OT: Where can I buy metal?

An inch is a pretty thick piece of steel. Are you sure you need that? Anyway, real steel isn't bought at Home Depot. You should open the phone book and start calling steel fab shops. Most of them can tell you where they buy their steel.

Matching a huge plate like you describe above to some crap light gauge unknown material from Home Depot makes no sense. Wherever you get the top, although I suggest lowering your aspirations to something like 1/2" max, you'll be able to get real weldable structural material for the legs. I suggest 2x2x3/16' tube.

The X is also a bad way to go. Cut yourself some rails all around the base about a foot off the ground. You would do well to match this at the underside of your table top (creating a box frame). Weld all members all around with a 3/16" fillet and you could take your table to war if necessary.

Good luck.

I'm not sure that any legs you can get from the hardware store are going to hold that piece of steel up off the floor... why so friggin' thick???? You and a half dozen buddies would be able to pick that up from a "steel yard" or "welding shop" for ohhh..... four or five C notes where I live.

Suggestion..... go to the scrap yard and get some chunks of catwalk or grate. This stuff wont draw the heat out of what you're welding near as bad as a millionteen pound slab will. The openings will allow slag and/or spatter to fall away from your work surface, it will be light enough for one person to move and you can use exhaust tubing for the legs..... casters may not be a good idea especially when it comes time to bend stock..... there's no fun to be had in chasing your fab table all over the shop. A little spendier but stronger legs could be made from channel or rectangle tubing (great if you need to clamp something to the leg to get a good angle on the weld.

Don't forget that different welders and different rod/wire combos weld different . Everything works good flat... uphand and downhand usually need your tongue to be parked right with some materials responding better one way or the other. Good overheads are very hard.... TIG is the best but I'm still trying to learn (when I get the chance at a TIG machine). Flux core MIGs are OK, I guess, but I prefer gas shielding... bear in mind that welding in a wind will leave you with inclusions and voids. For aluminum, a decent gas shield machine with a teflon liner is not bad once you get used to it and doesn't cost near as much as an aluminum gun but you need to keep the hose as straight as possible. MigMix or Argoshield 75/25 is good for steel but aluminum works better with straight argon. For stick welding, nothing beats a DC machine... those AC buzz boxes - well, let's just say that you might be further ahead to stock up on crazy glue. Every time I try them, I find something to be unhappy about... my root pass doesn't have good penetration or my cap looks shabby.

Visit local welding shops and see what they use for fab tables for ideas... there is no need to re-invent the wheel on something like this.

One inch thick??? Probably need to goto a steele supplier, but I really think 1" is too thick. You'll have to rent a 1 ton truck to move it! 1/4" should be planty and if you need to weld some angle pieces or pipe underneath for support.

Forget about 1" thick mild steel. I understand your concern about deflection (warping, bending) but you are better off using something more available. I recommend building the table out of common angle sections, then attach a hefty sheet of mild steel (6-8ga, around 3/16" thick) using countersunk hardware. Then on top of that use 1/4"-1/2" sheet of aluminum.

The steel sheet will provide the stiffness and strength you need, while the aluminum will provide a nice welding surface you can use, and not have to worry about your work getting welded to the table. Weld spatter can be scraped off, or gently ground off with a sander to keep the flat surface. If the softer aluminum ever gets marred or damaged too badly, it will be cheaper to replace (and easier) in the long run.

A place to look would be

or flip through your phone book (they still make them) and look for metal suppliers or mills.

Hey Mike, you still have our number? Call Dick, he will tell you exactly what to get, and how to put it together. He's built a ton of these things.

Kate

Look in the yellow pages under "steel". There are places that sell new material and places that sell surplus or used steel. Some places carry both.

Used steel used to sell for $.25 per pound. Steel weighs 0.28 pounds per cubic inch. The piece you want to use will weigh 483 pounds!

I used a 2x4 foot piece of 5/8 thick for the solid part of my welding/work table. I used 3 in 1/4 wall square tubing for the legs. 3/16 would be plenty thick. I went with what was available outside in the cheap section. The other advice you have received is right on. Steel is HEAVY and you need to build a stout table to hold it. Its also nice that the table doesn't move when you get out the 5 pound persuader and start fine tuning your work.

I built a killer all purpose work table a few years ago. I don't have any good pictures of it but I will describe what I did.

I used 3 inch square tubing for 4 legs in the corners. The table is 4 feet wide and 8 feet long. The rails around the top were made from 3 inch Angle iron 1/4 inch thk. The vertical leg was on the inside of the perimeter and the horizontal leg was on top. On the inside I welded some 1 inch angle iron. This stuff formed a shelf so I could set some 2 inch tubing across the table. The angle was located so the 2 inch tubing was flush with the top of the 3 inch angle. When I need a flat surface I throw a piece of 1/4 inch masonite on top of the table. Oh yeah I put the 2x4 piece of solid steel into one end of the table.

With the masonite removed I can support stuff on the tubing and use my blue wrench to cut things out. I can also locate two tubes close together to support a sheet of plywood. Then I run the circular saw thru. Both pieces are supported so one piece doesn't fall off and splinter your good side. It is the most flexible setup i have seen.

Erich

Nope... don't think I've ever had it.. but I'll give Dick an email sometime today. Thx, Kate. ;)

-Mike

-- A happy kid behind the wheel of a 98 Mustang GT Cold air intake FRPP 3.73 gears Steeda Tri-Ax Shifter Flowmaster 40 Series mufflers (self-installed woohoo) Hi-speed fan switch

255/60R-15 rear tires Subframe connectors Aluminum adjustable clutch quadrant

I also posted on rec.crafts.metalworking... and they all agree that 1" is pretty bizarre and say that with 3/16" I wouldn't have to worry too much about sturdiness or warping. So I guess that'd be a better route ;). My 1" measure was just to give people a "metal image" so to speak of my table top. Also, should I skip the "X" at the bottom & use a "box frame"? Like another top piece? Hmmm... thanks for the good advice everyone.. I'll look up "steel" in the phone book.

-Mike

-- A happy kid behind the wheel of a 98 Mustang GT Cold air intake FRPP 3.73 gears Steeda Tri-Ax Shifter Flowmaster 40 Series mufflers (self-installed woohoo) Hi-speed fan switch

255/60R-15 rear tires Subframe connectors Aluminum adjustable clutch quadrant

If you now where to find steel, used or not, at $0.25/lb, please call me. We can make a killing. ;^)

To answer your question straight up, you could by something like that from Castle Metals. They are a pretty big nationwide distrubutor of all metals, stainless, mild steel, alum, aircraft....I work in a machine shop so we have an account there, but I'm sure you could buy with a credit card too.

1800-289-2785. Try asking for Risa (she's pretty cool) website is amcastle.com or am-castle.com something like that.

check out "iron and metal" scrapyards... they get steel salvage/stock in all the time... and 3/16 to 7/32 is plenty thick.

The old table in my dad's farm shop was 1/4 or 3/16 and took all sorts of abuse.