Table plan with extender and chop saw tray

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I'm planning to build my first work table.  I've been working on the design, and I'd like to hear some opinions from the pros.  I'm new to welding, and although I'll be repairing stuff around the farm, I also have plans for building a few things.My table will be 6' x 4'.  I've already got a piece of plate that is 5' x 10' x 1/2" to use for the top.  It has set out in the weather a while, so I'll need to buff it a bit.  I'm going to have to cut with a torch, and I've never made cuts that long before.  I'll have to build a guide because my old hands aren't that steady anymore.I'm thinking of putting extenders on a table that slide out from one end.  This would allow me to add a drop in tray for the chop saw so that the saw deck would be level with the table top.  I could add some leveling bolts for the tray to fine tune the height of the saw deck.  There would also be set screws that tighten from underneath to hold the slide steady while cutting.  So, here's a question.  If I use 2 5/8" OD x 1/4" tubing for the receivers, and then use 2" OD x 1/4" tubing for the slide rails, will I have a firm enough platform for a chop saw?  And as you will see, I'm planning the same for a vise mount.  Will this tubing combination be good for a vise?I don't have the casters yet, and I'm still wondering whether to use leveling mounts or locking casters.  Any reccomendations or pros and cons on that choice?Here's my design so far.  The sliding fence on top would be removable.  The receiver slide for the fence would have bolts protruding from the bottom that fit into holes drilled in the table top.  Please point out whatever you see that just won't work.  This will be my first table build, and like Daddy always told me, the first time you usually do something wrong. Attached Images
Reply:Nice cad skills.You have some good ideas there...you may consider nesting tube for the slides They will provide a better fit then standard square tubing helping to minimize any slop while extended.Ken
Reply:I don't know what nesting tube is.  Can you describe it?
Reply:That is the most beautiful and elaborate plan I have ever seen!  Mine is just an old shipping crate. City of L.A. Structural; Manual & Semi-Automatic;"Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place where gold is refined. Iron is taken from the earth, and copper is smelted from ore."Job 28:1,2Lincoln, Miller, Victor & ISV BibleDanny
Reply:The big issue I see is your "fence". I'd call it more of an adjustable stop than anything else. A fence to me would be a long piece of angle or square tube, that is set up the length of the table. To that you could fab an adjustable stop if you wanted. You slide the steel up against the fence and it squares it to the blade. You could then use a C clamp to hold the piece in place if needed. One other mod you might think of is a rotating base for the saw in conjunction with the fixed fence. Some one here posted up a great design of one that allowed you to keep the fence staionary and swivel the saw to cut angles. With the standard chop saw you angle the work, not the blade like you would with a wood chop saw. I want to say Farmersamm built the swivel on his saw table, but I'll need to dig for the link. The big trick is setting up the piviot point so the fence can stay aligned with the correct cutting location of the saw. You will need to add an auxilary vise since the one on the saw will not work when angled. Thats where clamping to the fence, or building some sort of removable vise would work.A couple of pins and a threaded rods and hand knobs can make removal quick and easy for the fence and vise. One thought might be something like T bolts that will lock against the angle fence or a stop under the table, yet make it easy to tighten..No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:Cool plan!  Only thing I was thinkin' is that with a table that big, might put a few holes in it for clamping.  Just a thought.  Eager to see pics of the finished product!(Retired) Professional firefighter, amateur everything else I try to do...Oh yeah:  Go Big Red!   (You know: one of the 12 members of the Big 10 cuz we left the 10 members of the Big 12...)
Reply:Originally Posted by LynyrdI don't know what nesting tube is.  Can you describe it?
Reply:That's a good design.  I just built a new table a couple of months ago and had the exact same idea. The sliding toolpost recievers are awesome!!  I'm not too fond of my chop saw platform though.  I think that If I had to do it again, I would bolt the saw to a platform, then hinge the platform to the tabletop, so that it can hang off the side when not in use, but pop it up to cut. Attached Imagesars sine scientia nihil est
Reply:Neat table.As your stop is designed now;  You could mount a receiver vertically on the edge of the table then drop a 90 degree receiver for your stop.  You could also attach your stop to the movable saw fence.  A length of 1/2" rod with the stop sliding along the rod would work.  Support the stop as needed and have a couple of varying length rods for long or short cuts.   It would combat the problem of relocating the stop for angle cuts and would be fixed to the saw so if the saw moves then the stop will move too.
Reply:Originally Posted by LynyrdI don't know what nesting tube is.  Can you describe it?
Reply:Nice, I like your design!
Reply:DSW, I see what you mean about miter cuts.  I'll have to figure out how I want to pivot the saw.  Maybe a swivel boat seat mount inside the tray with a piece of plate welded on top of the swivel.  I also get what you mean about an auxillary vise for ange cuts.  When you swivel the little built in fence for the chop saw one way, you can still use the saw's built in vise clamp, but the other way the two gripping edges offset so far that it can't hold anything.After reading a bit, I understand now what nestable tubing is.  I'll have to see if I can find some of that locally.  The problem is with the inside edges of the larger tube.Tapwelder, I love your idea about a vertical reciever to hold the stop.  I'll have to work that in.Also, this morning after coffee a couple of friends came over, and one of them had a great idea for moving the casters off of the post legs and adding leveling bolts to the bottom of the legs.  Now I want to build some lifting cams to raise and lower the casters so that I won't need lockable casters.  That way any amount of pounding on the table top won't hurt the casters.I wish the steel shop was open this weekend.  I can't wait to get started.  But, for now I'll just have to be satisfied with reworking my plan some.Thanks again to everyone for all the good pointers.Lynyrd
Reply:Looks like a real good design. If your shop is big enough, I wouldn't cut up the 5 x10 plate. Those extra sq ft will be needed someday and after being used, well appreciated.                                        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:mla2ofus, I know you're right about the size of the 5x10 coming in handy some day, but I just don't have the room.  Also, with my extender reaching out at least 4 foot, I'll still have a 10 long table when extended for long stuff.  Of course you couldn't put a LOT of weight on the extender without tipping the table.Lynyrd
Reply:Originally Posted by Lynyrdmla2ofus, I know you're right about the size of the 5x10 coming in handy some day, but I just don't have the room.  Also, with my extender reaching out at least 4 foot, I'll still have a 10 long table when extended for long stuff.  Of course you couldn't put a LOT of weight on the extender without tipping the table.Lynyrd
Reply:Very nice, and you just gave me an idea for something I've been planning. I bought a roller and I was trying to figure out a stand for it, something where I could put the roller on and take it off easily and put other stuff on like a vise or maybe an anvil. After I saw how you mounted your vise I went out to my shop and welded a reciever tube onto a flat, 36" diameter 1/2" plate base. I welded it onto the center, pointing up. Then I slid some draw bar inside it. Monday I will get some more receiver tube and attach it to the top of the draw bar. Then I made a flat 3/8 plate to bolt the roller to, and welded a 6" piece of draw bar to it. Now I can just drop the roller onto the receiver and slide in a pin. I can make mounts for a vise this way also, and a table top, a grinder, etc. This adds a lot of versatility to my small shop. Thanks for the idea, I will post pics on another thread soon.This will solve my workbench vise mounting issues also, I will just bolt a piece of receiver to the underside of the bench and make a 90 degree piece to slide into it, the vise will only be there when needed this way.Miller Challenger 172Miller Thunderbolt AC/DC 225/150Miller Maxstar 150 STLVictor 100CVictor JourneymanOxweld OAHarris O/ASmith O/A little torchNo, that's not my car.
Reply:Although the saw Mount is pretty neat I would probably opt for a Chop saw table on wheels that rolled up to your Welding table.You gonna have to take it all down to weld, and as soon as you do yer gonna need to cut another piece-That Chop saw mount looks heavy and awkward too- almost 4' wideEd Conleyhttp://www.screamingbroccoli.com/MM252MM211 (Sold)Passport Plus & Spool gunLincoln SP135 Plus- (Gone to a good home)Klutch 120v Plasma cutterSO 2020 benderBeer in the fridge
Reply:I built a roll around cart for the chop saw and use my hyd lift table for infeed. Works great.                                                  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:Originally Posted by Broccoli1Although the saw Mount is pretty neat I would probably opt for a Chop saw table on wheels that rolled up to your Welding table.You gonna have to take it all down to weld, and as soon as you do yer gonna need to cut another piece-That Chop saw mount looks heavy and awkward too- almost 4' wide
Reply:Here's a couple of new modifications to my design.  Do you think this lifting cam would work to put the weight on the casters?  The cam would be made of 2" pipe with a piece of plate cut out and welded in each end to hold the weight.  The lever would be 1" tubing welded to the end of the pipe/plate.  You could use any piece of steel that would fit inside the 1" tubing like a jack handle to rotate the cam.  In this picture, the cam is in the lifted position which would be just past high center on the cam.  The lever socket (1" tubing") would want to push down once you had passed center and would rest on the cross member of the frame holding the casters down.  By inserting a handle in the socket and lifting you would rotate the cam to the smaller side and allow the caster legs to lift off the ground.Considering my table will weigh 600 to 800 lbs when built, do you think this would be stong enough to lift the table?The second pic shows an enlarged saw tray with a wood bottom.  Is it safe to use a piece of plywood for the bottom of the saw tray?  That would keep the weight down.  I'll need a bottom on the tray to be able to pivot the saw for 45 degree cuts. Attached ImagesLynyrdAn old redneck who lives out in the woods.
Reply:Originally Posted by LynyrdWhy would I have to take the saw down to weld?  Current damaging the saw?
Reply:Lynyrd, I'm having trouble understanding how your cam design works. I'm sure it works, just be sure to connect the left and right sides together so the table is lifted uniformly on each end.I've been working on a table design for a while and my approach will incorporate fixed wheels at one end and "lifting casters" on the other end. Rather than a cam, I plan to use a pair of scissor jacks from "small cars in the junk yard" to do the lifting. The jack screw rods will be welded together so I can turn both jacks together from either side of the table. The thought is the table is heavy when empty and I don't plan to unload it just to move it. I feel my design is "simple" yet powerful and "tried and tested" through millions of flat tires I don't like the idea of "leveling bolts" on an "industrial table" Think "PSI" and then add lots of weight coupled with heavy hammer blows. You'll have a dimpled and chipped concrete floor in a couple uses. To level the table just keep a couple thin shims handy and tap one or two under the "higher leg" when you move the table. Just like putting a matchbook under that annoying table in a resturaunt.concerning your chop saw, definitely don't use wood. chop saws leave major "skid marks" directly below the blade and will quickly burn through the wood. I believe the comment about the saw not being there when welding is more about the saw just being in the way versus damage to the saw. I would also suggest making a deeper tray for the saw, while keeping the saw elevated to be level with the table top as your currently doing. A deeper tray will help collect the dust and cuttings from the saw.Having a separate table for the saw is also a good suggestion because it's nice to keep the dust and filth of a chop saw away from your work space. Here's the contraption I made for my saw and I do all my cutting outside due to the dust these saws create: http://weldingweb.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=26338 Attached Images
Reply:Markfuga,I love your scissor jack design!  Wish I had a couple of those laying around the shop.  I really appreciate your comments.  I hadn't thought about needed to lift two legs at once.  I can see now that is a must.  I was planning on making the cams out of some 2" solid bar stock cut about 1" thick.  I could make a long rod and weld the cams onto both ends so that you could rotate both cams at once.  Do you think that some 1" tubing with 1/4" wall would be strong enough for that?  It might stand up to the torque if my welds were strong enough.As for your comment about the wood tray, I see what you mean.  I was just thinking that a wood bottom for the tray would make it lighter and easier to lift out when I want the tray out of the way.  I intend to use the space between the sliding extender and the table top for cutting, clamping, etc.  I'll have to think about this some more.  I also like the idea of a seperate saw cart.  I just wanted to incorporate everthing into the one table.  Maybe that's a bad idea.LynyrdLynyrdAn old redneck who lives out in the woods.