Hello everyone, so before starting this build let's tell the story about this table. I watched many videos in which people's are making a joint in which there is a fillet. So my brother suggested me to make a table with these joints. At first, I thought it was going to be a pretty difficult task but he forces me that we are going to do a fillet joint rather than a mitre joint and that provides a smoother look to the overall build. Then I start searching the table design and found this table design which just blows my mind. When I show this to my brother he said I want this with the fillet joints. At first, it completely tangled my mind. I wasn't able to understand that where to start and where to end and the colouring idea in the Design didn't came in my mind before starting the project, infect when I went for the editing and start thinking that how someone will figure it out how to make so this colouring idea came in my mind and thank god how easy it is to illustrate and build it. Frankly telling you before starting this project if I invest some more time then during the build it would be easy for me to build. Now in the video, it didn't seem that I struggle a lot but the truth is something else. But the the conclusion is that if you knew the basic principle of this table than it's far easier than it looks. The whole build is made out of stainless steel and with a stick welder, that is surely the difficult task for many people but not for me. So stick around with this Instructables to know how you can weld thin stainless with a stick welder because most of the DIY people only have access to stick welder like me. If have any suggestions feel free to leave them in the comment section I would love to hear them.

Supplies

Material and tools used

Although there are no boundation regarding the size of the material but you surely need to change dimensions according to your need. I provided a fusion file which you can use for the purpose of the illustration and if you want the same you can take the measurement from there too.

Material
1. 11⁄2" stainless-steel square pipe

2. Pickling agent

3. SS308L welding electrodes

4. Granite or any kind of top you are willing to use

5. Epoxy

Tools and equipment used

1. Stick welder

2. Chipping Hammer

3. Angle grinder

4. Grinding disk

5. Flap disk

6. Buffing pad

7. Buffing compound

8. 3d printer

9. Marble cutting saw

10. Diamond grinding pad.

11. Bar clamps

Step 1: Basic You Need to Know Before Cutting.

So as I said earlier it wasn't a difficult build if you know the basics. But if you don't know then this would surely a nightmare for you and you will surely regret this.

1. First thing you need to know that as a simple cube table it also has two - two sides similar (although cube has all sides equal but depend upon the joint construction) but in the case of infinity cube table two side which makes an angle of 90° opposite to simple cube table in which two opposite parallel sides are equal. So this thing you need to take care off.

2. The second thing you need to know is where to start now you can start from any of the sides either it's longer or the shorter side but I prefer you to start from shorter one so that it would be easy to remember. If you start from the shorter side the next two sides are going to be the longer sides. Suppose your sides are 20" and 25", so what you have to do is that start from the 20" length and then next two are the 25" long then again 20" length then next two again are 25" and so on. By doing this it's far easier for you to know about these building criteria of this table.

3. The third point is the bending direction of the pipes because being an infinity cube you can't separate the pipes if you are using this fillet joint so that's why needs to understand the bending criteria of this table. In the fusion file, I coloured the sides of the pipes for the better understanding but the over-all conclusion is that In this entire table all the bends are made onto two faces only, like a square pipe have 4 faces but for this joint, you need to use only two faces to mark the cutting area so that you are able to bend the pipe. The way to do that is when you started from the shorter length the first three cuts need to make on one side and the rotate the pipe 90° and then again mark 3 cuts and then flip -90° and do the same. Since the cube has 6 faces that's why you have to repeat this process 6 times and by doing that you can be made a cube.

infinity cube table v3.f3d
Download View in 3D

Step 2: Creating the Template

To ease the work and do the marking process at a faster speed I decided to make a template. Now there is two kinds of the template you can make either positive or negative. In my case, I use a positive template. The template is in that shape which I have to remove from the pipe. To create the template there is a simple formula which is 2πr/4 since we are using 1⁄4 portion of the circle for our joint. But the radius does not equal to the pipe width. For the radius what you have to do is measure the wall thickness of the pipe and subtract that thickness from the radius and the length left is going to be the radius of your fillet.

Step 3: Making, Cutting and Tack Weld the Joints.

So like the normal table, the process of infinity cube table with fillet joint is completely different. In this, you first have to mark the joint and then cut it and before proceeding to the next joint you need to tack weld.

So the first thing I did is to give numbers to each side and before cutting I wrote down that number onto the pipe at that side where I have to cut. So the trick to do this easily is that you need to make four consecutive cuts for the joints, In which 3 cuts are for one side and the fourth one is for the next bend for the second face of the cube. The reason is that it would be much easier to flip the pipe when you are going to change the direction of the joint. Also when you kept tack weld the joint the weight gradually starts to increase and in that way you are not able to use the chop saw.

For the making, I prefer to use a thin marker so that it gives a nice precise line and you get a
good joint. So after using the template for the marking I used a chop saw to make the vertical cuts and it eases the work and after that, for the rounding portion, I use an angle grinder to give it that fillet. Once the cut has been made I use grinding wheel to clean off the burr and also uses the file to tune up the area where it's difficult for an angle grinder to reach. A bastard cut file would be much handy as its material removal rate is high. From thereafter I bend the piece and made that fillet joint. Then I check that with the help of set square and made a tack weld so that I can proceed for the next step.

During this process, I have to add additional length to the current length. For that, I clamped piece onto the workbench and also clamped it's from the sides so that it gets pressed evenly and then I first made tack welds and from thereafter made complete weld. By making this arrangement it gives a much better result.

Step 4: Welding the Last Piece.

So this part might not be necessary but since I don't want to take a risk of damaging the fillet I decided to provide another joint in between the middle of the length. The last piece I kept it long and provide the joint in it. Then I cut down the first length from which we start this table from the middle and then adjust that extra length into the first length. After the completion of tack weld, the table looks quite flimsy and I was thinking that what if it stays like that, then it means that the whole project is discarded but then I started to make the complete weld.

Step 5: Clamping and Welding

Believe me, you cant able to complete this without the clamps and I use all the clamps I have and this is the first time I am proud on my bar clamps which I made. So because of the joint, the setup is so flimsy that it kept going out of square and I get confused that from which side that fault is coming but then I found that I can easily counter that problem. The diagonal distance between the pipes is almost equal to the pipe I have laying for the CNC. So I decided to use those piece as a spacer block and then I clamped them in between the pipe. Then I again have a problem that it's difficult to hold the clamps at the edge. To counter this I uses some pieces of angle iron and tack weld them to my clamps and by doing that everything seems to be very rigid and give a green signal that I can start the weld.

Welding stainless with stick welders is not that easy because of the wall thickness and if you don't know the right technique you might be ended up with blowholes. So the basis fundaments to do the welding is that made stitches onto the joint because this will create less heat and less warpage and overall there will be no blowhole occurs. This is 16 gauge pipe and to do the weld effectively I use the current settings at 55amps with 3/32" electrode. If somehow how a blowhole occurs it's good to leave it as it is and allow it to cools down completely. Then with the help of chipping hammer remove the slag and use a tig welding rod as a filler rod increase the current to around 65amps and then strike the arc onto the filler rod. By doing that you are easily able to fill that blowhole. Also, make sure until the welding work didn't complete do not remove the clamps.

Step 6: Cleanup of the Weld Joints.

After the welding work has been finished it's time for the cleanup. At first, the joints jooks ugly but that's the upper layer only. After the cleaning, it will reveal the real weld joints and for that, I always use pickling agent. The advantage of this agent is that I remove the burnt oxide layer from the top of the joint. To use it just apply it onto the joints and kept it's for a while. Usually, stick welder leaves a more dark surface that's why I decided to leave it overnight and the next day I clean all the joints with plenty of water and a rag. Because I kept it for a longer period the colour changes to a rusty colour but it wasn't a big deal. You can see how easy it is to remove that compound, just by rubbing it with a wet rag.

Step 7: Grinding and Polishing

Now all the thing left is to grind down those joint and reveal the final look of the table. Although all the steps are necessary but this will reveal how you did your work. So I first started with 60 grit grinding disk and grind down only the high spots of welding. I usually not used it to completely flush down the joints because the material removal rate is very high. Form there after I go with 120, 220, and 320 flap disk. The good way to use these wheels is at slow rpm. I highly recommend to go with a variable speed grinder because you are easily able to control the speed and at low speed, the wheels heat up less and the cutting action remains constant. The problem with the flap wheel is that when you use them they generate heat and that heat also heats up the grits and make them unusable but on the other hand at slow speed, the cutting action remains constant and you get a nice and even scratch pattern. After 320 grit I switch to scotch Brite wheel and use them up to 600 grit. Form thereafter with the help of buffing compound buff down the surface.

Step 8: Cutting the Table Top.

For the top, I decided to go with black granite which I have for many years. I place the table over the granite and then with the help of straight edge and marble cutting saw cut it down to the required dimensions. To keep the blade cool I need to use the water. Also, the black granite is extremely hard and it's extremely dense also. From thereafter I round off the edges a tiny bit to make a room for the weld beads. The one end of the granite piece has a fillet equals to the fillet used for the joints. I use a grinding wheel of same dimensions and transfer the marking and then grind it with the help of diamond pads.

Step 9: Installation of the Top

For the top installation I decided to go with a friction fit since my piece comes up with a very tight fit in the table. To provide it some extra support I decided to weld some piece underneath the area where that granite can be rest easily. I cut down some pieces and then welded them in the inward side. To get a precise position I first inset the top and then clamped them evenly and welded those support brackets.

Also to prevent the surface from scratches I decided to make some feet and those are just 3d printed u shape which I glued them to avoid there sliding.

Step 10: Final Look.

Finally it's all about admiring the work which really took enormous effort to make. Overall said I am pretty happy with this project and it came out sturdy also. The weight of the table is around 22 kg which seems ok to me. The conclusion is that it definitely a difficult build if you are using a continuous pipe with a fillet joint but if you follow those 3 points then I must say it seems way too much easy for you to make. If you have any suggestions feel free to post them. Till then see you in the next project. Happy making:)