I found a welding table locally today. Half-inch thick steel plate top,
big steel column leg, smaller plate foot. The top's about 4' x 5'. I'm
in love with it already. But I have questions, and they've got to be in
the list's wheelhouse:
1) The column has a few 'stringers' supporting the top, but over time
the top has sagged ever-so-slightly on the long axis. Maybe a half inch
on either end. Really probably not enough to worry about...but where's
the fun in that? I'm thinking:
A) flip it over on the concrete slab floor, heat it with the torch, let
it sit for a month or two and see if it improves. Repeat if it seems to
be working.
B) Find the two thickest square-section steel/iron beams I can get and
clamp them across the table and try to pull the ends up to flat. This
seemed like the better idea until I worried that I might very well end
up just smashing down the middle rather than pulling up the ends. I
thought when I got it to flat, I'd weld some beams under the table to
try and keep it that way. I'd like to not have the beams right on the
edges so I can clamp stuff on the edge.
2) The table I learned to weld on was an old robotics table, about 1.5
inch thick steel, drilled and tapped every few inches for the clamps we
used to hold stuff on the mill table. I'd like to drill and tap the top
on mine in a similar fashion, but I've only got a half inch of thickness
to work with. Any reason I shouldn't weld nuts under the table after
drilling and tapping (I'm thinking mostly corrosion issues, but what do
I care if the nut corrodes more to the table?)
3) The same table had a lug on a leg that we kept the lead attached to
permanently. It was very nice to set the workpiece on the table and be
able to have at it. My new table seems to be all-steel and I'd think I
could do something similar, but should I trust the 'connectivity' of the
whole table? Should I weld a lug to the underside of the tabletop and
run a cable down to the base?
4) It's Florida. It stays 100% humid at all times. I want to paint
everything but the top, and I'd like to keep that part fairly decent.
Any suggestions for a good battleship-tough high-heat paint and for
anything I should use on the top? Any sort of oil seems like a bad idea.
Seriously, this thing is better than any of the stuff I got for
Christmas. It has to weigh 700-800 lbs at least. I'm not sure I could
have bought the top for what I paid for the whole thing. It's awesome. :-)
Thanks.
Scott
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