My garage has a lot of work surfaces. I've got a main general purpose work bench, a fold-down wood working bench, a counter by the sink, a small portable welding table and a large fold-down welding table. I've also got a lot of storage, thanks to some big cabinets that were put in when the garage was built in 1925, some shelves and cabinets I've added, and a separate shed I built.
But I finished a long-term work project recently, and started to hear the siren cry that maybe most garage owners hear when they've got some money in their pocket -- more storage, one more work bench...
You know the cry.
My garage was originally cleaned up and redone during a strike that kept both my wife and I out of work for 100 days. Understandably, it was done on a pretty modest budget ($500, with another $500 for the floor when I got the idea of ceramic tile in my head). I like it the way it is -- I'm not a shiny diamond plate chrome cabinet guy. But my welding table is only 1/8" thick, which means I can't really go at it with a hammer. So the idea of a heavier work surface held some appeal to me. And steel prices are pretty low right now.
So an idea started to form about building a bench where I could bang on anything to my heart's content. Do I NEED a heavy surface just for that? No. Do I WANT a heavy surface just for that?
I guess I do, since an idea started forming in my head last month and before I knew it I'd picked up a cabinet on ebay that looked to be able to shoulder the weight of the 1" thick 30"x60" plate I was imagining for my bench top without any issue at all. The cabinet made of heavy gauge steel and is rated for 1,900 pounds per shelf. It's made by a company called Strong Hold and weighs 360 pounds all by itself. Getting it home and out of the Jeep broke one of the 2x4s I was using as a ramp. But I got it.
A grinding wheel made short work of the legs, which meant it would be 36" tall instead of 42".
Next burden for the old Jeep? A 510-pound slab of plate steel. Next burden for the old Jeep owner? Figuring out a way to get the 510-pound piece of steel out of the Jeep and onto the cabinet. I took it slow and easy. I am NOT a guy who can lift 510 pounds. I'm also not a guy who wants to see a 510-pound weight fall onto my foot.
Since the 2x4s had not been fully up to the task of the cabinet, I used some 2"x4"x1/8" rectangular tubing. It's strong stuff.
Still, the steel isn't going to move itself. So I took a cue from the guys who built in the days before steam engines and used steel dowel rods to roll it very slowly over the tubing. This isn't a very good picture, but it's what I was working with.
It took a long time, since I'm cautious with stuff that can hurt me. But it worked.
Until I saw the bodged corner. I got the steel for a pretty good price, but it had one section that was cosmetically not up to snuff. The only way to move that to the back (and underside) was to rotate the piece and then flip it like a pancake.
Did I mention that it weighed 510 pounds?
You'll see my car jack and some 2x4 blocks in this picture. There's also a line to slow it down if it started to slide. I worked VERY slowly on this part.
That got it up on its side. Then I had to lower it back down. Since the wall I was lowering it against was a stucco surface (originally an exterior), I was able to use a system where I would clamp progressively shorter 2x4 lengths which I would release slowly (first one, then the other) and slowly let it move back down so its good side was up. This part was done even more slowly. I sweated a lot whenever it would slip a little.
I finally got the steel on top of the cabinet. I used sulfuric acid to clean off the mill scale. I haven't yet secured the steel to the cabinet top. But it's 510 pounds. I can jump on it all day and it's not going anywhere.
