Workbench against wall, no stringers, leg design?

[alex wetmore]

I bought a Sjoberg 1660 top yesterday on Craigslist (it was cheaper than the lumber to make a similar top plus the cost of two vises) and now I'm trying to figure out how to best work it into my small basement shop. My old "workbenches" were simple tables made with 3/4" plywood and 2x4s and mounted next to the wall. They formed an L that was 8 feet long on the long end and 3 feet on the short end.

I'm using the Sjoberg top for the first 5 feet of the long end. I'll build an MDF top for the other sections. My question has to do with how to best build the feet.

Here is a photo of what I started with (this was taken by the previous owner so it shows their tools, not my tools):
http://phred.org/~alex/pictures/new-...d/DSC01847.JPG

I'm keeping the current bench location.

For the new design I don't want a lower shelf or any stringers under the workbench. This will allow me to build rolling cabinets for things like a router table and outfeed table that roll under the workbench. My problem is that I'm concerned that the legs will rack or twist with no stringers between them. I've seen photos of others who have built workbenchs like this to allow cabinets to be rolled in underneath, but I haven't seen a detailed closeup of how the legs were built.

Does anyone have a good solution? I was thinking of using some L brackets and bolting them directly to the concrete floor, but I'd prefer an option which didn't require this.

I know that having my workbench against a wall isn't ideal, but I'm also building a low assembly bench that will be mobile. The workbench will be good for letting me plane table tops, chisel, and other stury work support. For that work it seems even better to be tightly connected to the wall and floor to get extra stability.

alex

[Copper]

Haven't done this myself, but... How about some short two-bys (6 inches) that went from front to back behind the legs? You could screw or nail them to the floor and then put a couple screws from the legs into the support. You could also run them all the way to the wall and attach them there if you don't want to go into the floor. This would allow you to still roll things in and out (and could serve as a guide), but would also keep the legs from moving around or twisting.

[alex wetmore]

Going all the way to the wall is pretty similar to what I was thinking of doing, but I'm still worried that this won't be very sturdy.

Our basement floor isn't in great condition (I've already patched it in a number of places, mostly in an area where an old octopus style boiler used to be) so I'm a little leary of screwing into it.

alex

[crokett]

Alex,

Could be wrong, but I can't imagine a concrete floor not being stury enough for screws without already having structural problems serious enough that you'd notice them already. However, what Copper suggests should work. You can also use stretchers higher up running from the leg back to he wall.

Unless you are worried about the top layer of concrete coming up, you can use PL Premium to attach your 2x4 blocking to the floor. I was nervous about it until I made the mistake of gluing a sill plate down last April in my baseemnt that was supposed to be cut out for a door. I split the 2x4 in half trying to pry it up and had to cold chisel the rest to get it out.

[alex wetmore]

Thanks for the idea of using an adhesive. I hadn't considered that and it might be a good option.

I'll have stretchers running back to the wall no matter how I do it. It is stretchers going side to side that I'm trying to eliminate(so that I can roll cabinets in underneath the bench). Using concrete bolts with L brackets or glue sounds good.

alex

[gmack5]

You might consider using a 2 X 10" attached across the back legs as a stretcher. This would still keep most of your under-bench area clear for roll out cabinets. One of those would work, two of them would be even better, one high (supporting the back edge of your top, and the other one about 6 - 10" off the floor.
I would then consider adding leg-levelers under the four corners, where the feet would normally be located so you could bring your bench to dead level.

[alex wetmore]

Since I'm building this for a specific location I was going to build the leg lengths to the right height for this location. There is no way that it would be level without this or leg levellers, my 100 year old basement floor is anything but flat.

I'll have the back stretcher, but it will also be bolted to the wall so the back should be pretty stout. An additional lower one makes sense too, and I think I'll add that.

alex

[LarryG]

Can you anchor the workbench top to the wall, using angle brackets of similar? That'll eliminate 99% of the potential problems by eliminating the moment arm the top has on the legs (i.e., if the top can't move, the legs can't rack). You would still have the possibility of knocking/kicking the bottoms of legs out of alignment, but the weight of the top, tieing the front leg to the back leg, and reasonable care should take care of that.

[Tom Miller]

You could make a pair of legs of this form, or similar:





With the top attached firmly to the wall, you won't have any racking, twist, or shear to worry about.

Another approach to attaching to the wall is to first attach a cleat (e.g. a 2x4) to the wall that the benchtop can rest on, and put screws through the bottom of the cleat.

Regards,
Tom

[alex wetmore]

Thanks for all of the advice. I had already been thinking of attaching the benchtop to the wall using a cleat and hadn't thought all the way through about how this will also prevent racking.

Hopefully I'll have some photos to share of the finished setup in a week or two.

Tom: Those are really nice workbench legs. I won't have anything quite so fancy -- I'm building the legs with 2x4s and don't even have a jointer and planer to remove the rounded over corners. It'll be sturdy though.

alex

[gmack5]

I've seen plans that call for sharp corners on 2 X lumber accomplished by cutting off the rounded corners (1/4" on each 1 1/2" side removed). This would give you a 2 X 3 piece to work with.

If you MUST have 3 1/2" wide material, then buy 2 X 8s, remove the rounded corners and rip to what ever width you desire. A 2 X 8 is actually 7 1/2" wide, minus the two 1/4" edges gives you a piece 7" wide. from this you should be able to Rip two lengths approximately 3 1/2" wide.

[kyle.w]

thats nice good job