Thread: Folding bench - make the whole thing move also?

Andy

how often will you actually fold the bench away?

once you start a project, the bench will stay "up"
and when you've finished the project what was where the bench was before it was "unfolded" will have forgotten that it was there

you've got a three car garage
I'd build a solid base and move the bench when needed by either "walking" it by lifting altertnate ends or putting it on a trolley

you'll find casters, even locking ones will allow too much wobble in the bench


ian

Originally Posted by ian

Andy
how often will you actually fold the bench away?

When we have visitors, admittedly rarely but a condition of turning the 3rd car space into my workshop was the deal that everything be able to be folded away. Non-negotiable

Thanks for the feedback about the casters - that was what I feared. The reason I started thinking about them for the bottom of the folding legs was because I have a fairly thick pine leg section swinging down and so was concerned about the arc it swings through.


I cooked up that little diagram in a Mac graphics program called Intaglio, SVG version of picture if anyone's interested.

Andy,

How about hinging the benchtop edge to the wall and instead of dropping the table, as mentioned, it is lifted up to the wall, exposing the underside. In that position the legs could be folded in towards the table. The bench construction would have to be relative light and/or one could use a pulley system.


Zelk

Due to my limited space aka garage, I have been toying with the idea of building someting similar to the bench from Carba-tec http://www.carbatec.com.au/store/ind...90_19218_19772

The idea is fairly basic and could provide a lot of additional storage if you care to re-design it that way.

Originally Posted by zelk

How about hinging the benchtop edge to the wall and instead of dropping the table, as mentioned, it is lifted up to the wall, exposing the underside. In that position the legs could be folded in towards the table.

That was actually Plan A until I finished making the benchtop and realised

1. even though it is light for its size, it is still heavy enough to be dangerous if it fell on someone. I could live with that if that was the only problem (permanent pulley with friction braking so it couldn't fall fast) but
2. there's a powerpoint on the wall, between the pillars it would swing up against. The powerpoint will be just unreachable with the bench folded out and of course totally obscured with the bench up,
3. as the bench is actually against a couple of pillars, I have about 200mm depth between them in which I intended putting shelving for seldom-used stuff. I can dive under the bench to get it out if the shelving is under the bench, with the bench folding down to provide a cupboard. Shelving above would be less accessible.

I am leaning towards finding some Z-hinges and having to lift the front edge of the bench slightly to let the legs slide into place with solid feet, rather than putting casters on the front. With solid legs, I was thinking of putting a layer of ice-cream container plastic wrapped around the foot to act as a skid. That way I'm not splintering the bottom of the pine on the concrete.

I built a folding bench with a mate in his garage along the lines of what you're doing. We used reasonably solid legs hinged to fold into the middle, and didn't have any trouble with them hitting the ground - mount the bench a couple of mm out from the wall (when folded out) and it'll be able to swing far enough above the horizontal for the legs to move to their vertical position.

Incidentally, what we also did was run a couple of bolts into the bottom end of the legs with ~10mm left sticking out and hacksawed the heads off. Drill a hole in the concrete floor and you've got stable, kick-proof legs. To fold the legs up, lift the bench up and tap the leg with your foot.

Originally Posted by AndyDent

That was actually Plan A until I finished making the benchtop and realised

1. even though it is light for its size, it is still heavy enough to be dangerous if it fell on someone. I could live with that if that was the only problem (permanent pulley with friction braking so it couldn't fall fast) but
2. there's a powerpoint on the wall, between the pillars it would swing up against. The powerpoint will be just unreachable with the bench folded out and of course totally obscured with the bench up,
3. as the bench is actually against a couple of pillars, I have about 200mm depth between them in which I intended putting shelving for seldom-used stuff. I can dive under the bench to get it out if the shelving is under the bench, with the bench folding down to provide a cupboard. Shelving above would be less accessible.

I am leaning towards finding some Z-hinges and having to lift the front edge of the bench slightly to let the legs slide into place with solid feet, rather than putting casters on the front. With solid legs, I was thinking of putting a layer of ice-cream container plastic wrapped around the foot to act as a skid. That way I'm not splintering the bottom of the pine on the concrete.

Andy,

1. Hinging the tabletop at a point away from the wall will allow it to lean back onto the wall, making it more stable. A catch, attached to the wall, can be made to eliminate the chance of the table falling down.

2. You can connect a lead to the power point, into which you plug your equipment or relocate the power point.

3. If you have a non collapsible mobile bench, you can wheel it out when in the way.

I have a feeling you have made up your mind and determined to make your idea work.

Zelk

In that case I'd put a battern along the wall and attach the top using heavy but hinges to it.

I'd then build each leg as a rigid frame attached using gate hinges to brackets screwed into the wall.
The legs would be joined together along the front by two rails secured with wedged through tenons.

To fold the bench up
The top would swing up onto the wall where it would be secured by catches at either end.
knock the wedges out of the through tenons and remove the rails
fold the legs back against the wall.
done


oh, and knock about 600mm off the width of your bench.
1200mm is far far too wide unless you can get always access both sides



ian

Originally Posted by zelk

1. Hinging the tabletop at a point away from the wall will allow it to lean back onto the wall, making it more stable.

I was going to do this if it folded down because the bench depth is more than the height I want. If folding up and hinged onto the wall, there will be vertical battens it attaches to, on the wall, so the hinge will be offset by their depth at least.

Otherwise, folding up can be achieved with rear legs that sit out from the wall. I feel a lot happier with the weight resting on legs rather than hinges attached to a wall pillar.

eg:

Originally Posted by zelk

If you have a non collapsible mobile bench, you can wheel it out when in the way.

Unfortunately, I don't have anywhere to put a non-collapsible mobile bench.

Originally Posted by zelk

I have a feeling you have made up your mind and determined to make your idea work.

You're not married to the same woman I am
If I'm not working on something on the bench, it has to be folded up/down out of the way. That was the deal.

Actually, this thread has really helped because I suspect when my wife sees my sketch of the legs folded up and realises what a big chunk of wood is going to be folded up against the wall, she will tell me to make the fold-down model just work.

Remember it's a garage she walks into every day, and walks through to get to the back garden. It's not a private shed, dammit.

Originally Posted by ian

oh, and knock about 600mm off the width of your bench.
1200mm is far far too wide unless you can get always access both sides

Why?

Asking in all innocence - I've not done that much woodwork.

I do have some very large pictures to frame and it was sized to give me a flat working area that will support entire pictures.

thanks

Andy

PS I really appreciate the feedback in this forum. Don't think of me as stubborn so much as having to conform to a fairly demanding client

Originally Posted by AndyDent

You're not married to the same woman I am
If I'm not working on something on the bench, it has to be folded up/down out of the way. That was the deal.

Actually, this thread has really helped because I suspect when my wife sees my sketch of the legs folded up and realises what a big chunk of wood is going to be folded up against the wall, she will tell me to make the fold-down model just work.

Remember it's a garage she walks into every day, and walks through to get to the back garden. It's not a private shed, dammit.

My dear Andy, you're not alone!

If you made a permanent bench at say 70cm tall, you could then use the bench as a guest table on those special ocassions, she might agree to that

Zelk

Originally Posted by AndyDent

Why?

Asking in all innocence - I've not done that much woodwork.

Depending on the height, anything more than 900 deep makes it very hard to reach that drill bit that just rolled down to the back. My own bench is 900 deep and ~1100 high, and even from my 2m height it's a stretch to reach the back.

I think you might be a bit of a special case though because of your framing work - if you need it bigger then build it, just be aware of how deep 1200mm is when you're standing in front of it.

Andy

the generally accepted "ideal" width for a bench is about 600mm
any wider and you have difficulty reaching to the back of it, especially if you have tools mounted on the wall behind the bench.

for your large picture frames, you might like to consider a subtop that you bring out for picture frame work


ian

Originally Posted by AndyDent

You're not married to the same woman I am

I'm quite happy with the one I'm married to thank you

Originally Posted by AndyDent

If I'm not working on something on the bench, it has to be folded up/down out of the way. That was the deal.

so make sure you're always working on something

Originally Posted by AndyDent

Remember it's a garage she walks into every day, and walks through to get to the back garden. It's not a private shed, dammit.

so build a stud wall so she can't see the bench when she walks through the garage


ian