Repairing a Meddings drill table.

[brightspark]

get some 1/8th sheet steel and top it. drill and countersink and screw it down. just chain drill the slots cut and file them out . do a proper job of it not a bodge or don't bother at all

 

[cheb]

And break the habits of a lifetime?

 

[brightspark]

I have a nippy vice and had it 40 years . its got a slight drill mark in it I cant remember doing it but it pi....s me off every time I see it

 

[Screwdriver]

get some 1/8th sheet steel and top it. drill and countersink and screw it down. just chain drill the slots cut and file them out . do a proper job of it not a bodge or don't bother at all

I would take issue with that in this specific circumstance. The holes make no differemce to the functionality of the surface. You bolt something flat on it and it is firmly coupled parallel to the plane of the surface and a nice solid cast base.

All the holes do is trap swarf, dirt and possibly catch the edge of anything not perfectly flat. So all the filler does is keep the surface clean or allow it to be cleaned easily with a quick wipe down.

Welding is out for the reasons I stated earlier and I suggest brazing would be the way to go if you wanted to do it "properly". Having said that it is entirely possible to fill it with a modern epoxy that is harder than braze! The only problem with epoxy based filler is heat....

Bolting another plate to it has potentially more problems than it solves. First off you have to drill even more holes in it! Then it needs to be flat, not rattle, fix the ugly edge and finally cut out some slots to match. Seems like a lot of faff.

 

[Burdekin]

You can but it will end in tears. While you may be able to reduce the inevitable warping, your holes will now be filled with glassy hard nodules which will be a right pain to flatten off. They will be a lot harder than the previously flat surface, typically you need to grind off the hard spots! Personally I'd go with the metal epoxy. The modern stuff is awesome.

Welded mine no problem.

 

[Dieselman 63]

JB Weld fixed this Luftwaffe damaged milling vice and it works perfectly now.

 

[Turbo]

Please don't weld it, I had only a couple of holes in the table on my meddings, filled them with weld which warped the table!