Mobile Welding Table - My First Home Project

[chadjcyr]

Hello everyone... I'm an emergency vehicle technician up here in Northern Maine and just recently started to learn how to MIG weld at work so I could make my own equipment brackets. I really enjoyed it; So one thing lead to another and I took an adult ed stick welding class this past December. Now I managed to get a Millermatic DVI2 MIG for Xmas so I can play at home.

Inspired by the large welding table project found here on the Miller website and few photos I found of other welding tables on the Internet, I have built my first welding project. It is a 2'x4' welding table on casters with built in electrical outlets on a 12' power cord extension...

[chadjcyr]

I have incorporated a few tool holders and will probably add some more as I go. I refurbished the bence vise seen here and have yet to bolt it down - not sure which side to put it on. I also have an emergency switch on the right side to shut down the outlets should need be.

This is a pretty cool forum and I hope to frequent it a bit - all sorts of neat ideas to draw from.

Cheers All!

- Chad

[EdZep]

that's right nice

Well detailed, attractive. And, a good number of Vise-grips. I left mine unpainted, thinking, like you, that I might add stuff later.

[chadjcyr]

Well detailed, attractive. And, a good number of Vise-grips. I left mine unpainted, thinking, like you, that I might add stuff later.

Thanks! You can never have enough vise-clamps! I also love to use my bag-full of magnetic clamps; They all came into good use to build my table.

I don't mind brushing off some of the paint to add a few more holders. I definately plan to add some more 1/4" rod pegs on the strip below my current ones for more tools. I just ordered some 18" ball-bearing drawer slides and plan to fab a shallow drawer to hold grinding discs, soapstone, gloves etc.

I need to make a standalone table for the chop saw and rack for my steel stock.

- Chad

[EdZep]

I like the drawer idea

...and/or partial enclosure. But, I'm holding off anything like that, until -- hoping to have a brake to get some structural bends, and not have to weld every edge.

Yeah, I got a 4 inch magnetic corner square to help with mine, but, it wasn't truly square. Even exchanged it for one that was just slightly better. I'll buy a better one, if such exists. And, with the collection of filings/grindings accumulated, I can see where the switchable ones would be better.

[safetydave]

mobile welding table

Hello and welcome to the site,
very nice table you got and glad to see you put alot of thought in to what works for your needs. Also a good thing to have a shut-off switch for the saw. some thing to think about when making a drawer is even though the drawer will be of steel or if you make it from aluminum the amount of weight your putting in it and the capacity of the slides you use to hold the drawer with, the reason I say this is I've made drawer base's for race trailers and it never fails when we tell not to overload the drawers with stuff for fear of bottoming out on the other drawer lips,but like I said it is some thing to think about and I'm sure you have done your research on what you need to make things work. So best of luck to you and your welding projects and keep the pics come .

[metal-doctor]

Welcome to the site as well & nice neat work. You put some nice features as in electrical,vise holders etc. Keep up the good work & thanks for sharing your project. How do you like your welder so far?

[chadjcyr]

Hello and welcome to the site,
very nice table you got and glad to see you put alot of thought in to what works for your needs. Also a good thing to have a shut-off switch for the saw. some thing to think about when making a drawer is even though the drawer will be of steel or if you make it from aluminum the amount of weight your putting in it and the capacity of the slides you use to hold the drawer with, the reason I say this is I've made drawer base's for race trailers and it never fails when we tell not to overload the drawers with stuff for fear of bottoming out on the other drawer lips,but like I said it is some thing to think about and I'm sure you have done your research on what you need to make things work. So best of luck to you and your welding projects and keep the pics come .

Thanks Dave, I ordered a few sets of 100lbs capacity drawer slides. I don't plan on putting too much weight into the drawer and keeping it shallow; I don't want it to sag either. I also plan to put dividers into the drawer to keep it organized and possibly act as gussets to keep the bottom rigid.

I like the idea of putting a similar electrical shut-off in my dedicated saw table plans and will have extension cord built into that table as well. Good thinking.

- Chad

[chadjcyr]

Welcome to the site as well & nice neat work. You put some nice features as in electrical,vise holders etc. Keep up the good work & thanks for sharing your project. How do you like your welder so far?

Thanks Metal-Doctor - I love my DVI2 thus far. I do have a dedicated 230V outlet which allows me to make the most of it, however I did use it on 115V this past week to weld some light stuff - I was still impressed. I never would have thought how much fun it is to have a welder at home. I love pumping out projects

- Chad

[willy]

Welcome aboard...

Table looks darn good and I like the color! You're right about the vise grips
My only suggestion would be to put those little plastic deals in the outlets (the ones meant to keep little kids from sticking forks and such in) to keep grindings out - probably not a big deal but I know how my luck is

[fun4now]

looks great, good to have ya with us.

[KBar]

Nice table, I found out with my bench no matter where you mount the vise, it will always be in the way at one time or another.

I took notice of the electrical boxes on the bench also, nice thought for a portable bench, my only worry would be making sure the cord is unplugged before you do any welding.

[FusionKing]

Nice table, I found out with my bench no matter where you mount the vise, it will always be in the way at one time or another.

I took notice of the electrical boxes on the bench also, nice thought for a portable bench, my only worry would be making sure the cord is unplugged before you do any welding.

Yea I sorta pondered that also....not sure I would want that kinda power feeding back into my electric box.(at home) Would be a PITA to unplug it every time I started to weld and then plug back in again

Dang nice table tho...great work....looks like it would be fine anywhere.

Maybe someone who really knows their stuff will chime in on the electrical outlet issue.

[chadjcyr]

Table looks darn good and I like the color! You're right about the vise grips
My only suggestion would be to put those little plastic deals in the outlets (the ones meant to keep little kids from sticking forks and such in) to keep grindings out - probably not a big deal but I know how my luck is

Thanks Willy - The outlets are recessed immediately beneath the table about 2 or so inches so that should shield them from grind shaving, but I think I have some of those plastic insert covers around somewhere for good measure. I had thought about weatherproof recepticle covers with the flip covers, but I decided not to bother since I find those flip covers to be clumsy.

- Chad

[chadjcyr]

looks great, good to have ya with us.

Nice table, I found out with my bench no matter where you mount the vise, it will always be in the way at one time or another.

I took notice of the electrical boxes on the bench also, nice thought for a portable bench, my only worry would be making sure the cord is unplugged before you do any welding.

Yea I sorta pondered that also....not sure I would want that kinda power feeding back into my electric box.(at home) Would be a PITA to unplug it every time I started to weld and then plug back in again

Dang nice table tho...great work....looks like it would be fine anywhere.

Maybe someone who really knows their stuff will chime in on the electrical outlet issue.

Thanks to everyone for your compliments and suggestions... it's great to have a medium to share.

Hmmmm... I didn't realize there would be a major problem with the electrical since we have a similar setup on our welding table at work (although it isn't a mobile platform). If someone with some electrical expertise could let me know if I am going to have problems. The electrical is grounded to the outlet boxes, thus grounded to the table and wired with 12/3 wire throughout. Could turning the outlets off with my switch (i.e. disconnecting the "hot") provide me a means of not having to disconnect before welding should it be deemed necessary? Or do I need a complete disconnect, ground and all?

Thanks for the heads up!

- Chad