A frequent question I receive from customers revolves around the thickness of welding tables. In the past, welders used to take a piece of very thick material, put some legs on it, and brag about the thickness of the top alone! If you had a 1-inch thick, 2,000kg slab of steel, that was great!
But these old mantras don't apply to modern jig tables, and certainly not to the ones we design and manufacture. Instead, we are focused on the strength, flatness and precision of products. Here we will discuss the real need for thick tables....
We work with almost 90% of our products in 6.35mm sheets, and this has an explanation...
If you have little time, skip to the end of the page, where I made a summary.
But if you're one of those who likes to know the details, let's go...
We can work with practically any thickness!
Let's get this straight from the start. WE CAN manufacture welding tables in any thickness you desire! With that clear, let's delve deeper and try to find out if it's worth it...
The thicker, the flatter?
It's no secret how we build our tables in our photos and videos you can get a good idea. We cut the support sheets and trusses on an extremely precise laser machine. The trusses are welded, and the table is firmly assembled. Therefore, when we take the slightly curved top plate (because ALL steel is slightly curved or wavy due to the coiling) and clamp it against the straight truss, this plate will conform to the flatness of the truss.
Our standard thickness (the flagship) is 1/4 inch, or 6.35mm. But let's imagine that we opt for a 1-inch plate! In this case, we have to combat the natural curvature of four times the thickness of steel, which means we have to tighten MUCH harder to get the same result. This also puts the entire table under more stress and requires much more intense welding, which means more heat and greater potential for warping. This is the reason why ultimate tables, which have a higher thickness, are welded, and after that, their surface is ground.
In other words, the thicker the sheet, if it is not straightened, the more difficult it will be to make it super straight. This not only goes for us, but for anyone building a super flat surface!
I see some manufacturers selling tables welded with thick sheets without grinding, but still promising great precision. I personally don't take the information they give literally...
Weight, excesses.
If we build a table with thicker material, we only use that material on the top and sides. There's no reason to waste it on the support trusses.
Another detail that you may not realize is that the standard line accessories are designed with 4.75mm and 6.35mm material. This makes the products more manageable, without excessive weight.
Oh, and we can custom make accessories to match a thicker table top if you wish! And we definitely will! But this will also cost a little more.
Is It Stronger?
Our tables have side trusses according to the height of the side of the table. in criss-cross patterns that support the table top. You can think of each intersection as a steel column, and it is this infrastructure that gives the table its rigidity and strength!
If for example you took a 6.35 piece of steel and hung it on the edge of a cliff and jumped on it, it would become a trampoline. But the same would happen with a 12.7mm piece - albeit to a lesser extent. But if you put any of them on top of the rib infrastructure, there will simply be no bounce. It will be rigid.
So, is a thicker plate stronger? Well, if you're going to add more steel to something, sure! But with the right amount and position of trusses, you have a table that's just as strong, with a fraction of the weight.
Is it More Resistant?
In this video , at 41:06, Jason from Fireball Tool performs a test where he takes the biggest clamp he can find and presses it into a hole in a Certiflat table with a force of over 1,000 pounds. Then he runs his finger over the hole and feels what he described as deformation of the edge.
Although this part of the video lasts about 10 seconds, without a detailed look at the damage caused by the tool, I have had several customers worry about the thickness of their table tops as a result. So, let's analyze this...
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You can watch the video 100 times and pause it every frame, but you won't be able to see the damage Jason felt with his finger. This would have been measured in thousandths of an inch. If every hole in the table suffered the same damage, a level would still lie almost perfectly flat on the table surface. You can watch the video 100 times and pause it every frame, but you won't be able to see the damage Jason felt with his finger. This would have been measured in thousandths of an inch. If every hole in the table suffered the same damage, a level would still lie almost perfectly flat on the table surface.
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He was bending the clamp itself by exerting so much pressure, almost to the point of failure. No one will ever need to clamp something with that much pressure to one of these tables. If you think you need to, you are doing something wrong. Plus, instead of a clamp that pushes in from the side, just use a screw that pulls straight down!
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It's safe to say that these clamps are WAY beyond their rated capacity. And it's also safe to say that there is absolutely no need to put so much pressure on the holes in the table top. Never
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Now the question is: Assuming the tools are accurately sized, there is only a gap of approximately 0.005 inches for the shafts to move in the hole. Therefore, the difference between the angle a tool would tilt through 0.25 inches and 0.375 inches is a small fraction of 1 degree. Not enough to protect the hole from damage in case of abuse. In other words, if the tools are going to deform the edge on a 6.35mm material, they will do the same thing on a thicker piece.
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But what about in real life? In your day-to-day work?
All this excessive clamping and hanging of tables on forklifts in the videos is fun and all, but let's talk about a real workshop for a moment. We have tables in our workshop that have been in daily use for a few years, and I can't find a single hole that looks like it has been damaged by tools. And we manufacture tables and do very heavy work precisely to test our material, I guarantee that we don't take care of them as well as our customers!
We have tables that have been used for a long time, in a very used, scratched and not very well cared for table. But they all work great! And in the end, if we put a level on this table, it is still EXTREMELY flat by almost anyone's definition.
In conclusion
At this point, we return to the starting point. Are there cases where a thicker table top could provide a demonstrable benefit? They certainly exist! There are cases where the weight of what is being assembled is quite high. Other than that the height is large, and the blocks and accessories need to be very rigidly fixed. There are cases and cases.
For everyday use, 6.35mm is the perfect option in my opinion.
For lighter work, the 4.75mm works great.
I'll make a summary below to make your life easier.
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We offer different thicknesses : It is important to highlight that there are welding tables with any thickness the customer desires, from 4.75mm to 15.88mm. However, it is essential to evaluate whether this really makes sense.
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Flatness and Thickness : Our tables are built with attention to flatness, and this is fundamental. If we increase the thickness of the top without grinding it, it becomes more difficult to obtain a perfectly flat surface due to the natural tendency of thicker steel to curve.
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Unexpected Complications : When opting for a thicker top, the weight of the table increases considerably. This makes handling difficult and reduces the wheels' ability to support additional weight.
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Strength and Thickness : Adding thickness to the table makes it stronger, but in practice, this may not be necessary as our tables already have a robust bottom structure that provides rigidity.
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Durability and Thickness : An extreme clamping test did not demonstrate major benefits in table thickness. The observed minimum deformation is negligible for practical welding applications.
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In the Real World : 6.35mm tables are sufficient for most welding situations and have proven durable in constant use.
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Conclusion : Although there are cases where a thicker table can be advantageous, generally in day-to-day use it does not justify the additional cost. Just increasing the thickness without grinding does not make the table flatter, increases the price, does not benefit the tools used. Therefore, the choice of a welding table must be balanced, considering specific needs and added value. When the customer wants a thicker table (and in many cases this is really necessary), they must bear in mind that they will certainly have a more robust material, but also a higher product cost.
LuccaZ Tools -