The workbench

[dpaton]

Well, after a year of dealing with a folding table for a workbench, I finally got a real one built over Thanksgiving. Thanks to a lost password attached to a flaky email account, I couldn't post until now. Here goes...

It went pretty well, all things considered. Unfortunately, other events have left my garage a complete mess, full of crap that's out of place, and with a mountain of stuff to put out on the curb on Wednesday night.

Anyway, on to the photos. I did an initial 3D rendering in Sketchup. it came out remarkably well, and gave me dimensions that were perfect. If only my measuring of the wall had been so. We ended up taking an inch off the overall length, and splitting the top into an 8' section and a ~5' section (straight 16" 2x4s are unobtainium this time of year), but it worked out fine just the same. The top surface is 3/4"BC sanded ply with 3/16" tempered hardboard on top of that, and is quite wonderful. There's a ton of crap on it now, but hey, isn't that what workbenches are for?


The garage, pre construction, but post-cleanup.


The top frame installed and being leveled and attached. After this came the legs, then...


The top!


The complete top, waiting for final trimming, attachment, and it's hardboard overlay.

[dpaton]

The finished product looks kinda like this:



I've got to get some rolling drawer and door carts made for underneath said bench, as the carp on top all needs a home, as does a lot of stuff on the shelves to the left, but those are projects for weekends next year, when I have free time. The end result is pretty cool, I can tapdance on the bench and it doesn't move an inch. It's as solid as I could ask for, and it dead flat and straight as an arrow. Yay for project success!

[Hoover]

What's that car doing in your shop?

[lrogers]

Looks good and solid and as a bonus, makes good use if space.

[dpaton]

What's that car doing in your shop?

Warming up...it was a whopping 3 degrees outside when I took that picture

Besides, there's almost 8' from the nose of the car to the bench. Plenty of space for both. Well, there will be once I get th garage cleaned up from the last few weeks of projects.

[cabinetman]

Bench looks like it will work pretty good. What were you tap dancing to - you got music in there. BTW, you gonna cut the verticles to fit?



"I'M NEVER WRONG - BUT I'M NOT ALWAYS RIGHT"

[lcm1947]

Looks good and fits like a glove. It is nice to finally complete something like that and I bet a big improvement over the folding table. You really need to get that car out of there though.

[radhak]

Looks nice and long. As far as I can decipher, you seem to have used 2x4s legs mitered against the wall. How did you nail them to the wall? Really long screws?

I was considering something like this myself, but somehow thought I'd need more support than legs like these could provide. Looks like I was wrong, since you are able to use it for a dance floor

What are your garage's dimensions? A car and 8 feet and a bench...now wonder you have a pretty long array of 'tube' lights.

[TheRic]

Bench looks GREAT!! When your doing the cleanup, remember to take out the car. A jointer and planer would go in that area real nice. Maybe even room for a router table.

Might want to get some lighting OVER the bench. Since all your lighting is behind you, it will throw off some nasty shadows.

[Garasaki]

Yeah a few lights directly over the bench would make a world of difference for you.

[mater]

It looks very nice and is a great addition for your shop.

[John Hunter]

Very nice.

[HarmsWay]

Nice job on the bench but yeah - get the car outa there! Especially when it's all wet and icky. Took a few years of training but my wife now knows that if her car is wet it doesn't go in the shop (er.. garage). Took me one time to learn (spent hours refinishing the rusty steel surfaces on the drill press table, jointer bed and scroll saw table).

Bob

[dpaton]

Thanks for all the comments guys.

The braces do indeed go back at a 45 from the front edge of the bench. They land on a 2x4 that's attached to the top of the gas curb/foundation extension on the back wall of the garage, right next to the bottom plate of the rear wall.

The bottoms of the braces are held down with a couple of looong deck screws in sheer, and braced with some 2x4 cutoffs on the sides, screwed and glued liberally together. It's plenty strong. The deck of the bench is a 2x4 ladder box, 16" on center, lagged into the wall studs before the top went on. The 45 braces are every other ladder rung (32"OC), and with the 3/4" ply screwed down every 6" to the frame, it's about as strong as it can be without being a torsion box. I left the braces 32" apart so I'd have space for 30" wide cabinets (just) between them. Of course, those cabinets are yet to be built, but I've got to keep the project list full somehow, right?

The wet car is a fact of life...the shop is also an auto shop, welding shop, metal fab shop, gardening shop, and misc. stuff storage area (and soon to be an airplane factory, once I get my Cozy IV plans ordered). My tools stay pretty happy in spite of the humidity. Rust is only an issue if I forget to change the dessicant in the tool box regularly. The rest of the time, a quick wipe with a WD-40 soaked rag (the non woodworking tools, aka the majority) before I put things away keeps them shiny and clean. There's going to be a heater installed sometime soon (seperated combustion air, 45kbtu NG unit block) to keep the temperature under control in the winter, which should also help out the humidity.

Shop size...26'04" x 19'8" x 8'3". My Civic is pretty short, so it works out nicely...~17' to the nose of the car from the garage door with room to move all around. It's actually a lot closer to 7' between the car and the bench, but it's still LOTS, and if I roll the car back to where it's almost against the door, I get close to 9'. It's nice to have a big garage :-)

As far as lighting, the four twin tube fixtures already extant give almost enough for me. 880W of high output color corrected light isn't quite enough though, so I have plans for a pair of them laterally over the bench, as some have suggested. I just need to get the conduit run and knock in a box for the switches...not fun on the outside wall.

Nope, no plans for a joiner or a planer. Most of my saw work is in MDF and plywood, so neither is required, and any face frames I make are done from true stock...no cleanup required. I'd like a larger drill press with an XY table though. Something with a 16"+ swing and a big reduction drive would be cool.

Thanks guys

[GeekMom]

Looks great!