Quality DIY Welding Gear on a Budget From a Name You Know
Summit Racing has just introduced a comprehensive line of affordable pro-level fabrication tools you’ll love.
The spectrum of do-it-yourself car building for many of us goes no further than weekend bolt-ons done to a mostly stock car, but a good number of hot rodders want to take their projects to the next step: a pro-level build that involves significant fabrication, and that means welding at a high level. While Summit Racing also offers its own brand of welding gear (MIG welders, a TIG welder, plasma cutter, welding wire and rods, angle magnets, butt-weld clamps, and welding jackets), it’s recently added a welding table, plasma cutter table, and attaching accessories to its arsenal. These car-builder-centric tools will help you make everything from simple brackets and mounts to headers and more complex projects.
AI Quick Summary
Summit Racing introduces affordable pro-level DIY welding gear, including HD welding and plasma cutting tables, and various table pliers, clamps, and fixtures. These tools cater to professional car builders, offering quality and precision at competitive prices.
This summary was generated by AI using content from this MotorTrend article
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We’re familiar with these product types and have worked with similar items from big-name manufacturers as well as private-label gear from big-box stores, and there’s a quality/price gradient that there’s no getting around. Summit Racing has tailored its new welding accessories lineup to the specific needs of professional car builders, and that differs significantly from the typical portable fold-up tables for on-location construction jobs that don’t have as much dimensional stability. Pro welding tables with similar specifications to Summit’s normally cost much more coming from a major brand name—depending on the size—but Summit has seemed to crack the price barrier once again with its bulk buying power.
HD Welding Table, $499.99
The Summit Racing Heavy-Duty welding table has a 3/16-inch-thick steel tabletop with less than 5/32-inch flatness variation to help you weld with more precision. It has industry-standard 5/8-inch-diameter fixture holes spaced 2 inches apart, providing exceptional flexibility for fixture setup. It has a sturdy steel frame with 3-inch-diameter locking swivel casters for stand-alone use, or you can detach the tabletop and use it on a workbench. Tabletop size is 36.2 inches wide by 24.4 inches deep. Other features include dual measurement scales for easy positioning, a large tool tray, leveling feet for secure placement of the table on a workbench, and built-in hooks to organize tools and fixtures—all quality stuff without the fluff.
HD Plasma Cutting Table, $399.99
The Summit Racing HD plasma cutting table lets you securely cut material with a plasma cutter or torch. It features 23 removable slats that let you configure the table for various projects. You can use it as a stand-alone unit, or you can remove the tabletop and use it on a workbench. Tabletop size measures 40.23 inches wide by 23.6 inches deep. Other features include notched slats with pointed tips for reduced slag accumulation, 3-inch-diameter locking swivel casters, convenient hooks to organize tools, and a large tool tray.
Summit Branded Welding Accessories
If you already have a name-brand welding table or want to add to your Summit Racing welding setup, Summit’s line of table pliers, clamps, and fixtures is compatible across a variety of welding systems on the market.
Welding Table Pliers
They may look like ordinary locking pliers, but these Summit Racing welding table pliers are designed specifically for welding with a choice of 3- or 4-inch throats and a rear crank handle that lets you adjust clamp pressure when the pliers are locked on the workpiece. This crank also doubles as a high-conductivity cathode for your work, ensuring a weld with high penetration and no dropout. The 3-inch throat ($19.99) allows for working on the table’s edge, while the 4-inch throat ($14.99) has a steel dowel that locks to any of the welding table’s 187 dowel holes.
Welding Table Clamps
Standard C-clamps can only do so much when working on odd-shaped forms for hot rods. Specifically, the size, height, clamp load, and reach can be found wanting when it comes to standard hardware-store clamp designs. Summit offers 17 different welding table clamps including threaded, screw insert, 45- or 90-degree screw fixture, insert, and bar types. These steel clamps come in various sizes, throat depths, and clamping pressures and range in price from $11.99 to $29.99.
Welding Table Fixtures
Making solid mechanical contact for critical welds that must be dimensionally accurate is where the rubber meets the road. Durable welding fixtures keep your workpieces in place while providing good electrical conductivity and precision fixturing, allowing you to accurately position workpieces on the welding table. Summit offers blocks, stops, locating plates, leveling rulers, and V-blocks that range in price from $4.99 to $11.99.
Source
Johnny Hunkins, born 1963, grew up mainly in Greensboro, NC. Attended Southeast Guilford High School (Greensboro) and graduated in 1981. Received a BFA degree in Art with a concentration in Design from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNC-G) in 1985. The son of a music teacher and a music composer, began playing guitar at age 6, meanwhile harbored companion interests in muscle cars, model car building, NASCAR racing, and drag racing. During and after attending UNC-G, worked as an auto service writer at Montgomery Ward Auto Express. Bought a Ford Mustang LX 5.0L in 1987 which he began modifying immediately, then started contributing freelance stories to Muscle Mustangs & Fast Fords (MM&FF) in 1991. Moved to New Jersey from North Carolina and became fulltime MM&FF tech editor in the fall of 1992. Helped create, then became editor of GM High-Tech Performance (originally High-Tech Performance) magazine in 1995. While at MM&FF, invented the popular “True Street” drag racing class used by many sanctioning organizations. Moved to California in 2003 to become editor of Popular Hot Rodding magazine. In July of 2014, became editor of Mopar Muscle magazine for the rebranded TEN network. Previous and current magazine projects cars: 1987 Ford Mustang LX 5.0 (Project Excalibur), 1989 Ford Mustang LX 5.0, 1987 Buick Regal Turbo-T (2 of them), 1993 Pontiac Firebird Formula (Project Thunderchicken), 1989 Pontiac Firebird Formula 350 (Project Magnum TPI), 1994 Chevy Camaro Z 28 (The Grape Of Wrath), 1976 Chevy Camaro (Project g/28), 1968 Chevy Chevelle (Street Sweeper), 1975 Chevy Laguna S-3 NASCAR clone, 1968 Chevy Nova, and 1968 Plymouth Valiant. Other interests include fine cigars, writing and recording rock music (Hunkins is an artist on the indy label Grooveyard Records), and mid-century modern architecture and design. Hunkins lives in Desert Hot Springs, CA.
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