My New Workbench

[Sgt Beavis]

Well, after finishing my chair project a couple of weeks ago, it was time to move on to a new workbench. As some of you know, I planned to make a folding workbench so that it could collapse into the wall and allow me to park both cars in the garage.

So last weekend I began. I purchased birch plywood, some oak planks and a few 2x4 douglas fir. The first order of business was to get the top built. I cut three plywood sheets that were just short of 2x5 feet in size and glued them together along with a 1/4inch thick hardboard for the bottom. The hardboard was just to add a little thickness. I also glued the legs together out of 2x4s and trimmed them so they would be 3x3 in size. The side supports were also glued from birch plywood.

http://webpages.charter.net/rvboyett/Top1.jpg

After the glue had been allowed to dry, I put red oak around the edges of the top and the side supports to strengthen the edges.

http://webpages.charter.net/rvboyett/Top2.jpg


Next up was the installation of the steel rods that the top would pivot on. These were 5/8th inch thick steel rods, so I started to route a 5/8th inch deep groove in the bottom of the workbench top to accomodate the rods. That is when I ran into my first problem. My Craftsman router decided that midway through cutting the groove, that it didn't like cutting at 5/8" depth. So it, all by it's little ole self, went down to 3/4th of an inch. The locking ring on this particular router is worthless IMO. I made some adjustment and redid the entire thing at 3/4". Afterwards, I put a shim under the rod to make up the difference.

http://webpages.charter.net/rvboyett/Top3.jpg


http://webpages.charter.net/rvboyett/Top4.jpg


http://webpages.charter.net/rvboyett/Top5.jpg


The pins on the bench top fit into bearings that I placed into hole made with a forstner bit. I took 1/8" sheetmetal and made two retaining plates to hold the bearing in place. It was a pain in the butt, but IMO, it'll hold together very well.

http://webpages.charter.net/rvboyett/pivotpoint.jpg


The side supports were connected to two 6ft long 2x4's that were screwed into the garage wall studs.

http://webpages.charter.net/rvboyett/base1.jpg

The legs were then attached using 3" wide brass hinges. There are adjustable feet embedded into the base of the legs.

http://webpages.charter.net/rvboyett/base2.jpg

[Sgt Beavis]

part 2


And here is the end result. A 2 ft deep, 5 foot wide folding workbench.

http://webpages.charter.net/rvboyett/workbench1.jpg

http://webpages.charter.net/rvboyett/workbench2.jpg

Here is the workbench in the folded position.

http://webpages.charter.net/rvboyett/folded1.jpg

http://webpages.charter.net/rvboyett/folded2.jpg

And the benefit is a workshop garage that I can actually park in.

http://webpages.charter.net/rvboyett/garage.jpg

I still have to build some cabinets above the bench where the pegboard currently is. The pegboard will be recycled and integrated in between the bench and the cabinet. I also need to make some oak pegs, which will fill in the screw holes. After this, I need to install a vise, which I have yet to buy, drill holes and CAREFULLY route a couple of grooves which will house T bars that will run the width of the bench.

All in all, I'm happy with it :D

[imported_jaslfan]

Hey, that's a nice bench.
It would never work in my shop though.
All my s@#t would fall off when I closed it.
I have a nasty habit of leaving junk on top of any horizontal surface I can find.

[BadgerDave]

Very nice job. It also looks like you've got just about every style of clamp covered too. :cool:

[hewood]

Nice job, great design, good pics!

[Vigs]

Hey thanks for that post, I really enjoyed reading and viewing your project.

[Sgt Beavis]

Originally posted by Badger Dave:
Very nice job. It also looks like you've got just about every style of clamp covered too. :cool: Boy ain't that the truth.

I thought I had a lot of clamps but nooooooooo way. The biggest lesson I learned on this project is that there is NO SUCH THING as TOO MANY clamps.

At some point, I'm going to have to build a rack just for storing all the clamps I have.

[Gary T. Heller]

The pictures are great. If there is one critisism I have of this forum it is the lack of project pictures. I'd post mine but I can't get them to post.

[imported_Bob D.]

Originally posted by Gary T. Heller:
The pictures are great. If there is one critisism I have of this forum it is the lack of project pictures. I'd post mine but I can't get them to post. Unfortunately the way the posting of pics works is that the photos have to reside on the web somewhere where UBB (the forum bulletin board software) can find them and load them from. when you insert a pic in your post it is not uploaded and stored on Ridgid's server, a copy of the photo from where it lives on the 'net is loaded into your post. If that photo is removed, renamed, or otherwise inaccessable then the pic will not be displayed.

So in short, if you get soem online storage space or get space to build you own web page from your ISP then place any pics you want to use there and in your post you insert a link to them (using the Image button) anda they will be visible. you can use the same pic for whatever you wish on your personal web page and it can also be used in your post at the same time, so you don't need a seperate copy just for the forum.

Hopefully this will help others get their photos on here who may have had rpoblems figuring it out in the past.