Pros and Cons of C-channel and Steel Plate? For welding table?

[danieltp]

I'd like to build a welding table for myself and would like to come up with a design. I'd like to know some of your input on the pros and cons of using c-channel or steel plate as tabletop? I recently got 3/4 inch steel plate from a friend (approx 3' x 2.5') I noticed that more and more people are building c-channel welding table for the clamping purposes, which is appealing to me. Is there any reason why a thick plate would be better over c-channel as a tabletop? Is there any advantages that steel plate has over the c-channel for tabletop?

Thanks.

[Weld one]

I used 3/4 plate for stable and it works good strong enough to put heavy parts on and stays fairly flat. I like it and works good for me. I don't know about c channel . I don't have a real good picture but you can see the table on tha right

[Bob]

I am letting a young weldor I know use use half my shop for a while and I helped him build a channel table for his shop several years ago. He lost the shop when the owner sold it and he sold the table and some other equipment. I asked him if he was going to build another to put in the shop here and he said yes and no. He loved how you could clamp any where but the channel wasn't of good enough quality for the table to be perfectly flat all over. He is going to build the new one just like it but is going to use 1"x6" flat strap with 2' of one end being solid 1" plate that he already has. We will build it upside down on top of my table that is 1"flat plate. Sounds like it will be a great table to me.

[walker]

I am letting a young weldor I know use use half my shop for a while and I helped him build a channel table for his shop several years ago. He lost the shop when the owner sold it and he sold the table and some other equipment. I asked him if he was going to build another to put in the shop here and he said yes and no. He loved how you could clamp any where but the channel wasn't of good enough quality for the table to be perfectly flat all over. He is going to build the new one just like it but is going to use 1"x6" flat strap with 2' of one end being solid 1" plate that he already has. We will build it upside down on top of my table that is 1"flat plate. Sounds like it will be a great table to me.

An excellent idea!

[docwelder]

i would use the 3/4 plate that you already got as a bench top and box the channel and use them for the legs. the plate you have isn't very large so you shouldn't have trouble clamping things to it. you could drill holes in the top and use threaded rod for the places clamps won't reach or use half clamps.

[Gravel]

Since the plate you have is small, why not do it half and half for a 3' x 5' table?

[Mikel_24]

I have a table made of flat strap (15mm x 150mm) and it is great how you can clamp anywhere. Make sure to space the supporting structure acording to the clamps you intend to use, or the crossmembers may interfere with the clamps. This happened to me. I absolutely oberbuilt the table and put two full length crossmembers on it so sometimes they get in the way with big clamps. One should have been enough.

I preffer thick flat strap because the channel does not allow you to clamp along its whole lenght... the U shaped gets in the way sometimes! But you need to go thicker because flat strap does not have structural ridgidity on itself (U channel does).

I guess it all depends on how picky you are and what kind of work are you going to be doing (tolerances and such).

Mikel

[danieltp]

Since the plate you have is small, why not do it half and half for a 3' x 5' table?

You got me thinking...will try to create a rough dimension of table via SketchUp first...


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[danieltp]

Guys, thank you for all of your feedback and input!


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