im organizing the shop, and wondering if anyone else has done any portable work stations. Im thinking of a rolling table with all of my sheet metal tools on it. Maybe another one for Chassis work, ect... Anyone done something like this? if so, could you give me a few pics. just picking brains for ideas. Jim
Yeah Jim, I built a 4'x4' rolling work table and my vise and grinder are on another rolling worktable. Sorry, I don't have pics available right now. I'll try and remember to get some. Built the work table from 2x4 with 4x4 legs and welded up the vise bench from scrap round pipe and 2x2 square tube. Used 3/8" plate to span it and drilled holes for mounting the vise and grinder. All the filings, etc, fall onto the ground instead of on the work area.
Jim A buddy of mine that does race car chassis work has a nice setup. He bought two cheap roll cabinet tool boxes and took the wheels off them a built a 1"x2" tube frame to mount them too with the old wheels on the frame,built a 7' aluminum top and some shelfs between the boxes. I will get him to send me some pictures of it. He said after building it he wouldn't use anything else.
Its similar to this but with two roll cabinets and about 3'-4' longer. Also he doen't have a door to cover the shelfs. Here are the Craftsmen 5 drawer boxes he used for $110 each.
Jim, I'll get pics today of my metalworking table...it has 2" receiver spots for all my tools...my chop saw, brake, beverly shear, slip roll, etc are all on 2"x2" posts that slide into the table and store under the table when not in use...I love my table...
I have one fixed workbench, everything else is on rollers... My favorite is a 2'x4' heavy-duty cart I picked up off the side of the road. It's super heavy duty and big enough to cary lots of stuff. I've had a couple flathead blocks and cranks on it with no problem. I'm thinking of converting it to carry my MIG, and an O/A setup with bottles and all the necessary tools.
I didn't plan it that way, but my body dolly is one now, I put a piece of 1/8" plate on top to cut brackets out of it, and it hasn't come off, works pretty good.
Not so much a work station, but both my 110 and 220 MIG welders are stacked on one cart. It rolls, and provides me with another 110 volt outlet as well. And they share one gas bottle/ regulator.
Here's a few pics of my fab station... Here's the storage rack on the back for levels, rulers, tooling, etc... Here's a pic of the receiver holes with the lock bolts, there's one on either side of the table and one going vertically through the table top... Here's the swinging tool post for post dollies, the dollies use 1" diameter tubing and lock into place via taper... Here's the table, it's messy, but you get the idea...I've got my Beverly Shear mounted to the top right now and I can remove it when I'm done using it... Another pic of the top...
The best thing that I have are 2 hospital gurneys that I got at an auction. They are the old ones with no electrical stuff. Nice big wheels with brakes. Hand crank to lift it up and down. Doesn't get much better.
All the drawers are numbered and the boxes have letters and it's all in a book I lost in this mess years ago Are you crazy????????????? One more thing I don't have that peg board on the wall with the outline of each tool before I lost it either!!!!!! I like to think of getting thru my shop as solving a Rubick's cube ....lately one handed And none of the stuff rolls well inspite of the wheels unless you reach for it while fallin'
I have a couple as well and they do work really good, tho one of mine has about 6 inches of paint on it from using it to spray things. I got mine at the morgue I worked at.... Just cleaned them really good.
I've got a 40" square table with vice and mig welder/bottle. It is good in some ways, a pain in others. I should have left the welder on its own cart. Since it is always plugged in, the cord is usually in the way and there are no brakes on the table, it tends to move when I don't want it to and hang up on the cord when I don't.
I don't have a good pic of the work table I made. At the 'left end' I mounted a 6" vise on the front and on the back was my Lo Buck tubing notcher. This end of the table had a 1/8 or 3/16" hot rolled steel top. At the right end the table was particle board [ didn't have enough steel ]. The front side didn't have any tools. On the back corner was a 6" bench grinder. If you look in the background of some of the pics you can get an idea of what the table looked like. I had a pretty long HD extension cord and a 4 gang 120V recepticle box under the top. Wheels on the right end and I just used my floor jack at the other end. I have a lighter duty version now that uses a trailer jack at one end and wheels at the other. Too bad I didn't think of the trailer jack on my old table !!! Also shown in some of the pics is a shop made T350/PG tranny repair stand and a shop made crankshaft rack.
Thanks for the input. heres what I came up with. It has a vice, bead roller, end roller, sheet metal roller, finger brake, tig welder, and a cool little pull out table. Jim
Not in my home workshop...but where I used to work. We moved factories and as part of the move we decided that rolling work tables were a better idea than fixed ones. We used to work on film and TV sets, special effects, museum exhibits and all sorts of other stuff. Size of projects could vary from the size of a shoe box to a semi trailer. Being able to customise the work space as required was the best thing we ever did. Now you've got me thinking about my own shed. Pete
I found myself a 3' x 8' x 3/8" thick steel sheet to make my table out of. I made a frame from 1 5/8" .120 wall tubing that I had a lot of for a car that never got built. I put a set of casters on it so rolls around nice. In the upright legs I put in some adjustable feet so it can be "jacked-up" and leveled easily. I bolted a drawer under to hold some of the common stuff like a grinder and a few files, etc. It has a lower shelf that holds crates full of bender dies, the pot-a-power, and some other heavy tools. The extra weight is nice as the bench doesn't move around real easy when it's jacked-up. It is large enough to use as a frame jig for a rod or to build a bike on. It's got a vise on the corner and I bolted my little sheet metal brake to the other corner, They come off easy enough if I need more room on it. I can also clamp my tubing bender to the leg to secure it. I didn't want to bolt it to the floor 'cause the shop is small and that would take up a lot of floor space. This way I can put it any where. Here's a pic. of it with my frame on it.
I have a portable work station, it's called the tailgate on my truck. Seriously, it is often the only clean place to work and there is always a tool box right there.
Here is an I-Frame table that I use as a frame table, and a work bench. The arms all have holes drilled, so I can mount what ever equipment I need. Or I can take them off and use as a rolling body cart, etc.
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