Welding Tips and Tricks

Weldtables.com offers Fabblock tables with half of the holes tapped, all of the holes tapped, and 16mm "round holes," which, I guess, means no holes tapped.

The price goes up a lot as you specify more tapped holes.

1. Are tapped holes highly useful?

2. Any reason why a clever guy couldn't buy a tap and do the job himself?

3. What's the correct tap?

Funny thing: they say they upgrade tables to thicker metal for a nominal charge, but the nominal charge is not far from double the price!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of ... _tap_sizes

Hole size depends on the thread size and thread count you want.

I took a closer look, and their site says the tapped holes are 1/2-13. Still not sure if I need that many tapped holes.

Personally, I'd pass on having tapped holes on my table. On a small fab block, sure, works great (see Jody's videos where he uses a Roy Crumline aluminum block with 1/2-13 tapped holes).

I use plenty of homemade jigs with my "holed" table where the clamp holds the fixture, the work piece is then clamped to the fixture or table. Money for nothing in my opinion.

Why would you need tapped holes...I thought that is what you have the tools for,,holding things down. Which holes would you need tapped,,,straight line, left side, right side? What happens when ya bugger up the holes that are tapped and then you need them again. KISS always worked for me. there's my nickle. QED.

I don't know if I need them or not! For that matter, I'm still tempted to make a table on my own, but it would be really nice to sit back and watch a truck drop off a table that only needs small spot welds.

I am thinking of the 2' by 4' model.

The real problem with tapping holes in a welding table or a welding jig is that crap and spatter get built up in the threads. Then you have to keep retapping the holes every time you use them.

My take on the tapped holes is if your doing stick / mig on the table absolutely don't have them - if your doing exclusively Tig & the table is thick enough to restrain parts from moving while welding then yes it can be useful - I assume the thread used matches the generic cheapo mill clamp sets with the stepped blocks etc ? like J&L / Northern Tool & the like sell listed as " Bridgeport " accessories - if you wanted a tapped table I would think if it will fit in their tanks it would be worth taking to a plating firm & have a good copper layer plated onto it to give non stick protection & a good earth.

The FabNut (and/or FabSpacer) might be an option for you:

https://weldtables.com/collections/clam ... 8-16-t-nut
https://weldtables.com/collections/clam ... und-spacer

The FabNut can be somewhat inconvenient to install on the underside of a FabBlock. You have to reach around / under the FabBlock & pop 'em in place. This would get old in a hurry if "every" weld required you to move the FabNuts around. But if you only need the occasional threaded hole, they might be a reasonable option for you.

You supply your own 3/8-18 bolt / cap screw for the FabNut.

At $25 for a 6-pack, they're a little pricey. Maybe you can utilize weldtables.com's "FabBuck" program to scoop a pack for free.