Old dog wants to lean new trick - welding

[Shootinok]

So I'm an old dog and I gotta believe I can still learn a few tricks.

I'm trying to gear up and learn to weld. With help from a neighbor that was a pipeliner, he will be my main resource for skill training and I will start practicing when I can.
I got an old stick welder (Lincoln ac225) and cleaned it up and it works.

The question today... why doesn't anyone have slanted legs on their welding table?
I ask because I have a left over table saw base and a light 1/8" plate I can add for a top. This will be my starting point so I at least have a steel top working platform.
As I gain knowledge and skills - I may figure it out - but for now,

 

[Shootinok]

Here's my starting table mockup

Any suggestions are welcome

 

[jumbojak]

It looks a tad small but I don't see why it wouldn't work. I think HF sells a folding table that's about the same size. If you plan on grounding to the table clean the paint off. We don't use a table on the farm at all.

 

[kazlx]

Because slanted legs don't gain you anything besides a design feature and add more work. A fab table is usually heavily function first oriented. That base with a top will definitely work to get started. Anything is better than the floor.

 

[jimgood]

There's nothing wrong with what you have there as long as you don't go beyond it's capabilities.

When building a table, slanted legs are harder to design and clamp for welding. It's much easier to clamp things that are square to one another. That's not to say it can't be done. It's must more difficult.

Slanted legs also take up more floor space but the reason they are used for those table saws is because they provide the same stability with less metal used during manufacturing. So the box under the saw table can be smaller.

 

[bullnerd]

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...tricks&usg=AFQjCNHP0FMzcrrR1vWXnfYjH6uvkhYDfA

 

[Shootinok]

Because slanted legs don't gain you anything besides a design feature and add more work....

...slanted legs are harder to design and clamp for welding...
...also take up more floor space...

Those make sense. kinda makes me think - duh

 

[lilredex]

You'll be fine with that table. My smaller projects have been made on the one pictured, over the last 35 years.

There are other ideas here...

http://weldingweb.com/showthread.php?211681-Need-a-cheap-welding-table-ideas

 

[joe49]

Make the top bigger, so that you have a over hanging edge for clamping. You could make it a few inches larger than the base of your legs. 1/2" is a good thickness.

 

[MarkG]

I bought, used, and liked this one when I was in welding classes. It's great for small projects and you have a lot more clamping options than the one you've got there. I wouldn't want one much smaller than this one.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000VH805Y/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[Lwel9226]

I bought, used, and liked this one when I was in welding classes. It's great for small projects and you have a lot more clamping options than the one you've got there. I wouldn't want one much smaller than this one.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000VH805Y/?tag=atomicindus08-20

Horror Freight has one similar to this for less money.... About 70 dollars...

The one you have should work fine.... just put a top with some overhang (about 2 or 3 inches per side) for clamping like joe49 mentioned, and you will be good to go....

LynnW
FoBW

 

[Shootinok]

Update -
I salvaged an old table saw top too which allows clamping as suggested. I used the thin piece I had to make a shelf for small pieces. Then I added some wheels so I can move it around.
It's working pretty good really.
My welding is actually pretty terrible,

but I'm getting better with practice.
The old side slot made such a perfect spot for a grinder that I cut another hole beside it for the second one.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[SuperCat]

I like it! - use what you have, pretty or not, and get to work.
Can you give us a picture of how you attached the top?
How about some project pictures? Go for it!

 

[larry_g]

A welding table is a tool that facilitates setup, holding and positioning of the parts to be welded. In a weld shop the table are quite sturdy to hold up the materials being worked on. A splayed leg table is more for handling loads that apply a force perpendicular to the table wanting to tip it over. A good welding table is also flat to give a reference surface. A crooked table top or floor will make getting parts aligned harder. If you become a weldor* then you will have a table that suits your jobs and job skills.

*Lincoln's 'Procedure Handbook of Arc Welding' calls the person doing the welding as a 'weldor' and that's what I was taught .... but that was 'back in the day'.

lg
no neat sig line

And just for fun, found on the internet;

The Weldor's Weld
by Sonia Balcer 8/21/82

Wherefore must I wear a mask when
I hold in my hand, the pen
wherewith I write poetry with fire?

How I long to discover the secrets that are hidden
in the theater before me;
to behold the movement of tiny, metal
particles, as they waltz and interlock
in a world within a world;
as they pirouette between the boundaries set
by the fire which frees them to move.

Oh, Lord in heaven! Why are not human eyes made
to see this wonder directly?
Must I always hold this dark glass before me?

Hark! He causes my heart, to see the mystery!
The metals are assaulted, by electric energy,
carried by heaving, heavy wires. In a molten flash,
I see the crystals breaking, and sighing;
the silent order of the solid surface, giving way
to rushing, hotly-radiant tides
that crash together like waves at a beach.

It swirls before me, an intricate dance
which I cannot see, but yet feel inside.

I delight to caress the molten piece
in my heart.
It is inside of me, and I am inside of it.
I slowly feel over and underneath
the hot liquid surfaces.
I move into its every contour, and through
the whole of it.

Bodies of metal, which once were separate;
the boundaries are fading.
It swirls and whirlpools within me-
It is all blurred now, caught
Into a quickly-freezing body of what once
was separate, but now is together,

a single piece.

Ahhh ..... to be a weldor welding with my welder

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

A tip; use lots of light, a couple of 500 watt halogens on each side of the table. It really helps you see what the weld puddle is doing.

 

[txvwnut]

Practice practice practice is the way to get better at welding. That table will do you just fine for learning and I bet most projects you’ll be doing on it. Listen to your friend that is the welder and do as he says and you should get the hang of it. Bad habits are easy to get into when welding I know as I have to remind myself every time I setup to weld.

 

[lostmymanual]

I can only answer for myself here. Having slanted legs that hang out past a bench top and wearing a helmet with anywhere from #9 to #13 shades is asking for a face plant into the floor for myself. Some might be better at negotiating these kinds of obstacles than I am. I'm not very graceful (as could be evident by the currently 5 broken ribs under my right arm).

I approached my welding table project from the perspective that I would be able to take a heavy hammer to any area on the table without worrying about over stressing any part. For that reason, I didn't allow for any hang over of the table top from the frame. Everyone has their own reasons and their own ideal working surfaces in mind.