Workbench mod

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  • Bill in Buena Park
    Veteran Member
    • Nov 2007
    • 1865
    • Buena Park, CA
    • CM 21829

    Workbench mod

    After 20 years of working on a bench I made for general purpose and then modified to accommodate wood working, I decided to get a woodworking bench. Nothing high end, because I'm frugal if nothing else.

    Any who own the HF woodworking bench will recognize it hidden beneath my mods. I really would have liked a heavy Roubo style bench, but didn't have the money to buy or build, and reason told me I'd probably never need that kind of capacity anyway. I'd looked at other benches with big price tags, and decided I could make do with the HF bench, especially since it was on sale and I had a 20% off coupon. So ~$130 out the door.

    But I still had Roubo in the back of my mind, especially those sliding deadman supports (normally used with a leg vice, but I've seen used with a double-screw face vice.) So I designed a Roubo-esque "face" of oak to mount to the front of the HF bench.

    I had to lower the drawer assembly ~3in from its factory-set position so the drawers would clear the vices (which puzzles me about why the original HF bench design doesn't accommodate (but see Loring's [LCHIEN] post on HF Kwality Kontrol.) So I planned around the two HF 10in woodworking vices I kept from my old bench, plus an extra inch below the vices for the deadman's groove. I mounted the two vices directly onto the HF bench face, and to bury the metal vice faces, the upper oak rail is mortised (stop-dadoed?) to cover them. As shown below, I have conjoined the two vices with a single cheek to affect the twin-screw, which I plan to make double thickness and afix with rare-earth magnets, so it can be removed easily, since I plan to make individual cheeks to allow the two vices to be used independently.

    The top and bottom of the sliding deadman is chamfered (both sides) to a point, and these slide in v-grooves cut into the bottom of the upper rail and top of the lower rail.

    Pix follow. Thanks for looking.
    Attached Files
    Bill in Buena Park
  • leehljp
    Just me
    • Dec 2002
    • 8429
    • Tunica, MS
    • BT3000/3100

    #2
    I was just about getting over the "want" for a good but inexpensive workbench from HF.

    Those modifications look great! Thanks for posting the picts!
    Hank Lee

    Experience is what you get when you don't get what you wanted!

    Comment

    • JR
      The Full Monte
      • Feb 2004
      • 5633
      • Eugene, OR
      • BT3000

      #3
      No, I would not have recognized the HF origins of this bench unless you had mentioned it!

      It looks really nice. The whole double-vise/dead-man arrangement is a very clever design, nicely implemented. Well done.
      JR
      JR

      Comment

      • Bill in Buena Park
        Veteran Member
        • Nov 2007
        • 1865
        • Buena Park, CA
        • CM 21829

        #4
        JR, Hank, thanks for the kind words. The mod was fun, and unless it falls apart (which it shouldn't since I added other reinforcement during assembly, but I'll keep you posted) it should serve my hobby needs.
        Bill in Buena Park

        Comment

        • tommyt654
          Veteran Member
          • Nov 2008
          • 2334

          #5
          Nice job Bill, Quick question tho,Is that top made of Maple or some other hardwood?. I likw what you have done and think I'll consider doing something similiar in the near future(read as next gov't check)

          Comment

          • chopnhack
            Veteran Member
            • Oct 2006
            • 3779
            • Florida
            • Ryobi BT3100

            #6
            Really nice work Bill. That is a very unique design for a replacement of the twin vise and good thinking with the magnets to swap out cheeks. Tell us how you like it after some months of use and what you would do differently!
            I think in straight lines, but dream in curves

            Comment

            • Bill in Buena Park
              Veteran Member
              • Nov 2007
              • 1865
              • Buena Park, CA
              • CM 21829

              #7
              Top is "hardwood", pretty sure not maple, because I managed to put a (minor) dent in it. HF sales ad said it was oak, but the box only said hardwood, so not sure. Harder than the BORG glue-up table top (pine or fir?) that I had on the old bench.
              Bill in Buena Park

              Comment

              • Bill in Buena Park
                Veteran Member
                • Nov 2007
                • 1865
                • Buena Park, CA
                • CM 21829

                #8
                Originally posted by chopnhack
                Really nice work Bill. That is a very unique design for a replacement of the twin vise and good thinking with the magnets to swap out cheeks. Tell us how you like it after some months of use and what you would do differently!
                C&H, I'm already considering the potential of adding pulleys to the outer portion of the vice screw-shafts so I can connect the two vices in tandem with a twist-link belt... just not sure where to find pulleys that would fit.
                Bill in Buena Park

                Comment

                • wardprobst
                  Senior Member
                  • Jan 2006
                  • 681
                  • Wichita Falls, TX, USA.
                  • Craftsman 22811

                  #9
                  Check out a bike shop for used sprocket and chain. Bore the sockets to fit.
                  DP
                  www.wardprobst.com

                  Comment

                  • mpc
                    Senior Member
                    • Feb 2005
                    • 979
                    • Cypress, CA, USA.
                    • BT3000 orig 13amp model

                    #10
                    Or look at Lowes/Home Depot/Ace Hardware. In the isle with the metal bins of hardware most have a couple drawers with specialized hardware. I've seen small chain & sprocket sets. You can make any length chain you need.

                    mpc

                    Comment

                    • sscherin
                      Senior Member
                      • Dec 2003
                      • 772
                      • Kennewick, WA, USA.

                      #11
                      I was thinking of getting one of these benches..


                      How hard do you think it would be to put a 4.75" torsion box between the top and legs to bring it up to height so it can double as an outfeed table?

                      Looking at the manual the only real work should be modifying the center drawer support and finding long bolts to bolt the legs through to the top.

                      If I built it right I should also be able to mount a pair of wood working vices in the box like you did..


                      Thanks!
                      William's Law--
                      There is no mechanical problem so difficult that it
                      cannot be solved by brute strength and ignorance.

                      Comment

                      • Bill in Buena Park
                        Veteran Member
                        • Nov 2007
                        • 1865
                        • Buena Park, CA
                        • CM 21829

                        #12
                        SSCHERIN,

                        With careful planning, adding the torsion box should be feasible. IIRC, the underside of the table should be a flush plane against which to fasten the torsion box (but note that the table top is not solid, its an open box construction)
                        • Consider how you will mount the legs to the torsion box
                        • Remember to account for the bottom of your vice(s) when measuring for the drop on the drawer assembly (I initially forgot to account for the extra half-inch arc of vice-face under the threaded shaft extending below the outer bottom corners.) Depending on the height of your torsion box, you may not need to drop the drawer assembly very much - just enough to accommodate any portion of the vice that extends below the bottom of your torsion box.
                        • Also remember to accommodate the vice rods/shafts into your torsion box - they extend a goodly distance back under the table. To mount my vices, I had to fasten some stock of the appropriate thickness to the underside of the table behind the faceplate in those locations to give me something to fasten to.
                        Last edited by Bill in Buena Park; 02-03-2012, 02:11 AM.
                        Bill in Buena Park

                        Comment

                        • Ed62
                          The Full Monte
                          • Oct 2006
                          • 6022
                          • NW Indiana
                          • BT3K

                          #13
                          That's a great looking mod. You should get a lot of use out of that. Thanks for the pics.

                          ed
                          Do you know about kickback? Ray has a good writeup here... https://www.sawdustzone.org/articles...mare-explained

                          For a kickback demonstration video http://www.metacafe.com/watch/910584...demonstration/

                          Comment

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