Thread: WIP - Groggy's Workbench

Originally Posted by Lignum

How thick is your top?

Well, it's been thinning for years...oh, wait, I get it - 130mm.

Originally Posted by Groggy

Well, it's been thinning for years...oh, wait, I get it - 130mm.

130mm Can I ask why so thick? Are you going to work on Sherman Tanks or something.

Originally Posted by Lignum

130mm Can I ask why so thick? Are you going to work on Sherman Tanks or something.

Only if I want to I have answered this already, it is mainly due to a strong preference for a bench heavy enough to deadblow anything striking upon it. My fathers bench was like that, plus one or two others I've seen and I really like their weight and feel.

Basically a strong personal preference. Some will call it waste, but I hope they don't drink, smoke, buy fancy meals, drive 250kph cars, have $1000 phones etc... We all have our wants.

How long are they? I have a thought

Originally Posted by Lignum

How long are they? I have a thought

At the moment, there are seven pieces 95x130x3000mm.

Wood flour - glass bead.
All the same, the beads are just another thing to buy... same concept, a 'filler' that adds strength, or an 'extender' to help fill in gaps.
I like it as epoxy needs a gap for max strength and West and Botecoat engineered the beads and put out the product sheet that show you how to get max strength. the beads add strength, when used iaw the product sheet/design specs. (thats my understanding anyway)

Your 'glue up table'... yeah, framing timber (2x4's) to knock up a surface/frame that you either use as a panel clamp, or a frame that has cuts in it (you have a table saw if I remember right) that the bar clamps sit down in to hold them in place. Many ways to achieve the idea, you'll work it out easy.

Claw Hamma is right - spend the time to make the lamination pieces sit together and not need clamping is best; as clamping = force = inherent 'captured' stresses = later movement as the stress works its way out as it finds equilibrium.

Timber, like electricity, zen masters, hippies and lazy buggers.... always looking for the path of least resistance.

The way I am planning to do mine, when I get around to it is with lengths of threaded rod either side of the glue up and through short baulks front and back to "clamp" each piece up together. Essentially, looking at the bench top as if it was in the final orientation, there is threaded rod top and bottom, timber baulks front and back. Once the glue dries, loosen the top bolts, slide back one of the baulks, glue up the next bit of top, tighten up the rod. Slow and steady (in theory) but no holes to hide or rod inside the top to worry about hitting if putting in more dog holes etc in the years to come.

A side note. But I considered using threaded rod through my bench, not for glue up, but allow it to clamped taken apart again. Wood expansion should be a trick with cross grain metal.

Originally Posted by BozInOz

A side note. But I considered using threaded rod through my bench, not for glue up, but allow it to clamped taken apart again. Wood expansion should be a trick with cross grain metal.

Boz, way back in the early 80's, everyone seemed to be using metal all-thread in their bench tops. The first one I did had 4 of them spaced along the 6' or so of top. They were a bit of a pain to fit, because I was drilling the holes freehand, through each 6" or so of glued-up section as they were added. I had a very limited supply of clamps back then, so they did help a lot with the glue-up. That bench top was laminated from 1" floorboards turned sideways, so there was damn near as much glue as wood in it, I reckon!

I don't think the rods did much other than get in the way, once the glue was dry. I discovered a few years down the track that the nuts were all loose, & had been for some time. The wood had expanded in the first Summer, no doubt, & crushed the fibres under the nuts well & truly. So when I remodelled that bench slightly prior to selling it, I had to take them out to rip off a bit to add a deeper section for bench dog slots. The originals were a bit shallow for my likings. I didn't bother replacing the rods, & the bench was still sound last time I heard.

Cheers,

A while back in this thread I mentioned the vises I would have liked to have, the same ones that Boz bought in his thread.

Initially I thought 'too expensive' then after a while I thought "It is going to take quite a while before I even get to that stage, so why not put something aside each payday and see how it goes?" So, that's what I did; saving since Sept '09, using up my Christmas and birthday collateral.

Reasonably expensive things, they cost about the same as 35 packs of cigarettes, 70 bottles of cheap plonk or 12 tanks of petrol.

These things come from BenchCrafted in the USA and I was concerned about getting slugged by customs, but since it came to under $1000 I didn't have to pay.

I ordered them on 04 April, was notified of shipping costs one month later on 05 May. I received the vises today, 17 May 10, sooner than expected.

They were well packed and in very good condition. Now I can plan the benchtop layout and length, then get down to business.

Nice hardware.

This is going to be one beautifully built workbench.

for going the extra mile - because you can.

You sure they weren't ripped out of a hotrod? They look like billeted aluminium steering wheels to me.

Whack some go-fast stripes down the bench and it should go like the clappers.

Maybe I should turn the bench into a Fred Flintstone style car? Nah, peddling the thing around would kill me.

But you wouldn't have to insure the bench as it would survive any crash.