Black Frog
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 27, 2011
- Messages
- 134
Found this on MarketPlace near me. Around 500+ pounds, 42”x34” with 1” solid plate top and shelf below. It has 4x3 tube steel legs. Wilton 646 vise was mounted on the top, I’ll clean that up and repaint. Table and vise for $100, can’t beat that price. I weld-filled the vise holes and got it smooth with the table top surface.
I decided I wanted a moveable TIG table. Like most people, garage doesn’t have enough space. While I love heavy tables, I want to be able to move it out of the way at times. I wanted some cast iron casters, won’t melt with sparks and can handle lots of weight and banging on the table. While I could have put casters on all four legs, then you need lockable casters to keep it from moving. Not a big fan of that. That’s when it occurred to me to use the same idea as my table saw moveable base with flip down swivel caster.
Table was a bit low for working height at 33”. To get the table to a normal bench height, I split the difference of the rigid caster height and cut two legs at that amount. I then added the cutoff portions to the other two legs. I just got a TIG welder, so I gave it a go at TIG’ing the cutoff portions onto the other legs.
Welded some 1/4” pads on the bottoms of the legs, and added the casters to the cut leg side.
The idea I had is that this is beefy table, over 500#. The two fixed feet have enough weight on them that the table doesn’t move at all. But when I want to move the table, I added some cross members and mounted a $35 Harbor Freight trailer swivel jack between the fixed legs. Jack is rated at 1000#. I didn’t need the jack to flip up, so I tacked the jack in the down position which makes it more stable when in use. Simply lower the jack down so the fixed legs are off the floor a bit and bingo, SOOO easy to move around the garage. Raise the jack and the table is planted in place again. Table height is now at 36.5", perfect.
Just thought I’d post if some others here wanted some ideas for future projects. I’m very happy with how this turned out. The wife loves how easy it is to move a 500+ pound table around the garage!
I decided I wanted a moveable TIG table. Like most people, garage doesn’t have enough space. While I love heavy tables, I want to be able to move it out of the way at times. I wanted some cast iron casters, won’t melt with sparks and can handle lots of weight and banging on the table. While I could have put casters on all four legs, then you need lockable casters to keep it from moving. Not a big fan of that. That’s when it occurred to me to use the same idea as my table saw moveable base with flip down swivel caster.
Table was a bit low for working height at 33”. To get the table to a normal bench height, I split the difference of the rigid caster height and cut two legs at that amount. I then added the cutoff portions to the other two legs. I just got a TIG welder, so I gave it a go at TIG’ing the cutoff portions onto the other legs.
Welded some 1/4” pads on the bottoms of the legs, and added the casters to the cut leg side.
The idea I had is that this is beefy table, over 500#. The two fixed feet have enough weight on them that the table doesn’t move at all. But when I want to move the table, I added some cross members and mounted a $35 Harbor Freight trailer swivel jack between the fixed legs. Jack is rated at 1000#. I didn’t need the jack to flip up, so I tacked the jack in the down position which makes it more stable when in use. Simply lower the jack down so the fixed legs are off the floor a bit and bingo, SOOO easy to move around the garage. Raise the jack and the table is planted in place again. Table height is now at 36.5", perfect.
Just thought I’d post if some others here wanted some ideas for future projects. I’m very happy with how this turned out. The wife loves how easy it is to move a 500+ pound table around the garage!
