My new little weld bench

[airrj]

For the last year or so I have had my Hobart Tig-wave 250 and Handler 135 and I have not had the time to make a reasonable place to weld (I just got a reasonable workbench last month). So I am finally caught up enough to begin doing some shop projects for myself.

When I bought my Tig machine the previous owner threw in a 24"x32"x1/2" aluminum plate that he used for a welding plate. Taking that and my scrounging abilities, I found enough steel around to make a nice little bench on wheels.

The key items are that I have a solid non-combustible worktop to weld on, and a place for all of my clamps to live rather than scattered around in various boxes. Also, I the bench is just the right height for me to weld on comfortably with the stool. I have not added any other storage yet, and that is my next goal is to organize and store my helmets, stick rod, tig rod, tig torch parts box, etc, etc on some shelves on the bench and not mounded on top of my welder. I will hopefully make myself a tig torch/mig gun holder and any other nice things that I can think of.

And yes to date my cost breakdown is:
Aluminum plate: included with welder
Steel: free from neighbors and cleaning up other peoples scrap
Paint: Wal-mart 3 -$1 rattle cans
Casters: $28 from the local hardware store.

Thanks for looking.

R.J.

 

[AndrewV]

Looks good. Like the setup.

 

[Hammer1963]

Nice clean looking set up! There will be a lot of jealous GJ members and I'll head that list.......

 

[Engine]

Nice little portable table. Can't complain about the price either.

 

[jhn9840]

Very nice table. Like the way you incorporated your clamps into it.

jhn9840
John

 

[R.Anderson]

You paid way too much for those casters looks good, makes me want one like it

 

[shocwav3]

Slick little design.

 

[jimgood]

That's pretty slick! It's always shocking to me how casters can cost more than the raw materials for an entire bench.

 

[Major Ramifications]

Very nice!
It sure beats welding on the concrete garage floor like I do.

 

[motocross77]

I like it! I think I have a new project now!

 

[Barefoot]

Very nice work area. Just goes to show that a bit of creative thinking and some obvious skills beat expensive off-the-shelf every time! Nice job fella.

 

[gus1962]

What a great solid looking bench! Smart set up.

 

[sleepy127]

Nice, a lot prettier than mine. http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showpost.php?p=4273392&postcount=1

 

[skotl]

It's amazing the difference between available space in the U.S. and in the U.K.

You call that your new little work bench yet that's a similar size to the one that I'm wondering whether it will fit in my garage

Good work, though. And the price makes it even better!

 

[sirweldalot]

Good job on the bench.

 

[bwild408]

That's a nice table!

 

[airrj]

Thanks everyone for the kind words and looking at my stuff. I got to spend a little time using it this week for a few little projects.

The aluminum top plate is very nice when welding because you can weld steel right on it and nothing sticks. The down sides are that I find myself being much more gentle to the bench than I would if it was 1/2" steel. Less hammering, less hard grinding, etc. The only other thing that would be nice is to have the ability to stick magnetic items to the top, but I can live without that for now.

Thanks again.
R.J.