Portable Welding Stand

[MarkBall2]

Yes. It is a simple "X" bracing for the legs with a bolt where the "X" meets. I have one side of the "X" permenantly mounted to the table with bolts on the outside of the angle frame, the other side just swivels up to the inside of the angle iron frame of the top.

As long as you aren't lifting up on the top, the table is pretty stable. When your done with the table, the legs swivel away from the top & it folds flat to store against the wall.

If I needed to make it more stable, I could drill a hole in the angle & legs then run a pin through it so it doesn't fall. But for me, I don't need the pin.

[FormerTankSarge]

MB2,

Nice stand, it looks like two of side tubing pieces go to the inside of the stand when it's set up, is that what's "locking" it into place?

[Don52]

One of the teams that my company sponsors is team 217 out of the Ford transmission plant in Sterling Heights MI. We have enough machinists, technicians and engineers associated with the team that we staff a complete portable machine shop for all of the teams at the Wayne State University regional.

We brought five band saws, three belt sanders, two portable lathes, one portable milling machine, drill press and arbor press for broaching keyways as well as the Dynasty 200 DX welder. We had 5 machinists available so we could pretty much make any part required, without any wait. I did all of the welding.

Some of the grippers were made of 1/16 wall x 1 x 1 square tubing. The original welds weren't the greatest and they failed during the competition. This particular team had three grippers. I repaired the cracked welds and ground out and re-welded all of the welds that I didn't like. I had finished one and was working on the second when they came outside to the welding trailer during the finals because the third one had failed.

One robot was about 1" too high, so it didn't pass the tech inspection. I cut it down and re-welded it. It was made of 1/8 inch angle and plate. The robot had an aluminum hinge on the top that I had to cut down and re-weld.

I hope that this gives you an idea of what it was like.

[metalmeltr]

could you tell us about what you were doing (in detail) and your expiriances repairing the bots? Great stand.

[MarkBall2]

I built one several years ago using 1" square tubing & expanded metal. It works pretty good, is at a height I can work with (read, not on the floor) & I can attach the ground clamp to it.

When I'm done with it, it folds flat & stands against the wall. In these pics I was building entrance ramps to the house for my M-I-L's wheelchair & walker.

[mikeswelding]

Greaat idea! I'm going to build one today.

BTW, looking at the stand itself, it looks like the ones I have gotten from HD. Only difference is that the HD stands have yellow handles and work great. I use them for feeding some very heavy steel to my bandsaw and they have never failed.

[jonnymag]

Nice portable stand.

[LewisCobb]

Craig - I took a look at the stand - the screw does not directly bear down on the sliding post but on some in between leaf of metal. Could cause the same problems as you mentioned with the smooth ended screw though. I couldn't see how to take the thing apart but will take another crack at it tomorrow. Another option might be just to extend the lever arm of the tightening toggle and get more force on the thing.

sorry to hijack this thread

[LewisCobb]

Lewis:
I'm guessing that the end of the locking screw is rounded off. If the locking screw is 3/8", use a 5/16" drill and drill the end of the locking screw. This will make it look, and act, like a set-screw. You could also add a second lock to the other side to double your clamping power.

I like the sound of this idea Craig. I'm on my way to the workshop to try and clean the place up and will have a look at the locking screw when I dig as far as one of these roller stands .

Will let you know what I come up with.

Thanks

[Craig in Denver]

Lewis:
I'm guessing that the end of the locking screw is rounded off. If the locking screw is 3/8", use a 5/16" drill and drill the end of the locking screw. This will make it look, and act, like a set-screw. You could also add a second lock to the other side to double your clamping power.

[nfinch86]

nfinch86-Canadian Weldor :

Could you C-Clamp it???..... Norm :

[FormerTankSarge]

Very cool portable unit, I like it.

I have one of those stands for woodworking and have used it while welding, I must be lucky, I've not had any problems with mine moving after I've set it.

But, I usually set it up run the table saw for a few cuts and put it away...

[LewisCobb]

well you could just drill a hole and put in a pin at the working height. Hang the pin on a chain so you don't loose it.

I had thought of that but have so many places where it has to be tweaked into the proper height I was hoping to figure out some way to rig a better clamping mechanism in it.

[Bryan L]

well you could just drill a hole and put in a pin at the working height. Hang the pin on a chain so you don't loose it.

[LewisCobb]

As a newbie welder with a somewhat limited space garage this really caught my eye.

Your stands look to be identical to the ones I have in my woodworking shop and they are the worst pieces of s*** that I ever bought - no matter how hard I reef on the red handle, the roller and stem manage to gently slide back down into the receiver tube, and it usually happens just micro seconds before I make a cut. I have been tempted to toss them on several occasions but when I got into welding as a hobby I thought to myself "I'll teach those things now". I have not yet really looked it over to see how I can correct the looseness with a good session at the stick welder though.

Did you do anything special to yours to prevent them from creeping down, or maybe I just got a couple of chinese lemons (I'm repeating myself with that phrase I know.....)

Cheers and thanks for the great project idea,

Lewis