new work table!

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  • durango dude
    Senior Member
    • Mar 2011
    • 934
    • a thousand or so feet above insanity
    • 50s vintage Craftsman Contractor Saw

    new work table!

    Got this for Christmas, and finally assembled it.

    This is a Harbor Freight workbench. I'm pleasantly surprised.
    Will put peg board behind it.

    The vise is so-so. Will likely do a mod on that.
    Hopes aren't too high for the drawers. Router stuff goes in them.
    (routers on the shelf)

    Not sure the lower shelf can support my planer.
    Love the fact that the peg holes will fit my bench cookie stems perfectly.




  • leehljp
    Just me
    • Dec 2002
    • 8429
    • Tunica, MS
    • BT3000/3100

    #2
    Looks great. I have thought about getting one for years, except that I don't have room for it. I sure need a solid one like that.
    Hank Lee

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

    Comment

    • durango dude
      Senior Member
      • Mar 2011
      • 934
      • a thousand or so feet above insanity
      • 50s vintage Craftsman Contractor Saw

      #3
      Well - for 4 years, I've worked on those metal shelves with fiber-board tops that you buy at the big box stores. Then, one of the tops got wet and caved in,
      so naturally, I declared my mal-content to LOML.

      It was a perfect Christmas present opportunity.

      Comment

      • leehljp
        Just me
        • Dec 2002
        • 8429
        • Tunica, MS
        • BT3000/3100

        #4
        I have three of those quick up and quick take down portable work tables and I am tired of them. They are good when someone needs a quick table for temporary but not a permanent solution for heavy work.
        Hank Lee

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

        Comment

        • cwsmith
          Veteran Member
          • Dec 2005
          • 2737
          • NY Southern Tier, USA.
          • BT3100-1

          #5
          Durango,

          I hope you like the HF bench. I bought one soon after we bought this house fifteen-plus years ago. I don't do any pounding on it, but for tasks like sanding, hand plane work, or just plain assembly it has worked great for me. The drawers are a bit shallow but work fine for keep my measuring tools, planes and chisels. At present, that particular bench serves me well at my reference desk here in my haphazard basement office (I've moved all my power tools, etc. out to the shed). The workbench easily holds my laptop, flatbed scanner, and even my laser printer.

          When I bought the 'Amish' shed three years ago, I moved almost all my tools out there, and purchase two more of these benches which I have along one wall. Just general bench space, for sanding, planing, assembly, etc. They've all held up very well and I keep all the hand-held power tools in their cases, along with similar sizes stuff on the lower shelves. The newer benches have 3/4 inch dog-holes, as compared to the 5/8 one's in my original bench. One thing I did with those is tape over the bottoms so sawdust doesn't fall into the drawers. The biggest drawback I've found is rather short slides of the drawers, they only open half way. Last fall I bought some longer slides which will allow be to fully extend the drawers. Unfortunately they are slightly fatter than the original slides and I'll have to narrow the draw width's about an 1/8-inch in order to use them. Haven't gotten around to that yet.

          Last spring (2020), I bought another of these benches with the idea of using it as an outfeed support for the BT. At the time they were having some production problems, in that some of the bench-length pieces were cut too long and on assembly I ended up splitting a piece because I hadn't noticed. I took that back, and found the second bench with the same problem. Rather than cart it home and trim it, I just decided to buy an HF steel storage cabinet with a wood top. It was higher and served that purpose better.

          Overall, I've been pretty pleased with these benches.

          CWS
          Think it Through Before You Do!

          Comment

          • durango dude
            Senior Member
            • Mar 2011
            • 934
            • a thousand or so feet above insanity
            • 50s vintage Craftsman Contractor Saw

            #6
            Assembled and installed drawers. 3 out of 4 worked out fine.. I reversed left and right on the 4th, and found id stripped the screw channels when I went back and corrected the mistake. I just put a longer screw in and used some glue. However, something was slightly off, and the drawer is pretty tight.

            The drawers are more sturdy than I was expecting.
            Last edited by durango dude; 01-17-2021, 10:28 PM.

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