Which type Workbench to buy?

[autobonrun]

You guys have convinced me to do more of my own work. Many of the projects will require a fixed vice. What should I look for in a workbench? Do they come with the vice or must they be purchased separately and mounted? One that folds out of the way would be good.

[pwd72s]

My garage workbench is 3'X 7', handmade, heavy, and wood...marine plywood work surface. Firmly bolted to one corner is an old (WWII) vintage Wilton brand vise. Bench & vise inherited from my father. It's all ugly, but it works well! Don't cut costs on the vice. You'll thank yourself many times over!

[gr8fl4porsche]

Old solid flat doors make great workbenches.
Build a solid support structure with a shelf near the bottom and put the door on top.
A few lag bolts and your finished.
Solid and sturdy.
The cutout lock hole makes a great place to drop the power cords on your various equipment.
Get the biggest oldest vice you can find and bolt it down.

[autobonrun]

Good advice, thanks. I was going to get the least expensive vise. They run from about $50 to over $300. I'll probably settle for mid to upper end.

[emcon5]

A good friend built his own using 4 4x4's for legs, and 2x4's for leg braces and a box to support the top. The bench top is 2/4" plywood, and is made to be swapped out when it get's too dinged up.

Pretty nice unit, I think the total cost was $50-60.

Tom

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82 911SC Coupe

[Superman]

You don't BUY a work bench, you BUILD one. Make the top from a 3/4" plywood sheet, cut lengthwise for a 4 x 8 surface. Make it out of 2x4s and put a shelf underneath, for more rigidity. Make it a MAN's bench.

Same principle applies to vices (or is it vises). Bigger is better. Size matters. You can get a pretty big vise (or vice) for not that much money. $50, sure. Get a bench grinder too, and a drill press, and sandblasting cabinet. And a compressor and HVLP paint gun. Hoo hoo hoo hooo. I've got to go lie down.

It's all in the Binford Catalogue. Or Harbor Freight.

[This message has been edited by Superman (edited 10-31-2001).]

[Evans, Marv]

I made something that's super handy though not quite super sturdy - although pretty sturdy for most things. A friend had an old stainless steel hospital table with wheels & stainless steel top & shelf below. The railing of the table extends about 6 or 8 inches above the top shelf. I bolted a piece of three quarter inch plywood on top of the railing & put rubber backed carpet on top as a working surface, an electrical strip & a medium sized vise. It rolls around & is the working table I use most.

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Marv Evans
'72 911E

[Dantilla]

I built my workbench. It's two feet wide by.... um.... eighteen feet long. Yup, eighteen. Boy it's nice to have a big garage! 3/4 plywood top, lots of stuff below, some upper cabinets with a 2x12 shelf in between for workshop manuals. Nice place to hang out.

[howie944]

Best workbench ever...They were replacing the bowling lanes at a base I was stationed at. They sectioned out the old lanes into 6 foot sections. Took 3 men and a young healthy boy to carry the "slab". you could rebuild a complete "semi" on that workbench. Put a galvanized sheet over the top and you have one "healthy" workbench!

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Howie
79SC

[Robert Coats]

Quite a few good points and I'll add others...

(1) Building your own bench is a good way to go. If you use a power saw, be sure to alert the local emergency room, and have plenty of Band-Aids(R) and gauze handy for the inevitable bloodletting that will occur.

(2) Consider the location in your garage, and secure the bench to the wall/studs. This is very important when your project starts to go down the toilet, and you resort to violently hammering on the part while it is securely clamped in the vise.

(3) I'd suggest mounting the vise on the corner of the bench, so you can pivot the vise 90+ degrees, to better wail on the offending part without removing it from the vise.

(4) Be sure to mount a few extra electrical boxes and outlets on the legs of the bench. You won't have to futz with extension cords when using power tools, and it's a good way to verify the penny-pinching builder/electrician wired everything in your garage with a 5-amp breaker.

(5) Hang some cheap shop lights up above the bench for good task lighting. You'll replicate that authentic workshop environment with an incessant buzzing sound.

(6) For tool storage, a locking chest is a good choice, so thieves can easily wheel your entire collection down the driveway into their waiting lift truck. Pegboards work well too, and make it simple for you to realize what tools are actually missing, and presumed hidden somewhere else in the house.

[Jdub]

Custom-build your workbench. Consider hinges on some parts to fold the 'bench up to allow more space.

Use a concrete drill bit to drill and put in female inserts (think 2.7...). Threaded studs are put in, and your workvise, buffing wheels, etc. are put on the end of a pipe with flange at bottom, bolted to these studs, and vise/grinder bolted to top. Allows complete access to all sides of the vise or grinder. You often see this in pro shops.

When not in use, unbolt, unscrew threaded studs, and you have a clean, flat floor.

Jw

[Sportsman]

this summer i was going to build the perfect workbench. i had many drawings, measurements, calculations, etc. i reworked the dimensions countless times, altered the shelf, drawer layout, drove my wife nuts talking about my master plan of designing and building the most amazing and attractive workbench in the world.

i finally ironed out a plan i was 90% happy with. went to hope depot to check out some wood. damn that added up fast!! i had figured the wood alone would be $100.00+

plan b. the savior HARBORFREIGHT..

i got this workbench for $89


when it says it comes unassembled it sure means it, and the directions were very lean and a poor chinese/english translation. the door slides were a little troublesome, but o.k. now. quality is o.k. it is pretty sturdy. i put a larger wooden top on it and a vise i had in the corner.

above the workbench i mounted this on the wall. it cost about $37


which i love, you can either put shelves in it or use the pegboard rack. it is black and the workbench is black with grey doors. looks great and so far is perfect. in the corner i have a large rolling toolbox with two smaller toolboxes stacked on top of it.

the price of building something like this is more than it cost to buy it. and i prefer the steel. i would recommend this setup.



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Daryl Planter 91C2
Targa

[Drago]

As echoed throughout this thread, build your own work bench. Very rewarding work.

Mine? Mostly make up of donor bits. One stop to the Boeing surplus store here in Seattle for a sturdy old drafting table base ($25). A couple of 4'X8' 5/8" sheets of particle board from the local, going out of business, Home Base ($20), and courtesy of my 83 year old grandfather, a 4'X12' roll of 0.06" 6061-T6 aluminum that he had "lying around". I screwed and glued the two sheets of p-board together, coat that with a good two part epoxy to seal it, used some *proprietary* aircraft adhesive to secure the sheet aluminum to the built-up top and then bolted the whole thing to the base. Damn it's heavy. Still working on a lower shelf and I still need a good vice....to go along with all the others

[Pillow]

Other have had great building ideas so I will not rehash that.

My one additional note is that you will want as much square footage as possible! And an old desk.

I have three workbenches and still run out of room! Make this thing as large as possible with 3/4" plywood covered with metal sheeting. You will need to bolt on an engine stand, grinder, drill press, and vice plus have room to actually do something

Note: This better be hell-ov-a-sturdy for an engine stand!

And you will want a desk.... Unless you like to stand or lean on a stool for 4+ hours in a row? I got an old government/army metal desk for $10 and it is great. You can sit and work on small things (carbs and such) or read manuals for hours without fatigue.

Lighting is a big issue too. My garage is a stadnard two car variety and I have 5 florescent light assembles hooked up, just right. The basement shop (engine room) is in desperate need of better lighting though (it would have been done, but I am bad with electrical stuff).

Did I mention shelving? You will need butt loads of metal shelves too. I have tried the plastic ones and they suck, splurge on the metal ones. I would go ahead and get about four and add more later.

I am a little over the top on parts, but once you get sucked in your life will change... Not really for the better either




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Adrian Pillow
1979 911 SC
1966 VW Microbus
PCA - Peachstate Region

[lendaddy]

As a trade for a brakejob on his bonneville my Grandfather built me an awsome tabeletop of about 100 different hardwood slats, 4" thick, and 4' x 2-1/2' in size. He clamped and glued all the slats then ran the whole thing thru his planer. It's very cool and has an awsome look with zebrawood and cherry etc... I have yet to build the base however.

[cbbest]

Lots of good suggetions here. My advice? Wood is cheap. Build it big, built it heavy. I cannot tell you how often I find myself standing on top of the bench doing God knows what (don't have that option with those cute little folding things, now do you?). Mine? 4X4 frame, 2X6's for the benchtop, topped with 1/8" shiny side paticle board that I replace every couple of years when its gets dirty (about $20 for the whole top).

Cb

[JMPRO]

When i was in the market equiptment business years ago , i sold some solid maple meat cutting table tops to a few car restoration companys. the table tops were 3" thick, 24" w x 96"l. I came across a table top like this that was being replaced {forced by the health dept} because of a few crackes and offered to remove the old table top after installation of the new one. Got a table base the same way and ended up with a very superior bench top. solid as a rock and tough as nails. Just sand it down every few years w/ a belt sander and you have a top that will last for years{ mines going on 30 now}. Try some of the market equip. auctions , some of these old butcher tables can be had for a song . Many big lumber yard have planners big enough to run the tops through and wind up with a brand new top-Jerry

[ClayMcguill]

Yup, a REAL workbench is like a Jeep-built, not bought.

Mine? I grabbed all the wood (and most of the hardware) from a neighbors' fence that was being torn down and replaced (cost: free).

4x4 legs, 2x6 frame, pickets for the top (braced underneath every foot). The legs are attached with carrige bolts and fold up out of the way once the gate latches on the leg braces are undone-then the whole thing leans against the garage wall, out of the way.

Handy.

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Clay McGuill '66 912 My 912's restoration website, '97 Jeep Cherokee, '70 Ford Bronco My Bronco's rebuild site

[pwd72s]

Off topic a bit, but shelving was mentioned earlier. My garage metal shelving? Public school surplus, from old gym lockers, fastened to the garage wall studs with screw bolts...lots of them! I got one section of the baskets/shelves..great for rag & other storage. Painted them flat black...thought it looked better than the surplus OD color. My garage? It sure isn't Griot's garage, but it works for me.

[Bill Douglas]

Build it nice and high. You may spend many hours at it and the last thing you want is to be bending over all that time. Marine ply is a good top and that way you don't loose small screws and springs down gaps between planks. Also, like the other guys said big old vices are best. Don't by a new one. You will come across one at an aution or garage sale costing next to nothing.