Welding Table Moves With The Job

Welding Table Moves With The Job FARM SHOP Welders/Torches 64 Anthony Spiering takes his welding table where it’s needed He no longer carries the work to the table The mounted shop hoist makes handling heavy projects even easier “My dad came up with the welding table idea and it was one of my first projects when I started working with him in the farm shop ” says Spiering “I learned how to weld making it ” Spiering used 3-in oil field pipe for the 3 by 7-ft frame and a sheet of 4 by 8-ft 3/4-in thick steel plate for the top The top by itself weighs almost 1 000 lbs “The top has a 6-in overhang on all sides for clamping work to it ” says Spiering “I’m tall so I made the table 44-in high ” To avoid possible warping of the top if he welded it to the pipes Spiering attached it using four 1/2-in bolts “I drilled up through the pipe and tabletop threading the tabletop holes ” he says “Once the bolts were installed I ground the ends down flush It hasn’t moved ” An expanded metal shelf mounted to the under frame provides storage for a Miller Multimatic 200 welder an Argon/CO2 tank and brackets for the torch and gas hose A heavy-duty extension cord feeds outlets mounted to the table for grinders and other electric tools in addition to the welder Cross members on the under frame store C-clamps and other tools At one end Spiering mounted heavy-duty vises at the corners one that swivels and a second that is stationary The next add-on was born out of frustration rather than planned “We got tired of tripping over our old 2 000-lb shop hoist ” says Spiering “It always seemed to be in the way so I decided to mount it on the table ” He cut off the wheeled base and mounted it to a cut-down pivot axle from an old 600 Case combine He welded a piece of flat steel to one side of the axle and bolted the hoist’s main frame to it The vertical supports were bolted to the other side of the pivot axle Spiering attached the male post on which the axle swivels to the side of the table using a 2-in sq tube and a receiver hitch Braces bolt to the top of the table for added support To secure it in position he simply drops a bolt through the respective matching faceplates “I can spin it around as needed yet quickly lock it in place ” says Spiering “If I need the hoist in the field I can pull the pin on the receiver hitch unbolt it and mount it on my pickup receiver hitch ” Initially Spiering mounted the table with 8-in steel caster wheels at one end and fixed wheels at the other but they made it hard to move After seeing the motorized electric farm cart from Kramble Industries in FARM SHOW Vol 45 No 1 he considered mounting the table on a cart “It was impractical but they sent me components that I was able to use ” says Spiering “I got their high torque motor the controller that hooks to a 12-volt battery and the throttle grip that mounts on a steering handle ” Spiering fabricated a support base for the drive wheels and motor to replace the caster wheels He used square steel tubing heavy angle iron and a pipe-in-pipe pivot that mounts to the table end frame A T-handle with the throttle grip is mounted to the front of the motorized support base A pair of lawn mower wheels met his height needs but they were not strong enough to support the table “The tires squatted under the weight so much that the table was no longer level ” says Spiering “I switched to a higher ply rating and filled them with foam and they were fine ” Spiering also geared down the motor He connected the Kramble drive sprocket to one twice its size which he mounted to a 1-in shaft for the axle “I made the table 10-12 years ago and we’ve used it ever since ” says Spiering “The motorized drive made it even more versatile ” Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Anthony Spiering 1168 Road 19 Powell Wyo 82435 ph 307-254-2645; ae28spiering@gmail com

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