Outer Limits 4x4 Board

Ok so I did a search and didnt find a thread on workshop bench TECH. We all need em, you probably all have em, and you might even wish something was different/better on yours.

Im gonna build a bench sunday as the one I have now is so dodgy I cant hit anything on it without the thing rocking and shaking, and i figure some of you guys would have great insight into what makes a great workbench.

I already know how im going to build it and everything, will be using steel I have available to me 65mm(6mm wall) steel posts as the legs, 100x50mm RHS for the front and back rails with a few 40x40RHS struts between the top rails to support the top etc. will also be running rails around the bottom of the legs but not across the front.

What do you guys think the best height and depth of a bench would be.

My old mans one is pretty good and measures 840mm from ground to top, and is 650mm deep. He and I both believe that it is a good bench, but too shallow, so i was planning on copying the height, 840mm, but increasing the depth to 800mm.

Also, what considerations should I make for a vice, will it be fine just bolting through a double layer of 19mm chipboard flooring, or should I weld some steel plate where the vice is going to go? Or could I just plate the back of the benchtop when I bolt the vice through?

Should I maybe make a section or half of the bench with a metal top?

My bench is in storage so I can't measure it - but I found it was too low, and ended up bolting it onto some 4"x6" off-cuts. I've always thought 900mm is a great height for benches, but I reckon it's easier to prop a bench up than to lower it a little.

I had benches 750mm wide in a workshop, and found stuff at the back was a bit of a reach. But wider is better than narrow. If you top it with wood your options will probably be 600 or 900.

I have a shelf underneath, but the front edge is recessed about 200mm so I can sit at the bench (on a proper bench stool.)

My bench is topped with a hefty chunk of marine chipboard, and is trimmed with something which looks like meranti.

If you're going to weld a lot then half metal is probably a good idea.

Mount a few power boards along the front edge, so power cords don't need to drape across the bench top. Some power points at the back can also be handy, for benchtop stuff like power supplies, battery chargers, soldering stations which sit at the back.

Have fun!

Scott

A bloke I know used old hospital beds as work benches , MDF top with 3mm plate covering that , good casters if u need to move em and hight adjustable as well very

I personally wouldn't use particle board for the bench top. Its too susceptable to damage, weak near the edges and highly absorbant which results in swelling damage. Ply would be a better alternative. The other thing we have done at work is cover the bench tops in gal sheet. This is brilliant for protection and makes it really easy to clean when doing work that needs to be dust free.

For the Vice, especially if you're brutal, then it cant not help to plate the mounts.

Personally I'd go for a Queen size Sealy, oh not that sort of work bench.

Really depends on the work you're doing, if you're doing a lot of welding a steel plate top is the go you can connect your earth straight to that. Mine is made from 200x50 hardwood sleeper, just make sure you get CURED ones as they will wrap other wise. Either way you want something you can bash with a hammer.

I have 2 work benches,Both made from 75x50x3 RHS with 6mm steel top and 4mm steel bottom shelf.They are bloody solid i can smash everything on them and they don't move....

By memory they are both around the 850 high and 600 wide & 2.4 long

Jamie

You need the bench at a height where your elbows are at 90 degrees when working on stuff on top of the bench

I got a bench on the "to do" list....

with out a dought i would weld the vice mounts to the frame of the bench. usuall u have something in a vice because u are about to get rough with it.

The best bench i have ever worked on was ply covered in gal tin. It sloped towards the back slightly then went up the wall 6" and come down the front of the bench about 2". I was supprised at how strong the tin was when screwed down onto a piece of ply, and was very cool that oil ran to the back of the bench when u split something open

There isn't a straight forward answer to your question,
it depends what sort of work you do on it, my main work bench is 1800x3600 and it is 950 high, I like this height for a few reasons,
1. I do a lot of timber work I find most (if not all) the componants in a job are no more than 100mm thick and usualy only 16mm, so I find it easier to mark out and cut acuratly, when the work is closer to me and I don't have to bend over to see the marks.
2 After a full day on the bench I don't have a sore back like I used to on the lower bench.

I have a side line business making top end poker tables, and I cut the timber for them right on top of my bench, so I use a sacrifcial particle board top, (if you go to most post form bench top companys they will sell you 3.6x1.2 packing sheets for a few bucks). that way I can saw and route and not care about the top.

My welding bench consists of 2 steel cubes made of 50x50 rhs, and they are not square, meaning they have 3 diferent dimentions (450x600x900)so I can just roll them over to get the correct height depending on the job that is on them.

Peter.

My main work bench fab bench is made from 100x12 angle legs with square pads on the bottom, 12mm steel bench top, is all boxed in and real heavy. Its 1000mm high ( im 6' 2" and is comfortable for me ) 800mm deep and 2000mm long. A heavy bench is good if your bending pulling real hard on the vice and my vice Dawn 250mm offset jaw. I have another bench 5000 x 4000 around the corner of my home workshop, its part of the shed its 1000mm high 800 deep, the top is 6mm steel that is folded down at the front past 90 deg (50mm) and up the wall 100mm. i have cut my parts washer into it and this bench is my rebuild bench for gearboxes diff etc. The folded front edge is nice if your doing big hours and you can lean against it while working.

Wally

Yep i figured it would all depend on what i wanted to do on it, but the answer is everything. I guess mostly car related stuff but also all the other stuff we do around the house.

I will be using 19mm particle board as the top (two layers) as i can get it for free (brothers a builder) and there would be no problem getting more when/if it needed replacing. Back at school they would always line the workbenches with a 3mm thick layer of stuff. Dont know what it was but it was a man made sheet (cardboard like) and very very dark brown, almost black. Was thinking of lining it with this aswell.

I am 6'4" so i will look into the elbow height rule.

Dad also said its a good idea to make a bench as heavy as possible so you can swing off stuff in the vice, thats why i have gone for 65x65x6mm posts in the corners and 100x50x6mm rails rather than just making it all out of 40x40.

I think i will just sheet it all in chipboard for now, and maybe get some 6mm steel for a section of it at a later date.

I will throw up some progress shots as i go, dont think i will get much done tomorrow though as i have to go into work for a few hours :|

Shadow wrote:Back at school they would always line the workbenches with a 3mm thick layer of stuff. Dont know what it was but it was a man made sheet (cardboard like) and very very dark brown, almost black. Was thinking of lining it with this aswell.

That would be masonite

My bench is 9metres long by 0.6 metres wide and is mounted on 5 frames spread out over the 9metre length.
The frames are made from a heavy wall ( 5mm ) SHS and I used 6mm X 50mm angle as the main bench crossmember.

The actual bench top is constructed from 3"x2" roughsawn hard wood and placed in such a manor that the 3" part is the virticle while the 2" contributes to the width only.
The timbers were glued & then nailed, 4" nails that were pre-drilled into the timber keep it all together while I used 50mm coffin screws to hold it down on the steel frames........ each individual length of timber was attatched with this method.

The bench was then sanded back using a floor sander to a dead flat and super smooth surface.

Ok ..... so nothing exceeds like excess

I now have a section ( 1.5metres ) adjacent to the vice that is covered in lamenex and plan later on to cover another section in stainless steel, approxamately 4metres.



My other work bench is a kingsize water bed

Kingy

10 years ago when I was working at a youth detention centre, they were do ing a major refit and they threw out the dorms' old mirrors. The mirrors were actually 1100x1100 sheets of ply (5 or 7 I think) covered with polished stainless steel.

A few years ago, when I thought I'd be building a bench, I rolled what would be the front edges for a better bech front.

As I still haven't got a shed I've still got about 12 of these sheets sittiing in a storage shed until I need them.

When I do build a bench, at least a section of it will be 950-1100 high as I'm 6'4" and this is a good height for me.

Regards