I am scheduled to receive my Dragon Wagon tomorrow. I have hesitated buying it because my current table, that I built, is a 36" x 24" with a 36" x 24" hinged extension, and another 36" x 12" sliding extension. I did not want to lose more than half of my welding footprint.
Eventually, I figured that the benefits of this new table outweighed the disadvantages. Then I had an idea to just design an extension. I did that this weekend. Currently, it is a 36" x 18" hinged extension. I might extend that to 24". I am not sure yet.
With the fireball table set at it’s lowest height, the extended table top is approximately 1.85" off of the ground. It also extends the table 1.875" off of the wall when the table top is in the storage position. For comparison, my current table is 3.75" off of the wall. I am designing everything to hold 350 lbs.
There is still a bit more designing to do. The frame for the table top, the connection between the top and the hinges, and some fine tuning on the hinges and table top. But the basic foundation is there. I wanted to test a load before I got too deep into the design.
Very cool. I look forward to following the project.
Have you thought about using the legs to mount the extension onto instead of the side of the table? You might have more room to incorporate a slot for hight calibration.
I really Like what you’ve done! Way to think outside of the box.
I am slightly concerned about hanging the weight of the tabletop off the side, but I imagine the way you have it would be stable enough.
I have a similar plan for my tables. I have two 24" x 36" Dragon Wagon tables, and I plan to add a DIY 24" x 36" tabletop to hang off of the rear of at least one of the tables to use as a side table or an extended tabletop when I need more space. My thought was to add brackets that would be attached to the side holes of the Dragon Wagon but would support the DIY table by adding two fold-down legs with height-adjustable feet to level the DIY table. I’ll post pictures once I get that far.
Yes, extendable legs is a great way to go as well. I built my first welding table with a hinged extension that had extendable legs. It worked well, I just want to do away with the additional legs. So I am also paying attention to the center of mass of the entire assembly. I have some ideas on how to address that.
Here is my table that was replaced by the Dragon Wagon.
Update on the Fireball Tools Dragon Wagon extension. The design is complete. I just need to 3d print a few things to double check critical dimensions then I will get parts on order. I may or may not add a frame for the table top.
I lowered the weight rating to 150# to keep the center of mass under the table and not have to use additional table legs. I found that with my homemade table, I didn’t use it to fabricate. It was only used to store clamps, grinders, tungsten, filler rod, metal, etc. That is the plan with this extension as well.
Put in a few more hours than I intended to this afternoon putting together this Fireball Tool Dragon Wagon table extension. I intended on just prepping the metal to weld in the morning, but I was excited and decided to start early. Or late? Anyways…
SendCutSend came through as usual with fast shipping and accurate parts. Thanks to Jason for providing CAD files for a lot of his tools. I was able to design this table extension without taking any measurements or 3d printing any prototypes.
I started with the Dirt Church Industries beveling router bit sold by Trick-Tools to chamfer a few weld joints. Then I went on to my normal routine of cleaning the metal with a paint stripping disc and wiping everything with acetone.
This was my first time using a magnetic ground. I’ll have to create some better habits of grounding directly to my parts from now on. Or to a clamp. Some of the welds are full welds, some are just tacs. This will help with making sure the table is level after all of the welding.
I will finish the welding at some point this weekend. There isn’t much left. This table will help get most of my space back to get my tools off of the ground. Going forward I might go with an 1/8" table top instead of the 1/4" purely to save weight. I don’t plan on using this extension to do any welding, it is just to clear off my welding area and keep tools off of the ground.
This one is done. There are some slight changes I will make to the design then I will likely put it up on my website for download.
After finishing most of the welding, I cut the tac welds from the table mounting plates so that I could level the table and set the 1/8" gap. After some sketchy overhead TIG, the table extension was complete.
I may or may not get the hinge pieces powder coated. I am leaning towards keeping everything raw, for now at least.
For the redesign, I will look at either doing a 1/8" thick steel table top, or a 1/4" aluminum top. The center of mass for this 1/4" steel top is a bit too offset. It is stable enough to set my tools on it. However, if someone were to lean on it, it would likely tip the table over. My main goal was to have this extension without any additional legs. So that isn’t currently an option. I will also eliminate the table frame. Since this is just used for storing items and not necessarily working off of, I don’t think it is needed.
I can see your concern about someone leaning on it, or in my case setting something on that was to heavy. Could you design a single telescoping leg in the middle that could help prevent tips? something out of aluminum?
One other thing would help is to build yourself a 80x100 post frame building? More costly but think of the fun of filling that with tools and equipment!
I’m currently designing a swinging extension for the front that i can use with my mag drill. Once I see what that does to the center of mass, i’ll look into a few options to stabilize the table. One will be to add a telescoping leg like you suggest. Another will be to just add a few pounds of lead weight in the front 2 legs as a ballast. Or maybe some combination of both options.
EDIT: And yea, I definitely need a shop soon. lol
Oh, and I can probably design some sort of scrap storage and use that as the table ballast.
I have swapped over to an aluminum table top. Much better choice. It removes almost 30 pounds from the extension. With 190# on the extension and nothing on the main table, it is not stable. Cut that down to 100# and it is much better. I have no issues using it up to 100# without any additional support under the extension. And I know I will not reach that weight. As I said before, I only needed extra space to place my tools and metal. It is not for me to weld on.
Now, the next issue. The 1/4" 5052 aluminum is slightly warped on delivery. Not enough to make a difference for my use, but enough that I am considering adding a light frame. I won’t design this frame like I did for the steel top. I don’t want more studs than I need in the top. I think I will just stitch weld on a frame.
EDIT: I just noticed that this extension is 16" on center. Let’s just pretend that I planned that. That said, I could design a wall mount so that it can be used as a small work table.
You could run some bars across the legs and put a shelf or two full of spare metal and fixtures to act as a counterweight but it might just make a bigger mess if you manage to dump it over.
More costly but think of the fun of filling that with tools and equipment!
