Thread: work bench top - ply or HDF?

an alternative would be the pre-sanded pine panels sold by the green shed or a kitchen bench top from Ikea

Solid core doors are your friend......cheap, flat (solid timber core with masonite skins), heavy. Check prices at Bunnies.

e.g. https://www.bunnings.com.au/hume-doo...-door_p1971771

Coincidentally, I have a spare kitchen bench top from IKEA - was considering bonding one of those hardwood timber kitchen benchtops from Bunnies on top of this. Result? A timber top surface to work on, and a flat and heavy benchtop with overall thickness around 70mm.

door hmm - is 35mm top necessary for a torsion box design? I like the idea of having the storage holes on the bottom

The benches at work are 32mm MDF, no issues with them

A solid core door makes a perfectly good benchtop on its own - no need for a torsion box. I have two benches made this way now 10 years old, and still perfectly flat. I have a set of drawers under each bench, deliberately made so the top of the drawer cabinet is about 150mm below the benchtop - that's a useful space to store stuff.

Cheaper than all the ply required to make a torsion box, and a big saving in labour time.

If the OP wants a torsion box frame, he could build one from 6 mm MDF and screw the solid core door to the top

What is a torsion box?

What are you using it for? If its an assembly table or outfeed table either would be fine. However if you're planning on using it as a work bench might be better avoiding the torsion box route. Torsion boxes are great if you need a lightweight workbench that you need to cart around from place to place. Work benches are made of solid wood for a reason, they can take a beating and can be easily sanded flat again when required, they'll generally outlast a torsion box many times over.

Originally Posted by 02alison2

What is a torsion box?

a box type frame with top and bottom skins.
you can get great thickness for very little weight. Some torsion boxes use concentenaed paper to fill the voids.