Harbor Freight recently released the Titanium Welding Fixture Table which is very similar to Northern Tool’s Klutch Welding Fixture Table (Amazon). I did a brief comparison between the two tables and showed the improvements I’ve made to my Klutch Fixture Table. I made a grinder rail, added a mobile base, magnetic tray, additional shelf, spatter cover, and a movable vise. I show the different diy clamps I made and suggest some clamps from Strong Hand Tools available from weldingsupply.com I’m planning on switching the top to a 5/16″ plate and drilling the holes with my Vevor Magnetic Drill. Sadly, I was sent the wrong size annular cutter, so that video has been delayed a bit lol.
Transcript:
Titanium vs. Harbor Freight Welding Fixture Table
So I did way too much editing in my last video, so this one’s gonna be a little more quick and dirty. We’re going to go over my Klutch welding table which is essentially the same as the new harbor freight fixture table.
I’ll show you what I’ve come up with to make the table work better for me, and hopefully you get some ideas.
So first off, the differences I can see between the two brands is that the Klutch Tables are welded to the frame. The Titanium brand tables from Harbor Freight are screwed to the frame.
I bought my table in early 2021, and it’s indeed welded to the frame. This is great if the frame is perfectly level, but not so good if it’s off. With screws, you can easily shim one spot and then torque down another.
When doing research for this video, I saw that the Klutch tables now look like they’re screwed to the frame as well. If anyone has recently purchased a table, let me know if yours is welded or screwed.
5/8″ Holes vs. 16mm Holes
The other difference is that the Klutch Brand table uses 16mm holes and the Titanium Brand uses 5/8 holes… and believe me, there’s a difference. 16mm is 0.629921 and 5/8ths is 0.625
You can stick 5/8 pins in a 16mm hole, but you’re not gonna stick 16mm pins in a 5/8 hole.
I haven’t confirmed that they are 5/8th holes, but it’s listed as 5/8th holes online. I know a ton of people had mentioned buying additional clamp sets from Northern Tools, across YouTube, but if these are, in fact 5/8th holes, you might be SOL.
Fixture Table Upgrades
The first thing I did was add a rail for my grinders. I’m enjoying the cordless life now, and I no longer tangle and untangle grinder cords for a hobby. At first, I started with a piece of flat bar, but they’d wobble like crazy and twist the legs.
Here’s all my grinders together on that rail, and it’s just a piece of 1″ flatbar welded to a piece of 2″. And then I attached it to the table with some self-tapping screws. I wanted to be able to slightly raise and lower it, if necessary, without cutting a bunch of welds. Just cause you can weld it doesn’t always mean you should.
I consider this a major upgrade. This is just a magnetic tray from Harbor Freight, and this helps me keep track of all the nuts for all the different clamps and stops.
And here’s where all the clamps, rests, stops, and other handy tools live. Somehow, this tower of tools seems to be the perfect size for Harbor Freight Magnets. It’s even on casters, and you can see more in my shop tour video. The link will be in the top-right… if I manage to remember it, after I upload this video.
I also got a mobile base kit from Harbor Freight. That lets me move my table around. I’ve got the table sitting on the mobile base to where this side of the table is lower than the other side. So when I put my stops down to lock the table, I can also level it out.
I used expanded steel for my shelf, and within the mobile base, I built a frame to add another shelf.
If I want to keep the table clean and not shoot spatter everywhere, I came up with this system. I embedded some rare earth magnets in the legs.
C’mon man, you just drilled a hole and clamped them in. Probably used super glue on them too. Oh what a hero, you slotted out a piece of 3/4 tubing. Get this guy one of those “Certified YouTube Welder” stickers already.
Alright, so, I’m not a fan of walking back and forth, or walking for that matter, or standing up too long, or healthcare, that-that’s another story altogether.
Fixture Table Vise
But, I did come up with this idea. Now, this isn’t a vise for beating on things, but more of a vise to hold things. Small brackets that are hard to use a grinder on without taking the end of your finger off, or holding random things that don’t work well with the fixture clamps. It’s handy, and it’s not stuck in one spot or orientation.
Fixture Clamps
Alright, so, lets start on the clamps. These clamps work well, but they’ll also drive you insane. With welding gloves on, I find it near-impossible to thread the nuts on. The kicker is that, once you have your fixture all setup, it’s fairly common to realize that you have no room to get your torch in to actually weld. Then, you take your gloves off, unthread the nut, move it, rethread the nut, then count to 10, try and relax and weld.
I made some of my own clamps using Harbor Freight clamps and 5/8th round bar. They’re not perfect, but they also don’t require threading nuts on under the table.
This was my most successful design, but it also involved bending 5/8ths round bar with my 5/8ths bender pins… so now I have bent pins in my bender. Then I found out that weldingsupply.com sells a better version of this clamp for… $16.99 from Strong Hand Tools. I’d recommend buying a bunch of them, but I’m not going to because I have a major upgrade in the works…
Table Top Thickness Upgrade
It involves this… this… and this… buuuut… there was a bit of an issue, just a little issue… but, I’m sure it’ll be sorted out soon. Yep, the annular cutter I got labeled as 16″ x 1″ … is actually 15mm. I guess they just didn’t give it enough time to grow!
At any rate, thanks for watching, and be sure to like and subscribe, it helps me out a lot and lets more people see the videos. And I’ll have a new video out… whenever I have a new video out! Let me know in the comments anything you’ve come up with to make the Titanium Fixture table or Klutch Fixture tables work better for you.