What material to use?

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Planning on building a bench for my 16x20 lathe/mill....weighs about 700 lbs.   Will 2"- 1/8" angle iron be sufficient?   I'll try to post a sketch of what I'm thinking...
Reply:here's the pic...can post views of the underside if it would help.   BTW, drew this using Google SketchUp...totally free version and dead easy to learn!  Great for the CAD-adverse among us... Attached ImagesLast edited by shepdog; 07-06-2006 at 11:43 AM.Reason: add attatchement
Reply:With 700 lbs sitting on top, I'd recommend a cross braces or at least short diagonals to limit any movement.   Most of the lathe stands I've seen have solid panel ends and at least one plane of the long sides, a solid panel.     Even if you wrapped the sides and back with thin sheet metal, riveted in place, it would add a great deal of strength.There are no small projects
Reply:Thanks...I had diagonals on the ends in another design...i am using 3 lengths for the top long stretchers.   Just trying to keep the cost within reason...I like the sheetmetal idea though...what gauge would be sufficient to tie it together?
Reply:I wouldn't go with anything thinner than 16g.   I can't support this recommendation with the engineering data at the moment, but I was once advised that when working with open spans of sheet metal to try and limit the unsupported area of a field such that if you draw a rectangle using the edges of the unsupported area, the diagonal line from corner to corner should form an angle between it and the bottom or long edge, of no less than 30 degrees.There are no small projects