Magnetic Board HELP?!?
 

Well you can't look a gift horse in the mouth. By brother in-law gave me a 1/4" thick piece of sheet steal 24" x 60" to use for a building board. However I noticed there is a slight bow in it. I am debating on how to secure the piece in order to get it as flat as possible and not have it permantly secured to my workbench. Neighbor said I should weld some square tubing to the back in a frame.

Thoughts, Ideas, Etc...???

RE: Magnetic Board HELP?!?
 

How thick is the steel? I built my magnetic board on the top of a hollow core door. The door is what keeps the steel flat for building on. I build my table with 18 guage steel. You can see more of my building board in this build thread that I did:
[link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_3439708/tm.htm]Pay It Forward build thread!! LT-40 build.[/link]

Hope this helps

Ken

RE: Magnetic Board HELP?!?
 

His steel plate is 1/4" thick. I think that's a little too thick to flatten out by screwing it to a hollow core door. Your 18 ga stuff is much better for that.

RE: Magnetic Board HELP?!?
 

Wow, I totally missed that he put the thickness in his post. That is too thick to use a door to flatten it. you're going to have to come up with some kind of base that will take the warp out of it.

Ken

RE: Magnetic Board HELP?!?
 

At 1/4" thick, there is not much you can do to take the warp out.

That thing has got to be heavy!

The best thing you could do is get some 2" X 1/4" bar stock at least 60" long each pice and make a frame out of it. Then get some steel tubes long enough to make legs.

Find a flat surface to work on (a garage floor could be flat enough, but check it first with a long staright edge). Put the steel sheet face side down, then weld the bar stock on edge to the back side of the plate about 2" in from the edge. Make a box around the perimeter all about 2" in from the edge. Make sure you stitch weld the bar on, and don't get the sheet too hot in one area. Then weld the legs on at the inside corners of the bar stock. You might need to add some cross bracing.

If you have the sheet weighted down so it is flat on the floor, and you are carefull to not over heat it while welding it, the bar stock should keep any warp out.

This would be one heck of a work bench, and heavy as all getout.

RE: Magnetic Board HELP?!?
 

That would be more weight then I can handle.. The panel already is around 140-150 lbs. I was speaking with my neighbor who helped me carry it down to my shop and suggested 1" or 1 1/2" square tubing welded on the bottom in a frame as well. Might skip the legs as I can place the sheet on the current workbench or a shop mate as a temp when I am building.