Steel thickness

[gmhill33]

Greetings,

I am thinking about getting a piece of steel for my workbench top. Can someone tell me how thick it should be?


Thanks,
Gary

 

[Ironcrow]

If you are going to weld and beat on it, you could hardly go too thick - something like 3/4 inch sheet. If its just a durable cover then 1/8 inch or thinner, into the 'gauge' sizes would be OK - 16 gauge.

 

[NY-BOSSMAN]

i personally would do 3/16" ......maybe even 1/4" anything larger is waaaaaay overkill unless your doing some SERIOUS fabrication

 

[Monte406SS]

I have 1/4 steel top on my welding table which works great. Would I like a thicker top? Sure, but that 3'x4'x1/4" weighed a pretty penny but I was able to move it myself. If I was to do a lot of hammering, etc I would have gone thicker.

 

[hetkind]

As thick as you can afford...1" will generally do for the heaviest of work.

Howard

 

[5lima30]

If you go with the thicker steel make sure your bench can support the weight! Even a peice of 3/8 steel is incredibly HEAVY!

 

[troy5118]

I didn't want to spend a bunch on thick steel plus its a pain to move so I used 12 GA over some 3/4" MDF. I counter sunk screws in the top. Works Great! Used it for working on Transmissions and rearends so its plenty thick.

 

[milkovich]

Mine's 4x8 3/8ths. It took a cherry picker to get the table right side up. Google turned up this fun chart:

Thickness Weight Per Square Foot
3/16" inches 7.66 lbs
1/4" 10.21 lbs
5/16" 12.75 lbs
3/8" 15.32 lbs
7/16" 17.85 lbs
1/2" 20.42 lbs
9/16" 22.95 lbs
5/8" 25.53 lbs
3/4" 30.63 lbs
7/8" 35.74 lbs
1" 40.84 lbs

 

[wishihadatalon]

To give you a idea of weight just do a simple area calculation. Length x Width x Depth. Then just multiply that by the density of steel (.283lbs/in^2). My 48x72x1/2" table top is going to be about 490lbs but I am building a 2x3x3/16" rectangular tubing frame to supporting it.

 

[Az Scooter]

I have 10 guage steel on 3/4" MDF. It works great, it does not get hot enough to burn when I am welding, and it looks good. I was suspect when I did it, but am really glad I did it the way I did.

 

[gmhill33]

Thanks everyone for the replies. Mine will be 27"x10'x1/4 (?).

It will it on top of two wood cabinets with the harbor freight 13 drawer cabinet in the middle. How much do you think that will weight? What kind do you get, cold roll or hot roll? Now to figure out the cost.

Gary

 

[gmhill33]

I have 10 guage steel on 3/4" MDF. It works great, it does not get hot enough to burn when I am welding, and it looks good. I was suspect when I did it, but am really glad I did it the way I did.

Would you happen to have any pics?

 

[rsanter]

my welding table has 1/4 and I have worked and beaten on that table alot

for a general workbench I think 16ga backed by wood (MDF) or an old door would be fine

bob

 

[wishihadatalon]

Thanks everyone for the replies. Mine will be 27"x10'x1/4 (?).

It will it on top of two wood cabinets with the harbor freight 13 drawer cabinet in the middle. How much do you think that will weight? What kind do you get, cold roll or hot roll? Now to figure out the cost.

Gary

~230lbs. Cabinets and a box should be able to support that (cabinets support very heavy granite slabs most of the time). Hot rolled steel will probably be the cheaper option.