What Material for a Water Table

[matze-atze-sch]

Hey,

I´m in the process of building my water table for a 4x4 table.
But not sure what Material I should use.
stainless steel? Or mild steel and some sort of coat to prevent rust?

I want to use 2mm / 12Gauge sheet metal and bent it to form a pan.

Best regards
Marcel

[WyoGreen]

If you could afford it, I suppose stainless steel would be nice. I used mild steel on mine, and I use a rust preventive in the water to keep it from rusting. I've had no problems with rust since I started. I do drain the table into a plastic drum when I'm not using the table. I did paint the water table with a zinc coating, and it has held up fine, but the un-coated slats are holding up fine also.

Steve

[sawdust1]

I used aluminum. No corrosion yet.
david

[littlefatbuddy]

I used 14 gauge stainless. No issues.

[matze-atze-sch]

Hey,

thanks for the reply.
I think, I will use Aluminum.
Stainless steel cost here very much, can´t find a supplier who have good prices for private users.
And Aluminum is only a few bucks more than mild steel...

[islander261]

Hi

Hold on there, remember that aluminum WILL sacrifice to protect any steel that is in contact with it. Now if you are going to drain your table between each use this will not be such a big deal. Now do not use alkaline (washing soda, Na2CO3) rust prevention treatments if you have an aluminum water tray! My water tray is 14ga (1.9mm) mild steel and I use washing soda as a rust retarder and drain it between uses, 3 years and it is as good as new.

Right now stainless sheet is about 4X the price of mild steel per pound (.456kg) in a quantity of 220lbs (100kg) at my supplier. I am sure that I pay a premium price for mild steel.

John

[urbnsr]

I use a ~10-11 gauge mild steel. It is part structural, part water pan. No coating. I add washing soda and do not drain my table unless I am going to clean out the pan or winter-time when the temps get really cold. After shovelling out scrap, I would not recommend a paint type coating. That coating would just get scratched while cleaning.

I have been using this setup for almost two years and do not see a reason why it can not run another two years and more.

Paul

[matze-atze-sch]

Hey,

ok, also mild steel...
Maybe hot dip galvanization?
Dont want to drain the table each time, only when cleaning...
I think I made a holder for the slats, who only sitting in the pan, so if the pan is rusty, I can easaly change it.

Thanks for the comments!

[Capstone]

IMHO, rust is inevitable with a water table unless maybe you powder coat EVERYTHING super thick, but even on my table the rails need routine steelwool maint. These tables are bound to break down. Slats for sure, but I'm to the point where I'm ready to replace my waterpan as well. I let my table go dry and now there's a ton of drops just stuck to everything, I'm almost at the point of just not wanting to clean it, but just chucking the entire thing and building a new one since the drain never worked very well. bad design, but lessons learned. btw, I used 12ga HRS for my pan. If space under the table wasn't so important, I'd almost consider just going to no water and a dry catch-all for drops along with a moderate downdraft. Still thinking on that one.

[Bigrhamr]

My water pan is 10 ga hot roll steel. It's been in use since 2007, I drain it every time the drops get piled up high enough I need to pull the slats out and use a flat shovel to clean it. I do use washing soda. It may be a little rusty, kind of hard to tell when it constantly gets a fresh coating of plasma slag sprayed on it. It won't win any beauty contests but does the job just fine every time, as long as it holds water I'll spend my time and money worrying more about the money making parts of the table.

[seajinx]

Forgive my ignorance here, but what is referencing Washing Soda??? Are we talking Arm & Hammer baking Soda?

[urbnsr]

Washing soda is sold as a booster when washing closes.

HTH

WashingSoda.jpg