First Attempt: A Folding Bench

[knucklebusted]

Well, this is my first, sad attempt at a folding bench in my garage. The space between the garage doors seemed wasted to me so I used some fold counter top, a few door hinges and a gate latch to make a folding bench to put tools and small work items on. It could use some paint but it seems sturdy enough to put a decently heavy tool box on.

Any thoughts on improving it? First, I don't weld and second, I own a jig saw and a circular though I do not claim to be proficient with either.

 

[cooliorz]

Looks great and it's an awesome idea!

 

[HotRodKush]

Pretty cool! I can definitely see it coming in handy.

 

[blaze_125]

Well, this is my first, sad attempt at a folding bench in my garage.

Why sad? It's a folding bench... it's not supposed to be a work of art.
It folds up and down, stays down and holds your tools when you need it. Right?

Give yourself some credit!

 

[Dark Horse]

Great use of space! Looks good.

 

[toytech40]

great use of usually wasted space, and handy for projects either in or outside of door. Not to mention out the way when not needed.

 

[evintho]

Sit down and have a bite to eat. Not to mention, perfect for when you have to get those last few wrinkles out of your dress shirt!

Seriously, great use of unused space!

 

[knucklebusted]

Gee, thanks. I was expecting some comments about putting a hydraulic ram on it to make it electric.

It comes in handy when you need to put the bike helmet and gloves down while you load up the saddle bags. I made it tall so it wouldn't be so low I had to stoop to work on things.

 

[usa89gt]

I love it! This is usually the place my garbage cans are and I stack pretty much everything on them when working in the garage. Reminds me of an ironing board. May give a whole new concept to me ironing my clothes!! I need to incorporate this into my new build.

 

[Krokodil]

What a good space saver!

 

[BigE]

Don't want to rain on the parade, but it appears that you lose access to that plug when the board is up. Neat idea, though.

 

[larry_g]

Great Idea... Now attach a few small containers to the leg for storing small items and your doing extra duty. You would have to cut the leg shorter so it stays verticle at all times though.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[onewaydave]

Ditto to what everyone above says. You ask for suggestions, and I humbly admit I have never thought of your very neat idea, so I'll bite.

Consider turning the hinges upside down. If the brace is too long to fit under the bench top folded down, put a hinge in the middle of it and, keeping the fence theme, a sliding fence lock to keep it straight when deployed.

That gives you access to the outlet by folding the bench down instead of up.

Dave.

 

[kfainf]

That is a great idea and a great use of space! I like it.

 

[gjz30075]

Great idea! I think I'd make a another leg to come down vertically at the rounded end of the table to give it strength for anything heavy.

 

[knucklebusted]

Don't want to rain on the parade, but it appears that you lose access to that plug when the board is up. Neat idea, though.

Yeah, I meant to do that, that's the ticket!

Actually, I just wired that outlet there because I wanted to be able to use the dremel on the bench if needed. I have more than enough extension cords and I can still get a flat plug in the socket and drop it down below the bench. I can make a stubby extension cord out of a spare one I have and just leave it dangling below. There's about an inch open between the bench and the wall.

I'm going to pass on the extra leg for now. I'm building another bench for the bench grinder, vise and drill press. That one will be sturdier.