New workbenches - Part 2

Here is where we left last time with the structure of the two benches assembled and ready for finishing touches. Both are 24" wide and 33" tall with the long one at eight feet in length and the shorter one at five feet.

I took this opportunity to paint the structure while it was still easy to reach all the surfaces. This is the coverage after one coat of a mildew resistant white primer. I had planned on two coats but for now the coverage is pretty good and I need to get work done more than I need even prettier workbenches.

The paint had plenty of time to dry over last weekend while I was busy with a business case competition and so now it's time to finish them off. The tops are made from 3/4" A/C plywood and cut to be flush with the top boards. This way i can clamp things to the face of the top board and use it like a bench vise.

Once the top panels are cut to size and clamped in place it was once again time to break out the fuller coutersink drill bit set which is getting even more use than I imagined when I bought them. Pre-drilling keeps the plywood from splitting and sinks the screw head below the work surface. As a side benefit it also makes lining up the top easier when the top is sliding around on glue. Speaking of glue, next came a bead of PL Premium construction glue and dropping on the top.

And here is the final product! The top edge was radiused with a router and then the plywood got a coat of epoxy to help the soft plywood stand up to hard use. The bottom shelf is made with 1x2 strapping spaced 3/4" between slats and fastened with galvanized nails.

The eight foot bench is now ready for making beams this weekend and when put end to end with the five foot benches (one more yet to build) will be long enough for making the mast.

Now back to working on the Hitia ...

New workbenches - Part 1

You have probably noticed that all of our work so far has been on temporary (and my wife might argue inappropriate) surfaces. Well no more working on the floor or the washing machine, we're going to build some permanent workbenches for my basement.

The first step was coming up with a design by browsing the web to see what other people were building. I wanted to use construction lumber and keep it fairly simple and cheap. In the end I combined several elements from each design to come up with something I liked and then worked out the measurements so the final product would be 24" wide and 33" tall. Here are enough 2x4 pieces cut to length to make three benches which can be moved around the shop.

This joint is one element I borrowed from a design I found online that is pretty simple to make and very strong when the surfaces are glued in addition to screws. The two stacked 2x4s will become a leg of the workbench.

This sort of joint will connect across each pair of legs near the top and floor.

After a LOT of cutting and chiseling I ended up with seven of these pairs of legs which are the basic building block of my workbench design. The two five foot benches will use two of these while the eight foot will have three to add more support in the middle. Probably overkill but I want these to be sturdy.

Here is one of the five foot benches coming together. The bottom cross pieces will hold the legs and also support a shelf for more storage.

I was going to just put the cross pieces on the surface but i decided to cut another lap joint to make it look nicer and also be stronger because the leg is supported by the face of the lap.

So here are the structures of the first two benches. The top supports are 2x8s which will give a good vertical surface for clamping boards to plane on edge, etc. You can see how the upper boards will hold the plywood top and the lower boards will form a storage shelf.

See Part 2 for the finishing touches ...