Continued...
With the cabinets fairly roughed in it was time to start on the fold down bench.
I've Donne all the stuff in this update since the last update maybe two or three days ago.
I based it off this fold down bench design in Shop Notes.
View media item 46010This is one page out of five or six showing the project and some accompanying cabinets etc. it shows the basic layout of the bench.
Because I changed the dimensions of the bench to fit my needs I had to do some modifications. The project called for a bench top 59" wide and 24" deep. My space dictated the bench top be 45" wide and I had a white oak restaurant table top that was 30.5" deep. I know 30" sounds deep, but because of the cabinets on either side I wanted the full 30" to give me a full foot of overhang past the cabinets.
I also had a 3.5 foundation wall that I had to build out past.
All these changes, I knew I had to make some modifications so I sat and stared and visualized and drew and measured and after all that I still didn't have a full grasp of how everything effected everything else.
So, I started cutting feeling pretty sure I knew enough to be "safe" in making it happen with some audible calls on the way.
Turns out that narrowing the width of bench while making it deeper, while wanting to keep long(er) legs to support the additional depth required me to figure out how to make the legs over lap.
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This is the two side panels with the (extra) 2x4 stretchers to help build out over the foundation. The fore ground piece is the second stretcher with a 20" leg hinged closest to the stretcher and a 17" leg folded over attached to two chucks of 2x4 to build out over the other leg. Note that these are the leg stretchers, the legs are coming soon. That's the bench top underneath already serving its purpose in a makeshift manner.
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After that I turned to the bench top and installing the pivot pins. They're made out a 5/8" metal rod cut to 18" on each side. They're sunk into the bottom side of the top and captured with metal plate/bar
View media item 46062Looks like there might still be some gum stuck under there. We'll call it "patina"
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I missed having the drill press in my parents basement for two reasons.
1. The holes weren't as consistent as they could have been and
2. This:
View media item 46043Didn't clamp the metal down and the bit caught and spun it into my side *just* below my ribs. One of those "oh, that didn't hurt, oh sh1t that hurts!" Almost Lose your breath pain.
So there was a stopping point yesterday.
Today I turned to finishing the legs and attaching things to the wall.
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If you look at the top corner of the side panels, you can see the flange bearing that the metal rods will be captured in.
Here is the 90% finished legs being attached to the wall with the over lap. Sorry, no pics between cause it was cold and my phone died..
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Here's everything from the top.
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From the left to the right are two (instead of the single called for by the original plan) stretchers connecting the side panels. This was done to clear the foundation wall.
Next, farthest away is the 20" leg hinged to the stretcher. Closest are the two 6" chucks used to build out the other leg allowing overlap.
Last is the short 17" leg. For those of you keeping track that's 4 x 1.5" + 17" = 23" in leg length leaving 6" of bench overhanging past the legs. Room for clamps etc.
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There's still some dialing in required in the way of a spacer between the top and the legs and also dealing with the slope of the floor dropping left to right as you look at it. I have screw in feet, which works great for the leg swinging out on the high side, but ***** for the leg on the low side. Almost 3/4" between folded in and extended out.
And finally with everything "in place"
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Next up, oak edge trim, drawers and doors for the cabinets.