Hey yall!
I know i've been on the dark side of the moon, my day job is nutty, and has gotten way out of hand over the last 12 months. BUT im back in the garage, and here is what Im up to.
I bought a certiflat welding table from weldtables.com after planning to build my own and never getting around to it. I bought the 1/2 inch steel top and square tube legs, but my welding skill is low, and I never found the time to do it. AND all the parts are so heavy, I have to ask for help wich sucks. My table top must weigh 400lbs if its an oz.
I liked this table because of the tab and slot construction that looked idiot proof. And geek beat does a good video on construction.
There is a lot to like. The build is not intimidating for rookies. Thats the best part. AND they look great, that never hurts. I just fit it together in my garage and here are my first impressions
Love-
Laser cut pieces- its amazing how well it fits together once bolted and clamped. the steel pieces were not perfectly flat, I could see bends in them beforehand, that concerned me a little, but once the bolts were on, it was flat, with almost no attention.
Fab wings- these are shelves that you build that can extend your table, or help fabricate by making vertical walls on the table. I got a 36x36 table so it would not be huge in my garage when not in use, but could extend with the 2 wings to be 36x60.
Shipping - if you can get it freight, it comes fast. I had mine in 2 days
Dont love -
The website- I bought one originally thinking the kit came with legs, and it dosent. Only when I realized i bought the wrong table did i understand that the cost did not cover legs/casters. That set me back another $200. ALSO, the set up of the site has parts floating in space, and you can miss things. for instance. I completely missed that there was a 36x42 table available. I thought the 36x36, was the size beneith the 36x48. Had I known, that would have been the option I'd have bought. But too late now, I cannot even imagine bolting this thing back to the pallet and paying to ship it back. Ive already stretched the budget on this and that would completely blow it. bottom line, read the website carefully.
No intsructions- You have to rely on geek beats video which is REALLY GOOD, but, he is building a 30x30 table, with 3 sections so he needed 3 threaded rods. Mine is a 36x36, and there are 4 sections, I went to Home depot to buy the rods before the table was received, so I could jump right on it, but alas, I've just hit the wall on christmas day trying to build because my table has 4 sections instead of 3, So I need another threaded rod, that I cant get until tomorrow. Table specific instructions would have been nice.
The gripes im coming up with have nothing to do with the actual table. Thats how nice it is. Good quality, and well thought out. The design is really fantastic. I may want another one when im done with this, they make custom tables, I might ask them to give me a kit with no holes in it for a regular work bench, so I could bolt them together for longer stock.
Here are some shots
This is the top I started with
And all the other pieces
Here we are mocked up. Did it in about 10 min.
Once mocked up, I put the threaded rods in, you see im short one. Thats where I hit the wall today.
This only holds it in one direction, so I added some pipe clamps
Finally I put on the corners and bolted them
I made everything hand tight and then put the square on it, and I couldnt find anything to correct. Thats how tight the lazer cuts are. Normally I have to mod everything a little, not so here. Very refreshing. Now if I only had another threaded rod.......
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