This is a common question in any workshop; how do you make a bench?Once you make a bench, how do you put it on wheels to move it?[Eric Strebel] needed a cart for his laser cutter, so he designed his own from an unexpected material: malleable iron pipe.
The appeal of iron pipe is its ready availability and ease of assembly.[Eric] created in a very short time a sturdy table with a top made of solid doors.T-pieces and connections are used, as well as a large number of flanges for the table top itself.Casters are the expansion stem variety with a compression rubber insert that expands to hold them securely in place.
As you can see from the video below, the result is a very neat cutting cart followed by another workbench.It would be interesting to learn more about this material, such as its parameters such as wall thickness and lateral strength, as it becomes important to avoid untimely collapse on a table without any cross bracing.
The most common material for benches still seems to be wood, suggesting that for such a community of tech enthusiasts, we can be surprisingly conservative in our choices.But sometimes, benches are made of the most surprising things.
Pipe threads are tapered.So it needs to be assembled with a wrench to get the threads fully engaged (watch out for burrs too!) This is the tight fit necessary to give it any structural load strength.Also, if not tightened sufficiently, the joint will loosen.Trying to work on a bench with wobbly joints can be very painful.It usually wiggles when you try to drill a hole.Snap drill bits or hacksaw blades!Finally, don’t skimp on the diameter.There is nothing worse than a bench or shelf collapsing from overload.Disorganized at best, and worse if you’re in the path of a fall.
You can drill+tap a hole (or holes) in pipes and fittings and use a set screw to keep the joint from wobbling loose.
Often referred to as a Dutch lock by old timers, it is usually done with overlapping hole and stopper diameters to keep the object timed in the hole.
You can – if you have a lot of time, a drill and cutting oil, and a strong arm and plenty of drill batteries, or a drill press.Pipes are easy to drill – but the fittings are cast iron and they are definitely not easy to drill.ask how i know…
If I did something like this, I would thoroughly clean and degrease the threads, epoxied the joint with slow curing epoxy, and couldn’t take it apart non-destructively.
One is final assembled, one is happy with the dimensions and either spot welds the pipes and connectors or just one turn.Nothing will come loose, then paint it with a nice color.
For some reason, contrary to the name, the black iron pipe is actually mild steel (easy to weld), not cast iron (it’s a weldable pita! Check out the muggyweld 77 rod if you want), honestly , which I think is also the most reasonable solution.
You would think engineers would steel pipe for malleable pipes.:) .Many accessories also appear to be cast iron.This project is fine, but doesn’t really require much plasticity.
I’ve rolled my eyes at “using pipes as a material of construction” because I thought everyone knew this and everyone’s been doing it for generations…but then I hurt my throat with UGH because some experts in A paper was written in the reminder of the comments that we all have to tighten these wires, but have no imaginary way to keep them tight, like I don’t know about locktite.
CA Glue (Super Glue) seals the joints well, not Teflon tape, when using black tubing to compress air.
I used CA glue on the pip attached to my air compressor until I ran out and continued to use Teflon tape.All leaky joints are from where they were sealed with Teflon tape.
You mean Red Locktite?Blue has a lower intensity, is not typically used for connections of this size, and does not require heat to break.
In the early days, RED threadlocker (another brand, not Loctite) was low strength.I still have an old bottle of it – can’t remember the brand now, it may have lost its potency anyway.
Likely so.Some of us live where our store gets cold in the winter, more so with that damn big vent sticking out of the wall.I lost the laser tube and the water in it froze.I never imagined that room would be that cold, but think cold nights below -20 and you have a good way to the outside world to let the cold in.I don’t think that little flap does much.Antifreeze makes the water more conductive, of course depending on how the water is treated (it may already be quite conductive) and it reduces it’s thermal capacity slightly.Depending on where you live, it could be the lesser of two evils.
I think capacitive coupling will reduce the laser power and cause some arcing.I use distilled water and cover the laser and tank with blankets and warm pads in the winter.I only worry about opening the pad when it gets cold.It should probably be thermostatically controlled… a checklist for a day.
Sounds like a plan until the power goes out, or when the fish tank heater or pump hits the grim reaper.Why can’t I use engine coolant or RV antifreeze?Although an expansion vessel should be installed inside the pipeline, if not present.
Iron pipes are an expensive way to make a cart or table.Square steel pipe + welding is more affordable.Additionally, lean pipes such as Flexpipe are ideal for light to medium duty applications.
I totally agree with you.This is a practical way to make a table, it’s practical but expensive if you want to avoid cutting and welding.By the way, what’s the big deal about having to tighten the parts with a pipe wrench?Plumbers do this every day.As already mentioned, these parts can be held in place with anything from adhesive in the threads to welding, to drilling and passing something through the hole to keep the part from turning.The downside is that those nice pre-cut, pre-threaded nipples are just as expensive as the accessories.
+1 for PVC.Some suppliers now sell pipes and fittings in multiple colors at the same time.The variety of fittings has gone beyond piping.Cutting and assembling PVC is much easier than cutting and then threading metal pipe.
Came here on purpose.In my early days, I saw a cool project that used a bunch of iron pipe and went to a home improvement store and then it was gone.Now a 3/4″x6′ is over $20 and a 1″x6′ is almost $30!The price per tee is about $4.A rough estimate is that this stool, just in iron, pushes to $200.Plus these tapered connections are not structural, so you want to cross-pin or solder them, which doesn’t seem like a good idea.When an 8 foot 4×4 is $8 or a 2×6 is $6, it’s hard to compete with a wood bench…
I agree with that.Sometimes you can find salvage yards in good condition at salvage yards, or rarely get free rewards when picking a list of free sites.
I like to use black tubes instead of wooden handles and I use rakes, shovels etc and even wheel brakes.The nice thing about black pipes is that most stores that sell them will cut and thread the material, so if you don’t have the tools, the free labor to prepare the material is a luxury.
Of course, in my experience, most metal yards are also cut to size before charging…just make sure to buy more cost-effective parts and cut to the size you need instead of just ordering the size you need. Order Surprisingly, I did this only to realize the cost savings of investing in longer length sections and keeping the extra material.It’s worth looking into if you have the space available, as you might even find a welder that you can use or sell later, if you don’t already have one, as well as metal stock for less than a black tube, depending on the project.
If you don’t have a welder, square pipe won’t be for you.So a plumbing bench might be a viable solution.It all depends on the basic tools you already have.I might also add more cross bracing, but in my opinion a rolling table is not for precision work, it’s for projects and assembly etc.
It might even be cheap if you know a plumber.While the pipe passer is a big clip, it’s to die for to use it properly.I used to do cart air brake duct work with custom parts.It was hard to make it airtight the first time!
Pssst…you don’t need a square tube welder either.Just a drill, some brackets, nuts and bolts.Or, if you prefer, you can use the threading tool.
Honestly, I’ve had good luck with heavy duty 13 gauge post modular industrial shelving, cutting the posts short and placing them on top of multi-layer plywood.
The bench is easy to disassemble and move, height adjustable because it is a rivet hole post adjustable design, good for holding over 1500 lbs of shelves.
You can put them in just about any size footprint you want and lower the height of the columns to benches instead of full shelves.You can move extra shelving under the worktop and even store it, all on one off-the-shelf modular (lol!) industrial shelf.
I’d like a welded steel frame bench, it’s really cheaper – but you have to have welding equipment to do that, and it’s not modular or adjustable, nor can it be removed to wear if you need to move it through the door.
This way, I’ve moved my entire store with ease many times, complete with a no-nonsense workbench that’s built to last.
This seems simple enough to me, obviously – but I’ve never seen anyone else do this for some reason.
Look at all these fancy people using only one material to make things.My table is made from leftovers so they are part plastic, metal and scrap wood.
“It would be interesting to learn more about parameters such as this material, wall thickness and lateral strength, as it becomes important to avoid premature collapse on a table without any cross bracing.”
have a look!Although fluid piping is not designed and specified for structural use, it is well defined in all aspects required for a shopping cart.If you need tables on section properties and how to calculate the bearing capacity of columns, beams, etc., just search online or even better, buy a copy of the mechanical manual.The material properties and actual dimensions (including tolerances) of pipes and fittings are defined in any standard referenced by the listed specification.In this case, it’s most likely ASTM A53.
That said, do yourself a favor and buy a welder and angle grinder instead of $$$ pipe fittings.A cheap bar machine and a grinder + cut-off wheel to cut angles/pipes/pipes/plates will cost less than the fittings listed for the project.Now you can use angle iron or square pipe, which cost less than pipe and have a nice flat surface instead of round fittings with bumps and bumps.
People have been using Kee Klamps to make frames out of iron pipes for years.All you need is an Allen key and a pipe cutter.No threaded pipe or trying to figure out how to assemble it without unscrewing the connection on the other end.It’s more expensive, but much faster to assemble or change.
Here’s the curious accessories catalog.I never knew what these were called – so I couldn’t find them until now.This will make many things very easy.
I’ve certainly built a lot of projects with pipes and fittings.For a long time, if the strength of the steel requires, turn on the welder.This guy has a table saw and can easily build an equally sturdy cart from 2 inches of construction lumber.lol blame some of the “locks” for not circulating sae; why not buy one when you buy pipes and fittings at the store?
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