Good article Brad! Sorry to hear the top turned out to be wear plate. I bet that was a surprise!
Yeah, it was a surprise... four expensive drill bits later, I finally gave up.
I MIGHT cut some squares in it around the perimeter with my Henrob torch once I get good with it, and weld in some mild steel plate every six inches or foot, and then tap a hole in that. 1x1-inch squares would get the job done, and wouldn't create a lot of heat when I weld them in.
I think I could do that with less chance of warping the top, then heating the top up with a torch every 6 inches and annealing the steel.
Or... I'll just forget about it and use it as-is.
I've had the table for almost a year, and there has been a time or two when I would have liked having tapped holes around the perimeter for securing something.
But I was able to do it without, so then it becomes a question of whether I really need the tapped holes or not.
The wear plate precluded me from cutting a hole for my wood workers bench clamps too... There have been SEVERAL times I could have used those, so I'm definitely going to Henrob a couple holes for some lengths of pipe so I can use those.
-Brad
