I had it bent. It was $5 a bend at the place I get my steel. I gave them the dimensions of what I wanted and they hooked it up. Surprisingly they softened (sanded smooth and rounded) the edges and corners, too.
Lets see your workbench
- Thread starter speedingpenguin
- Start date
I had it bent. It was $5 a bend at the place I get my steel. I gave them the dimensions of what I wanted and they hooked it up. Surprisingly they softened (sanded smooth and rounded) the edges and corners, too.
Chasbec
Well-known member
drivesitfar
Well-known member
BRENT: sadly a lot of great steel fab shops have been going out of business around our area. prices of real estate was part of the reason for some retiring, but all the imported cheaper throwaway stuff is also a big reason.
very cool looking top and happy to hear you found a shop that still gives top service for a great price.
good luck
very cool looking top and happy to hear you found a shop that still gives top service for a great price.
good luck
Thanks. Not to hijack but I feel like that's a huge benefit of living in a city or place where there's industry. While Salt Lake is way more of a suburb, to me, it's nice to have all the industrial supply places at my disposal. It wasn't like that where I grew up in the northeast.
drivesitfar
Well-known member
Brent: thanks and I totally agree. best of luck with the rest of the bench and what materials are you going to use for the base? or just surprise us and post it up finished.
ALL: i really like these old WW II ship hatches and found one i'm going to make a workbench out of. it will be more to show off an old Canedy-Otto drill press and an old vise, but if i can keep it clean i'll put a rubber mat on it and use it for some light duty stuff. anybody else like these old Ship hatches and have you made anything out of them?
ALL: i really like these old WW II ship hatches and found one i'm going to make a workbench out of. it will be more to show off an old Canedy-Otto drill press and an old vise, but if i can keep it clean i'll put a rubber mat on it and use it for some light duty stuff. anybody else like these old Ship hatches and have you made anything out of them?
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doorfx
Well-known member
Ok , so the bowling alley lanes didn't work out for my bench top. I have a friend who can get me 5'x9' sheets of 10ga steel and he will bend them for free.
I was thinking of putting a 3/4" plywood top on my cabinets (18'), then the 10ga. steel. Do I need to worry about rust on the underside in my 22'x22' heated( radiant tube) garage ? The wife will park her car in the winter.
Any other concerns?
I was thinking of putting a 3/4" plywood top on my cabinets (18'), then the 10ga. steel. Do I need to worry about rust on the underside in my 22'x22' heated( radiant tube) garage ? The wife will park her car in the winter.
Any other concerns?
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Perfectstranger
Well-known member
I wouldn't think so nice looking cabinets. Where did you get them?
drivesitfar
Well-known member
DoorFX: you should be ok without treating the underside of your steel top, but if you want to wipe on some BLO (boiled linseed oil) that will help it from rusting and also absorb into the plywood to give it some life.
I agree great looking cabinets and the steel sounds like a great idea too if the bowling alley wood top didn't work out.
good luck
I agree great looking cabinets and the steel sounds like a great idea too if the bowling alley wood top didn't work out.
good luck
doorfx
Well-known member
Picked them up from an auction house after they didn't sell. Paid $100 for three pallets full of them. I had three uppers left over so I sold them for $100. Worked out pretty well.
doorfx
Well-known member
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doorfx
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alpinewhite
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My current set-up.
I like the blue. That's why I'm using the same color in my garage (pic doesn't show the shade well).
KraftwerkMk1Jetta
Well-known member
View media item 64761Just finished the bench in the race shop.
I did all the finish work inside the shop after the pole barn was up. I built the bench as well, of course it is over built including dovetail joints and Rockler slides on all the drawers and the top is constructed with 3/4" OSB topped with 3/4" red oak flooring and finished with 5 coats of urethane.
I did all the finish work inside the shop after the pole barn was up. I built the bench as well, of course it is over built including dovetail joints and Rockler slides on all the drawers and the top is constructed with 3/4" OSB topped with 3/4" red oak flooring and finished with 5 coats of urethane.
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drivesitfar
Well-known member
SST: AWESOME looking bench and cabinets. did you make them? WELL DONE!!
DoorFx: BLO can be bought just about anywhere for about $15 a gallon. not sure which one is better or if it has a shelf life. i've bought 1/2 and 3/4 gallons at sales everytime i see them for $1 or $2 so i haven't needed to go to the store yet.
it will really soak in the plywood nicely and probably just by setting your steel on top of it might be enough since you have a heated garage. sure you can maybe put BLO on steel especially if you can get it pretty warm in your shop to get it to not be sticky. or i might use the yellow can of Johnson paste wax and just wax your bench top every 6 months or you'll know when to do it if you start seeing any surface rust.
good luck and hope to see several pictures of it once it's installed.
DoorFx: BLO can be bought just about anywhere for about $15 a gallon. not sure which one is better or if it has a shelf life. i've bought 1/2 and 3/4 gallons at sales everytime i see them for $1 or $2 so i haven't needed to go to the store yet.
it will really soak in the plywood nicely and probably just by setting your steel on top of it might be enough since you have a heated garage. sure you can maybe put BLO on steel especially if you can get it pretty warm in your shop to get it to not be sticky. or i might use the yellow can of Johnson paste wax and just wax your bench top every 6 months or you'll know when to do it if you start seeing any surface rust.
good luck and hope to see several pictures of it once it's installed.
I'm using 24" deep pallet rack uprights/shelving that I got from the manager of a furniture warehouse for $20.
I trimmed them down from 6' and removed the diagonal bracing. The wood you see is just in place to hold it square until I weld the bracing back in (horizontally). The plan is to fab everything else while I listen to the World Series tonight.
Val_C
Well-known member
Thanks!
Looks like we share the same love for the colors. I'd like to have different shades of red, but I somewhat colorblind to this.
alpinewhite
Well-known member
I call mine "Miller Blue" although my MIG welder is Lincoln. My plasma cutter is a Miller, though. lol.
This is not no damn workbench area! 
That's a show room!
Yes you can definitely tell that no work gets done at this place. I imagine that the only thing that goes on at this place is sitting down "chill-lacks'ing" with a cold beer and enjoying the view!
That's a show room!
Yes you can definitely tell that no work gets done at this place. I imagine that the only thing that goes on at this place is sitting down "chill-lacks'ing" with a cold beer and enjoying the view!
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Cool story and really like the workbench, wish I had one exactly like it!
As for that light fixture, damn that's one sweet looking one, very stylish and vintage!
As for that light fixture, damn that's one sweet looking one, very stylish and vintage!
This workbench came from a factory my Dad worked in for over 40 years. They closed down and I purchased it at auction last year. The Wilton 400 bullet vise and work light were from his workbench. This thing looked terrible when I got it so I sanded down the top with a belt sander gradually working down to 120 grit. I intentionally left the imperfections as I feel they add character. The bench top was then topped off with 5 coats of Minwax Antique Oil Finish. I cleaned the grease/grime off the metal bench parts, vise and light and left them alone otherwise. I finally mounted the vise and light on it this week. Now it's time to get it dirty again.
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doorfx
Well-known member
Made some progress today. Cabinets are secured and plywood top is mounted. I will order the steel next week and see how it goes. I've never built a workbench like this before so any suggestions are welcome. Any suggestions on how to secure the steel ?
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drivesitfar
Well-known member
Doorfx: i haven't installed a stainless top on that long of a surface and the one i did install was made to fit a table/bench i built for a piece already bent and formed.
here's a thread where a member (Nitro3421) where he has recently installed a wall of tool boxes and he had a stainless steel top made for them. all i remember seeing him do was tac welding the seams, but here's the thread you can maybe see how he did it and it was a few weeks back. his house and garage are pretty amazing too and you might like the read and get a few other ideas.
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=6071600#post6071600
Brent: good luck welding that cool steel table all together and I for one and looking forward to seeing the pictures.
here's a thread where a member (Nitro3421) where he has recently installed a wall of tool boxes and he had a stainless steel top made for them. all i remember seeing him do was tac welding the seams, but here's the thread you can maybe see how he did it and it was a few weeks back. his house and garage are pretty amazing too and you might like the read and get a few other ideas.
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=6071600#post6071600
Brent: good luck welding that cool steel table all together and I for one and looking forward to seeing the pictures.
Here's mine. I made it a bit taller than usual so minimize the stoop over the bench back feeling. It turned out to be a tad higher than might have been truly optimal. Nice and heavy though and when the top gets too bad I can take a belt sander to it and have a new top. Of course I probably wouldn't have to do that if I didn't weld on it occasionally. I'll probably take some sheet metal I have laying around and make a removable cover for it at some point. Haven't figured out a easy on easy off method yet, though
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doorfx
Well-known member
Well damn good thing you don't have high ceilings or it would have been absolutely unusable.
doorfx
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drivesitfar
Well-known member
Doorfx: if you have the right drill bits and screws you can just screw down the STEEL top to the plywood using the flush mounting screws. it might be heavy enough that it might just set on top and not move, but i'd put at least a few screws on the ends or maybe just mount a vise on each end and you have a win win.
good luck
good luck
doorfx
Well-known member
That's a great idea. It's long enough I could mount a bench grinder on one end and a vice on the other. I am going to have one seam at the 10' mark. I was thinking of a spot weld but I don't want to warp it. I think counter sunk flush head screws is the way to go ! Thanks!
Narddog
Well-known member
I just used regular old 3" hinges to tie the top of the legs to the under side of the bench in between the 2x4's. Nothing fancy.
My workbench project. 7'6" long, 28" deep and 40" high. Painting the frame bright red, 3 coats of poly on the top and then 1/8" thick steel top (still need to score the steel plate from my buddy that does commercial/industrial demo). Then I have to mount my Wilton bullet vise.
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sberry
Banned
Some of the smaller corners get real innovative. Val, I like that. If I am really working I like shelves, I like things where I can see them. The cabinets are really nice, this works especially in dual purpose garages and similar to there being no substitute for HP having enough space to get enough really makes them work.
Flexia
Well-known member
Has anyone ever seen or bought one of the 10ft workbench imported from China? They seem to be floating around on Craigslist. I'm considering one of them but they are over 2 hours away and would like to know the quality before I go out there.
These are what I'm talking about
These are what I'm talking about
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irisservice
Well-known member
wow that looks nice!!
dittle fart around
Well-known member
I get emails on a regular basis asking me to purchase a few containers full of tool cabinets from China. Those go directly to the spam file. I can't remember the company name but the e-mails had a different sender each time. 
They look like nice cabinets, I can't afford to stock or store a few containers.
They look like nice cabinets, I can't afford to stock or store a few containers.
78C-10
Banned
Wow! That is awesome, nice job and that bench will still be standing after any natural disaster! I may have to copy that design if you don't mind.
Flexia
Well-known member
http://www.haylite.com/en/product/Work/index.html
That's who seems to be manufacturer. I found a few importers but Im in the same boat. I don't have space or time to deal with import. It would be cool if someone did a group buy that had the the time and space. And of course, close to me.
I've seen these same make benches (they have big boxes, too) advertised at a commercial equipment auction out here. They had a bunch of them out on the lot, all wrapped in plastic. Unfortunately, that's all I know.
What are they asking for them?