Cleaning your table?

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Have any of you found a more effecient way to keep your welding table clean better than sitting there for an hour grinding on it? Or have you found a system of grinding better than the other?"...My pappy was a pistol I'm a son of a gun...""...God is great, beer is good, and people are crazy..."
Reply:Using the mig I don't normally get many gobbers on the table. If I do I just run a recessed center disc flat on it to knock 'em off. If I've had to tack something down to it, then yes, there's some grinding to do.   Say Crawford, I checked cyberweld on that speedglas 100v. I think when I get the change saved up, I'll order it. Best price I found and, like you said, free shipping. Anyone else had experience, good or bad w/ this hood ?                                             MikeOl' Stonebreaker  "Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes"Hobart G-213 portableMiller 175 migMiller thunderbolt ac/dc stick Victor O/A setupMakita chop saw
Reply:I don't normally get mine too messed up, so a flap disc works just fine for me.CWI, CWE, CST for Miller, Lincoln, Thermadyne, Hypertherm & ESABMillermatic 350PLincoln Invertec 205 AC/DCVictor combo torchESAB PCM 1125
Reply:Scraping with the chipping hammer then going over it with a worn flap disc works good.MM350P/Python/Q300MM175/Q300DialarcHFHTP MIG200PowCon300SMHypertherm380ThermalArc185Purox oaF350CrewCab4x4LoadNGo utilitybedBobcat250XMT304/Optima/SpoolmaticSuitcase12RC/Q300Suitcase8RC/Q400Passport/Q300Smith op
Reply:A Type 11 cup stone works fast when I need to clean up the remains of a tack.Matt
Reply:A hard wheel would be pretty far down my list for cleaning up a table top, takes way too long.  Flap disc would be my first choice.  Once they have trimmed down to where I'm near the glue on the outside, but still have life left on the inside, I throw them in a stack and use them the next time I need to clean the table.  Grinder with no guard, hold the disc flat to the table.  Use until the arbor starts hitting the table.  Half worn 7" flap discs last a long time cleaning tables off.  Second choice is fiber sanding discs.  They don't last as long as the flap disc used like this, but they do nearly as well of a job.  Coarse (purple) scotchbrites also work well, but it's not often that a keep any of them on hand.  The only time I'll use a hard grinding wheel on a table top is if the table is fairly new and still has millscale on it.  The other options I listed will glaze over fast on millscale.
Reply:My table gets lots of hard use. It seems the small jobs with lots of tacking & stitch welding craps it out the most.   I use a 20" or so piece of 1/4" X 4"strap with a saw cut end to scrape/chip most of it off. I follow up with a cup style stone held flat to the table surface. This method keeps grinding to a minimum & the table surface as flat as possible.IF IT WORKS, DON'T FIX IT2 Lincoln CV-300 / LN-7 GMALinde-VI 253,400 & 450 w/MIG35 feedersCNC Table with Oxweld O/A & Hypertherm 1250G3Lincoln Ranger GXT 250Hobart-MicroWire 300ESAB Heliarc 161ESAB-Mobilemaster 2 CC/CV Feeders& more
Reply:clean the table really good and then spray it with splatter block and then rub it into the tablethis works really good with the smaller splatter the big stuff still sticks but not as badand just keep doing it every time you clean the table
Reply:Might be worth it to rub some nozzle dip ( sounds sexy don't it ) on the table surface if your not tacking anything down.  I had a glob of it drop out of a nozzle when migging and melt out over the table in a section and nothing stuck in that area.
Reply:Originally Posted by Static-XJA hard wheel would be pretty far down my list for cleaning up a table top, takes way too long.  (snip)The only time I'll use a hard grinding wheel on a table top is if the table is fairly new and still has millscale on it.  The other options I listed will glaze over fast on millscale.
Reply:Originally Posted by mla2ofusUsing the mig I don't normally get many gobbers on the table. If I do I just run a recessed center disc flat on it to knock 'em off. If I've had to tack something down to it, then yes, there's some grinding to do.   Say Crawford, I checked cyberweld on that speedglas 100v. I think when I get the change saved up, I'll order it. Best price I found and, like you said, free shipping. Anyone else had experience, good or bad w/ this hood ?                                             Mike
Reply:Originally Posted by CrawfordAs for the type 11 cup stones, Do you guys use them above their max RPM of 7200? For $30 bucks that thing better last a loooong time.
Reply:Originally Posted by CrawfordHave any of you found a more effecient way to keep your welding table clean better than sitting there for an hour grinding on it? Or have you found a system of grinding better than the other?
Reply:Either buy yourself a floor sanding machine, they ain't worth a lot given the market for new houses sucketh, or find a floor sander who works for beer.  The going rate for 10 x 10 tables is a case of beer.Guys who work on their knees with their head lower than thair butt generally work for beer when their normal gig ain't bringing groceries home.
Reply:I keep a nice coat with WD40 and it seems that nothing sticks that can't be easily removed with a freshly cut piece of 4 in plate steel.  I use the plate as a scraper and it all knocks off. If anything remains, I try a wire wheel before I break out a flap wheel.Syncrowave 350Coolmate 3Millermatic 251Spoolmatic 30A
Reply:Originally Posted by tanglediverI tried keeping the same booth cleaned up at school, it was pointless. Even at work, it still seems futile. Your own personal table at home should be doable, clean it well to start and wipe it with a light coat of WD40 when you have a lot to do. The spatter should knock off very easy.
Reply:In my shop there 2 rules that govern the fab tables 1] no welding to the table, 2] no oil on the table, this includes splatter-spray.  I clean my tables with a 14" mill bastard file laid flat; you just whip the surface like a dish-cloth and the file effortless shear any splatter.  When the surface really gets pigged out I'll wash it with dish-soap or 409.  I can do this because from new the surfaces have never been defaced.  I treat a table as a work surface, not as a fixture.  Everything I build is built on it own fixture, that is in turn either bolted or clamped to the table.  Most often it is on square tube riser.  This provides several benefits; it makes the fixture rigid independent of the table, it elevates the weldment so you can weld the bottom of a joint, and best of all, there is just enough free air that splatter solidifies before it hits the table and doesn't fuse to the surface.  I have saved 100's of fixtures, some have been remodeled 6 or 8 times as doners for new projects.  For the most part this has allowed me to retire my grinders, because I have learned that if you are grinding, you are doing something wrong.      OPUS
Reply:I don't really get any spatter on my table that would need to be ground off.  The problem that I have is that the overspray from the antispatter goobers up the surface of the table and attracts grime.  I spend about 15 minutes once a month taking WD40 and a scotch brite pad and scouring the surface of the tables.  Once the scouring is done, then I wipe all the grime up with either shop rags or paper towels until the tables are bright and shiny.
Reply:Use an aluminum top on the table.A thin sheet does nice, when it is to goobered up after years of abuse pull it off and use it for some project and put a new sheet on the table.
Reply:Amen. Grinding is wasted effort.Tim Beeker.