Thread: a simple workbench - plans (free) and pix

good tip about the longer lengths of pine, I'll have to give that one a try!

I have always used MDF for bench tops and I recently did a makeover of my bench and I had a sheet of 16mm White Melamine HMR particleboard laying around so I used it. I find it's a lot easier to clean glue off and its easier to move objects around on. Its also cheaper than MDF.

I'm going have to steal & adapt this one, thank you! Going to throw a couple of front to back supports under the bench top and add some hanging basket drawers for storage.

It's similar to mine, but a bit bigger. I used a bigger top rail front & Back, & I had a couple of supports running across the & level with the top.

I also used MDF, but I laminated 2 x 16mm sheets to make a 32mm top with overhang all round.

I made that 15 years ago & it is still going strong.

I also used 16mm MDF to make a cupboard underneath.

What did you seal it with? I like the look of yours better than mine.

Job well done mate

Steve

Ross.Willow - Steal away!

I've attached the Sketchup diagram as to how it was made. Use it as you will.

Ticky - The bench has a few compromises, but also a few tricks. First, it had to be built to a VERY strict budget - $200. When one calculates the 90x45 baltics and the 18mm MDF, there isn't much left! It was a love job that won me more biz later on, so it paid to sink the effort in.

-- It is sprayed with Wattyl Stylwood Nitro 95% gloss. 3 coats, lain down fairly wet. I used an Iwata gun with 3mm nozzle (probably too big), about 90 psi (I like to use heaps) and a mid fan. Nitro is so easy to use its criminal. Its flash dry in 5 mins, ready for another coat in 10 and I can wipe an old towel over it all in 40 mins to knock off all the nibs. I used 2 full cups (gravity feed) so it would have cost about $5 in nitro.

-- the top is flush very deliberately, just like a Robou bench.
-- I took great pains to ensure the top and sides and legs are all 90° so the user can use the edges for aligning things.
-- 18mm is VERY tough
-- A mid-brace would have been good, but it is trivial to add afterwards
-- the back comes off with only 4 baton screws
-- the whole thing is very heavy!

MISTAKES (all good woodworkers... ) ...

-- I was a doofus and used 75 bugle headed bolts, but didn't offset the holes... der!, I should have offset them 10mm so they dont try to drill into each other
-- The back was a bit flappy in the middle at the bottom.. it didn't align too well, so I added a brace. Nothing fancy. worked well.


Please feel very free to modify and post any changes.

Great job Evan! Thanks for sharing your plans.

The only mod I would probably make (and this is a personal preference, not necessarily a recommendation) is using 18 mm black form-ply (to replace the MDF). Bunnings here will cut that for you to size with accuracy. Its good value, strong and pre-coated with a tough surface.

Cheers Euge

Originally Posted by Euge

The only mod I would probably make (and this is a personal preference, not necessarily a recommendation) is using 18 mm black form-ply (to replace the MDF). Bunnings here will cut that for you to size with accuracy. Its good value, strong and pre-coated with a tough surface.

The form-ply was definitely on the agenda, but price killed it. The sheets were $75 from memory, the job needs 3 full sheets. 18mm MDF here is only $32. Also, the timbers are really deceptive!... a total of ~20 metres of pine...

So! Budget constraints strangled it a bit... but this wasn't a job for "us", it was a dude who would be using it in a big shed on a farm, so it was going to be abused badly and it was his first bench (of many I hope) so he wanted to see "how it goes". If it were for serious woodwork, I'd have used other materials

Thanks for the plans, and an intro to Sketchup, I hadn't used it before. I got quite addicted to it to be honest, and spent a couple of hours a day learning it. Fruits of my labour attached, a mock up of new benching in the workshop, including a mitre saw bench with 100mm inset to accommodate the base of my Bosch GDL12. Which looking at it now I think i'll put an extra set of legs are the back of the saw inset to keep the back cross bar from sagging at all. layout_workshop_Glenayr2.jpg