Newbie with lots of questions (everything related)

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Total new to the welding world.  Purchased a new Sp135.  Had zero experience or idea what I’m doing.  Built a small table last week out of 1" square tube. 18" top 2' high with adjustable legs made from lug nuts and wheel studs.  Doesn’t look bad after I ground all the ugliness off and tried again and again and again...  I have hopes of building a large welding table next.  Now I’m ready for the table top.  Picked up a 4' X 6.5' X 1/4" sheet of steel.  But how do I cut it.  Grinder yeah right.  Sawzall urr probably not.  Torch yeah that sounds good.  Work has one I can borrow (if the previous borrow every returns it).  But don't have a clue from there.  Any tips, hints or guidance would be great.  Don’t want to screw it up to bad or spend hours grinding the edges to make it work.  What do you’ll think..Shupe
Reply:Originally Posted by shupeTotal new to the welding world.  Purchased a new Sp135.  Had zero experience or idea what I’m doing.  Built a small table last week out of 1" square tube. 18" top 2' high with adjustable legs made from lug nuts and wheel studs.  Doesn’t look bad after I ground all the ugliness off and tried again and again and again...  I have hopes of building a large welding table next.  Now I’m ready for the table top.  Picked up a 4' X 6.5' X 1/4" sheet of steel.  But how do I cut it.  Grinder yeah right.  Sawzall urr probably not.  Torch yeah that sounds good.  Work has one I can borrow (if the previous borrow every returns it).  But don't have a clue from there.  Any tips, hints or guidance would be great.  Don’t want to screw it up to bad or spend hours grinding the edges to make it work.  What do you’ll think..Shupe
Reply:Rather than build a welding table, I got a surplus steel office desk and made a top out of 3/8 steel,.although 1/4" would work. I dropped the steel on top and had an instant welding table. It's got three drawers on one side for torches, consumables and so forth. now i dont have to build anything... ( i have enough to fix at the moment anyway ) ...zap!I am not completely insane..Some parts are missing Professional Driver on a closed course....Do not attempt.Just because I'm a  dumbass don't mean that you can be too.So DON'T try any of this **** l do at home.
Reply:I'm also a newbie and still learning, so take this for what it's worth.I recently got a chop saw from my Dad because he rarely used it. Instead, he bought a cutting wheel for his grinder and has been using that to cut metal (primarily sheet for the Studebaker truck he's hot-rodding). I wasn't all that convinced that this was a better method so off I went to Harbor Freight, bought a 4 1/2" grinder for $10 (I already have one grinder from HF with the grinding wheel on it), brought it home and put a 4 1/2" cutting wheel on it.I'm now convinced.I used it to work on a little project that invloved cutting some 1/4" rod and a few pieces of 3/16" mild steel (1 1'2" wide) and it worked like a charm. The project I was actually working on was making a bar to hang both grinders off the bench by their wheel guards.The chop saw will still come in handy, but the grinder with the cutting wheel sure is handy.A friend of my Dad's left a Miller Spectrum 300 plasma cutter with him to "play with." Play we did, and if I ever have $1500 lying around for a toy, I will definitely own a plasma cutter.Dave
Reply:Originally Posted by gnm109Cut it with a torch. If you feel unsure about getting it straight, use a piece of angle iron clamped on for a guide. Rather than build a welding table, I got a surplus steel office desk and made a top out of 3/8 steel,.although 1/4" would work. I dropped the steel on top and had an instant welding table. It's got three drawers on one side for torches, consumables and so forth.