MAD fabricators..if you were to design a fab table......

I am planning the winter overhaul on the shop.
It's cluttered, unorganized and hard to work in. I have decided to take the back 1/3 of the shop which is approx. 24x10 and put all of my welders, chop saws, drill presses in one area.

It will be walled off and a whole seperate"fabrication room". That way the grinder dust doesn't get all over the cars I am doing body ork on and the bodywork dust stays off of the tools.

Now I am going to build a table that is approx. 20 feet long and 30 inches in depth or width. The top will be plate steel in certain areas in order to keep certain tolerances. If you were to buld a table what things would you incorporate in it?

I have a few things in mind like...the legs will be made out of square 3" tubing so that I can have "drop in" tools such as my tubing bender, tubing notcher, vise etc. The would be removeable so that you wouldn't burn up a lot of floor space having things bolted down. Any ideas are welcome.

 

The top of yer table will be one inch thick metal and is 4 ft by 8 ft...... I'm building a room in my shop right now, got the sheetrock on the ceiling yesterday. It will house my lathes, mill, metal brake, bead roller, drill press, maybe some of the bench grinders. I'm doing it so I will have a clean room. Also its small enuff I can heat and air condition it. 20 x 20 If I wuz rich I'd air condition the whole building.

 

Allow for the ability to bolt/clamp parts and fixtures in many differnt areas of the bench. It seems easier to put your clamps wherever they need to be rather than situate your parts to where the clamping surface is. Also, build a fixture that will hold parts vertically and allow it to also rotate.

 

Don't just take it for granted that 1" plate will be absolutely Flat either. I made a couple of Fabrication Tables using 4" Channel Frames, 4" Pipe legs, and 1" Plate Tops. The entire plate had droop towards all four corners and it took a lot of prying, jacking, and shimming to get it anywhere close to Flat.

From the center, out to each corner, there was probably 1/8" of droop.

 

1 inch plate is overkill to me. My welding and fab table is
1/2 plate and is plenty heavy. Make a smaller 1" thick table "surface plate" that can be surface ground flat for
tolerance work. I would add horizontal tube under the table
that would accept a smaller tube slid into it, mounted to whatever your tool is. This way to can fab things that need to droop or be held verticle to eyeball etc. Mount your bench vice to one corner of your fab table. If the
vise base swivels you can do alot of holding with just that vise. I put my bead roller in the vice and with the weight if the table, I can really crank on 'er. Good luck.

 

I was thinking more along the lines of 1/4" plate or 3/16" plate. I would have no way to hoist a sheet of 1/2" plate I don't think.

I was also thinking of mounting a dust collector to catch the shavings etc. under the grinders, drill presses etc. Kinda like a central vac on a house.

 

My fab table has a 1/2" X 36" X 114" top plate. It sits on an angle framework (3" X 3" X 1/4") and the top is bolted to the frame with a dozen 3/8" flathead countersunk bolts. I can shim between the frame and the underside of the top plate to get it flat. All four legs have adjusters at the floor so I can level it all up.

 

"1 inch plate is overkill to me."


It would be overkill for most people. The company I was working for when I built those tables did a lot of Heavy equipment fabrication. Some of our Parts were pre-stressed before Welding to cancel out the pull of the weld. We also used the Tables to Straighten twisted parts. Lots of Threaded anchor points, along with Jacks, Dunnage, and Porta-powers, and you can straighten just about anything you can fit on the table..

 

I would make one with a cage for strippers to dance in......

 

SJ, how much did that weigh and how did you move it?

 

Root,in my shop we made a chopsaw bench.Its about 18' in length by 30" deep.The chopsaw is flush mounted in the middle cuz I don't work on the floor.We have measurement marked off so you know where your cutting without getting the tape out everytime.
A cheap and easy(just like our women)table to build is outa checkerplate.Just flip it upside down.I have a fab table thats 5'x5'x1/2" thick.Its checkerplate sitting on top of a sheet of 3/4" plywood which is on a steel framed table.heres lots of crossbracing so it don't sag.I made the table 5x5 so I can actually reach and weld from anywhere from around the table.
We also built a smaller jig table that we bolt to the floor when we need to twist something up.........Shiny

 

Root with my tabletop we moved it off the truck with 4 guys.I put it on the table on top of the plywood and haven't even bolted it down.doesn't slide around at all.......Shiny

 

I have plenty of club members....they are expendable.

 

[ QUOTE ]
Now I am going to build a table that is approx. 20 feet long and 30 inches in depth or width.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sounds more like a work bench rather than a fab table. I'd incorporate an area with heavy grating for torch and plazma cutting. I think 1/4" plate would be heavy enough for a 30" span.

 

1/4" can be a little bouncy,if it's not well supported,and your doing heavy stuff.
The upside down checker plate is a good idea.

 

Gonna make it approx 8 ft I think. I called in a quote for the 1/2" x 30" x 8'. We'll see what they come up with.

 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Now I am going to build a table that is approx. 20 feet long and 30 inches in depth or width.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sounds more like a work bench rather than a fab table. I'd incorporate an area with heavy grating for torch and plazma cutting. I think 1/4" plate would be heavy enough for a 30" span.

[/ QUOTE ]

Tommy, you are partially right. I want a big surface to mount my belt sanders, drill presses etc to so some of it will be used more like a work bench.

I do like the idea of the grating.I think I would have to have a catch can of some sort for all the slag.

 

Shiny, what is checkerplate. never heard that term before.

 

A proper fab table is called a peg bench,usually 4-5" thick and 3to 5' square, holes thru it in a grid pattern for stakes, cast iron.
weighs a coupla tons. they stay square.
find em at machinery yards,usually for scrap price.i love em.

 

A good way to make a cutting surface for Torch and plasma work is to use 2" Strips of 16 gauge mounted on edge, spaced about an inch apart, and mounted in slots.

Make it where the top of the strips are level with the tabletop, then when they get wore out, pull them out and replace them with more strips. We have a 10'X12' CNC Plasma Table at my Shop and that is what the entire bed is made from. Ours runs 8 hrs a day and the strips usually last 6 months, so in a home shop, you may never have to replace them.


(Ric)I assume by Checkerplate, they are talking about what I call Treadplate, some call it Diamondplate. Its steel with the raised bumps like you see Aluminum Truck boxes built from.

 

Root, I bought an inspection table at a local auction to use as a frame jig for cycles. Look at lab equipment auctions. Mine's about 8 feet long, 30 inches wide and is constructed of surface ground 1" plate, and 6" angleiron legs, frame, and supports. It came with some gigantic super-expensive levelers on each leg. I measured the straightness across the top and found it to be accurate within the texture of the paint.

Took 8 real-men types to unload it. I have to use a pallet jack to move it.

Cruel trick - it's painted lab grey and doesn't look like much. I dare some of my beefier pals to move it for me. They can usually budge it, or get one end about 1/4 inch off the ground, but soon drop it in disbelief.

What someone else said - look at real machinery yards for a heavy 18inch thick cast iron fab table. You'll have to get a rigger to put it in place for you - unless you've got a decent forklift - but when you want to bend junk, or have a dead accurate surface to jig up parts, it's the answer. Wish I bid a few more bucks on one I saw at auction this summer.

 

Another source for a perfectly Flat surface is the Granite Tops that a lot of laboratory type machines use. I had a chance at getting one a while back, but its 3 foot square and 18" thick. I didn't have any way to get it out of my truck at home, so I had to let it pass...

 

[ QUOTE ]
Another source for a perfectly Flat surface is the Granite Tops

[/ QUOTE ]
We had a mobile Granite Surface Plate,about 3' square and at least 12" thick
on a heavy base with big casters.Inspection grade,I think it was over $3000 new.
A couple weeks ago,The Boy Genius was using it as a welding table.

 

Root....Here's how you calculate the weight of steel.

Thickness X width X length X .283.

.5 X 36 X 114 X .283 = 580.7 say 581 lbs.

I recruited a few friends and we lifted it up onto the frame.

 

Too many machinists and not enough construction workers! Just kidding. I'd make the thing out of wood with 2 layers of 3/4" plywood glued and screwed. Then get some 11 ga. bent up with a 6" back splash, 30"flat top then a 2" front bull nose with a 1/2" turn back under the plywood. I'd line the cutting area with sheet metal and make a fitted slag catch pan like you said. How accurate a top do you need in the real world? If you make it too perfect you'll be afraid to do anything on it. Unless you are making a Rolex.

 

tommy....the advantage of a heavy top steel table is you can tack weld fixtures to it then break them off and grind it smooth after. A light gauge top will warp from the heat. I've been doing this with mine for over 25 years and it's still flat enough to do fixture things accurately as I need them to be.

 

I've been planning one for my shop and I am going to use 1/2" or 3/4" 4X8 with a fabricated stand out of 3X4X1/4 square tubing. After hearing about SJFast's table I'm planning to bolt the top on with countersunk flathead bolts. The origional plan was to make it a total welded fabrication, stress relieve it, and then have the top surfaced. I've got access to heat treating facilitys and very large machine shops to do the work but it just makes sense to be able to shim it back level if it ever pulls out of square. I'm prone to overkill anyway after working with race car fabrication for so long and having to have dead flat and square surface plates to work on. My requirements now are not that critical but I still want a good flat surface to do fabrication.

Frank

 

Cool formula.

Looks like a 8 footer will run me about 150 bux. That will probably be one of the last things I bring in...just because of the weight and the hassle of moving it. I thought about adding casters but they would have to be some bad mojos to hold all the weight. Not sure I want it moving around.

 

[ QUOTE ]
A proper fab table is called a peg bench,usually 4-5" thick and 3to 5' square, holes thru it in a grid pattern for stakes, cast iron.
weighs a coupla tons. they stay square.
find em at machinery yards,usually for scrap price.i love em.

[/ QUOTE ]

My dad just bought one of those.

 

[ QUOTE ]
tommy....the advantage of a heavy top steel table is you can tack weld fixtures to it then break them off and grind it smooth after. A light gauge top will warp from the heat. I've been doing this with mine for over 25 years and it's still flat enough to do fixture things accurately as I need them to be.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah I agree. I have a small one 2'x2'. I was talking about the 20'x 30" for mounting his tools.

Years ago I built a universal frame jig. 2 10" I beams tied together with 4' sch 40 pipe at the webs. I used "Unistrut" cross members mounted flush with the slot facing up. That gave me a T slot fastening system with infinite adjustability. Similar to the slots in a Bridgeport table. You could set the fixtures for a width for anything from a T to a 48. Build a stock 32 or pinch it for a 28-29 body. One advantage it had, you could climb up inside the frame for final welding. It worked well but took up too much room for a hobbiest. I cut it up.