Harbor Freight 60" Work Bench Mods
- Thread starter Unruh
- Start date
So I bought mine off Craigslist for $50. It was in the box, but of course missing all the hardware. I found a toolbox at a garage sale that literally had "scrap" written on the side. It was missing a drawer and the others were not opening, I paid $10 for the box. I took it apart and cleaned it up good. I took apart some and used others for the missing drawer. Painted it red and slapped a Snapon sticker on it. I also added a clean out tray on the side and put on some magnetic tool holders. Overall I added weight and stability.
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jimreed2160
Well-known member
Great mods. I had one of those benches back in the day and used it a lot. We danced across the floor because it was so lightweight. I'll bet a heavy box would have fixed my issue.
jimreed2160
Well-known member
For the money this is a good deal. No, it is not the best bench around. But it is good enough to work with. The dogs and vises work as they should. It is certainly a good starter bench that will get the job done.
earlthegoat2
Well-known member
I had one of those too. My list of mods is long and plenty.
Replaced the drawer slides with 100lb slides that also happened to work. This is a cost prohibitive mod but I got the slides all for free.
Next was X bracing on 3 of the 4 sides. I used angle iron that I cut out to fit.
Throw the vises away and find a used Columbian, Wilton, etc woodworking vise to rig on instead and then a machinist style vise mounted wherever you desire.
Never liked that bench and left it at the house with the new owner.
Looking back on it I would have done things tons differently. I would have thrown away the top and made a new one 3-4 inches thick. I would have tossed the legs and made new ones 4-6 inches thick. Then I would have chucked the old stringers and made ones 3x6 inches mortised into the legs and drawbored. The drawers.....they were handy....throw them away too and mount some kind of toolbox under there. Top chest, lista....something.
The drawers are really the only thing that makes that bench tempting. As far as the bench structure, it is ****. You could do better with a 4x8 sheet of 3/4 ply ripped in half and doubled up for a top. Then use 4x4s and 2x6s for the legs and frame. Heck, pocket screwing it together would probably even be OK. But the drawers are going to cost you something and that is where this HF bench gets you somewhere.
Replaced the drawer slides with 100lb slides that also happened to work. This is a cost prohibitive mod but I got the slides all for free.
Next was X bracing on 3 of the 4 sides. I used angle iron that I cut out to fit.
Throw the vises away and find a used Columbian, Wilton, etc woodworking vise to rig on instead and then a machinist style vise mounted wherever you desire.
Never liked that bench and left it at the house with the new owner.
Looking back on it I would have done things tons differently. I would have thrown away the top and made a new one 3-4 inches thick. I would have tossed the legs and made new ones 4-6 inches thick. Then I would have chucked the old stringers and made ones 3x6 inches mortised into the legs and drawbored. The drawers.....they were handy....throw them away too and mount some kind of toolbox under there. Top chest, lista....something.
The drawers are really the only thing that makes that bench tempting. As far as the bench structure, it is ****. You could do better with a 4x8 sheet of 3/4 ply ripped in half and doubled up for a top. Then use 4x4s and 2x6s for the legs and frame. Heck, pocket screwing it together would probably even be OK. But the drawers are going to cost you something and that is where this HF bench gets you somewhere.
guy48065
Well-known member
Seems like the only thing I do with my workbenches is pile junk on them. For that purpose my $120 Harbor Freight bench is just as good as my $800 Sjoberg.
Motorman55
Well-known member
The HF work bench may not be heavy duty enough for serious wood working, but it may be perfect for what I want to do.
I have plenty of shop benches and metal tool boxes I could use from the shop, but I'd like to set up a separate hobby bench area in a spare room in the house to go along with my drafting table and light box.
I'm thinking that one of these HF work benches along with a HF 8 drawer wood tool chest #94538 would work well. The bench will just be used for building plastic motorcycle models (an old hobby of mine.)
I thought I could place the HF tool chest on top of one end of the HF work bench. This would hold all the small/micro hand tools/files and the work bench drawers would be perfect for the larger tools/supplies.
I'll have to take all the measurements of the work bench as I may have to modify it so that I have enough leg room under the bench so I can sit comfortably on a stool in front of the working end of the bench. It might require the removal of one of the lower drawers and move it to the other end.
Of course I'll buy the work bench and tool box on sale or with a 20/25% coupon when I'm ready.
I have plenty of shop benches and metal tool boxes I could use from the shop, but I'd like to set up a separate hobby bench area in a spare room in the house to go along with my drafting table and light box.
I'm thinking that one of these HF work benches along with a HF 8 drawer wood tool chest #94538 would work well. The bench will just be used for building plastic motorcycle models (an old hobby of mine.)
I thought I could place the HF tool chest on top of one end of the HF work bench. This would hold all the small/micro hand tools/files and the work bench drawers would be perfect for the larger tools/supplies.
I'll have to take all the measurements of the work bench as I may have to modify it so that I have enough leg room under the bench so I can sit comfortably on a stool in front of the working end of the bench. It might require the removal of one of the lower drawers and move it to the other end.
Of course I'll buy the work bench and tool box on sale or with a 20/25% coupon when I'm ready.
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