Working on a cart for my machines since my last table held them. Putting the table into cad has been convenient just to see about how much room I’ll need and layout for fixtures. I crowd my table and always find my self moving things inch by inch out of the way lol
I had to do the same thing. I’m welding my new cart together now.
Is that going on a wide base? I worry it may be tippy if it’s used in the orientation it appears it might.
From a safety standpoint… Absolutely… 
The tanks that far back on the cart might be
I would put wheels behind the tanks
I don’t even have the wheels placed yet lol. It will be just finnnnnneee
It’ll be just fine unless/until it isn’t. The bottles are the real danger. You may lose a welder if that stack falls, but things could get really crazy if the bottle tips and breaks the valve off. There’s a reason they’re generally chained to the cart and the carts aren’t built to be too tippy.
But it’s your shop and equipment, and I don’t know what other constraints you have. I do know I offset my front casters so they are 25" apart center to center and it just barely feels wide enough to be safe.
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@mRhAnKbOt
I made mine and the wheels are to far forward
It won’t tip back but sometimes with I pull it,it wants to when moving,but not sitting
@LTFab did you make the table model? I was thinking of making one, I didn’t think there was a STEP file available.
Yes, i made it
I like your design. Funny you mention the bottle tipping over thing because I did a really stupid thing recently and ended up knocking over a large bottle. Fortunately nothing happened to the valve on it, but I’m never leaving that chain off again!
What kind of casters do you like to use? I’ve been experimenting with a few different ones and it seems like most of the ones available from regular consumer places online or in stores just don’t roll very well.
Agreed, to get casters that really handle their rated weight it isn’t cheap. I ordered casters off of McMaster Carr for this welder cart and to replace the failing cheap ones on my old welding cart that’s going to be my new fabrication cart.
I usually get polyurethane wheels and double locking swivel casters since my shop is so tight, but I’m trying rigid rear casters for the welding cart for a bit of extra stability.
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McMaster-Carr always seems to have great stuff to offer. I wish their prices were a little lower. I’ve gone to them for odd screws and stuff, but I never thought to check them for casters. I’ll give them a shot next time I need some. Thanks, Henry!
If you want another object lesson in quality of Amazon vs McMaster, try buying precision reamers. The ones I got from Amazon were basically OK (and had lots of glowing reviews about quality), but then I had to get a couple sizes I couldn’t find on Amazon and picked them up through McMaster and the quality was night and day. The ones from McMaster were more expensive, but are truly well machined and ground reamers. I suspect they’re going to outlast the ones I got on Amazon by a large margin.
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I couldn’t bring myself to buy reamers from Amazon. The ones I’ve purchased all came from MSC since that seemed to be a place machinists like to buy from. I try to avoid Amazon in general, but it’s hard. Sometimes they’re the only place to get something. I’m probably going to end up going back to them shortly for some Scotch-Brite discs I could only buy in quantities of 10+ from Zoro (very frustrating since I just want to try one to see how I like them).
I wouldn’t normally buy cutting tools on Amazon, but these were expected to be used a couple times and maybe never again, so I wanted them quick and cheap. It sort of worked out as I had to cut down and reduce the shank on one of them so I could drill and then ream the holes in one operation without changing the chuck or running out of room on the quill. I bet it would have been a lot harder shank had I needed to cut down one of the good ones from McMaster.
Anyone else remember and miss the Enco site? MSC bought them and eventually killed it off, but the site was easier to navigate, had almost all the same stuff as MSC, and had coupons and discounts all the time. A ton of my early tool, tooling, and random shop purchases were made there.
Coincidentally the first two machine tools I ever bought were old Enco machines off of a used tool resale guy. A 10x20 metal lathe and about 6 months later a round column mill, both from the early 80’s, made in Taiwan, and still able to hold pretty decent tolerances as long as you’re paying attention.
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So this is probably gonna come off as blasphemous on this forum but here we go. As much as I want a Fireball tool fixture table im afraid it’s just not in the cards for me money wise. I have two kids that show hogs for 4-h and im sure there’s some dads on here that can relate to how expensive an activity that is. How ever what I do have is 2 sheets 4x8 of 1 inch iron, and assess to a cnc oxygen acetylene torch. I was thinking of haveing him under cut the 3/4 hole a bit then I would come back with my mag drill and ream them to final size. I intend to have him cut the side plates as well and slowly ever so carefully weld them on trying not warp it. So I have a few questions for the group and hopefully Jason. What type of reamer do y’all recommend, was thinking a taper reamer, seems like the easiest way to center up mag drill. I was thinking of useing one of those little air beveling tools to bevel my holes, or should I get a counter sink bit for the mag drill? Any suggestions on welding? Wire size ? Length of beads?
Now I’m sure there’s gonna be some folks say it won’t be the same as a fireball tool welding table but I think it will meet my needs. And I think it’ll be a fun project , Gringo Iron works kinda specializes in repurposing junk! So figured turning these old plates into something use full would be fitting. Be sure to comment on anything I missed!
Fireball designed table hole drilling jigs specifically for guys like you. It’s not currently in stock, but I think they know guys like you are out there that have plates of steel or steel tables they’d like to use rather than buying a new fixture table.
https://fireballtool.com/products/diy-drill-template-kit-3-4-systems?_pos=1&_sid=3012f026a&_ss=r
If their template didn’t come in stock in time for your project, you could make one for yourself if you have access to the right tools.
Here’s a video of Jason using the jig.
@Gringo.Ironworks I would discourage the idea of using the torch to cut the holes and the idea of welding the two plates together.
While the CNC ought to be able to position the torch accurately, the size of flame kerf and HAZ will overshadow much, if not all, of the benefit of the CNC’s accuracy. Better to take Henry’s advice and use the Fireball drilling jig which would give you a far better hole to ream. I would imagine attempting to ream a flame cut hole would bring a visit from the Society For the Protection of Reamers and Other Tools…
As to welding the plates together, you’re already going to need to have a substantial frame to support the plate, so plan the frame (or frames) to support both plates. Why introduce even more distortion by way of welding? Besides, moving a 96x96x1 plate table around would take some serious effort, wouldn’t a pair of tables be a bit more convenient?
Just a couple of thoughts from the peanut gallery.
–Larry
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@Gringo.Ironworks I agree with Larry. Torch cutting is probably not a good idea. The scale left behind is terrible for drills and reamers. But I’d be more concerned about all the heat from the torch cutting warping the plate. The next step is then weld the table together flat. This is the Chicken and the egg problem. You need a Fixture table to build a Fixture table.
Another suggestion is, possibly purchase a small fixture table like the Dragon Wagon, get the tooling and start building stuff. When more money becomes available the option to upgrade or add tables together is possible.
Can I ask what’s you average project size?
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