Shop table surfaces

[sheitmar]

So I've joined the entrepreneurial world and broke away from the sign shop I've been at for years and am going to try this on my own..

I did some digging in earlier posts and just wanted to have a more up-to-date conversation if there are some new products out there.

Anyway, I've built a 5x10' shop table, and just pricing out some surface options. Up here in Canada, there doesn't really seem to be much for the inexpensive. The last shop I was at used 1/2" HDPE plastic, which seemed to be OK, but it didn't take much to have deep gouges with a knife. . I've been asking around town at some of my plastic suppliers and it seems that UHMW-PE is really the way to go, as it's a quite harder plastic. The only problem, is it's pretty expensive (ie: $480 for 1/2", and it only comes in 4x10' so I'd have to buy an offcut as well. Going down to 1/4" brings the price to $260, which is more reasonable...but honestly still a lot more expensive than I wanted to spend.

Guess what I'm asking is should I go that route, or just get one of those Speedpro rhino self healing mats? It's cheaper, but I don't necessarily want a cheap product. It's still a lot more expensive than I know what you guys are paying down in the south, a 5x10' mat is $167 plus shipping up here from http://www.globalindustrial.ca.

Open to some suggestions.

 

[Hicalibersigns]

I build 3 5' x 10' tables with MDO tops topped with self healing cut mats. Have been in use daily for the last 2 years and haven't even been flipped over yet..

 

[jmcnicoll]

It's nice to have a full table with a glass top as well!

 

[d fleming]

15 year old galvanized metal tops here still going strong. And you can use magnets on the table to hold things in place.

 

[JgS]

15 year old galvanized metal tops here still going strong. And you can use magnets on the table to hold things in place.

I know how I am making my next table.

Right now I use Past-tex Waterproof wall panels. Not quite as good as a self healing mats but at $15 a sheet you can afford to replace them every few months.

 

[Gino]

5/8" plywood with 1/4" duron nailed down with about 5 coats of good clear on them. Going on 28 years and still going strong.

If ya don't like the prices up there, move to Mexico. I hear stuff down there is really cheap these days..........

 

[Mosh]

I have two 5x8 cutting boards end to end from speedpress....

 

[rcook99]

I have 3/4 inch tempered glass tops 30in x 8ft and love them.

 

[Letterbox Mike]

I have two 5x8 cutting boards end to end from speedpress....

This. We've used Speedpress's tops for 15+ years, not the cheapest thing around but they last forever and are great. We have 6 6'x10' tables all with their self healing mats and I can't imagine anything else. We've tried glass or hard-surface tops and hated them... Knife tips break or dull out almost immediately, and your blade slides all over the place. I know a lot of people swear by glass tops but for the life of me I just can't figure out why...

 

[BranEnt]

Its 5x10 Speedpress self healing type here. 12 years of hard use and almost time to replace them.

 

[DizzyMarkus]

2x4 frame -- 3/4 ply tops and 1/4" plate glass :0) Blades cut soooonice hehe
We also made half the table lighted from underneath.

Markus

 

[xxtoni]

We have one table with a glass top that's meant to be the main cutting table. But nowadays we mostly keep it clean and neat for the stuff that can't tolerate a speck of dirt or anything.

For our other tables we just built a few. We got ourselves some iron "pipes" and welded them together, put 4 big wheels at the bottom so we can move them around the the shop. On top we put a huge board of plywood with a matte black finish.

We've built 2 of these, one is 3x2m (10x6.5 feet) and another is 2x2m (6.5x6.5 feet)

The bottom of them can also be used for storage as it also has a plywood "plate" down there so we just throw all sorts of stuff down there.

They are all the same height so if you have some huge thing you need to do on a table instead of on the floor you can just put them next to each other and they're basically all one surface.

 

[Jackpine]

One 4' x8' 1/4" tempered glass....the other 1/4" ( maybe 3/8") white enamel board. I have a sheet of galvanized metal from any heating company ( they always have cutoffs) I put on table when working with magnetic material.

 

[CentralSigns]

I got a sheet of 1/4 in glass, awesome for using the Big Squeege on. A little hard on cutting blades, but we'll live with that. With a light under it, its perfect.

 

[sheitmar]

Thanks for the tips guys, got my 5x10' speedpress rhino mat ordered!! For the price and how much I wanted to mess with this, seemed like the way to go.