I picked up this scruffy welding table off Craigslist some time back. Stole it for $100 including the nice 5" Craftsman vise.

I've wanted a "set up" table for some time, but a good one is hellaciously expensive and I don't have the space for it anyway.

Got to looking this morning to see if I could make my own. The answer is "sorta". Due to the way the farmer-built table is constructed, I can't do a full grid. The base is a humungous Aluminum casting scrounged from some sort of machine. The casting is square but the inside has circular webs. I figured a row of holes around the edge where the top overhangs the base would be useful.



The actual working surface is 1/4 thick so starting a 1/2-13 tap square to the surface would be a challenge. I cobbled up a tap guide out of some Schedule 80 pipe. Drilled undersized so the tap would cut very light threads in the pipe and threaded the tap into it on the lathe so it would be square with the pipe.

Thread the tap in until the starting bevel protrudes just enough to center it over the hole, clamp it down and run the tap all the way through. Voila a (reasonably) square tapped hole.



The threaded holes allow me to use my hold-down kit. I may try a small grid in the center that falls inside the circle of the base casting.

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:



{snip}

cobbled up a tap guide out of some Schedule 80 pipe.

Way cool, PHPaul!