Bench Solution Fold-a-way work bench?

[NewShockerGuy]

http://www.benchsolution.com/products/workbench/

Was just browsing getting ideas to build a work bench and saw this... Seems cools and I like that it folds away and takes no space.. seems great for a garage! Especially a small one... The price *****..lol

But Home Depot has it cheaper plus I have some GC's from them... just wondering if anyone has this and or used it? Seems neat to me..

http://www.homedepot.com/buy/bench-...urface-and-locking-metal-supports-254046.html

Holds 400lbs which is more than I would ever need honestly..


Now I see these:

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=10227&Max=999

Seems a lot cheaper and I could probably find a butcher block type top even cheaper via ikea no? And they hold up to 700lbs a pair... so much more than the above...


Thanks,
-Nigel

 

[Falcon67]

1/2 of a king size waterbed deck - cost = zero. Scraps plus had a pair of gate hinges.

 

[Jack Olsen]

That looks great, Chris.

NewShockerGuy, those locking hinges don't impress me. It's not so much the weight of what you put on the bench so much as it is the spike loads (when you find a need to hammer on something) and the lateral/torsional stability of the work surface. It's cheaper and stronger to just use 2x4s and make some legs.

Here's a page with information about my fold-down tables. And here's a quickie diagram for the one I made that is a little like Chris's.

 

[2CWG]

Like NewShockerGuy, I've been researching high-capacity folding work surfaces and ran across the same options he's linked.

The home-built "fold-up" examples Chris and Jack posted are very solid, but I'd be very interested in some "fold-down" designs that provide similar functionality with a tight folded profile ( < 4" ). Here's one example, but scaling up the design for higher capacity makes for a very thick profile:

Anyone have additional options?

 

[slghmmr88]

I used a commercial solid core door that was removed from a past remodel and mounted to a wall with the original 4 ball bearing hinges to a 2by screwed to studs, and then 1.5 inch black pipe threaded into flanges screwed into bottom of door for legs. Used to abuse the **** out of that system and never had a problem, (although was pretty heavy to hold up while you threaded and unthreaded the legs.)

 

[Sgt Beavis]

Hurray for my first post..

The Bench Solutions thing looks good but I wouldn't use those Rockler supports for a bench. They just aren't that sturdy..

This is what I did on my last house. I just sold the house and left the bench there. I'm going to build a full blown Roubo style workbench. The old bench pivoted on to 1/2 steel rods that were inserted into bearings supported by a structure that was screwed to the wall. You get the general idea in the pictures..

That little piece of steel is acting as a retaining plate for the bearing.

As you can see, it got a lot of use over the years..

 

[Outlander]

My primary benches are against the wall furthest from my garage door, so I built a 4 ft folding one up front for occasional use. I have never folded it since building it.

Nice designs in this thread, depending on woodworking skills you should be able to do better and more appropriate to your layout than buying brackets.