Warp prevention...

[wellis77]

I'm going to be building a chassis/frame table for myself in a couple months and have recently been thinking about the best way I can weld this together to avoid warping. I've read multiple threads on different and heard about bolting top rails to the frame of the table to avoid warping but I'm having a hard time picturing what that looks like.

Outside of that, what are some ways I can avoid warping, as much as possible. Until last week, I figured I would stitch weld 1 - 1 1/2 inches per leg, then about an inch on each side of the 2 x 2 cross braces. From other threads I've read that seems to be a pretty common way of welding a table together, aside from bolting on a top rail but I haven't seen a pic to know what that looks like. Earlier this week I found some "welder angle clamps" and it got me wondering if this might be a better option. At $40-$50 a piece plus shipping, they aren't cheap but it may be worth it in order to be certain everything is square and true. Any thoughts on these clamps and if they would be worth the investment or other ideas on what I can do? I can probably use them also for squaring the rails on my frame too, and who knows, I may be able to find other uses as well.
http://cgi.ebay.com/4-Industrial-Wel...#ht_2871wt_907


Below is an image of my design so far. I'm planning a 15' table with the side rails out of 3x3x1/8 box tube, cross braces and angled leg braces out of 2x2x1/8, legs are 2x3x1/8. I'll be building adjusters into each leg in order to level it out.


If you're not familiar with a table like this, I'll be mocking my car one it, using a jig to establish my suspension pick-up points and building the chassis on this as well. My main concern is warping of the table as I weld it together but if you have other ideas of what I can do for this I'm open to hearing anything. Thanks everybody, good to see you all again.

Hopefully this all makes sense too. I've adapted it from multiple car forums...

[SICFabrications]

i NEVER weld the table top to the table frame.... when you weld it, it WILL warp and bow... trick is, you gotta use a steel top thick enough to not move around.... you also gotta use frame parts heavy enough to..... not move around....

[wellis77]

I'm not using a top. It's going to be open so I can work and weld from underneath and inside too. Any thoughts on how I can put this together to minimize or eliminate possibility of warping altogether? I hate to have to bolt the entire thing together but that may be the best situation. Any thoughts on whether or not the clamps I listed would be a benefit?

[SICFabrications]

i'll get back to ya on this later tonight..... i dont have any clamps in my inventory that even remotely resemble those clamps.... other peeps use em, i dont.... if you lightly tack corners, inside then out and constantly check for square plumb, flush, and level as you are tacking it together, then you should outta be fine.... after its tacked, then weld a joint on 3 sides, then jump to another part of the table... keep moving around and making square adjustments as necessary

[tomsign]

well put Stan

[ISKI]

I used two 6 inch I-Beams for the table, and then I use 2x3x0.128 rectangular tubes to slide up and down where I wanted to set a datum. I bolted two 6 inch I-beam rungs in the middle to hold it together and added wheels so I could slide it around. I used a water level from home depot to get the four corners set. I was worried that it would warp when I welded it, and decided that the best option was to use screw adjusters out of ¾ inch bar from home depot to set the level. After this I wanted to put turn-buckles from the jig to the concrete to keep it from twisting or lifting. I also set the suspension mounts using the jig/ chassis holder vs. the frame rails so that the holes are exactly where I want them in relation to each other. The I-beams alone did the job for my 4 inch 1020 DOM tubes. If I ever use it again, I’ll turn buckle it to the concrete floor for a perfectly solid datum. I like the I-beams since I can unbolt this thing and store it in almost no space at all.

I have a picture of some of it in my gallery

[KHK]

From my experience, which is limited, I have found that if you get things to hot it will warp. I would recommend that you spot weld it together, check for square and adjust as needed. Do the final welding by moving around to keep any area from getting to hot. You do not really care if the legs are square and plum only the main tubular top of the table. Bolting the assembly to the floor before final welding should help to keep the top true.

[tigqk]

Got a chipping hammer?

[wellis77]

Got a chipping hammer?

yup, sure do

[UnfinishedProjects]

Wellis77,

Like every mentioned, I always have luck tacking and stitch welding but moving around on the project. Just don't spend to much time in one area and you will be ok.

By the way, how do you determine the width for your table? Tire-to-tire distance? I would love to build a similar table but I want to make sure I can build multiple cars on it no matter their width or length.