I'm finally finished building my shop, and am now moving on to building a heavy duty welding table and work bench. The tops will be 1/2" carbon steel.
Right now the two big sheets have some surface rust on them. I can clean them off now, but what should I use to make sure it doesn't always have a little surface rust on it? I making these things super stout and want them to be able to be welded on, beat on, etc without worrying about them. what will stand up the best?
We just wipe ours down with oil. Penetrating oil works great for cleaning benches anyway, better than actual cleaning chemicals.
About ten-twelve years ago, we got the bench. It's a 4x8' sheet of 1/2" steel and lived for years at its previous shop with a piece of plywood, aka moisture trap, on top. There was rust and scale like you wouldn't believe. I spent a solid eight hours and wore out a huge stack of 7" 24 grit disks cleaning the rust off. It's still rust free.
Leave it be. The only way it will rust is if it isn't being used. Also, you'll be constantly grinding spot welds off, and oil will make those spot welds weaker. Wire wheel it once a month, if you must.
Speaking of welding tables, where are y’all getting the steel for the tops of these? Craigslist?
Cooking Pam.
It helps the snot balls of welding spatter come off easily.
I bought it from the steel fan shop I use for work.
While a 1/2 thick by 4 X 8 ft is great I wouldn't want to have to move it unless it's on wheels!
A well supported 1/4 thick steel sheet should work just as well.
It all depends on how large of items you fab up I guess.
i'm building 2 tables,
a 4x6 welding table and a 3x8 workbench. I thought 1/2 was on the light end because all the fab tables where i work are 3/4 or 1 inch!
They are going on the biggest casters I can find.
wheelsmithy said:Leave it be. The only way it will rust is if it isn't being used. Also, you'll be constantly grinding spot welds off, and oil will make those spot welds weaker. Wire wheel it once a month, if you must.
I was going to recommend the same thing. It should stay pretty rust free just by using it.
My little table only starts rusting when I don't use it for a while.
For the legsand under structure a coat or two of Aluthane. - metallic surfaces to seal, protect and rust proof. A moisture cured urethane
When i was at the food plant an had a good budget i bought a 4x12 ft table on wheels from Certi'flat / weld tables.com it is the best table i've ever had in a shop
https://weldtables.com/blogs/news/new-plasma-station-designing-out-loud-in-the-flesh
paranoid_android said:wheelsmithy said:Leave it be. The only way it will rust is if it isn't being used. Also, you'll be constantly grinding spot welds off, and oil will make those spot welds weaker. Wire wheel it once a month, if you must.
I was going to recommend the same thing. It should stay pretty rust free just by using it.
My little table only starts rusting when I don't use it for a while.
This x3.
I work at a fab shop with 30 welders, not a single table has anything on it. If you use it, it won't get rusty. Anything you put on it will just be there to induce contaminants into your weld.
I have a welding table at home, 1/2" plate. Its bare steel and has no rust after 10 years, of course I live in a dry part of the country. Like wise our tables at work have no coatings. You don't want to put anything on them that could potentially get on your welds. Contamination is the enemy of a good weld. My other work bench is wood with a plywood top. It works fine as is, but I do have a 3'x3' piece of conveyor belt I sometimes work on. Its smooth, easy to find small parts on, and easy to clean.
44Dwarf said:When i was at the food plant an had a good budget i bought a 4x12 ft table on wheels from Certi'flat / weld tables.com it is the best table i've ever had in a shop
https://weldtables.com/blogs/news/new-plasma-station-designing-out-loud-in-the-flesh
I'm bringing this back from the dead because I just discovered the Certiflat weld tables and I don't think we talked about them nearly enough.
I know they give out discount codes, what's the process for requesting that we get them to advertise in GRM? I'd pay for an issue to accidentally get sent to their shop if it helps.....
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