$4 DIY Welding Table Clamps

I made several $50 dog hole clamps for my CertiFlat welding table for about $4 each using Harbor Freight F-clamps and a handful of 5/8" bolts.

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[garfield]

Brandon Lund was the first guy I saw do this.
His channel is pretty great.
I subbed to yours.
Any man honest enough to post footage of him toughing the hot metal twice deserves my subscription.
I think we have all done it.

[rag]

If welding and fabbing doesn't pan out for you try stand up comedy!! had a good couple laughs.. Thanks for sharing

[HacknBuild]

Nice, I've been making clamps like this for a while now. I do a couple of things differently, I just cut off the bottom of the clamp rather than driving the pin out. I also leave the threads on the bolt so that I can use them on my wooden fixturing tops as well.

[mikeguerrieri]

Love it! Send me a new hole. The delivery, perfect.

[joell]

That wasn’t that was GREAT! Your sense of humor always makes my day. Thanks for sharing.

[EskimoKillaz]

Those clamps are what have kept me from buying a welding table top. I've never seen the clamps in person but knowing they can be made so easily is embarrassing to find out. Great tutorial and I will definitely be making some!

[johnchan]

Wow, gr8 way making clamps 4 welding table. Went 2 Harbor Freight & picked up 6 F clamps. Thx 4 sharing on Utube.

[homesteadonomics]

Great Job! I've been using the HF bar clamps on my welding table and woodworking bench... but always separated both ends, slipped them in from the bottom and reconnected through the hole. This is so much easier... super smart! thanks
Joe

[JayHutchG]

I went ahead with these for my Certiflat fixture table. Exact same way. Turned out just fine, but discovered two ways to improve them. #1) when welding the camp leg to the groove on the bolt head if you tilt them back slightly, the clamp will be 90 deg vertical when tightened down on the table. The 5/8" bolt shank isn't tight in the 16mm hole. The tilt helps a bit. #2) Knowing the Certiflat tables have 16MM holes (slightly bigger than 5/8") and measuring the shoulder of a normal 5/8 bolt you will find they are smaller than 5/8". So the cut off 5/8 bolt shoulders are a sloppy in the hole. Better if they fit tighter. Therein lies the rub! To by true 5/8" or 16MM shoulder bolts I find they are expensive. Significantly so. Solution is to buy 16MM round stock and cut off the pieces you need. 16mm or 5/8 round stock also not cheap, but not bad. Fit the holes perfectly. Only reason for this I did the 1/4" top, do a lot of fixturing and I don't want to cause any damage to my 16mm holes. I have noted some already and hope to stop it. Generally, as you know, even the slightly sloppy cut off 5/8" bolts work pretty well.

[RossNanfito]

I'm so glad you made this video...when watching your welding table build video I saved a screen shot of the clamp as you were using it thinking I just have to make some of those. Brilliant.

[chrisosh]

A man after my own heart! I like to save money but even better I like to make things that are adaptions of something common that can do an expensive job.
I have come to know and love your welding table, you could do a series on it, Wesley's Welding Table!

[stevehinds]

just as i do always picking up the bit i cut or just welded and great idea i will make some myself v soon.

[daddydawg]

Not that it makes that much difference but I just watched another clip where the Fab person used 5/8 shoulder bolts.. the explanation was that regular bolts and all-thread are sometimes slightly undersized in Diameter to make them easier to thread.. where shoulder bolt are a tighter fit. Either way seems to work fine and the shoulder-bolts are a little more expensive but... there it is.

I almost fell out when you grabbed the hot piece on the floor and then did it AGAIN with the clamp piece hot end!😆 That made ME feel SO much better .. as I grabbed the business-end of my 'Plastic welder' that i had clamped in a vise that I thought had cooled ! Two weeks of spraying LIDOCAINE on the quarter-sized burn right where the first finger joint is... reminded me to wear gloves or leave the damn thing in the vice till the next day!

Thanks for being Human

[johnjames]

Awesome idea! I have those exact HF clamps and they are far better than most at that price range. One IMPORTANT tip. Don't weld plated bolts (were they zinc?). The fumes are a severe carcinogen. McMaster carr and others have plain bolts.

[KesicMilos]

"That was stupid" god i laughed so hard! Love your humor and your videos! Keep it up!

[TheFalconJetDriver]

I am a hobby wood worker and we have benches with holes in them for bench dog, I like you clamp idea that will work well for Wood working too!

Thanks

[MarkWarbington]

That was almost Wile E. Coyote funny. I expected you to pull out a mysterious box labeled "Acme", wrap the clamp with "TNT", tiptoe around a corner and push the plunger, only to have the entire shop destroyed while the clamp remains defiantly unscathed. :)

[thebeardedstork]

"That's still is that!" LOL Did they send you a new hole yet? Thanks for the video....and the laughs!

[Zfrk]

had a really similar idea and already got the HF clamps. Thanks for warning me they don't just fall apart when the rivet is removed. Got some of their locking pliers for the same type of project

[frankbosley]

Thanks for this! I followed your video to create my own clamps. I couldn’t pound the rivets out so I used a drill press.