Build Your Own Welding Table for Hobbyist Welders
Looking for a welding table for your garage? David will show you how he made his table and how it compares to a table he bought! Let us know if you've ever made a welding table.
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Hi, I’m David with General Air. When setting up your shop at home, you have two basic options for a welding work surface - you can build your own worktable or for under $3,000 there’s a few options for a premade worktable and today we’re going to look at the benefits of either option. Let’s take a look at the first option, which is our homemade table. Now, the benefit to these tables is they are only limited by your imagination! You can make them as large or as small or tall or short as you want them to. Another thing that I noticed about this table is we started off with a 3/16 top which later on, realized it was a little bit too thin so then just weld it on a ¼-inch skin and then I was able to bolt on a vise and add this rack for all of my clamps. So really as the table was being used, I added things that I needed along the way and that's one of the benefits to the homemade table because you're not worried about it, if you don't like something cut it off, if you want to add something, weld it on. The construction of this table is with 2x2 11 gauge mild steel square tubing, and that comes down there's just a rectangle at the bottom and a rectangle at the top, really simple design, nothing you can't build with just a simple speed square and a measuring tape. The top is a 3/16 mild steel, and we have quarter-inch skins on either corners so that's where I've got my Vice bolted or if I need to use a sledgehammer to motivate a part to get a better fit up. I can use those edges of the table without risking bending the top, this thinner top, but still keeps the table nice and light so I can move it around. And I can move it around by the castors we have bolted on the bottom. They’re just a heavy industrial caster I got at my local hardware store with brakes on them so I can move the table around and when I want it to be solid I just apply those brakes. I’ve had this table for about a year, I've added a few things to it, started off with a basic design, of course we've added the quarter inch skins on either corner. I've also added this nice clamp rack, which is just 1x1 square tubing that the clamps all hook onto. They're out of the way and nice and neat looking. On the backside of the table, I've added a power strip so on the underside of the table that's where it's bolted up with some tabs that I welded on. And then I just have an extension cord that runs out to my wall, so if I need to plug in my grinder or my saw, I've got power right there. I definitely wanted power to my table, so I added this little power strip I just got at the local hardware store, but I wanted it underneath the table but I also wanted the ability to take it on and off. I'm sure there's a little more eloquent way to get this bolted on here, but this was my take on it. I got an old door hinge, and I welded that underneath the table and so if we want to remove this all we have to do is unscrew this little nut, flip this hinge down, and the power strip will pull right out of its home. Given the common materials that we've used to make this table, the price for this table is well under $500. Let's now take a look at the other option - buying a table. This table is made by Strong Hand and it's called their Rhino Cart. I really like this table because for precision work and fixturing, when I need all of the third hand tools and things to hold my parts together while I weld them together, you really can't beat this type of table. Now of course the table comes with everything that you see here for a little under $3,000, it's got this nice pegboard it keeps everything organized as you can see, I've got a few other things in there, my grinding wheels, so it has a lot of storage in there so you can use it to keep your tools. And it's been a great table, I've really abused the top of it, it's got a tie nitrate coating on the top, it's a 5/8 thick tabletop, and it just doesn't even look like there's any wear on it, it looks brand new. Hey guys, thank you so much for watching. If you enjoyed our video like, comment, and subscribe. If you want to see what we're doing or see what we're up to, we're also on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. Thanks so much.