Lets see your workbench
- Thread starter speedingpenguin
- Start date
jeffmoss26
Well-known member
Mr. Wonderful
Well-known member
I set up a dedicated place inside the house for work that I’d like to keep clean.
southalabama
Well-known member
Nice gunsmith benchI set up a dedicated place inside the house for work that I’d like to keep clean.
Mr. Wonderful
Well-known member
Who said anything about gunsmithing?!?!? I can hear the black helicopters circling now! It’s for quilting and that’s it!
southalabama
Well-known member
I’m sure I’ve got a dedicated satellite
jeffmoss26
Well-known member
I added a 7” imported woodworking vise to my bench to use as a tail vise along with bench dogs 
The vise was designed for a thinner bench top so I modified a piece of tie down track to make a longer, retractable dog in the moveable jaw
Initial test with a plane and a scraper shows that the idea should work well
The vise was designed for a thinner bench top so I modified a piece of tie down track to make a longer, retractable dog in the moveable jaw
Initial test with a plane and a scraper shows that the idea should work well
Old Radar
Well-known member
Wait--you mean the two brushes and the Tub O' Towels? Outstanding!
jeffmoss26
Well-known member
What, you can actually see the surface of the bench again!Wait--you mean the two brushes and the Tub O' Towels? Outstanding!
Old Radar
Well-known member
I agree with you! Those brushes were horrible impediments!
b-dog
Well-known member
southalabama
Well-known member
Clear spot to put more packages of locks.
jeffmoss26
Well-known member
Man, what a rough crowd. I also moved the **** off my bench grinder and hung my hammer up, so there
Me and my son made a heavy duty workbench. We needed more space and I wanted a place to mount a vise that I could really wrench on without having the table move. Bought six 4"x6" ACQ, had four leftover sheets of 3/4" CDX from a build, and the top is birch - only because it's nice and bright so parts don't get lost. The veneer was really to help prevent splinters though it didn't stick perfectly. I'll see if I need to change that. The gussets have 1/2" 4-1/2" long lag bolts. This thing is solid! I have a short time-lapse video of us building it.
Hooked
Well-known member
That bench is gonna outlast several generations.
Hope you got some still shots of your son 'modeling' on the beast.
Hope you got some still shots of your son 'modeling' on the beast.
PhantomEB
Well-known member
Mines still a mess.….one these days I will drag that diff back outside to get that horitzonal space back…..hell I should get a sheet of 1/2“ plywood and make my side toolbox more of a work bench than diff storage. Maybe I will do that today as well see if I can put another 26er there one day.
jmarkwolf
Well-known member
Very nice!Me and my son made a heavy duty workbench. We needed more space and I wanted a place to mount a vise that I could really wrench on without having the table move. Bought six 4"x6" ACQ, had four leftover sheets of 3/4" CDX from a build, and the top is birch - only because it's nice and bright so parts don't get lost. The veneer was really to help prevent splinters though it didn't stick perfectly. I'll see if I need to change that. The gussets have 1/2" 4-1/2" long lag bolts. This thing is solid! I have a short time-lapse video of us building it.
Built To Work
Well-known member
Free workbench. topped it with an old ping pong table that I was going to throw out.
rd65
Well-known member
regguy1
Well-known member
C6 trans rebuild. The bench is homemade, plywood an 2x4's all dadoed and glued together, 1 1/2" wood under custom made metal top I built it in 1978 and used it commercially for 31 years. The photos are from 2020 at my home shop.
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kaymccampbell
Well-known member
I remember those days. Endless supply of drooling corpses on my bench.
kyrbz
Well-known member
haywirefarm
Member
I set up a dedicated place inside the house for work that I’d like to keep clean.
I've got the same vise that's been sitting unused since it was new! I'm finally getting my garage built in two weeks and can't wait to get it mounted. Almost scared to use it at this point, haha.
Mr. Wonderful
Well-known member
An NOS boxed Wilton can bring stupid money depending on the age. You might be able to fund an upgrade to your new garage if you sell it. Plus, that size is easy to ship. Just throwing it out there.
haywirefarm
Member
Hmmm, now you have me thinking!
astrohip
Well-known member
I want to build a free-standing workbench, really more like a work table. I'm thinking 4x8, so a piece of plywood can serve as the top. I've built several workbenches before (see pics attached), and even a lumber storage workbench-like shelving, but they've all been attached to a structure. This will be in the middle of my barn. I've got plenty of room for it. It doesn't need to be super strong, it probably won't ever have more than a 100 lbs or so on it.
What needs to be different to make it stable when free-standing? If anyone has a link to a good one, I'd appreciate it.
What needs to be different to make it stable when free-standing? If anyone has a link to a good one, I'd appreciate it.
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Jeff Ivers
Well-known member
I am sure there are multiple ways to do this. I have had a workbench built from a kit acquired over 40 years ago that is still in use and has held my weight on more than one occasion. In my opinion, use 2x4 uprights with the wide side of the board running the length of the workbench. Notch the uprights for side pieces that run front to back to create rabbit joints. You can get by with 1x4 or 1x6, but I would use 2x4 here as well. Make these joints on the outer edge of the uprights so that you have a part of the upright that you can attach 2x4 cross pieces to that run from left to right just under your surface and near the bottom. The rabbited joints will prevent racking from front to back. Add a 1/2 inch plywood back to prevent racking side to side if you want it super stable.
Triangulation.
kaymccampbell
Well-known member
We have a home built pouring table, basically a bench, that is freestanding. It typically carries about 1000 LBS of liquid clay in its tank and another 1000 LBS of plaster molds on the drain grid and in storage underneath. It has never wobbled in the 40 years it's been in service.
What I did is use plywood. I made a 1/2" plywood coffin, 2x3x8 feet, with 2x4s at every edge, and a couple plywood webs inside. Then I made cutouts for where I wanted storage, leaving about 6 inch perimeters of plywood around each opening. All inner corners of the openings are about 6" radius. The entire thing is glued and nailed, but there's no reason you couldn't use screws, now that there are readily available, good quality, power-drivable screws. If I were to make it a flat top, I'd use 3/4" BB ply for the top.
@astrohip
I agree with a stretcher running the length of the bench between the legs.
However when I built my woodworking bench about 20 years ago I wanted access to the top to clamp work to the bench surface. I also wanted easy access to both sides.
Therefore I used the instructions that came with my cast bench legs and connected the legs with a lower stretcher than is sometimes seen.
This photo is the best I have showing the bare assembly. When this pic was taken I was reassembling my bench after our move from Michigan to Phoenix.
Yes, the bench was/is damn heavy and I was unable to raise it by myself after reassembling it upside down.
This pic sorta shows my laminated construction of the stretchers and the 1/2” threaded rod holding everything together.
I used laminated BB plywood for most of the bench construction due to the fact the bench was originally built in a somewhat humid basement in Michigan and I knew/ hoped it would live out it’s life in dry Arizona. I was hoping to avoid any problems with wood movement
Just another way to achieve a rock solid bench.
I agree with a stretcher running the length of the bench between the legs.
However when I built my woodworking bench about 20 years ago I wanted access to the top to clamp work to the bench surface. I also wanted easy access to both sides.
Therefore I used the instructions that came with my cast bench legs and connected the legs with a lower stretcher than is sometimes seen.
This photo is the best I have showing the bare assembly. When this pic was taken I was reassembling my bench after our move from Michigan to Phoenix.
Yes, the bench was/is damn heavy and I was unable to raise it by myself after reassembling it upside down.
This pic sorta shows my laminated construction of the stretchers and the 1/2” threaded rod holding everything together.
I used laminated BB plywood for most of the bench construction due to the fact the bench was originally built in a somewhat humid basement in Michigan and I knew/ hoped it would live out it’s life in dry Arizona. I was hoping to avoid any problems with wood movement
Just another way to achieve a rock solid bench.
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jeffmoss26
Well-known member
what are those tools used for?
kaymccampbell
Well-known member
Bench dogs?
Ding, ding, ding.
What Kay said.
The tools all fit a 3/4” hole drilled in the bench top or edge.
I can go into detail if anyone has a question or is interested.
Ultradog MN
Well-known member
I'm a metal guy so there isn't much wood stuff here.
My friend used to work in a giant machining and metal fabrication place.
Years ago they got two of these castings in as a job. They had to surface all 6 sides and drill and tap a bunch of holes in them for some kind of a machine. Somehow they screwed them up. Holes were mislocated or some such. I don't know what happened.
But they had to eat the cost of having 2 new castings made and start over.
They made work benches out of the ruined ones. When the company went out of business a dozen years ago I bught this one at the auction.
The top is 30" x 88" x 1 1/2" thick cast iron. Very heavy legs. The bench weighs about 1600 lbs.
I added the casters under it so 1 man can move it but it still has the adjustable leveling feet under it that you can screw down if you need to reef on it and not have it roll around.
I have other tools and machines around here but this thing is kind of my main pride and joy.
My friend used to work in a giant machining and metal fabrication place.
Years ago they got two of these castings in as a job. They had to surface all 6 sides and drill and tap a bunch of holes in them for some kind of a machine. Somehow they screwed them up. Holes were mislocated or some such. I don't know what happened.
But they had to eat the cost of having 2 new castings made and start over.
They made work benches out of the ruined ones. When the company went out of business a dozen years ago I bught this one at the auction.
The top is 30" x 88" x 1 1/2" thick cast iron. Very heavy legs. The bench weighs about 1600 lbs.
I added the casters under it so 1 man can move it but it still has the adjustable leveling feet under it that you can screw down if you need to reef on it and not have it roll around.
I have other tools and machines around here but this thing is kind of my main pride and joy.
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rayra
Well-known member
sturdy joints, where the wood locks together and then gets fixed with staggered fasteners, so that wracking is eliminated.
I'd suggest some diagonal bracing, but if it is in the middle of the space you'd probably want all four sides of any under shelf to be unobstructed.
InsanePyro
Well-known member
Hell, I wish I could see it myself!
mollydog
Member
I ended up making my own
Just not enough wall space to hang many of my tools so they are kept on the mezzanine just above the work bench
Just not enough wall space to hang many of my tools so they are kept on the mezzanine just above the work bench
jeffmoss26
Well-known member
love it!