The garage thread got me thinking...who would have the coolest and most creative workbenches? HAMB members of course! I have a small two car garage that is quite narrow. I am probably going to put a 2.5 to 3 foot deep workbench along the front wall (in front of the cars). I do woodworking as well, so I have to make it functional for that too. I have seen where people put a hinged table on one side of the garage and fold it down to use as a table (similar to an ironing table). Any other cool ideas? Pics would be cool as well!
you totally need to hit up www.garagejunkies.net here is mine..i built it in a few hours, its crooked as shit, wobbles a little, but cost under 50$ and works
Well, you can go down to Home Depot and buy a truckload of cheap kitchen cabinets and laminated countertops and do it like we did. Look at all the crap you can pile up!! Great eh?? I can get almost the whole contents of one of my toolboxes on that countertop before my wife says......"OK, that's it, we ain't doin' anything else until we get this joint cleaned up"
I actually have a *not quite* 4 foot by 8 foot table made entirely of clear plexiglass. It was a money count table at an Indian Casino, and its sturdy as hell. It even has a raised lip all the way around the table so little nuts and bolts (or coins... ) don't fall off onto the floor. The casino (where I work) was just going to throw it out, so I got it for free. Original cost was several thousand dollars. Unfortunately, now its just covered with the wife's boxes and used to pretty much stack shit we dont want to throw on the floor. *sigh*
Built a bad ass work bench over the summer for the new garage. 20 feet long, 2 feet deep, and 2 inch thick maple. Yeah that is correct maple. Looks bad ass and is strong as hell. A few hambers have been over to the new garage. Will post pics soon. Oh yeah the maple was free.
I needed one in my pathetic 'garage' (10x16 shed) but needed room to park the Beater. So, I built one high enuff to get the front end under it. It also has some freebie scored (trash picked) waterbed drawers that hold a bunch of crap. Total cost? Bout $100 in lumber and screws.
I don't have any pictures of my bench, I made it out of an above ground pool deck I tore down to build my garage . The whole thing is pressure treated 2x10's 2'x8'x30" high, I think I could put my car on it....I also built a shelving unit, 3'x8'x8' I left the bottom front open so I could roll things under it, the first shelf is at 4' so I can fit my welder, torch, generator under it. Cool thing it they look 100 years old
my new garage(i just moved) doesn't have a lot of room for benches along the walls, and after reading some on this subject on the metalmeet forums, and my luck in coming across several metal storage cabinets just as i moved, is make only one or two benches no bigger than you REALLY need to do a project, on wheels, accessable from every side and able to move to where you need them, and go with cabinets to store things in our of sight. i came across 4 metal storage cabinets, so far one houses all metalworking/bodyworking hand tools, one holds paint/chemicals, one holds power hand tools and other tools. last one is holding car parts till i get more organized. i'm building one steel workbench on wheels, and one smaller wood one. both will have a permanant home, but can move to where they are needed at the time. this all works out to a much better use of space than the old standby of a deep workbench as long as you can make it, which just ends up collecting stuff everywhere, the back of the lower shelves, the entire top of the workbench, you have so much "work" space you never have motivation to clean up. i'm shooting for proper tool storage, and good work space so i try to get one thing done quickly before i move on to the next shiney object! funny how large an empty space can seem, but put two cars in a 2 1/2 car garage, along with tools...air compressor, mig welder, stick welder, torches, band saw, E wheel, planishing hammer, sheetmetal brake,jacks, raw material...fills up quickly and floor space is at a premium, so i settled on everything has to roll around, so i can push tools over by the idle project.
I made the wife a potting table for planting plants by using and old smooth hollow core door and mounting the hinges to the wall studs and using a chain on each end to "close" it up against the wall and as support when "open" in its down position. Held up to a sack of potting soil, finding the studs is important.
I know where there's a chunk of bowling alley..... yes BOWLING ALLEY! It's about 3 feet wide and ten feet long. That thing's gonna be SUHWEET. It's like 3-4" thick maple- hella heavy....hella strong.
My workbench...is small. But, its made of 1/2" plate, and has a freaking mag drill on it for a drill press. That makes it almost cool, in my eyes. If my garage was any smaller, id have to use a milk crate for a bench instead. ack. trey
I work commercial construction in the city mostly so typically before a new building goes up an existing one needs to come down. there is always some type of scrounge. my work bench, the heavy one is made from mostly scrounge I scored 40' of 3/16" steel diamond plate bench top 3' wide with a 3" bend down at the front and a 3" bend up at the back. I built a heavy wood bench 10' each way out of one corner of my shop with 4x4 legs, a 2x4 ladder frame and two layers of 2x6 T&G and ran a strip of 1/2" plywood up the wall at the back and covered the top with steel. you could roll big blocks on it for a hundred years and it wouldn't hurt it. mostly though I just use it for holding junk up off the floor as you can see here...
60's if you ever want to clean off some of that junk - call me!! I worked water/sewer plant construction for years and when we would redo a lab the composite counter tops were awesome, one of the plant managers wanted them for his garage so I didnt get any. But drive thru some of the older subdivisions where remodeling is going on, and you can score some nice old cabinets from the trash that aren't made of that particle board crap. I just redid a house and chunked about 10 feet of quality stuff in the dumpster, couldn't find anybody to take them.
I scored some cabinets from a friends kitchen re do. then built some work benches from scrap wood. put doors on and painted. my friend does solid surface counter tops so i get the stove cut outs and made a hard surface top. screwed it down where it dosen't shift. cuts with a skill saw. works for me.good ideas here.
I scored an old science room bench from a high school near me that was remodeling. It had some kind of indestructible black stone on the top with a built in sink. It was wired for 110 and there as even a hose reel mounted on the side. It was 8 x 4 and it weighed at least half a ton. I don't have any pics, because it was in my old house. I want it back, and since my sister lives at the house now, I could get it. It's just a 4 hour drive away.
I've got half a dozen work benches. #1 - four chemistry lab tables with black epoxy tops, tall legs appropiate for standing work. #2 - older workbench made from pressed steel and 2x8 planks. Has locking casters and drawers. Has a huge vise on one corner. #3 - very high bench made from 1.5" square tubing to hold a chassis at comfortable hight for welding. #4 - sold, but I had a 3'x10' piece of 1/2" plate on a frame of 4x4" tubing about 18" off the floor. Heavier than you'd think it would be. There's a lot of volumn in that plate. #5 - Steel lab table painted grey. Looks like any other flimsy plywood table except that it's 3/4" and 1" plate steel. Looks cheap, but get three of your buddies together and you might be able to move it. #6 - sold, Welding table. Imagine a square sewer grate. Now expand it untill it's 18" deep, 4' wide and 4' long. Hire a forklift to move it.
Sometimes you can go to Loew's,Home Depot or Menards and they usually have a discount/damaged area.This is where I buy used or scratched kitchen counter tops cheap(10.00 to 20.00$ )any range from 4ft. to 12ft.This makes a nice smooth work bench.Hope this helps..............
A little difficult to see, but you can get a pretty good idea. Just short of 16' of Sears rollaway style workbenches - four of them bolted together. The top consists of the 7/8" particle board top the workbench came with. On top of that, two layers of 3/4" MDF, the top layer hanging out over the middle and bottom layers to make using clamps easy. These red benches have drawer slides that are simply . . . slides. They're working ok, need a shot of silicon lube once in a while, but I highly recommend you get the charcoal colored workbenches since they have roller slides like a rollaway. You don't have to get started with four of them, two will suffice, bridge them with the top and add one or two or three more benches later on. Did this for my bother-in-law and it made a nice workbench for him. Chairs fit under the open middle and he can sit down and work. Not a workbench seen in the background, rather a heavy duty shelving system. 2 x 12"s all the way. Dadoed with a shallow dado and lage screwed together with 3/8" lag bolts. Heads, cranks and the like don't faze the 2 x 12's as long as the span is not too great. I have a pair of 16', 1/8" angle steel skids bolted on to the legs of the big workbench to facilitate moving. I moved this bench by myself and it was a bitch even with all the drawers and contents removed. I recommend - highly - you build the bench in two sections to make moving easy. First time I moved the big bench, all the drawers were empty and it was about all five guys could do to carry it into the moving van. Fwiw, Sears has several different top styles available. The sheet metal top is a good way to go for a single workbench.
There's a dumpster full of these and some nice cabinets behind my building at Hopkins right now... if anybody wants some I think I'm coming back here with my truck tonight! Get a sweet Michael Bloomberg funded bench for free.
I built mine using 4x4's for the legs and 4x 15's for the top out of a salvaged log cabin. Covered it all but 2' on either end with 1/4" plate steel. Works good, would work better if I ever got it clear enough to use the surface,but it's solid. Cost about $60.
I have 10' of old kitchen cabinets from a remodel covered with 1 1/4" pine laminated butcher block style. The tops came in 4' sections from a close out cart at Home Depot & I got enough to do the job for $16. Stronger than a laminated countertop and I couldn't buy one for the price. Next to it is a lower bench made out of 2-by lumber, very sturdy and about 30" high. It's covered with Masonite for a smooth surface over the dimensional lumber. Next on the agenda is a welding table on casters so I can move it around.
I moved within the past year, so I am still in the process of setting up shop at the new place. Some ideas I've used/am using: -I'd separate (assuming you have the space) the woodworking bench from the mechanical bench. Apart from the fact that you probably don't want oil and grease getting on your woodworking projects, a serious ww bench needs a tail vise and the ability to get at all, if not at least 3 sides, for long boards, etc. -Simpson Strong Ties and a pile of 2x4s can help you put stuff together as fast as an erector set. I tend to build the benches or shelving square, then anchor them to the wall, shimming if necessary. By paying attention to the spacing, you can add salvaged, built, or bought doors and turn the shelves into cabinets. - While not a welding surface, I like to take the plywood tops of the assembly or general work sections of the bench and slap some Wal-mart cheep truck bed liner on them. durable and cleanable (like when I knocked a jar of dirty brake fluid over). . . fluids just wipe up, as opposed to sinking in, which for some solvents, can render your workbench quite flammable!
Your space may be small, but you're one step ahead of me. You are much better organized than I am at the present.
in addition to the diamond plate built-in I have a plywood top built-in in another corner, used mostly for storage, a stainless steel top table on casters that's good for clean work, like rebuilding carbs and stuff. and a steel work bench with a vice and single drawer on wheels that I use for fab work, it has a lower shelf for the chop saw, grinders and sander.. and the frame table on wheels comes in real handy for clamping stuff to for welding.. I'd put everything on wheels if I could
I have a pair of homemade spacesaver benches built out of 10ga steel 46"x46" diamond break to the center with drains.They have 2 hinges on the wall side and 2 hinges on the bottom with 1"x1" legs attached to them.You can fold them up to the wall and drop a dead bolt in them when not in use andthey only protrude 3 1/2" from the wall. Whwn you need to use 'em,pull the dead bolt and they fold down and the legs automatically swing into place.The drains allow tear down of wet messes like transmissions and power steering pumps etc. and the fluid just runs to the center into a bucket underneath and the 10ga is heavy enough to do a pretty fair amount of pounding on,installing bushings,bearing races etc.
No pics, but I made a very heavy duty bench several years ago. It's 3' deep & 8' long, there are 3 2x6 running the length & along the ends & 4x4s for legs - I have five legs - it's topped with 1" exterior plywood. It has made three moves, one of them overseas & will be about to ride a boat back across again here soon! I could ride my Harley up on there if I wanted.... Overkill? Yep - I like it that way.
I have a few that serve me well. My woodworking bench I made is maple on edge 2" thick with bench vise and dogs and a slot underneath to run pipe clamps. My metal working bench I made from a 4x8 piece of 3/16" plate steel and set about 4ft high so I am not bending over all the time. It's nice because it is very flat and good for fabbing small parts and I weld jigs right onto it if needed. Also, my welder and table saw with 54" fence roll right under it. My last bench is made from reclaimed oak flooring with 3/4" plywood base. It's only 36" tall and 24" deep for stuff that needs a lower surface to work on. It mostly gets used for storage, but is very handy. I made all of them to fit the space and job. My next bench will be a fold up table for my chop saw with folding legs to get it out of the way when I need it. I already have an 8ft. piece of reclaimed kitchen cabinent with laminate surface. I just need to set it up.
Well here's mine not that you can hardly see it with all the crap stacked on it. So you're gonna have to look close to see anything, so here's a couple highlights : The near side - has the holes drilled in the web to store my TIG rod at my fingertips when needed. The brace below it is solely to hang junk on c-clamps, vise grips, etc - I plan on adding more of those. The right corner leg supports my swiveling stool - it pivots under the bench for self storage. The top also slides on the upper brace so you can get real comfortable while welding - pivot/slide anywhere you need it. The bench is pretty heavy so my ass can't come close to tipping it over. Next the whole bench is on wheels and if you look close at the bottom is a BRAKE - no rocking - roll it where you want it and step on the brake - it stays rock solid - junk scavenged from the machine surplus place meaning it was CHEAP. It's so solid I have even rolled it outside and put a ladder on it when I needed an extra few feet. Underneath is a small hose reel and associated regulators etc. The planishing hammer (homemade) pivots left/right and rotates to store underneath when not needed. The farside - there's a vise mounted on a hinged bracket - comes in handy to pivot it down out of the way and give me a full flat work surface - nice when working with full sheets of aluminum/steel. yeah with all the junk stacked on it you can see that need hasn't come up recently. On the FAR LEG - you can barely see my hammer rack - it too pivots off the leg so you can swivel it out of the way (underneath it) when not needed. Of course there's some future plans for it, but I haven't had time for those yet. For instance I started to drill and tap the top for "tooling" holes. It's SLOW going - only got a few done - meaning to do a bunch more. My friends have dubbed it the "SWISS ARMY BENCH" I use it nearly every day - definitely worth the little time and effort to make it user friendly when I built it.
Don't have any pics. Can't see my "Work Bench" got to much crap on it. I just know it is there. Best work surface is a concrete floor. Work benches just collect clutter.
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