Budget DIY Welding Table: A Complete Guide to Your First Welding Project! 

Way to jump in with both feet. Nice table. If I could make a suggestion...the edge of your welding table invariably gets used to bend, hammer and form the metal pieces you're fabricating, so it has to be very strong at the edge. You might want to flip it over and add another piece of square stock perfectly even with the edge, then add two straight pieces connecting it to the legs (flat) and finally reinforcing with 45 degree supports from the edge to the legs as well. This way you wont bend or curl the edge of your table when you're beating the shit out of a piece of metal.

welcome to the brotherhood of welding. You did great for the first project. Wear you safety glasses. Will use this for my welding class.

This is one of the best videos for a beginner by a beginner! I really liked your honesty and fearlessness, not going to lie, you really scared me with the angle grinder. Awesome!

Classic music and welding definitely matches to each other. Nice project

I turn 66 today and have yet to throw my first bead, but I will be getting into that before fall. I'm sure my first welds will look a lot worse. Nice job young man!

Thanks man - I'm about ready to give this a try. Already installed my 50 AMP service to garage, bought a mig welder and 75/25 tank, acquired an evolution 15" saw and some steel! TABLE TIME!

Welcome to welding!! Tip: have your garage door open just a little bit or wear a respirator.

Really got inspired by this; definitely going to try this myself as I got a mig welder from a friend. Ps Nice to hear classic music for a change 🙂. Thanks!

I've been given a mig and did my first ever weld yesterday, I love your honesty and have a go attitude. My first project will be your table. Subscribed 😎

Pretty much loved everything about this except no safety glasses and other safety stuff. Although I must admit i tend to be bad and not do things the safe way. Might be one of my first beginner projects.

I love how you always envision what you want, then go and do it, even if you have never done it before. Not everyone wants to tackle welding, let alone restore their own car. Its awesome what you're doing. Very inspiring and motivating, even when things go wrong, forcing you to seek a better solution. I always look forward to this build and your videos. I can't wait to get back to NC and work on my own Z again. Keep safe and away from the damn virus. God Bless

Cool video. Im always excited to see your progress. A few pointers. Control your heat. Bounce around. Always tack in a place that can easily be removed if you mess up. Be comfortable. You can also do a series of tacks if the piece gets too hot. Off and on with the trigger, to control the heat. Good fit up goes a long way. Its amazing how you wont blow holes if your fit up is good. Flat welds are always recommended, specially if your new. Overheads are a bitch only cause of the sparks raining down.

Cool table, I've also just purchased my first welder, I got the LE 140 too. I think I might add a shelf at the bottom of mine to stiffen things up that much more plus provide a spot for my welder as I don't have a cart yet. Love how you didn't let a few troublesome welds at the beginning stop you. You just kept going and focused on the progress and improvements you made, then went back and fixed the first ones. You've an inspired another beginner to start their first big project!

This was a fantastic introduction. I appreciate how organized and easy to follow your presentation was. I gave me - a noob - tons of insight into each stage of the process (particularly your experience buying the metal). Thanks and great job!

Glad to see you are getting better. For your settings you can download the Miller app. I welded very little before for I decided to take a welding class. I wanted to learn the proper technique as to not get too many bad habits. I took my classes at a vo tech school at night for 40 hours 2 nights a week. Cost was $400. I liked it so much I decided to take the intermediate class.

I'm a newb as well. Gonna do something like this as my first project. You might consider putting links for all the tools you're using; might help pay for your channel!

Sorry to hear you had a bad experience at the metal store. I've been very fortunate when it came to dealing with welding suppliers. My very close friend of mine owns a very large welding business in our state. He has six different locations and service trucks that run into other states. Whenever that he needed to pick up supplies when one of his shops would run out I would go with him to the different suppliers. When I started welding myself my friend was more than happy to go with me to the store. By that time a lot of the places knew who I was since my friend is one of their big customers. So I was fortunate enough not to have to deal with ignorant people. I'm glad you left there in front of yourself a better place. I really like how your table came out. I really like the height. I'm pretty tall and most store-bought welding benches are a little short. When you were finishing up I was thinking to myself that you should cut out her grind out those first welds and redo them. When I saw you doing it I couldn't help but to laugh that you had the same idea that I did. I look forward to seeing other videos I definitely made sure to hit the like and subscribe. I don't mind supporting others.

Very nice video, table and welder! Love the simple directions and music . . . good job Sir!

Well done! Lovely choice of music too, thanks!

Very good video, enjoyed the process. I'm amazed how many people are picking up welding. I also appreciated your segment on buying the metal.

Only because your a Milwaukee fan I decided to like your video

Thank you for this. I will use this as my first project as well 😎

Really cool to see someone local (I’m near the Raleigh area) getting started! I’m about to build my first table to hold my forge.

Great video, but you missed the main reason (imo)in the first section for making your own table, that is the total satisfaction of diy projects, when you stand back and say I did that, yeeaahh. Don't buy, when you can diy. Happy welding. ps I love that you showed the mistakes too, when welding 'new to you' metal get a small piece of that 'new metal' that is leftover or scrap and dial in your settings, it's easier to start low and turn it up than start high and blow holes in your work, been there done that lol.

Damn. Thank you! Love the segments and flow of your vid. And the classical music is a nice non distracting touch.

Just found your channel while looking in to making a welding table. I think you did a great job on the video and table and I think I will try and build a similar one to use for my projects. 👍

Wow, first video I've seen by a beginner welder for beginners like me! I bet you didn't know how to walk before you learned how, either, and it looks like you do pretty well at that. Keep on learning always and remember , thank God for grinders(I have four), flap discs, etc. Don't be afraid to make mistakes, keep going, you can't get anywhere following a parked car.

Fantastic! This gives me hope that maybe I can tackle a project like this. Well done!

Man way to go brother. I just purchased the Vulcan Omni Pro 220 from harbor freight so that I can learn how to weld. I'm definitely going to use your plans for my first welding table build with some extra ideas to add a table vise and a bench grinder. Thanks for this video!!

Thanks for this! Glad you weren’t ashamed to show your mistakes! Some don’t realize in order to learn and grown mistakes have yo be made. Now I’m gonna go and make my ton of mistakes on my beginner table.😂

That was awesome dude, and great sense of humour

Cool project. Thanks for letting us watch.

Very nice project, your welding is progressing nicely, nothing like practice. If I might add a suggestion; I would cut those legs off about 12" and put your wheels onto square tubing that will slide over the legs. You can then drill holes every few inches and use a pin to adjust the height of the table for your needs. The height you have the table now is fine and a good idea for comfort and accessibility but when you have a larger project you will find yourself putting it on the floor or you will need a stool, etc. Trust me, this welding, metal fabbing gets out of hand quickly and you will find yourself making more and more. Just a suggestion, again, job well done.

Thanks for the tip regarding Metal Supermarkets vs. Dillon Supply. I'm in the Raleigh area and am looking to do my first project as well. I'd found Metal Supermarkets, but not Dillon and I'd rather drive a bit further to support a business with a decent newbie customer experience.

I love the simplicity of your design. It looks very clean and functional.

Bloody nice work, with a bit of confidence and the right tools people can do or create anything, keep up the good work! 👍🏽

Just got to the car in the background. Im doing it lol. I figured a way to get bottom of the tire about 16" off ground. Im gonna spend a LOT of time under there with a welder

Mate, good job there. Safety first especialy when working alone. I know that wearing PPE could be annoying, but after time you will get use to it and it might safe your eyes one day and your hearing as well. Keep on grinding ;)

I used Dillion Supply often when I worked in Raleigh. Always great service.

Great video. Made my day. I’m a beginner, ur video gave me confidence. Thank you

Good to see you switched from a short sleeve shirt to a long sleeve shirt - that will help protect from UV exposure and melanoma down the road

Wow, br8 job in diy welding table. Gr8 job in making blueprints, which is important. Most plans starts in a coffee shop & on a pc of napkin. Next time U weld, turn a fan 2 circulate fresh air. R U considered drilling 5/8 hole 4 welding clamps. Thx 4 sharing on Utube.

wow ..just wow ..just the video i needed before my 1st project! good job

For first time flux core welding I think you did fine. I noticed you went from thin gloves and short sleeves to long sleeves and long heavy gloves on the first day. Good move. This is as much table as I need. I may build one. Thanks.

The welds were pretty bad but the table turned out nice. You got heart for taking on something so difficult with no training.

Just saw this video, Nice beginner table! Sorry to hear your experience was "not that good" at Raleigh Metal supermarket. I have to say, the way you said they treated you in the metal supermarket is the exact reason why I would not return to Dillion Supplies for metal or for their great tool choices. I went there going further out of my way not knowing a bunch about metals either, but I was glad that they at Dillion were so rude to me because it forced me to go to the place I love dealing with now. Raleigh Metal Supermarket in Durham. I can get and pay for only the amount of materials I need, all cut perfectly to my specs while I wait or not if ordered in advance, all while being treated very respectful and very nice by everyone there.... I would say give them another chance as they don't charge you for materials you don't need and didn't get.

Well done in both explanation and execution. Im giving that a go. Many thanks

Very cool video overall and the welding definitely got much better. But on another note, I would advise you look into improving your safety around the angle grinder. There are a few things you do with much higher potential for injury than you might think. And also, that position you grind in so frequently, you are asking for a grinder wheel shard to take out your manhood, keep your body on the outside of the wheel and guard.

Fantastic breakdown of design, buy, and build! Thank you.

That is rad! nice work

I love that Evolution chop saw I hope to one day be able to afford one.

Biggest problem I have with this design is it doesn’t have any bracing for the legs at the bottom Moving that table around on the casters will isolate the stress to each leg separately which actually lowers the weight your table will be able to handle Plus the shelf at the bottom works nicely to sit your feet on while sitting doing tig or while standing to rest a foot on not to mention it makes for a great place to put your cutoffs for future scavenging Secondly I’d forget about the metal super markets and look to your local scrap yards the prices are less than half and keep your eyes open around dumpsters at box stores Also old metal bed frames are a great source of material

You did great man!!!! Gotta say welcome to welding. Its awesome.

Loved this video. Well done and I hope to build my own soon.

Well done! Both informative and entertaining. This will be my first project for the new welder I just bought. Thanks for doing this video!

Your mindset and style seem nearly identical to mine my man. Great build. I just got a steal on the supplies for my table today from the semi-local shop. Picked up a sheet of 49inx29in 3/8 plate along with approx 30ft of 2in square tube FOR 50 BUCKS! I was lucky enough to find what I needed in their cutoff bins.

Awesome garage bro

my welder hasnt got here yet but when i was using a dremel to smoothen out a plastic body for an rc car a big piece of plastic got launched into my eye and under my eyelid. took a while to get out but no damage done and definitely wearing safety glasses from now on.

I'm just starting too. I had two 280ZX's a long time ago. Great choice. Great video. (I thought you had to listen to heavy metal to weld.)

LOL at 19 mins, love it that you left that in..

Awesome job, mate! And, btw, your first welds look better than some welds on earlier Tesla production vehicles. So, u did better, than a multi billion dollar company. I call it success.

Thanks for breaking down the details. I really appreciate it.

well done mate, from shit welds to nice welds in your first project, that's awesome. You've inspired me to make my own welding table, thanks for sharing.

Nice table, great video. The only problem i see. is that the 4 corners on the table have 90 corners and you could hurt youself. You should round them off or weld an edge

Good job dude! This video popped up at the perfect moment as I'm in the throes of adding more table space to my micro workshop, and the intention for the add is for welding, among other things. Thanks for going through the trouble giving us viewers an easy way out of figuring out the amount of each component of the build. Again nice work :)

Very first thing I saw was the Z dash on the shelves! Great video!

I say you kicked ass. Well done.

Enjoyed the welding project. I'm about to make a welding table and am going to use your blueprint diagram if that's alright. I never welded in my life and this is going to be my first project. I too am in NC and don't need or like rude vendors. Heck, you're giving them your business and money. If anything, you'd think they'd be all over that. Enjoyed the video; full-watch. Gave a big thumbs-up. 👍🏽🙂

Great job looks very good

Awesome. That was GREAT. Thoroughly enjoyed all of it, and leaned much. 👍🏻😊

Great table man im also gonna soon start welding

I just picked up an old table saw for $35. It's probably at least 40 years old, and all steel, and it stands about waist high to me. I'll repurpose the electric motor somewhere, and remove the parts that hold the blade. The tabletop is a little smaller than what I would have liked, but, like you, this will be my first time welding, so I can add onto it later, or just replace it with something better, so, it won't be a total waste of money.

I'm oly 7min into this video and I like the table, I would make mine about 40in.x 28in. I have a pretty small space!

My metal supermarket has a section of drops that you are free to search for and it's cheaper to buy its either them or Alro steel here and both are great service

Wow that's awesome explanation. Precise that i easily understood.. thanks for the instructions.

Great video man. Good work.

Nice job. I've not found a need for a welding table so far (did tons of welding on my '73 Lancia, '72 VW and'69 Mercedes, and my son's '72 240Z)

great content !.. but it would be way nicer if you can have some sort of audio mic setup for better audio.. keep up the good works and thanks for sharing this video . very helpful

Good job! Kudos on just going for it. I bought a brand new Lincoln welder just like yours 2 months ago that I haven't even taken out of the box! I didn't realize I've been too anxious about getting started so I've been procrastinating; you just gave me the motivation. One newbie observation though, being that I'm obsessed with safety while working... at 15:50 you are just blasting your bare ankle with glowing shavings! Did you notice? Maybe work boots would be safer 😉

very nice job and just the right size for home use or a garage. I think i will build one as I just bought a Hobart 140 welder but the shelf tubing will be half the size as it dose not that much strength, again very nice job and the video was well detailed.

Great job for a beginner, I enjoyed the video. Thanks!

Dude, mechanical engineer with 40yrs experience here, including welding in heavy industry. Great job. overall. However, for your own safety, and for others who watch: welding produces large doses of full-spectrum UV radiation, including the most carcinogenic Uv (UV-C, which is usually attenuated by the upper atmosphere when it comes from the sun). (GMAW - ie MIG - is especially brutal here.) It is therefore essential to cover all exposed skin to protect yourself from skin cancer. Please don't weld in a T-shirt. I'd sincerely like you to live a long life. Please do not damage your DNA any more in this way. Just a gentle suggestion for your own well-being. Otherwise - great job. A good welding bench pays for itself 100x over in terms of the ROI. Best regards.

What a great video. I have had my eye on a truck that has a Flintstones floor pan and have been considering going down the path to learn welding so that won't be a deterrent in the future.

I actually came up with the idea to build a weld table for my first project myself. but yeah it really is a great idea. main thing is you don't want to catch your wooden table on fire lol. and what you built is kind of like in my mind what i want to do. I will make a vid on it too lol but it will be my own design.

Great video. That was a good idea for a learning project and something you will need. That is a nice table

The metal yard in my town will sell by the size you need AND cut it for free (he said "free cutting, as long as you dont want a million cuts"). I just pay by the mm 👍 It is a bit smaller than that place you went to. You might want to shop around and find where the old timers go, your place looked like a bit pro setup.

I didn't realize how expensive metal tubing is. Might have to just stick with woodworking. 2x4s are 1/5 the cost of a 1" 6ft square tube.

Well Done!!!!

The front desk guy at Metal Supermarkets in Charlotte, NC is named Jarvis and is SUPER helpful and probably the most cordial human being you'll ever meet. I 100% recommend them if you're in Charlotte. Great project!

Hilarious. Dude you should see my face when I'm working. It's so embarrassing. I don't weld yet though I'm just looking into it

Great build. You are going to wish you had added more drawers. Coincidently there is no such thing as enough clamps.

Great design , my one suggestion would to make the top to be able to screw on . That way you can take it off to make it lighter to move , if you have to take it to another site :) Impressive design though !

Good job.... fabricating something from nothing is exhilarating but be careful it can consume you if your an "all in" kind of personality (like me) lol i.e. I started welding about two years ago with a cheap gasless mig.... now I have four welding machines and LOVE welding

Do you think I could just tack weld a sheet of Steel to the inside of my tailgate and use my tailgate as a welding table or do you think that the electrical current from the Welder would mess up my trucks electronics?

Thank I will do mine !!

Great job! On first project! Keep up the good work! 🤙🏻

Try not to put your frank and beans in the plane of rotation of an angle grinder especially with a cutoff wheel

Really nice table bro. May I segest that in a future build of a table you could design a holder or cage for the actual welder itself as it will then be much less of a hassle to move around. Still loved the build.

Very nice,. Thanks

Great video, wonderful story telling. Fun