Swiveling Weld Table

[DanielJanse]

Hello all...I am new to the forum and found it through a web search for welding table designs. I like the design and completed table by KB:

http://www.millerwelds.com/resources...read.php?t=869

The raised top is a nice touch, but I wonder if anyone has considered using an industrial "lazy susan" fixture to make a swiveling table top...some of these are rated to 1000 lbs or more, especially the pallet carousel types. I realize table tops have a tendancy to warp and sometimes we end up pounding the crap out of them, but with the proper design this might be a good idea...sort of like a large TIG positioning table...any thoughts or experience?

Thanks, Dan

[Portable Welder]

Depending on the size of the table this is very doable the only thing standing in your way is cost.

I use a company called McMaster-Carr They are like Granger but have about 3 times as much product in every catagory.

Bearings and then go to Lazy susan, they show a bunch of different ones.

[DanielJanse]

Great product catalog...Found a listing with specific reference to a welding table...I wonder if there is any surplus or scrap item that would serve the same purpose...something I could find in a junk yard. Price isn't too bad...I especially like the locking versions.

Regards, Daniel

[fjk]

...
Or you could put the welding table on swiveling casters.
Which might be preferable 'cuz you could clamp/tack/etc things
to the top without worrying about whether the lazy-susan can
take it, or whack things with the bfh...

Btw, McMaster is great -- wonderful catalog/web pages and they
sell to anyone. For Graingers you need a business account.
Frank

[chrisgay@sbcglo]

Hello all...I am new to the forum and found it through a web search for welding table designs. I like the design and completed table by KB:

http://www.millerwelds.com/resources...read.php?t=869

The raised top is a nice touch, but I wonder if anyone has considered using an industrial "lazy susan" fixture to make a swiveling table top...some of these are rated to 1000 lbs or more, especially the pallet carousel types. I realize table tops have a tendancy to warp and sometimes we end up pounding the crap out of them, but with the proper design this might be a good idea...sort of like a large TIG positioning table...any thoughts or experience?

Thanks, Dan

It's a fantastic idea.

A friend of mine took a swivel/bearing system from some kind of crane and stuck it under his 1000# dead flat cast welding table. It spins like butter. I'm sure he found the monster lazy susan as a surplus item and he's an extraordinary machinist. Honestly, I don't think he had to do much to mate the two, but he had a good idea and found the right part to execute it.

One of my welding "tables" is a 1" thick aluminum disk which rests on a lazy susan thingy, and I use it all the time for TIG welding smaller work. It's great to spin the table and not have to reposition my chair and or body.

I'm in the process of making a second, similar table from an old cast stand I have that has a built in swivel action to it. No bearings, but it's not like it will be spinning at any RPMs.

I'll be sure to post some pics when I get around to making it. Let's just say, "It's on the list."