My own 3 window coupe design. I will start a thread once I finalize the design. This is still in the very rough design phase but moving in the right direction. You still need to move around as you weld not getting any one area too hot then let it cool and remove it from the table or jig. I have never had any bad experiences doing it this way but before the table is another story Kevin LFD Inc.
I used I beam on mine and made all the fixtures adjustable. Has 4 casters for mobility and 6 legs have leveling jacks so as get it dead on.
I'm using 2- 8"x8"x1/2" I beams from a scrap yard , leveled with old screw type camper jacks and cross tied with 2"x4" rectangular tube. $300.00. Rob.
Here's mine. I picked it up from a scrap metal dealer. It came from a vehicle assembly plant. 4.1m long, 1.2 wide, 1" plate on top, 8" beam construction. Weighing in at 2.5 ton with 10" caster wheels and leveling legs. Top is drilled full of holes and machined flat with a datum line machined into it full length. Takes a bit of shifting but is a bloody good platform to work from.
with the crunch of the economy a "celette" bench might be a good alternative. Here is my table: the aluminum blocks pictured below are cut down the center of the hole so they clamp onto the tubing and hold it secure.
Glen , nice job with the Nova frame . Is your car based on Sun Coast style car the configuration looks like one we built ?Rob.
I keep them as basic as possible. I don't think of them as a 'jig' because a jig is used for repetitive work - there are jigs in this thread - they are 'work fixtures'. So the basic structure has to be simple, strong, square, true, level. Not wide, i think mine is 30"ish, so you can get inside it. All steel i have worked with (except for milspec) is imprecise, clamp a 1 X 3 to the side of a level 2 X 3 and i guarantee the 1 X 3 won't be plumb. For that reason i don't bolt anything to the work fixture, i figure what i need and where then tack weld arms, legs, whatever i need. When i am done with that facet of the project i knock them off. I have been doing this stuff for 20 years and have all kinds of different tables with milled and machined slots, fixtures, clamps built into the table and all manner of devices for adjustability and came to the conclusion that if one size fits all then it don't really fit nothin. If it is important enough for me to build a frame then i can take the time to build a work fixture for just that frame. I have seen a couple tables here i'd like to have, they all have a thick surface plate and lots of drilled holes for clamping. The pic of mine is from a while ago. The frame is the start of a chrome-moly tube chassis (round-tube part), the work fixture is the rectangular tube.
2 types that I've used extensively. The plate table was purchased at an auction for $350. The H beam table was built from new drops I got from Butler Mfg for a case of beer. It was built specifically for the supermodifieds. (Sorry about the giant photo...)
what is a good overall size to make the table? i am thinking 13' long and 4' wide the widest and longest car i plan to build is a 34 ford, which is 44" wide and about 150" long is this too long or wide? i am going to use a frame made out of 2x4 and then braces that can move in the middle. i just don't want it to be too wide and be bumping into it all the time while working on the chassis
I made my frame jig so I could rotate it -- on ends that are like engine stands. If the purpose of the table is to fabricate the chassis and do all the fitment and welding, then a rotisserie version is really cool. I even mounted my complete engine/trans package in the thing (upside down) to complete the rear trans hanger and some other details. I used a floor jack to lift the engine UP into the chassis from below. Also, once I'm done with building the frame, I'll use the same I-Beam setup as the basis for a chassis table -- will remove the rotating ends and put it on top of some 'legs' . . . put some additional plates on top for wheel locations, etc -- now it is a chassis table. As a hobby guy, I need things to be as versatile as possible -- a big fixture/table needs to support many uses. If you want a big table to SETUP a chassis that is already done --> assemble it, etc . . . then that may be a different purpose all together from a frame jig. In this case I'd make it more like what you're saying -- something where you can move the middle out. One thing to keep in mind is where/how are you going to install the engine? If you get the thing too high, then there is NO cherry picker that will work -- so you'd need an overhead hoist. Or, you'd need to be able to drop it to the floor, install the engine - then jack the whole thing up to a better working height. Lots to think about in the complete range of options!
I'm just using an old caroliner frame rack with hydralic lift that was a throw away from the body shop I work at.
i would like to use the table for both- im fabbing the frame and then i want to take it to ride height to mock up the suspension etc- i like the idea of a rotating table- i have a rotisserie i could use to do that but its not something i would trust to get the table 100% level- which is my main concern i definitely see a difference in the tables and what they are used for so i guess i need to think this over more before i cut any metal
cal1954, nice table bro. I ask for a spot on yer friends list, homies gotta stick together. ~sololobo~
Sorry to bring up an old thread but does anyone have any celette benches or fixtures for sale? Thanks, Kenny
I know its an old thread. Just picked a fixtured advertised as frame table.. 5'x13',3"x1.5'' channel..it's abit twisty.. Cheap enough to buy some 4"x4" steel to make it stronger. Thoughts.?
can you scrounge or afford 2 4x8 shts of 3/16 or 1/4 to skin it with-would sure be enough to stiffen it,not enough maybe to clamp to
I have 20' of 2x2 3/16 10' of 5x2 1/8" and other channel..could maybe build a truss system underneath and bolt it to the floor.. And yes...shoulda bought new steel
Missed this one. When I started my chassis business in the 80's I decided I nee a frame table. I went scavenging to a couple steel yards in Hastings NE. At City Iron And Metal I found a brand new 4X10X1/2 inch sheet of steel plus some new 3X3 inch sticks of 1/4 inch wall square tube. Everything new but surplus. They cut the tube to my specs and I hauled the whole thing home in the back of my pickup. I built the frame with adjusters in the bottom of the legs to level the table. To this day I don't know how I got that sheet of steel onto the frame work. Later I added a couple of detachable wheels with tires so I could move it around. 1 move & 1500+ chassis later I'm still using the table for other things as my chassis building days have come to an end.
Well since I kinda high jacked this thread,I Wana update,I was communicating between this older gent(seller of the flimsy channel frame) and another guy selling a 4x8 3/4" top table for 300 bucks. He offered to deliver the table last Saturday but I had a buddy lay some concrete in front of my gate so I couldn't do it. He called me last night saying he could bring it over today and I bought it. Good thing I bought the rolling platform cuz it was easy unloading it from the trailer onto the platform and easy to roll it closer to the work area.. Now I gotta flip it over tomorrow. I put the platform for sale..hope to get rid of it soon.
In most areas you couldn't buy that piece of steel plate for that price. When a friend of mine closed his rod shop and auctioned off most of his shop equipment he had a frame table that I wish I had a shop to put it in at the time that sold for less than scrap price. None of us who were interested in it had room to put it.
After it sat in my storage building at the farm for 10 years when I moved to my new smaller shop I gave my spare 4X10 table to Dennis Saum for his son in law. It was all a mid sized Bobcat could do to get it on the trailer.
Our shop welding table. If I was doing a bunch of frames I would make one a bit bigger. Top was blanchard ground flat. Risers are movable and work well for all we do. They were blanchard ground flat as well. And yes bounce around welding. We added the forklift tubes after a few years and just putting them on warped the top about a 1/16". Had to have it re-blanchard ground. Big one is our other table. We built the legs, but the tops are 5' x 10' platten tables. Bout 1200# a piece.
The Jalopy Journal
