Rate my workbench

I spent the last few weekends tipping along on this and I'm pretty pleased with how its turned out. It's not 100% finished yet, have to attach a bench vise and also going to fill out the large gap on the right with another piece of ply with magnetic strips attached to hold squares and the like.

Here's the (90%) finished result



Its based on a video I saw on youtube with sketchup plans coming from here (which I deviated from to suit my requirements)

Frame is made with all 4x2's



top is with an 8x4 sheet of 3/4 inch marine ply cut in half and doubled over and glued and screwed. Its attached to the frame using kreg pocket screws




A sheet of white hardboard is screwed into the ply (allows me to replace it later for little cost if it gets battered).



All the tool holder and bins are aldi/lidl's finest

Cost wise, 4x2's maybe 80, 2 sheets of marine ply maybe 80 I think, 1 sheet of hardboard was only 6 or 8 quid and 2 strips of hardwood for the worktop edge 18. The biggest surprise was screws, used 6x80'x for most of it and went through a buttload.

There is no expert joinery in this, the last time I worked with wood was in school nearly 20 years ago but in saying that this thing is rock solid and I expect it to well outlast me also keep in mind, before this my work surface was the top of a wheelie bin for 3 years

In terms of mistakes / lessons learned, my first mistake was getting excited and rushing ahead to get it assembled. I originally wanted all the screws hidden from view, but in my haste all the screws are showing on the back legs, put them in the wrong side which is no issue apart from looks but annoyed at myself for the avoidable mistake.

The second lesson is when using a kreg jig make sure to put the drill on full speed and have a freshly charged battery in it otherwise you get ugly tearout. Only found this out when I was drilling my last pocket holes and swapped in a fresh battery, big difference in the quality of the pocket hole

Lastly, I need more clamps, better clamps, bigger clamps. The ones I have were fine for most of this, and I didnt use my c-clamps until the middle brace for the top shelf but damn there was some difference in glue squeeze out when I put those one. Made me realise my other ones aren't up to much more than holding something in place, if I need to exert pressure, I'm going to need to spend money on better clamps

I'd love to know what people think, next on my list is a mitre saw station something along the lines of this

RKQ

Looks great, I'd love one like it.

livingthedream

Very nice, I wish I had your space...

I had to shoe-horn all my gear into a 10'x5' shed! :eek:

~LTD

hanloj1

Cool job. I'd love to have a bench like that. In time.

wayoutwest

Nice organised workshop DaCor - I would actually FIND THINGS if I had all that drawer space.Sturdy looking bench. What y'gonna be making?

Odelay

Waaaaaaaaaaaay too clean!

Nice job, lovely workshop you have there, wish you many happy and safe hours in it.

yeah its clean, but its new too, give it a while

livingthedream - I'm loving the tool cabinets you have. Mine is a small lidl one, loved it at the start, but as my collection of tools grew I couldnt find anything in it. If i had your storage I doubt Id have the same problem

Started laying out and planning for the magnetic strip storage, actually its going to end up 70/30 magnets/hooks as I have leftover space which isn't used by the magnets




As for what I'm planning on making, the mitre saw station is next, router cabinet after that. I'm leaning towards making my own tablesaw too, but that's a while away, once they're all done I plan on just tinkering away with various woodworking projects starting off basic, and hopefully progressing on to bigger and better

gsxr1

very nice work. 9/10. love it. But there does the TV pop up from??

deandean

Lovely job OP, well done!

The one comment I'd make is: design depends largely on application. About 10 years ago I had a setup similar to yours but the odd time I'd have to put sonething into the vice (attached to the bench) usually a bit off the car, and beat the crap out of it, then all the stuff at the back of the bench would fall out with the vibes!

I ended up attaching all the vertical stuff to the wall so I could pull the bench out a bit for any heavy metal-bashing.

deandean, good point, however in my first image at the beginning of the thread, you can see stuff behind the bench. I deliberately made it all as one so i could store 8*4 sheets behind and not see them although what you say about stuff shaking off makes sense

Anyway, here's the 100% finished article....well apart from the vise being attached, still haven't picked up lag screws

Roynie

Nice job, very well thought out and organised.

I've just made myself a workbench, about 5ft by 2 ft but in basic pine. I'm now wondering whether to give a coat of wood preservative or varnish as I have not covered the top. At the end of the day a used work bench would get battered wouldn't it.

CJhaughey

Roynie wrote: »

Nice job, very well thought out and organised.

I've just made myself a workbench, about 5ft by 2 ft but in basic pine. I'm now wondering whether to give a coat of wood preservative or varnish as I have not covered the top. At the end of the day a used work bench would get battered wouldn't it.

I put a layer of hardboard on the top of mine, thin sheet 4mm.
When it gets wrecked then I'll out another one on.

slpower01

Beats my mobile workbench anyday!! but I guess thats what you get when you have a small shed haha...... The only thing I wouldnt personally like about it (but its just me) is stuff above or behind, When I make my workshop ill be aiming for have a solid bench in the middle of the room and I can work on both sides. Nice little evolution saw you have there though.... Grabbed one myself and love it.

moy83

Tidy job , where can these magnetic strips be bought , they look deadly handy

jimf

first class job you should be proud of your work and practical layout

Roynie

Roynie wrote: »

Nice job, very well thought out and organised.

I've just made myself a workbench, about 5ft by 2 ft but in basic pine. I'm now wondering whether to give a coat of wood preservative or varnish as I have not covered the top. At the end of the day a used work bench would get battered wouldn't it.

As CJhaughey said, a sheet of hardboard on the top is the best job. Cost about 6 or 8 euro, cant remember

slpower01 wrote: »

Beats my mobile workbench anyday!! but I guess thats what you get when you have a small shed haha...... The only thing I wouldnt personally like about it (but its just me) is stuff above or behind, When I make my workshop ill be aiming for have a solid bench in the middle of the room and I can work on both sides. Nice little evolution saw you have there though.... Grabbed one myself and love it.

Cheers, yeah the evoloution was handy, it did the bulk of the work for this

moy83 wrote: »

Tidy job , where can these magnetic strips be bought , they look deadly handy

i picked mine up in Tripart in Galway. i think they do stuff online, Tripart.ie if i recall

jimf wrote: »

first class job you should be proud of your work and practical layout

Thank you very much *Elvis shimmy*