Hull Work Table
A Step-by-Step Project Journal of Joe's Design, Fabrication and Installation
Hull Work Table: Waterjet Cut Steel Panels
Here are the ½” thick hot rolled steel waterjet cut side panels/leg parts from my supplier. They needed a lot of TLC for sure. Notice the holes for the assembly are already in the part.
Hull Work Table: Sanding & Countersink
Now the part has been sanded and the edges have been smoothed. Waterjet tends to leave a serrated edge so that had to go. You may be able to see that the holes have been counter sunk for their respective screws.
Hull Work Table: Ribbed Steel Parts
There were many other sheet steel parts that were waterjet cut. That is a rib there and that shape is partly where I got the Hull name.
Hull Work Table: Stabilized Support
Here is some very heavy gauge 3/8” wall 4”x4” angle steel for the legs braces and stabilizer support. I could have gotten away with much thinner steel but sometimes you just use what you have.
Hull Work Table: Installing Weld Nuts
Some handy weld nuts are installed for screws that connect these parts to the main legs.
Hull Work Table: Caster Locks
This little guy is the nut where the casters locked in to. Notice the big 1/2” stem that will be used.
Hull Work Table: Framework
Viola! We have a thing! Looks pretty gnarly actually. But you have to hang in there because she would be pretty soon enough. This thing is literally a tank. Overbuilt perhaps but consider that the entire worktable and all of the drawers are suspended by that 6”x8” steel beam. It had to be rock solid without twisting or flexing even a tiny amount for this design to work. Uh, mission accomplished.
Hull Work Table: Steel Brace Plates
The lateral brace shown here without the sheet metal cover prevents this beast from racking. The ½” steel plate legs are strong but steel plate flexes with large rotational moments.
Hulk Work Table: Under Mounting
Ok now this ship is coming together. All of those cross braces supported the battery of drawers. All of the drawer slides were monster under mount glides that I swear by. They are just indestructible. But they do not come apart like most slides so they are a lot trickier to install. All of the drawers had to be meticulously dry fit and you can see one of the large flat files in position.
Hull Work Table: Installing Top & Drawers
Ok we are quite farther along now. The top is on and the flat file drawers are installed. Starting to look nice. Installing the drawers was the trickiest part of the fabrication. Luckily I drew excellent plans if I don’t say so myself. All of the parts fit yay.
Hull Work Table: Solutions
Now this leg just did not want to cooperate. Bowed out like a banana. Nothing the TIG torch couldn’t take out. The TIG torch is the next best thing to an Oxygen/Acetylene rig without the hazard of having explosive gas around. Looks nasty but that char is just on the surface. It would polish out good as new.
Hull Work Table: Flat File Drawers
The fronts on these flat file drawers were very tricky and maybe more so than any other part of the project. I saved a few details for resolution in the shop because I didn’t see an obvious way to do it.
Hull Work Table: Finishing Elements
I love this image. Speaks for itself really.
Hull Work Table: Transporting to Paint
Ok now take it all apart and take that pile of metal to paint! And please bring it back shiny and white!
Hull Work Table: Walnut Wood Finish
The Walnut was sourced down the gravel road from Franks shop. This is one good reason we use a lot of walnut. Anyhow Frank had it straight lined and planed in no time.
Hull Work Table: Woodwork
I like making drawer boxes. The woodwork is always just more relaxing.
Hull Work Table: Grain Sequencing
The drawer fronts are a very special part. This is where we slow down and carefully select the best part of the wood and lay it out so the grain is sequenced. Here we have a few coats of lacquer with 10 more to go.
Hull Work Table: Project Scale
That’s Francis. Or Frachesco as Frank would say. Anyway you can appreciate how big those drawers are in this pic.
Hull Work Table: Delivery to the Client
It wasn’t but a few minutes after we had it setup and Bob had already moved in. I guess he really needed this workhorse.