Lets see your workbench
- Thread starter speedingpenguin
- Start date
Jayman17
Well-known member
Mr Wonderful, that's a great workbench you built. I like the light idea and really like your vise selections. 
Jay
Jay
Black300zx
Well-known member
That looks great! I think pretty-ing up my red-oak plywood benchtop just jumped up a few notches on the quarantine project list
Menifee Valley Speed Shop
Well-known member
Mr. Wonderful
Well-known member
Thanks! Ya the pow-r-arm was definitely something I bought only because of GJ. I would have never known what it was. Until you see it in person you cant believe how sturdy it holds in position!
Menifee Valley Speed Shop
Well-known member
CJseven
Well-known member
Threw this together in the last few weeks. 
jesse72
Well-known member
That looks great and similar to how I want to build mine in my new garage. Did you build the upper cabinets?Threw this together in the last few weeks.
CJseven
Well-known member
Thank you. The upper cabinets are the Klearvue garage cabinets from Menards. I did cut the opening and installed the smoked lexan and trim.
LS6 Tommy
Well-known member
I'd leave it. I don't know about you, but certain stains and marks that were on my Dad's bench in my old house brought memories from stuff we did together when I was young. I'd love to have that bench instead of the one I got when I bought my house. I have his 2' step ladder and there are similar marks that bring back memories. My wife didn't understand when I put new cross braces on it and tightened up the tie rods instead of buying a new ladder.
Tommy
Menifee Valley Speed Shop
Well-known member
Dan in Pasadena
Well-known member
I'm having a little trouble understanding what you did. 8 ft x 1 ft but what's the 3? 2x4's are obviously 3-1/2". You laminated the 2x4's which way? In the pics it looks like on the flat and not so the bench top will be 3-1/2" thick. Am I misunderstanding this? Then you used plate joinery to join the 1 ft wide bench top sections into 24' wide?
Dumb question but I've never used those threaded inserts before. Howe are they installed into the wood? - Sorry for the dumb questions.
There's two styles of these inserts: screw-in and press-in. Screw-in inserts have a thread on their outside. Press-in have barbs on the outside. Both have a machine thread on the inside for a screw.
You can also insert tee-nuts opposite your pulling force. These have a flange to hold against the bolt's pulling action, and prongs that embed themselves in the wood to prevent rotation.
More information:
Mr. Wonderful
Well-known member
Dan,
I took the 8' 2x4's and ripped the bull nose off each edge making it 3" wide. I stood them up on edge in 12" sections. I made four sections of 8'x12"x3"thick. I made them 12" wide so they would fit in my planer. That's how I got the smooth top. Yes, I used the plate joiner to join the 12" sections together. I staggered all the joints as well.
The threaded inserts, I just drilled a 1/2" hole and screwed them in from the top with an allen key.
I hope that explains it better.
Dan in Pasadena
Well-known member
Thanks for the explanation. Yes, explains it perfectly! SUCH a nice bench. Now I need a planer! No problem feeding that max size through one?
Mr. Wonderful
Well-known member
No, the 2x4 material is pretty soft wood. I have the dewalt 735x. It is a very good planer. it's a good middle ground between the entry level planers and the big non portable machines.
My Dad brought home a black laminate counter top with a backsplash for our workbench. I think I was around 7 or so, when I moved to Colorado from Illinois at 27 it was still going strong in his garage. we did anything and everything on that bench and it took it all in stride.
Griff
T-handle
Well-known member
Very cool workbenches here
Here's mine for cleaner work.
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I'm doing my "dirty" work in the other end of the workshop
Here's mine for cleaner work.
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I'm doing my "dirty" work in the other end of the workshop
drivesitfar
Well-known member
T-Handle: did you used to work for Milwaukee or buy their display cause that hood above your Milwaukee tools really does look good. 
nice looking bench and shop too!
PUC: maybe your little bench is simple, but it looks like it's clean and ready to do work when you need to.
nice looking bench and shop too!
PUC: maybe your little bench is simple, but it looks like it's clean and ready to do work when you need to.
T-handle
Well-known member
T-Handle: did you used to work for Milwaukee or buy their display cause that hood above your Milwaukee tools really does look good.
nice looking bench and shop too!
Thanks Drives
I bought a display and modified it a bit. There's more on that in my thread.
My workbench is build from old office drawer units and kitchen counter tops. More from the process in my workshop thread
Following a little “incident” this past winter with the wife’s car and my work bench and Gladiator storage locker, I thought it was a great time to rearrange and upgrade. Inspired by Steevo’s basic design, I made some changes to accommodate a new base cabinet including a custom sized shelf to store my table saw and HEM saw, along with a clamp storage rack on the right side and full length material shelf on the back. I also moved the new storage locker to the right side of the garage and matched it up with a 28 inch base cabinet.
This project tested my mig welding skills (and my patience), but the end result is so much more usable than the old design as the new one is 3 ft longer and 6 inches deeper (30 x 96). Next up is matching New Age wall cabinets along with mounting a vise (where and which one). I was originally going with the tall wall cabinets, but after getting everything else done, I am ordering the standard height. So the backorder delay with the tall cabinets was actually very helpful.
This project tested my mig welding skills (and my patience), but the end result is so much more usable than the old design as the new one is 3 ft longer and 6 inches deeper (30 x 96). Next up is matching New Age wall cabinets along with mounting a vise (where and which one). I was originally going with the tall wall cabinets, but after getting everything else done, I am ordering the standard height. So the backorder delay with the tall cabinets was actually very helpful.
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A little something for my mom to make taking care of her chickens a little easier, and a matching step stool so my daughter can help.
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Nice![emoji2]
Still a work in progress. Frankly I'm going to have to work on/around/at it for a while to get a better feel for where I want stuff. Some of this will be moving around at some point, but it's better than being in boxes on the floor.
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Still a work in progress. Frankly I'm going to have to work on/around/at it for a while to get a better feel for where I want stuff.
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Yep. That’s the only way you’ll get it to the way you want. Or maybe you’ll be like me and NEVER get there. [emoji3]
kilgorq
Well-known member
I Posted my benches a while back. This is an update.
The New bench I was working on was looking pretty good. Got to the point of being ready for new doors. And then Wednesday Morning I woke up to flames and smoke.
The Last 2 Pics actually show part of the bench.
Everyone is OK. I managed to get the fire put out before the Fire department showed up. Luckily one of the kids was up gaming and smelled the smoke. Minor smoke inhalation for myself.
Thankfully I had 2 Fire Extinguishers.
You can see whats left of the fire starter battery pack in one of the pictures.
Added 2 better picture of the workbench.
The New bench I was working on was looking pretty good. Got to the point of being ready for new doors. And then Wednesday Morning I woke up to flames and smoke.
The Last 2 Pics actually show part of the bench.
Everyone is OK. I managed to get the fire put out before the Fire department showed up. Luckily one of the kids was up gaming and smelled the smoke. Minor smoke inhalation for myself.
Thankfully I had 2 Fire Extinguishers.
You can see whats left of the fire starter battery pack in one of the pictures.
Added 2 better picture of the workbench.
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kilgorq
Well-known member
Not a workbench. This is a work of art. Excellent Craftsmanship. I Love it.
Bodywork next
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smalltown
Well-known member
Kilgorg glad to read everybody is ok and disaster avoided. Sounds like dad needs to buy the gamer a new video game as a thank you.
LS6 Tommy
Well-known member
Man, I'm glad you and everything turned out OK (except for the damage). I know gazillions of people use them, but things like this are why I'm a little leery of jump packs.
Tommy
kilgorq
Well-known member
This was a 500W Portable Battery Powered generator.
The Fire Department told me that one of the most common causes they see is wall chargers. The other very common one is dryers. Bad Kitchen fires are less common than you would think. I think that's because someone is usually in the kitchen and if one starts they put it out right away.
We had a dryer fire about a year ago. We were in the room. So it was remedied with no Damage. I cleaned the dryer out and the whole bottom was filled with burned lint. Hence the reason we had 2 fire extinguishers. Those were replaced the same day as this fire.
If I would not have had 2 it would have been a lot worse.
When I walked into the garage and turned on the lights it was still dark. I could barely see some flames coming from the floor under the bench. Once I put that part out I could see flames coming off the top of the bench going up the door and traveling across the ceiling a couple of feet in every direction.
I went back to the house door and got the other fire extinguisher. By the time I got back it had just about doubled in size. Luckily I was able to get it out with the second Extinguisher.
I had opened up the big door when I grabbed the second extinguisher. When I got out of the garage I could only see the back wall up about 2 feet from the floor. The entire top half was pitch black with smoke. I could not tell the lights were on.
The Fire department showed up about 3 Minutes later. (seemed like an hour) They went in and checked everything out. The fire chief showed me where it had burned most of the way through the sheet rock and congratulated me on my quick thinking. He told me that we had caught it just before it became a fireball.
He explained that the reason the flame got so much bigger is because it was starving for air. "The Air I gave it when I opened the door". If we had not opened the door when we did, a minute or less later and it would have pulled the doors in until they caved in. When it gets to that point it is extremely hot and literally explodes into a fire ball.
It was very educational... I guess that's at least one good take away. Also My new bench appears to be recoverable. Hopefully another good take away.
I am counting my blessings, but it is really hard to go through all of my garage contents an discover how much damage smoke really causes. Not a single storage bin or power tool is recoverable. My Compressor may be OK. but it may need a new motor. At least I have insurance.
People I know don't see why I am not more upset. I feel thankful that I caught while I could still put it out. And nobody was injured.
Look at the gas can... No it is not photo shopped.
And the Furnace Filter from inside the house.
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kilgorq
Well-known member
I already pay for his subscription. But I did offer to take him to diner, once his favorite restaurant opens back up. If it does.
bargainhuntingking
Well-known member
Still a work in progress. Frankly I'm going to have to work on/around/at it for a while to get a better feel for where I want stuff. Some of this will be moving around at some point, but it's better than being in boxes on the floor.
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I really like your layout. A simple functional LONG bench with plenty of open space and room to work, with a good storage shelf, backed by a ton of pegboard to keep tools visible and quickly available.
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So was the portable battery charging when this happened or just sitting there idle, unplugged, etc?
I've personally seen batteries cause issues from charging and have become a little paranoid about them when left unattended. I've actually wired an outlet into the same switch as my overhead lights specifically for my cordless tool chargers in hopes it prevents any unattended battery or charger problems. I run the risk of not always having a charged battery when I need one, but I'm hoping that given the amount of cordless tool batteries I own, it won't be a problem.
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kilgorq
Well-known member
It was setting on the bench unplugged. So it was a failure inside the battery pack. With the way they are designed it would have to be multiple failures since there are design with safety circuits to prevent this.
Damn. I'm sorry to hear that, but glad it wasn't worse.
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SkeeterZX200
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Craig Balzer
Well-known member
Amazon has them:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00101WGMI/?tag=atomicindus08-20
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00101WGMI/?tag=atomicindus08-20
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002RNVMXM/?tag=atomicindus08-20
. . . however these appear to only be the base. Pretty pricey!
Menifee Valley Speed Shop
Well-known member
DaveT said:
Thanks. I’m still shuffling things around a bit.
The butcher block arrived last week. It took forever to get here.
I was at first thinking of laying the butcher block directly on the cabinets, but now I’m second guessing that thought. I was contemplating making a frame into the 3 walls and letting the block rest on the frame. I will still need a center support and I have about 9” difference between the total width of the room vs the combined length of the 2 cabinets.
I won’t do any major hammering on this particular bench, but my gut tells me I won’t be happy with the block just resting on the cabinets.
The butcher block top is about 200 pounds so I’ll need to get some help to get it into position.
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