Welding Table - Should I go stainless?

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In my efforts to make this welding table project as expensive as possible (yeah, right)...I thought about something yesterday as I was bottling some of my beers to ship out.  I get a lot of water in the garage from brewing on my 20g system, and cleaning everything. If I go with a steel welding table...wouldn't that make it prone to rusting?I haven't totaled up the cost of the miller table design, but I'm guessing it's probably around $1000 (plan on beefing up the top to 3/4" thick steel).  So I had another idear.  What about just modifying one of those food prep tables?  Something like this:  You could then add some castors to the bottom of it, and to avoid warping the top (because it'll probably be kind of thin stainless), you can beef that up and bolt it to the top of the existing table.  I don't know anything about this stuff or design, so there are probably some flaws in my idear.  Any advice?
Reply:I don't know what kind of work you plan to do on it, but it sounds awfully "nice" to me for a welding table.Most people's welding tables get banged up, gouged with grinders, dingleberried with weld spatter, and generally abused. It's common to clamp to them, hammer on them, cut parts on them and tack weld parts to them to hold them in place, etc.Grinder gouges will rust from crevice corrosion. Places where it gets damaged from heat will rust due to carbide precipitation. Spatter will rust, and it will rust where you grind off spatter.Stainless steel also has more of a tendency than mild steel to warp / distort from heat. Even if you "back up" the tabletop with mild steel, it won't be hard to "blow through" the stainless sheet metal with an accidental arc strike or grinder gouge.It wouldn't be my kind of welding table, but I'm not you. Maybe for fru-fru tigging of small, clean parts it would be practical...I don't know.Good luck with whatever you decide.
Reply:A table like that has a very thin top, probably 20 gauge or so, not thick enough to use as a grounding surface, and very easy to overheat. Also, any table that was designed to be boxed up and shipped, is going to sacrifice sturdiness and stability for ease of assembly. Nothing compares to a fully welded frame.I wouldn't bother with stainless, unless you really want to spend the money, stainless will cost about 3x regular steel and it does not conduct electricity as well as steel. You might be surprised how easy it is to keep a bare steel table rust free, a little wd-40 now and then will do wonders, and surface rust, when caught early, is pretty easy to remove.Also, I assume you were talking about the miller folding welding table, if you plan on building a mobile table, it has to be light enough to move, or the mobile part is pointless.Last edited by fortyonethirty; 01-23-2013 at 11:22 AM.Ian TannerKawasaki KX450 and many other fine tools
Reply:That food prep table has a sheet metal top.  It will warp horribly if you get it too hot.
Reply:Originally Posted by jdlevIn my efforts to make this welding table project as expensive as possible (yeah, right)...I thought about something yesterday as I was bottling some of my beers to ship out.  I get a lot of water in the garage from brewing on my 20g system, and cleaning everything. If I go with a steel welding table...wouldn't that make it prone to rusting?I haven't totaled up the cost of the miller table design, but I'm guessing it's probably around $1000 (plan on beefing up the top to 3/4" thick steel).  So I had another idear.  What about just modifying one of those food prep tables?  Something like this:  You could then add some castors to the bottom of it, and to avoid warping the top (because it'll probably be kind of thin stainless), you can beef that up and bolt it to the top of the existing table.  I don't know anything about this stuff or design, so there are probably some flaws in my idear.  Any advice?
Reply:I find that my tables never get much serious rust due to being subjected to regular work (even though I mostly use them on weekends).  I don't bother to hit them with oil or anything - in spite of them being in a pole barn that rains at times due to condensation on the metal celing/roof.Hobart LX235Victor 250 Oxy-Acetylene Rig (welding and cutting)Bobcat 773F-350, 1999, 4x4, 16' 10K# trailerOutdoor Wood Burner - 10 cords/year
Reply:thanks for the tips...looks like I'll stick with regular steel
Reply:Originally Posted by gwileyI find that my tables never get much serious rust due to being subjected to regular work (even though I mostly use them on weekends).
Reply:Anothing thing you can do is to have a beefy mild steel table for regular fab / welding. When it comes to bottle time, slide your fancy 18-20 gauge sheet over the top.  Quick and easy.  P.S.  I would LOVE to purchase some of your beer.-Aaron, sippin' on a Deschutes Chain Breaker White IPAJet 17.5" Drill Press1942 South Bend 16x84 Lathe1980s Miller 320A / BP --- 2013 Power Mig 2562012 Jet 7x12 Horizontal BandsawVictor O/A Setup
Reply:The stainless steel would become completely contaminated by sliding mild steel around on it and from spatter/electrical hot spots and would rust like crazy.Welding/Fab Pics: www.UtahWeld.com
Reply:sorry for bring back an old thread , but is it everyones opinion that ss is a bad idea for a table top for general fab work ? Reason Im asking is cause im planning on building a welding table and i have a line on a piece of equipment that will be scrapped the end of march it has two 24"x24"x3/4" doors made from 316L SS Plate .  it sounds like if they do scrap it out they will let me have both doors for 100bucks. And honestly even if they dont work for a table i will still get them not sure what i would do but The piece of equipment they are on has caused me to shed alot of blood sweat and tears over the past 10 years
Reply:Originally Posted by sh0ck1999sorry for bring back an old thread , but is it everyones opinion that ss is a bad idea for a table top for general fab work ? Reason Im asking is cause im planning on building a welding table and i have a line on a piece of equipment that will be scrapped the end of march it has two 24"x24"x3/4" doors made from 316L SS Plate .  it sounds like if they do scrap it out they will let me have both doors for 100bucks. And honestly even if they dont work for a table i will still get them not sure what i would do but The piece of equipment they are on has caused me to shed alot of blood sweat and tears over the past 10 years
Reply:you could always get a piece of 10 gauge black iron sheetmetal to go on top.