When I first saw that I thought you had waited too long to change you oil. Is that thick like oil?
If it was me I would dump in with my waste oil
1 Like
The solids fall out of it over night and you can actually see the bottom. That was while I was cleaning things out.
Got the table dimpled and mailed the dies out to the next guy. Getting the water pan TIG welded next week.
Still trying to finalize my water tank design Im switching from Borax to Sterling Cool.
I used the crossfire to cut my drain holes.
3 Likes
i need that file lol
off topic but did you cut your fixture table or did you get it somewhere? ive been trying to decide if its fisable to do one on a pro and be “good enough”
Perhaps you saw this in “Projects” on this forum, but if not, here is someone showing his build of one:
1 Like
I learned something from this one ( dont do a sign with this small of pieces ). It worpes bad and is hard to clean up.
3 Likes
I saw that sign on Fireshare and posted a request for the dxf file. I was gonna do some minor changes and setup my own cut parameters to try to prevent warping. If you plan to put a backplate and attached, you can usually glue down most of the warping.
Some areas of this one, of which I’ve made maybe 8, are pretty thin but I’ve been able to prevent warping by faster travel speed and a bit more amperage than normal for a given thickness.
18 gauge is about the thinnest I can cut and be pretty confident I can prevent any warpage.
2 Likes
You know you can take the gcodes if the cut ready and run it through the code ripper and make your own dxf.
https://www.scorchworks.com/Gcoderipper/gcoderipper.html
It is free.
4 Likes
I cut mine out of 16 gauge at 30 amps 120 ipm and it was still pretty bad. Wasn’t much material left in some areas.
Picked up a new client a few days ago. TerrellPowellartist.com
Also known as T-Bang https://www.terrellpowellartist.com/t-bang
He known for his contemporary, primitive art. He doesn’t do metal work, just design it and has someone make it. He commissioned me to cut 7 of these wavy plates. He handed me a 6ft long piece of paper he drew them out on. So it was a free hand cut job.
The little totem poles, he handed me a piece of legal size drafting paper with a drawing. I scanned that in and traced it in LibraCad. After picking his order up today, he order a 6ft totem pole cut out of 3/8" plate. With 18" base with mounting holes.
6 Likes
Man, not even sure what you quoted cause it’s been awhile since I posted anything “fixture” related and I posted about two different items. Again, I hate this forum structure.
To summarize, I would just go somewhere local and get it done via laser.
Here’s the one I did on plasma at home -
And the one I got done locally on laser -
Doing it on plasma means loading up steel on your table, waiting +20 minutes to get everything cut, pulling it off and reaming each and every hole out, and be left with something you wish you would’ve just paid for being done to save you time and effort.
The laser cut only set me back $171 total after taxes ($158 before) which included the steel itself (2’ x 3’ at 3/8" thick) as well as the labor of it being laser cut.
The 3/16" I used cost me nothing as it was remnants I got for free from my favorite shop, but had I purchased my own steel sheet in say 3/8", I would’ve had some left over I wouldn’t have any use for.
Not to mention from one corner of the plasma cut fixture to the other, I have as much as 1/16" deviation compared to the laser cut table.
3 Likes
Just wondering, but would it have been a better idear to reinforce that table with underside cross slats, tongue / grooved into the top work surface and welded to ensure flatness over time? I know it would have taken a flat reference table to weld that all together and ensure that it itself was flat after welding…
I really need to invest into a quality welding table, as my 3/16 sheet-on-tube table I got 2nd hand I have no idea how flat it actually is. But it’s 40x48", and already exists, but doesn’t have a nice 2" hole pattern.
I just worry about how to coat a mild steel welding table to ensure no BBs stick to it so I won’t need to grind on it later and mess up the flatness.
If you’re MIG welding mild steel, I wouldn’t worry too much about that. I just occasionally use a spray can of anti spatter (Hobart brand, Amazon) and have only ever had one or two small BBs on my Klutch brand table. I’ve seen guys say the even use cheap cooking anti stick products like Pam spray.
2 Likes
Lol dude what are you talking about?
“Slats” or bracing were never mentioned, and really not necessary unless you’re using something thin like 3/16" or 1/4"
But yes, my 3/16" is braced -
Unless you’re a professional, the whole “flatness” thing is completely lost on over 95% of welders as a lot of steel plate (thicker even) has a slight bow to it. It’s why you get a professionally CNC-milled setup which cost well over $10-20k.
The point I was trying to make is that you will be causing yourself headache by cutting one out on plasma with the manual work needed afterward. A larger concern for even the at-home-welder would be the use of those holes which is what you’re wanting to achieve. If you make the holes too small, you’ll need to ream them out (as mentioned).
If you make them too big, you’re done. Start over.
Clamps use the “wall” of the hole to push against in order to create the tension needed to clamp something down. The thinner the steel, the more of a chance you have to deform your steel plate. Why do you think Harbor Freight, Klutch, and other similarly thin tables use bolts to hold their clamps?
Funny enough, I had taken these pictures recently for another member on another forum.
Here’s a clamp in my 3/8" thick table top, you can see the actual peg is pretty straight even with tension on the clamp -
And here is that fully braced 3/16" thick table top, you can see if I add a bit more tension it will deform the table top -
So, make your own as long as you understand my warning, or get one made for cheap.
As for the surface coating and BB’s and all that, that’s a non-issue. You would only run into that if you don’t have your settings correct. All my tables are uncoated both at home and same when I used to weld in the industry.
4 Likes
Found this rad Flag design on Fireshare, made some modifications to it, and gave away 2 for an auction raising $ for our church’s youth pastor who has cancer. Suckers are big and heavy. 43x23x1.5 53lbs.
13 Likes
My new assistant made this transmission mount template for his 68 Dodge dart today from a picture of the old one. I finally got a kid that has the drive to learn.
I told him to take it home tonight and see if it lines up with the holes in the chassis. It looks like tomorrow we will be cutting two of these out of 1/4" and tig welding up a trans mount.
It was a 340 ci, but he and his dad are building a 426 wedge to put in it with a 727 torqueflight.
10 Likes
Thats what I need, hell I would take a old one
My old one got a job with the Fire dept. This kid showed up out of a vocational school program. Eighteen years old can already mig weld very well. He can set the machine up by himself. Very quiet, too. No drama. YET. His dad has him working on hotrods and must be really cultivating him. My dad did. Great Dads are fantastic.
7 Likes