I just bought a Craftsman 12" drill press but my workbench is to high to use it easily. I would like to build a small stand to put it on to keep it at the right height.
I took some measurments, and made some drawings, and then went on to Home Depot to get some steel to start working on it. My plans had called for a 12 x 18 piece of 16 gauage sheet metal to serve as the table top. I was thinking of getting a piece larger than that and cutting it down to size. What I found left me with two choices, neither ideal, a peice of 22 gauage in the exact size I needed, or 16 gauge in half the width I needed.
I thought that I could take the easy way out, or so I thought at the time, and get the size I needed. I would be adding plenty of bracing underneath the table anyway to support the weight, so this would save me some work. Well I tried welding some of me support peices onto the sheet metal, and the piece warped pretty badly. I also burned through in some places, wich was my just a lack of practice on thin material on my part.
So onto my question, if I go back and get the 16 gauge sheet metal, and weld it to my supports will it warp as easily? I don't really see the top being in two halves as a problem, as long as I can weld everything together and nat have it warp on me. My plan calls for 1" square tubing on either end of the top, and a piece in the middle to bolt the drill press to, running the width. I will also be adding two pieces running lengthwise, down the center where the split would be, and of course weld everything together nice and strong. I highly doubt that this would break apart under the relitively small weight of the drill press. Any help / comments would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
P.S. If anybody knows of a supplier where I can get these materials that would be less limited in than HD I would like to know of them. Either mail order, or prefferably in the NYC area would be great. Thanks again.
I took some measurments, and made some drawings, and then went on to Home Depot to get some steel to start working on it. My plans had called for a 12 x 18 piece of 16 gauage sheet metal to serve as the table top. I was thinking of getting a piece larger than that and cutting it down to size. What I found left me with two choices, neither ideal, a peice of 22 gauage in the exact size I needed, or 16 gauge in half the width I needed.
I thought that I could take the easy way out, or so I thought at the time, and get the size I needed. I would be adding plenty of bracing underneath the table anyway to support the weight, so this would save me some work. Well I tried welding some of me support peices onto the sheet metal, and the piece warped pretty badly. I also burned through in some places, wich was my just a lack of practice on thin material on my part.
So onto my question, if I go back and get the 16 gauge sheet metal, and weld it to my supports will it warp as easily? I don't really see the top being in two halves as a problem, as long as I can weld everything together and nat have it warp on me. My plan calls for 1" square tubing on either end of the top, and a piece in the middle to bolt the drill press to, running the width. I will also be adding two pieces running lengthwise, down the center where the split would be, and of course weld everything together nice and strong. I highly doubt that this would break apart under the relitively small weight of the drill press. Any help / comments would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
P.S. If anybody knows of a supplier where I can get these materials that would be less limited in than HD I would like to know of them. Either mail order, or prefferably in the NYC area would be great. Thanks again.
