Building new workbench - any good plans out there?

[nesslar]

Originally Posted by Jack Olsen

You mean this?



It actually functions as an additional (and height-adjustable) work bench. But it's covered with tile, so most of the time you wouldn't know it's there.





I just bent 1/2" OSB. But the arc was too tight for the smaller one. I snapped (and ruined) a sheet of OSB -- and then went out and bought two layers' worth of 1/4" plywood.

It was an impulsive decision to build it. I'd gotten a $500 Home Depot gift card unexpectedly. The two arcs correspond to a dinner plate and a salad plate that were handy when I sketched the idea out on graph paper.

It's all very cool! I was too late to guess there would be a shed out back, but I swear, I KNEW it! Uh oh, paper towel roll in pic #1 is crooked.....

[enzo1]

I've been looking at this, haven't found the "dry Van Decking" used at trailer rebuild places, yet. He also says that You can get heavy lumber from railroad box repair places... what do ya think?? Custom workbench supplies, DIY custom workbench :: DIY Bench - DIY BENCH

[911Texan]

Why not use REAL (solid/hard) WOOD flooring? I used the stuff as countertops when we built our kitchen - glued it down to 1-1/8" T&G flooring (okay, use 5/8 or 3/4 if you don't have an anvil like Jack's), then (in the case of the kitchen countertops), finished it to look oh so purdy. Genuine hardwood flooring with a stout substrate can take a hell of a beating and keep on ticking and the prices are downright reasonable for a benchtop since you only need a box or two as you're not laying down 2,000 sq. ft. of flooring throughout your home. - R

[Canada Kev]

Originally Posted by 911Texan

Now, I almost called "Photoshop!" the first time I saw the lift photos in the other/first thread because I cannot conceive of how you have lights BELOW your lifted garage door - a riddle I'd really like to solve in my own garage. What'dja do? Maybe I missed it in the other thread (or here), but elaborate when able, please. - Rich (I still hate your ___ tho : ) I gotta find one of those lift tables!!!!

I read it somewhere about how the lights, but I forget exactly how he did it. Anyway, I believe he mounted a metal support beam across the garage, UNDER the raised door and hung the lights from that. This pic kinda shows it.

[wildcat077]

Jack's garage looks more like an operating room ... lol
I would be too affraid to get anything dirty,although i will admit that i'm jealous

Cheers !
Phil

[combatic]

OK...I will play too!

Here was my solution.

a) IKEA cabinets for storage and bench support. I opted for all drawers on the base so that I can pull out the drawer and see the entire contents. I have drawers dedicated to grinding, sawing, drilling etc. The key is that I now have a huge tool cabinet in addition to my rolling tool cabinet which use for car tools. So far this is working great. I will still build a moveable heavy duty work table for projects in the future for welding/engine work/cabinet making etc.

b) Outlets! And lots of them! Cheap to install. More importantly I have outlets in the cupboards above for all my battery chargers, laptop etc. What is not shown are the 4 cord reel outlets from the ceiling which i uses more than the wall outlets.

c) countertop is 1.5" thick mdf (now coated with Rustoleum Professional Enamel until I can afford/build steel caps for the bench)







Shop/bench still in its early move in stage...and still has not reached 'Jack Olsen' status


Base for Cabinets




Chaos! The car arrived and took over. Final detail finishing will have to wait until the car can move under its own power

[Charlie V]

When I built my bench I made the typical plywood boxes for the cabinets. Between the boxes I have 2x material from the floor. On top of this I made the bench top with 2x material on the flat along the entire length of the top. I believe it was 2x10 or 12. All this stuff was glued and screwed in place. I then covered it all with G1S plywood and painted it.

To protect the painted bench surface, I have large engineering drawings that I get from work. We throw these out once a project is finished - excuse me.....we recycle them. As the top sheet gets dirty, I just tear it off the set and there is a clean sheet to work on again.

The surface doesn't move and has been very durable - I can beat on it, rest heavy parts on it, stand on it, etc.



Just added a computer. My dear loving wife tells me I could live out there now. I may need to some day.

[911Texan]

Bryan, I love the humble "chaos" photo - that's genuine good stuff. I also note a key component of your garage is one I also employ. For those of us who haven't built a rolling bench yet, it's very helpful to have one of those brown (terribly heavy) folding steel leg tables (the ones your church got rid of a couple years ago when the plastic ones came out : (

I use the hell out of mine and best of all, when I'm working with wood, I can set my circular saw to just kiss the top of the table (who gives a bleep what that thing looks like, right?). The top of it looks like the aftermath of a horror movie with the cuts, glue overspray and paint drips. But it's AWESOME 'cuz I don't (have to) care. I don't worry about newspaper, drop cloths or prop boards when I'm working, I just pull out the brown table and beat the crap out of it. When I'm done, fold the legs, place it against the wall and it awaits its next mission. Kind of a luxury provided by the simplicity of it all. - R

[wayner]

I have a rail/lip around the perimeter of my bench top.

Every few years I remove the old hardboard top by sliding it out of the rails, and insert a new clean white one.

(hardboard I think it is called is that thin wood stuff that is used in the bottom of cheap drawers).

[911lvr]

Im very envious of all the BEAUTIFUL garages!! Some of you guys have an awesome amount of space. I have a very small 2 car and between the 911, the lift, the Motorcycles, the engine crane, engine stand, engines and a ton of tools I can barely walk in mine!

[Jack Olsen]

Originally Posted by syzygy

I read it somewhere about how the lights, but I forget exactly how he did it. Anyway, I believe he mounted a metal support beam across the garage, UNDER the raised door and hung the lights from that. This pic kinda shows it.

That's how it works. I welded together an arm on either side to hold the lights up. The only trick was figuring out how much the steel would droop and then welding in the opposite amount of pre-stress. The lights are made out of inexpensive cake pans.

Originally Posted by wildcat077

Jack's garage looks more like an operating room ... lol
I would be too affraid to get anything dirty,although i will admit that i'm jealous

Thanks. It gets dirty. But it's usually clean when I take pictures of it.

[Ramathorn]

just finished our new kitchen cabinets and think i was careful enough to salvage them our a garage project. maybe a little less than ideal materials for a garage melamine drawers and alder fronts and cabinets but, hey its better than my current thrown together crap i have in there now. for a workbench top what does everyone prefer? i was able to get our laminate and under mdf off in 2 sections but i do wanna replace/ resurface it with something a bit more durable.

[enzo1]

cool!!

[not_hans_stuck]

You're doing it wrong. Spend your money on the car, not on the garage.



I use two 8' plastic folding tables from Sam's Club. They're too low for me so I put them on paint cans.


You'd be surprised how sturdy these things have been. You'll notice there's a drill press and a vise mounted on them, also.




Remember the old adage, "You can sleep in your car, but you can't race your house."

H

[not_hans_stuck]

Originally Posted by Charlie V

When I built my bench I made the typical plywood boxes for the cabinets. Between the boxes I have 2x material from the floor. On top of this I made the bench top with 2x material on the flat along the entire length of the top. I believe it was 2x10 or 12. All this stuff was glued and screwed in place. I then covered it all with G1S plywood and painted it.

To protect the painted bench surface, I have large engineering drawings that I get from work. We throw these out once a project is finished - excuse me.....we recycle them. As the top sheet gets dirty, I just tear it off the set and there is a clean sheet to work on again.

The surface doesn't move and has been very durable - I can beat on it, rest heavy parts on it, stand on it, etc.



Just added a computer. My dear loving wife tells me I could live out there now. I may need to some day.

I've heard the same. That's why I put in A/C.

I keep my laptop under the parts washer. Is that bad?

H

[not_hans_stuck]

Originally Posted by euro911sc

Dont underestimate the value of a good tool box as well as a good bench.

I used a 2" butcher block table that is mounted on to some steel table legs I got out of MSC. I mounted a shelf under the table as well as building a back wall. The back wall is peg board that I though I would use a lot, but it really turned into a place to hang stuff I dont use much. I mounted a Vise on the corner and used 14 Gage steel plate under the vise of a bit more support.

The table legs had outlet ports so I stuck outlets on them. I also put two 4 outlet boxes on either end of the table mounted to the back wall. In retrospect I should of hung those from the top shelf or mounted them 1/2 up the wall. Stuff on the bench blocks their use a lot of the time. I also have a switch and outlet combo. That one gets used a lot and the switch runs the lights over the bench.

My roller tool cabs are from harbor freight. They are really nice units actually. Much more sturdy than the craftsman/kobalt stuff I was looking at. If you time it right you can get them on sale and with a 20% coupon. They have held up well over the last 6 years of weekly if not daily use. The only thing that has failed is recently I noticed that the rubber on the casters has disintegrated/chipped off. One of these days I'll just remove the casters and scrape off all the rubber leaving the metal behind.

The tool box is great and works well in my compact work space. I have considered buying another set and moving all the tools into it as I do store non-automotive related tools on other boxes on shelves.

Oh yeah, the bench is not mounted to the wall. When I built it I thought I might be leaving in a year or two so I wanted to take it with me to my new domicile... that was 7 years ago LOL!

-michael

I have the same toolbox. My casters are fine, but it doesn't roll around much except to clean. It's actually a very impressive for the $600 I spent on it. Amazing actually. Nothing else was even close pricewise. It's a flat paint color, not powder coat glossy. If that bothers you then you can get a nice green one from Tractor Supply but it's nearly twice the price.



Both of these boxes are packed full now. I need to sell the smaller craftsman and get a second HF box.

The other thing that most people overlook is the jack. Spend money on the jack.

I bought this one: http://atdtools.com/7325

It's really nice. I can lift the car from the front by just sliding the jack back to the gas tank support and picking it up. I don't have to roll it up on ramps, then lift one side a little, then the other, then go back and forth until the car is high enough. It's a real time saver. I use a 2x6 cut to the fit between the suspension supports to spread the load. What used to take 20 minutes, now takes 2.

[combatic]

Originally Posted by not_hans_stuck

You're doing it wrong. Spend your money on the car, not on the garage.



I use two 8' plastic folding tables from Sam's Club. They're too low for me so I put them on paint cans.

Yes, I did it wrong...I built the garage before the car and now I am working on both (and poor but happy..ha ha). BUT! I built the shop from scratch myself only pulling in my step dad and the occasional friend for things I absolutely couldn't do myself (ie- concrete pour & setting the trusses)

I have also paid my dues...I have used that awful brown folding table shown below, as 'bench' since before college!

[911Texan]

I'm taking my prematurely issued garage trophy away from Jack and giving it to Not H for the two plastic folding tables on paint cans for benches. Winner, winner, cheap ass chicken dinner.

Not H, where do you jack the back of the 911 (remember, I'm NEW to this)? Yeah, I saw in Wayne's book that the tranny is acceptable if you roll up a pad of paper or rubber between. Is that what you do back there? But if I can't emulate Jacks ultimate-lift-table, I LOVE the simplicity of your ATD jack - GOOD CALL!!!

I passed on some wiring fixing last night because I didn't feel like jacking with (literally) the 911 to trace wires. I need a lazy man's lift/solution or I'll never get it all done. Flapper boxes arrived from Wayne an hour ago so I've got another reason to lift it this weekend too.

Jack, you calculated the sag prior to welding!?!? I'll bet you measured twice and cut once too, huh? Grrrrr you burn me up. I'd have just built it square, tried to hang it, cursed when it sagged, reached for washers and shimmed the bottom bolt away from the wall until the horizontal arm was inside the bubble (yeah, I would level it - I'm not saying I'm not anal retentive like you, I'm just saying I'm not smart like you. ; )

Cake pans!? Cake pans!? I am an idiot. I would have bought industrial-looking fixtures at Lowes for $89. I am going to be a broke idiot if I don't wise up like you guys too!!!

- Rich

[combatic]

Jack,
You are my hero. Your shop solutions are brilliant coupled with aesthetic sensibility based around a budget. I just wish I had the time that you have to work on projects! (or at least in my mind everyone else has more time to work on projects

[not_hans_stuck]

Originally Posted by 911Texan

I'm taking my prematurely issued garage trophy away from Jack and giving it to Not H for the two plastic folding tables on paint cans for benches. Winner, winner, cheap ass chicken dinner.

Not H, where do you jack the back of the 911 (remember, I'm NEW to this)? Yeah, I saw in Wayne's book that the tranny is acceptable if you roll up a pad of paper or rubber between. Is that what you do back there? But if I can't emulate Jacks ultimate-lift-table, I LOVE the simplicity of your ATD jack - GOOD CALL!!!

I passed on some wiring fixing last night because I didn't feel like jacking with (literally) the 911 to trace wires. I need a lazy man's lift/solution or I'll never get it all done. Flapper boxes arrived from Wayne an hour ago so I've got another reason to lift it this weekend too.

Jack, you calculated the sag prior to welding!?!? I'll bet you measured twice and cut once too, huh? Grrrrr you burn me up. I'd have just built it square, tried to hang it, cursed when it sagged, reached for washers and shimmed the bottom bolt away from the wall until the horizontal arm was inside the bubble (yeah, I would level it - I'm not saying I'm not anal retentive like you, I'm just saying I'm not smart like you. ; )

Cake pans!? Cake pans!? I am an idiot. I would have bought industrial-looking fixtures at Lowes for $89. I am going to be a broke idiot if I don't wise up like you guys too!!!

- Rich

Tranny is right. And I just realized that our host also sells totally rad long skinny jacks from Germany. They're much better than my ATD, but he was out of stock when i needed it.

H