OT? Good bench?
Thread Starter
Race Director
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 16,416
Likes: 1
From: NC,USA
OT? Good bench?
Hey guys...
I need to build a bench for my shop. Historically an old door ends up on some saw horses... but I'd like something more permanant.
Any recomendations, idea's, pictures? I'm thinking 4x4's for the legs, up to the underside of the table top and framing it out in 2x4's. Run a junction box with a switch to a few receptacles... some air lines etc.
How tall? How deep? I know if you go to deep they gather junk!
Eventually I'd like to get a welder, so I dont think a wood top is the right move.
I think there used to be a "Home built tools" thread that had some ideas, but I can't find it...
I need to build a bench for my shop. Historically an old door ends up on some saw horses... but I'd like something more permanant.
Any recomendations, idea's, pictures? I'm thinking 4x4's for the legs, up to the underside of the table top and framing it out in 2x4's. Run a junction box with a switch to a few receptacles... some air lines etc.
How tall? How deep? I know if you go to deep they gather junk!
Eventually I'd like to get a welder, so I dont think a wood top is the right move.
I think there used to be a "Home built tools" thread that had some ideas, but I can't find it...
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 9,192
Likes: 27
From: Boca Raton Florida
I have struggled with this a couple of times. After moving and having to leave the nice solid Built Ins I made a couple times I went Modular. I now have a 12 foot long 28" wide bench that is in 3 sections that bolt together. It sits on top of 4 modular cabinets with drawers and 2 mobile cabinets that serve as saw horse/work table. I have a formica top but a sheet steel top would not be a big trick. All the cabinet carcases are 3/4 plywood glued and screwed together. Vice mounted at one end and adaptors for grinders, chop saws, band saws, etc are installed on the tools so they mount on the mobile carts. If you like I can send you a couple of pics this evening.
Team Owner
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 32,519
Likes: 1
From: central America
St. Jude Donor '08-'09
Ever see those hard black table tops in a chemistry lab...they make a pretty good work bench. The problem is finding them. Most schools do a remodel fairly often (every 10 years) and they generally throw them away in a dumpster. Try to find one of those, they are almost indestructable.
trw
trw
Tech Contributor
Joined: Aug 1999
Posts: 15,173
Likes: 3,982
From: Connecticut, USA
Here's a bench we built from doug fir. The legs are 4x4's, the top deck is .090" sheet metal from a fab shop shop 4x8, under the metal top is 1/2 plywood, the top frame is 2x6's bolted together, the lower shaft frame is 2x4's w/ 1/2 plywood deck.
I put engines, transmissions, rear ends, anything on this bench and it is rock solid and stronger then the 150 $400 steel benches we bought for the shop.
I put engines, transmissions, rear ends, anything on this bench and it is rock solid and stronger then the 150 $400 steel benches we bought for the shop.
Safety Car
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 3,725
Likes: 5
From: Minnesota
I can vouch for Garys design. My bench is constructed almost exactly like his. 
For an extra solid top I put 1/2" plywood on top of 3/4" fiberboard. On one end I screwed down about a 2' square piece of 1/4" steel to set stuff on to weld. That really works slick. Now get to work. 
For an extra solid top I put 1/2" plywood on top of 3/4" fiberboard. On one end I screwed down about a 2' square piece of 1/4" steel to set stuff on to weld. That really works slick. Now get to work.
Burning Brakes
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 826
Likes: 0
From: Pearl MS
go to grainger and get a butcher block tabel with legs. The legs are set up to recieve an outlet. The table tops come in various widths and lengths. We use them alot at work and I can vouch for them - they are great. We have several that are 6' long and 36" wide and some others that are 5' long and 30" wide.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 763
Likes: 0
From: Loveland Colo
Look for a couple old steel office desks.You may have to set them up on some wood blocks to get a good working height, but they're solid and strong, and the drawers come in handy too. I have an old but nice laminate kitchen countertop with a 1 X 12 shelf behind the backsplash mounted on top. Works fine. I also have a couple other work benches-- a 3 X 5 metal one for welding and serious pounding, and a 30" X 8' piece of 3/4" OSB flooring on top of old kitchen cabinets in the "parking" section of the garage for general light duty stuff, but the desk set-up has served as my main bench for--jeez--15 years now. I even mounted a little furnace in where a file cabinet drawer was.
Just some ideas.
John
Just some ideas.
John
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Instructor
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 124
Likes: 0
From: Frankfort IL
built my bench out of 2x4s glued and screwed on their long edge....made 2 legs out of 4x4s for the front and i rest (with lag bolts and screws) the back half on a cleat i lagged to the wall studs....made the top from a leftover box of laminate flooring which i merely face nailed to the 2x4s - the laminate doesnt soak up any fluids, is relatively tough, and is very easy to clean off....
Great minds? Or perfect 20/20 hindsight? 