Nitride Coated WeldingTables?

[Avie]

Hi all,

What are your thoughts on Nitride Coated welding tables? I see that many of the high end production tables are putting nitride black coating on their tables.

At first I thought it was a great idea, but then I wonder about wear on the tables. If the tables are untreated and you need to clean them up you can take them to be surface polished. If their nitride coated you're likely to lose your finish. Also you can't easily weld to a Nitride Coating should you require it. I guess the advantage is that they don't rust, the have some corrosion resistance and weld splatter doesn't stick to them easily.

I'd love to know you're thoughts on them.

[mla2ofus]

Sounds to me like someone trying to build and sell a better mousetrap, LOL!! If rust is a problem just give it an occasional light coating of oil. A flap disc will take care of any spatter.

[walker]

Waste of money in my opinion. If you don’t ever plan on using it, then yeah, that would look great! A working table is better off left alone.

[metalman21]

Sometimes it is necessary to tack to the table.

The coating would prohibit that and would be ruined if you did it.
Would look good in a man cave show shop, not practical in use.

[ronsii]

I usually just stick to oxide coatings on my tables.... personally I like iron oxide as most of the spatter seems not to stick to it


But, yeah... sounds like a better mousetrap

[Woznme]

I cold blued my slat fixture table when I made it. I guess that's similar to nitride. Im really pleased with it. No rust, spatter mostly rolls off or blades off without grinding. I have a square plate that I bolt down if I want to tack onto it. I use fixtures and clamps for everything else.
Mind you I rarely stick weld and mostly tig with some mig.
I've worked in shops with heavy duty fixture tables, all of them take care of them given the price. Ordinary black steel bench tops tend to get beat alot more. I also have one for rough treatment. Horses for courses.

[Kelvin]

Waste of money in my opinion. If you don’t ever plan on using it, then yeah, that would look great! A working table is better off left alone.

+1

I don't know how you plan to use a "welding table" but with mine, I tack weld stuff to it, beat stuff on it with a hammer, rain weld spatter all over it, divot it with grinders and generally abuse the sh_t out of it. A real nice $$$$$ finish seems kind of pointless to me, kind of like "gilding the lily" or "waxing your brake pads so they don't wear."

Mine is mild steel. I wipe it off with drain oil if I think of it every few years. After a few years, it developed a gray oxide finish (or maybe it's just the mill scale? I forget) which is one of many forms of iron oxide, and that protects it from developing red rust to some degree....

ETA: Another finish option, which you can do yourself, is to coat it with "Ospho" -- phosphoric acid -- which creates a thin "phosphated" somewhat rust-protective finish similar to "parkerizing" on guns. But I believe you would need to remove all existing mill scale, sanding it down to bright white steel, or at a minimum degrease it real well, before applying the Ospho. I considered doing that with mine, but it seemed like too much work...

[shovelon]

My tables need a high grade of electrical conductivity as my bench is the ground path, or work path. For my Tig work the only coating is a light coat of WD-40 to prevent corrosion, anything thicker leaves arc pitting on my parts and table which is unacceptable workmanship.

[Munkul]

There's a big difference between a "welding table" as some on here use them (tacking stuff to them, beating on them, sundry abuse, etc) and a proper "welding jig table" with holes/slats for fixtures - at the high end of the market, these are properly accurate tools and the operator will take care of them accordingly. That includes keeping them clean, spatter-free, etc etc.

You'd never tack-weld something to one of these, unless you liked ruining things:



I built mine to be beefy enough to beat on, but I'd never weld something to it - it's a nice flat level surface, and I use it for batch production work with jigs. I'd love a nitrided finish, but I settled for boiled linseed oil coatings instead - works really well, and still gives a good ground without arc strikes.

[Lis2323]

There's a big difference between a "welding table" as some on here use them (tacking stuff to them, beating on them, sundry abuse, etc) and a proper "welding jig table" with holes/slats for fixtures - at the high end of the market, these are properly accurate tools and the operator will take care of them accordingly. That includes keeping them clean, spatter-free, etc etc.

You'd never tack-weld something to one of these, unless you liked ruining things:



I built mine to be beefy enough to beat on, but I'd never weld something to it - it's a nice flat level surface, and I use it for batch production work with jigs. I'd love a nitrided finish, but I settled for boiled linseed oil coatings instead - works really well, and still gives a good ground without arc strikes.

That's interesting about the boiled linseed oil.

I've used it as a finish on bare metal. Wiped it on then ran the torch over the finished piece. It gave it a somewhat hard glaze and removes the oiliness.

I've been using WD 40 on my welding table because it's easy. I think I'll try the BLO

On another note I've been led to believe no one in North America has the capability of nitriding a large surfaced welding table unless it consists of smaller slats. They are currently done in Europe and Asia.


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[Munkul]

That's interesting about the boiled linseed oil.

I've used it as a finish on bare metal. Wiped it on then ran the torch over the finished piece. It gave it a somewhat hard glaze and removes the oiliness.

I've been using WD 40 on my welding table because it's easy. I think I'll try the BLO

I just wipe it on with a cloth, and no heat it takes usually a day or so to dry properly, and if you put too much on, you'll end up with gunky holes. It dries slower in the winter - took a good week before the smell disappeared in January, even though it wasn't tacky.
I make a point of re-coating it every time I finish a batch and clean everything down.

It stops rust, anyway - even during freeze-thaw cycles when everything is dripping wet!

[Lis2323]

Thanks for the info Munkul!

I will try to resist the urge to slop in on as I have a real bad habit of getting impatient. I’m still fighting off aftereffects of a lifetime of farming “in a hurry”.


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[Kelvin]

Everybody probably already knows this, but just in case:

If you use linseed oil, be careful about disposing of the rags you use to wipe it on. When that oil oxidizes (hardens/dries) it creates heat. A lot of people have accidentally started fires by putting wadded-up rags soaked with linseed oil in a trash can... I usually hang linseed rags out on branches or whatever after I'm done with them. After they dry/harden up, they're generally safe to dispose of...

I've heard of people sealing them up in old paint cans, but that just delays the danger until air gets to the rags (like in a garbage truck's trash compactor)...

[rhunt]

I use spray car wax on mine to prevent/delay rust, seems to do the trick. Good enough for me. Bob