My New House & Workshop

[Jim Oaks]

I went from two incandescent bulb fixtures to four four foot LED lights that are linked when I rewired my little garage. Huge difference. I have one more I'll place over the welding table at some point.

Welding table and drill press are on my wish list. I plan to find an older drill press off of FB Marketplace. I have no desire for a new one. My dad had one back in the 70s-80s that I swear would drill through anything.

 

[SenorNoob]

Use the welder, build the table. The one at work is only 3/16 plate. We've done enough BIG jobs on it to warp it slightly, but it still works.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Try yo find a drill press with 3 pulleys. Then it can do both metal and wood.

 

[Shran]

There is a guy on eBay who makes a middle pulley setup for drill presses that didn't come with it - looks like high quality stuff.

I have had five floor stand style drill presses - a beat up Craftsman one from the mid 90's, the "mid level" big one from Harbor Freight (piece of junk), an older Atlas one that didn't have a 3rd pulley, a newer Porter Cable (have this one now) and a much nicer Craftsman which I think is also from the 90's. I have that one too and it's usually my go-to for metal. My suggestion when you are looking is to find one that has a table that will move in 3 ways - swivel on the mounting arm, angle pivot on the arm, and swivel on the post. Many do not swivel on the mounting arm and it's VERY annoying if you're missing that feature. Angle pivot is nice but not totally necessary.

Welding table is a fun topic, just my personal opinion but I think it's way more useful as a place to disassemble a transfer case or something than for actual welding. Oil wipes right off and you can't hurt it by dragging heavy stuff across it. But if you weld on it then you have a filthy table covered in dingle berries that you have to clean off. Welding tables are really nice for assembly line style stuff where you've got a jig or clamps to build the same thing 1000 times... what works way better for me is a bench vise mounted to a post that is welded to an old truck brake drum, and one of the little fold up Harbor Freight welding tables. Just food for thought... I use my big welding table for welding about 1% of the time.

 

[Jim Oaks]

I've looked on FB Marketplace for welding tables and I've kind of came to the opinion that the best deal I'll find is getting a new one from Harbor Freight. Yes, I could make my own which isn't a bad ideal if you've got the material laying around, but I feel like by the time I bought the materials it would be cheaper to buy one. I also have limited space, and I don't have the room for the tables I see people selling. Speaking of space, I've also thought that a drill press with a stand might be a better option because it will take up less space than a table. Now that the electrical is done in the shop, I need to clean it up and figure out where I can put these things.

 

[Uncle Gump]

Space for a welding table was also my issue.

I ended up with a Hobart welding table... folds up flat when not in use. It was on sale when I bought my welder.

TV

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

There is a guy on eBay who makes a middle pulley setup for drill presses that didn't come with it - looks like high quality stuff.

I have had five floor stand style drill presses - a beat up Craftsman one from the mid 90's, the "mid level" big one from Harbor Freight (piece of junk), an older Atlas one that didn't have a 3rd pulley, a newer Porter Cable (have this one now) and a much nicer Craftsman which I think is also from the 90's. I have that one too and it's usually my go-to for metal. My suggestion when you are looking is to find one that has a table that will move in 3 ways - swivel on the mounting arm, angle pivot on the arm, and swivel on the post. Many do not swivel on the mounting arm and it's VERY annoying if you're missing that feature. Angle pivot is nice but not totally necessary.

Welding table is a fun topic, just my personal opinion but I think it's way more useful as a place to disassemble a transfer case or something than for actual welding. Oil wipes right off and you can't hurt it by dragging heavy stuff across it. But if you weld on it then you have a filthy table covered in dingle berries that you have to clean off. Welding tables are really nice for assembly line style stuff where you've got a jig or clamps to build the same thing 1000 times... what works way better for me is a bench vise mounted to a post that is welded to an old truck brake drum, and one of the little fold up Harbor Freight welding tables. Just food for thought... I use my big welding table for welding about 1% of the time.

My dad has a big vice on a stand alone base for welding things.

If he needs a table he has a roughly 18" square with a plate welded on edge on one side of it he puts in the vice.

Most things we deal with are too big or goofy shaped/size to weld on a proper table (that just accumulates junk anyway) It's also nice it can easily be turned or moved around and doesn't take up much room. Something similar is on my wish list if I ever get something bigger than the shoebox I call a garage. Works great for either the welder, torch, angle grinder or whatever a guy needs.

 

[ryan]

I've looked on FB Marketplace for welding tables and I've kind of came to the opinion that the best deal I'll find is getting a new one from Harbor Freight. Yes, I could make my own which isn't a bad ideal if you've got the material laying around, but I feel like by the time I bought the materials it would be cheaper to buy one. I also have limited space, and I don't have the room for the tables I see people selling. Speaking of space, I've also thought that a drill press with a stand might be a better option because it will take up less space than a table. Now that the electrical is done in the shop, I need to clean it up and figure out where I can put these things.

I got a little cheapo folding one for that same reason - I'd rather grow into a "real" one but my folds up and has wheels for the little bit that I'm doing