babzog
Well-known member
A few weeks ago, after moving stuff about in the garage, I ended up with a shelving cabinet beside my car. I wasn't really too happy with this arrangement:
Ugh - there's all sorts of wasted space to the right, the distance from the top of the cabinet to the shelves is minimal, there's no place to work or set anything down, etc. Useless.
So, after some thinking (esp what to do with that pipe for the central vac - which really wasn't thought out during the original installation ["no thought" is pretty much the story behind the construction of this house, but I digress...]), I decided that a mini-workbench would fit the bill.
I wanted to be able to place my little red toolbox (which I've had since my teen years) lengthwise into the shelf, which required the bench to be 16" deep. A 5' width gives me about 4" clearance around the vac - plenty of space. 16" still lets me comfortably get my car into the bay and I can still walk in between the bench and car when it's parked. Height is 38" - a good working height for me (I'm just shy of 6').
The vac pipe was eliminated from the equation by simply not dealing with it: Rather than a four legged bench, I took some hints from others here and used the wall as the rear two "legs". I wanted the bench, esp the rear, to be solid so I used a 2x6 and notched out for 2x4 framing and support members. I assembled the bench in the shop then carted the frame over to the garage for installation. I stole another great idea from here which was to wire up some front mounted plugs and plug into (I used an end off a block heater cord) an existing outlet. Brilliant! Pics 2 through 4 show the framing and wiring installation.
Once placed into position, I learned how unlevel my floor is:
That's a 3/4" piece of 2x4 I tacked onto the bottom of the left leg. This bench is only 5' long! I don't even shake my head anymore... this is normal for this house.. I think the builder had PO'ed his dealer when the house was under construction.
Okay, with the bench levelled, I lag screwed it to the wall, attached the lower shelf supports, squared it all up and attached the shelf and benchtop surface. Man, I love my air nailer!
The finished workbench! She's quite solid! I've got some 3/4 ply I'll eventually put on the top surface (rather than the OSB) - the OSB scrap I used was easier to access at the time.
On the back wall is a 2'x5' piece of pegboard awaiting installation.. sometime this week. I've still got to clean out the shelves and move that whole rig up before peggy is hung. I'm also on the lookout for some used kitchen cabs which would replace the shelves entirely.
I had this old swivel vise (with built-in pipe jaws) sitting in the shop collecting metal filings (it was parked behind the vice out there and received the brunt of whatever I was griding, cutting, etc. It's not the best, but for what I might need to do on this bench (scraping brake calipers? Cutting a piece of pipe? Light duty, as I anticipate it right now), it'll suffice for now. The nice thing about it, is that I can swivel it out of the way when I'm not using it.
Total cost for this bench was less than $15 (cost of 6 lag screws and washers, a box of 3" #8 robertson screws and 1 2x6). Most of the wood and the hardware I already had lying around.
It's not much compared to the awesome, awesome builds detailed on here, but I hope you enjoyed reading through. The thought of actually having a little bit of handy workspace put a smile on my face the whole time I was assembling it! I'll finish the pics as I finish the final touches.
Ugh - there's all sorts of wasted space to the right, the distance from the top of the cabinet to the shelves is minimal, there's no place to work or set anything down, etc. Useless.
So, after some thinking (esp what to do with that pipe for the central vac - which really wasn't thought out during the original installation ["no thought" is pretty much the story behind the construction of this house, but I digress...]), I decided that a mini-workbench would fit the bill.
I wanted to be able to place my little red toolbox (which I've had since my teen years) lengthwise into the shelf, which required the bench to be 16" deep. A 5' width gives me about 4" clearance around the vac - plenty of space. 16" still lets me comfortably get my car into the bay and I can still walk in between the bench and car when it's parked. Height is 38" - a good working height for me (I'm just shy of 6').
The vac pipe was eliminated from the equation by simply not dealing with it: Rather than a four legged bench, I took some hints from others here and used the wall as the rear two "legs". I wanted the bench, esp the rear, to be solid so I used a 2x6 and notched out for 2x4 framing and support members. I assembled the bench in the shop then carted the frame over to the garage for installation. I stole another great idea from here which was to wire up some front mounted plugs and plug into (I used an end off a block heater cord) an existing outlet. Brilliant! Pics 2 through 4 show the framing and wiring installation.
Once placed into position, I learned how unlevel my floor is:
That's a 3/4" piece of 2x4 I tacked onto the bottom of the left leg. This bench is only 5' long! I don't even shake my head anymore... this is normal for this house.. I think the builder had PO'ed his dealer when the house was under construction.
Okay, with the bench levelled, I lag screwed it to the wall, attached the lower shelf supports, squared it all up and attached the shelf and benchtop surface. Man, I love my air nailer!
The finished workbench! She's quite solid! I've got some 3/4 ply I'll eventually put on the top surface (rather than the OSB) - the OSB scrap I used was easier to access at the time.
On the back wall is a 2'x5' piece of pegboard awaiting installation.. sometime this week. I've still got to clean out the shelves and move that whole rig up before peggy is hung. I'm also on the lookout for some used kitchen cabs which would replace the shelves entirely.
I had this old swivel vise (with built-in pipe jaws) sitting in the shop collecting metal filings (it was parked behind the vice out there and received the brunt of whatever I was griding, cutting, etc. It's not the best, but for what I might need to do on this bench (scraping brake calipers? Cutting a piece of pipe? Light duty, as I anticipate it right now), it'll suffice for now. The nice thing about it, is that I can swivel it out of the way when I'm not using it.
Total cost for this bench was less than $15 (cost of 6 lag screws and washers, a box of 3" #8 robertson screws and 1 2x6). Most of the wood and the hardware I already had lying around.
It's not much compared to the awesome, awesome builds detailed on here, but I hope you enjoyed reading through. The thought of actually having a little bit of handy workspace put a smile on my face the whole time I was assembling it! I'll finish the pics as I finish the final touches.
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Really well thought out and done for a reasonable amount of money.