Well…it’s almost complete.  I’m having too much fun cutting stuff that I don’t want to stop to paint it.

Building the table was actually fun.  I really wanted it to be as square and level as possible

Using a come-along to pull the table square

so I spent a lot of time measuring and remeasuring and remeasuring again.  At one point I had it all tacked together but it had racked just slightly so I had to use a come-along to pull it back square.  Once I was sure that it was perfectly square I added a few more tacks to each joint to make sure none would break and started MIG welding it together.  While the table is heavy, I was able to rotate in onto each side so that I could weld the joints in the flat or horizontal position.  Because I rotated it after a few welds it let each joint cool down enough between welds so that I didn’t overheat a particular joint and cause any unnecessary weld distortion.   Overall the table frame came out great and is almost perfectly square.  It’s also strong enough to take a direct hit from a scud missile.

Clamps, Magnets, Come-Alongs....whatever it takes

Because of the way that the Torchmate rails mount to the table I had to make a bolt access hole so that I could have a way to reach the nuts once the cap was put on.  I made a slotted hole using a mag drill to drill out two holes, and then cleaned the area in between out with a cutting wheel and a die grinder.  The slots came out nice, and will give plenty of room to get the wrench inside to tighten the bots later.

Drilling holes for bolt access

I didn’t put any holes in the cap plate before I welded it on.  That way I could get the Torchmate rails all lined up and mark the holes exact location once the Torchmate system was fully assembled.  I made the cap plates just barely larger than the inside diameter of the 3″ tube and rounded the corners.  Doing this well make it easy to weld, and allow for a full penetration weld.

Bolt access hole in tubing. Note the cap plate tacked on top.

Once the table was finished I had to weld up the water pan.  I had another shop bend 1/8″ plate to minimize the amount of welding that I would need to do.  They were able to make it out of a single plate, so all that I had to weld was the corners.  The shop did an amazing job and held the dimensions exactly as I asked.  I obviously needed a way to drain the table so I drilled out a hole and welded a 3/4″ pipe nipple to the bottle so that I can attach a ball valve to it.

Steel pan prior to welding & drain installation

Unwelded corner of pan

Fully welded and ground corner joint

3/4" pipe drain prior to welding on the inside of pan.

3/4" pipe nipple welded to pan for drain

Once the pan was welded and installed, all that I had to do was make some slats and slat supports.  I made the slat supports from 1/4″ x 3″ flat bar and cut 1.5″ deep slots into them using a abrasive chop saw.  The chop saw blade is just wider than an 1/8″ so the 1/8″x3″ slats fit perfectly inside them.  I took my time to make sure that each cut was as close to exactly 1.5″ deep as I could, and spaced them every 2″.  It sounds sort of like a ghetto way to do it, but I was happy with the results.  I will probably cut some supports at some other point on the plasma table since it should be more accurate and waaaaaay faster.

Water pan installed into table.

Finished....except a few more slats

You can’t see it because it is under the water pan, but there is two additional tubes that help support the water pan.  Overall, I’m really happy with how the table turned out.  I have it all up and running now, but I’m going to take it apart soon and paint it all up.