New Welding Talbe... Finished!

[tasslehawf]

Ok. You remember this one:


Well here is the final result (minus paint or something to protect it from the weather):

[ace4059]

the pics are not showing up


EDIT:
ok thanks for fixing them.

[tasslehawf]

I'd though I'd also post a little how-to as well. I've gotten really good at welding these steel sq. tubing cages for tables and other things.

First of all I wanted to show these off. These aluminum corner jigs have been soo good to me. They were only $50 ea. (from Walker Industries) I have four of 'em and they make putting these tables together possible without having a flat surface to clamp to.



So first I cut all the metal so I can make the top and bottom as mitered rectangles with at least one cross bar and (in this case) six uprights. I assemble the mitered boxes first. I clamp all four corners into the jigs before I start welding. If I can't do all four at once (sometimes the shorter dimension won't allow me to get two of the jigs next to eachother), I'll do two, tack weld and then do the other two.



I tack weld everything first. Two tacks on each side of the tubing. I tack the entire cage before I start any major welding.

Once the top and bottom are done, I'll tack the upright to one side and then put the other side on and tack that. I find often when I do this, I need I tie-down strap to force the metal into place before I clamp and weld it.

[tasslehawf]

Once the entire cage is tack welded together, then I decide where to weld. I learned after the first table that I did: if you weld everywhere the table gets warped like crazy so I always weld selectively. I weld in places that provide vertical strength, but don't cause to table to warp in such away that we bring it out of level. On the top and bottom, I only weld the vertical welds and I weld all the welds on the outside of the table.

[tasslehawf]

Then I welded the plates on for the casters. This turned out the be a disaster. One the second tap, I broke the tap off (which no surprise since I was going through 3/8" of steel), so I decided to weld studs into the holes. This didn't work particularly well either, as the welds around the studs prevent the caster plates from sitting flat so I had to weld on some 1 x 1/8" flat bar for the caster to sit on.







Finall I welded the angle iron onto the ibeams. When I put them onto the table, I was surprised how nicely the slid up and down the length of the table. There's about 1/8" of play on either side.

[Fishy Jim]

That's pretty cool. It's like a double saw horse that doesn't require level footing.

[tasslehawf]

That's pretty cool. It's like a double saw horse that doesn't require level footing.

Exactly, since I definitely don't have any of that in my back yard!

[Fishy Jim]

W beam makes great clamping stock. I think you're gonna like that rig.

[Bert]

Hope that 1/8" play won't make it too sloppy, that it could cause something to bend or warp.

You might need to get larger pneumatic tires, those small ones on that grass/dirt can be a killer!!!!!!!!

[starweld]

Do you have a wesite for Walker Industries? I googled them and didnt come up with anything.

Thanks