Mag drill recommendations - holes needed in welding table

jeepcj3a

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 13, 2006
Location
winston salem
I have a roughly 28x45" piece of 5/16th steel I want to use for a small welding fixture table. I checked and my LWS does not rent any mag drills. Does anyone have suggestions on a place around Winston to rent one? I would even consider taking the plate (weights about 100 lbs) to someone with a mag drill or water jet to get the holes done depending on final cost. I am wanting to do about 25, 5/8th holes, on 4" centers in the table so I can use clamps.

If I decide to want to buy one, any recommendations on a brand/model to consider for non-commercial use? I don’t foresee working with any material over 1/2” thick. Have been looking at a few of the Hougen models.

Thanks for any suggestions.
 
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Wish you were closer I'd let you borrow mine. You know anyone with a machine shop? I paid a buddy $40 to put a 4x8 sheet of 1/2" on a big horizontal mill and put .500" holes on 5" centers. Was well worth it. Otherwise give Sunbelt a call?
 
braxton357 said:
Wish you were closer I'd let you borrow mine. You know anyone with a machine shop? I paid a buddy $40 to put a 4x8 sheet of 1/2" on a big horizontal mill and put .500" holes on 5" centers. Was well worth it. Otherwise give Sunbelt a call?
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Appreciate that offer. I do need to get quotes from the bigger name equipment rental places in town. $40 is an incredible price for that 4x8’. Unfortunately, I do not have a contact at a machine shop. What mag drill do you have? Been pleased with it?
 
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jeepcj3a said:
I need to get quotes from the bigger name equipment rental places in town. $40 is an incredible price for that 4x8’. Unfortunately, I do not have a contact at a machine shop. What mag drill do you have? Been pleased with it?
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I bought a ching chong version from Amazon and a bunch of annular cutters for it. Have used several much nicer Milwaukee ones in the past but they were also 4x the price. With the annular cutters the thing works great, especially for under $400. Cuts mild steel like butter.
 
So it was 6" centers, but anyway I buy those HF welding clamps when they're on sale, turn some .75" stock down so it's a slip fit in the table holes and weld it to the clamps.. Kinda like woodworking table clamps. Screw threaded hole tables.
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That is my exact plan as well. Saw it on a YT video awhile back and grabbed some of the clamps from HF and I had 5/8th bolts on the shelf so I will cut a slot in the top to weld on the clamp.

Do you ever find the 6" center spacing prevents you from clamping the way you want on projects?
 
Bessey makes clamps just like that, but they're not as cheap as shitty Harbor Freight stuff on sale. You can buy ground stock and cut to length if you don't want to turn down nominal size stock to fit the holes.
 
jeepcj3a said:
That is my exact plan as well. Saw it on a YT video awhile back and grabbed some of the clamps from HF and I had 5/8th bolts on the shelf so I will cut a slot in the top to weld on the clamp.

Do you ever find the 6" center spacing prevents you from clamping the way you want on projects?
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No, I've welded for a long time on a much larger Blanchard ground table with threaded holes on 6" centers and I've always been able to set something up, usually with step clamps. Smaller stuff I've got angle plates for. As far as the HF clamps, I've got several bessey clamps and even more of the HF clamps. They are every bit as strong and 1/4 the price of the others. If you need to absolutely clamp the piss out of something an f clamp is the wrong tool, grab a Kant twist.
 
If you buy one, get a Slugger.
 
braxton357 said:
So it was 6" centers, but anyway I buy those HF welding clamps when they're on sale, turn some .75" stock down so it's a slip fit in the table holes and weld it to the clamps.. Kinda like woodworking table clamps. Screw threaded hole tables. View attachment 298104
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Why not just turn down the end of the clamp instead of welding a stob on?
 
Owned a Hougen and nothing but good things to say. Used Milwaukee for work, same opinion. Heard great things about the Jancys. Never had a problem w slugger or rotabroach annular cutters, but not gonna lie- the cheap sets off amazon were always tempting. If you only plan to use it once for dog holes on a fab table, I'd either look into renting, or buy a used US made model and sell it after.
 
Nothing constructive to add, but annular cutters kick ass! I ran a 60 ft line drill for a few years and they're mean sumbitches! They also hold hole size very well. I had some from 1" to 3.5" and ran them through 1/4" right on up to 3" solid stock.
 
Archdukeferdinand said:
Owned a Hougen and nothing but good things to say. Used Milwaukee for work, same opinion. Heard great things about the Jancys. Never had a problem w slugger or rotabroach annular cutters, but not gonna lie- the cheap sets off amazon were always tempting. If you only plan to use it once for dog holes on a fab table, I'd either look into renting, or buy a used US made model and sell it after.
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We just bought a Hougen HMD904 and its great. May even be better than the slugger.
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