the steel prior to welding.

Who is doing this at home building a welding cart/general fab?

I'm not knocking his tables at all, and he builds a lot of cool **** that certain professionals could benefit from. But when you think you need a table .005" flat, when if you watch this video up to ten minutes you see that just by clamping down to a perfectly flat table the weld pulls almost .062" then it really doesn't matter.

Hell maybe if your table is .020" high in the centre and you clamp it down it's going to be flatter after welding without the use of shims...

I'll take a torch to straighten what needs to be straight rather than trying to prebend metal any day of the week

I doubt anyone is cutting their materials to .005" specs either

 

[Monza Harry]

Too bad you're so far away. I would gladly help you find a new home for it. I fly to ON in June, but I don't think United will let me carry that on!

If you could carry it on (1 handed for sure) I guarantee they won't say a thing! LOL! Harry

 

[Fixr]

If you could carry it on (1 handed for sure) I guarantee they won't say a thing! LOL! Harry

Tell them it's your emotional support table, and your emotions need a LOT of support.

 

[mike528]

whats the top dimensions? windsor is only 2.5 hours straight up 75... although I don't really need it since I was planning a fab-block top for my lift table.

 

[Richard D]

I bought the Langmuir Arcflat table because it was cheap and fit in my tiny shop. It has actually been great. Here's a video I posted recently testing the "flatness" of my particular sample (for what it's worth)

If I ever need another welding/fixture table, that's the one I want.

 

[Richard D]

I'm pretty sure he's looking for something one or two people can manage and lean against a wall when not in use, as awesome as those Acorn, etc. tables are.