Adding Casters to Welding Table

[Don52]

I found that I wasn't using my welding table too often because it was up against the wall and large weldments couldn't overhand the table due to the wall. The empty table weights about 400 lbs and I was storing metal on the bottom shelf so it made it even heavier. The bottom line is that the table was so difficult to move that I never moved it. My solution was to modify the table to add casters and leveling feet. The first picture shows the original table before modifications.

1. Original welding table


My shop has three rooms in it and I wanted the welding table to fit through the doorways that connected the rooms of the shop. My addition is one of the rooms has a floor that is 11 inches higher than the adjacent room and I have a ramp to allow me to push welders and other equipment from one room to the other. I went through a bunch of concepts that allowed the table to fit through doorways and to make it up the ramp without bottoming out. I also wanted the casters and leveling feet to be wide enough to be stable.

2. SolidWorks Model of modified welding table


2.1 Swivel Caster


2.2 Weld Table Fixed Caster


2.3 Weld Table Swivel Caster on Ramp

[Don52]

The first step was make all of the components as shown in the following picture. I ordered the 1" x 3" x 24 " bar, which is shown on the right, from On Line Metals. I used this bar to make the new thicker feet .

3. Parts done except feet


4. Cutting feet


4.1 Chamfering edge of foot


The bottom of the bar had mill scale on it, so I used my Strong Hand Tools Grasshopper to ground the part.

5. Using Grasshopper to ground part


5.1 Caster mounting plate welded

[Don52]

6. Welding caster mounting plate to tubular strut


7. Caster mount plates welded


The table weighs about 400 lbs so I cribbed it up by jacking up each side and adding boards under the feet on each end.

8. cribbing up table


I have a Z-Lift table, so I used it to jack it up the rest of the way.

9. Lifting table


Once I the table was lifted, the first step was to cut off three inches from the bottom of the legs. This was necessary to prevent the leveling feet from bottoming out on the corner of the ramp.

10. Leg ends cut off

[Don52]

The next step was to weld the new thicker feet to the bottom of the legs. I used 1" thick metal for the feet to give good support for the 5/8-ll UNC threaded leveling feet, which I purchased from McMaster Carr.

11. Feet in position for welding


To get adequate penetration for welding the 1" feet to the 1/8" tubing of the leg, I used my
Lincoln 210 MP welder with dual shield flux core wire. The dual shield wire has a high arc density so it has outstanding penetration. I didn't require it in this case, but the slag allows this wire to be easily used in all positions.

12. Welds on foot-1


13. Welds on foot-2


I used my Fireball Square to hold the struts in position for welding. (They are available from Fireball tool.)

14. Fireball Square in position


15. Strut tack welded

[Don52]

16. Top and left weld on strut


17. Right and overhead weld on strut


18. Painted


19. Casters and leveling feet mounted


20. Swivel caster

[Don52]

21. Fixed caster


I tried it out and I was able to easily move the table between rooms of my shop and push the table up the ramp.

-Don

[Ltbadd]

Nice work Don, but then we've come to expect nothing less from you!

[ryanjones2150]

Ya Don, good looking work. Thanks for posting all that.

[ryanjones2150]

I’ll take two sets of those, Don.

[Don52]

Nice work Don, but then we've come to expect nothing less from you!

Thanks.

Ya Don, good looking work. Thanks for posting all that.

You are welcome.

I’ll take two sets of those, Don.

You know it is funny, but my friend Rick at work gave me the set of casters that he recovered from the trash about seven years ago. The casters were from a skid that carries car bodies through the paint booth, so they had some paint on them, which I removed. The yellow tubes that I used for the struts, were obsolete parts from the scrap bin.