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26th May 2008, 06:06 PM #1Novice
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Folding bench - make the whole thing move also?
Next main job to make the bench usable is the folding legs. It has to fold down against the wall so I'm putting casters on the bottom of the front legs, to enable the feet of the bench to swing into place. It's either that or make it possible to lift the bench beyond 90 degrees. That has some attractions, making it impossible to kick the legs in by accident but complicates the hinging side of the bench considerably (maybe some kind of Z-hinge would do but they don't seem to come in the strength I need for the main weight-bearing).
The front legs fold inwards along the long axis of the bench. The back legs, being bolted to the wall, will be folding forwards in effect (the bench actually folding down to the legs).
Thinking about the casters on the front legs led to a couple of ideas, firstly that if I put casters on the back legs and made it possible to detach them from the wall, I could roll the entire bench away from the wall if needed. That is a nice possibility for some things - the bench is in a 3-car garage so if I needed a lot of space being able to wheel it into the middle would be convenient.
I'm just going to be working on picture frames and a lot of shelving. So, I'm not sure I've convinced myself of the benefits of a movable bench. Any advice? Remember that although the bench is against the wall, it is about 1.2 x 2.4m so has a pretty good working area already!
The major trade-off is having to brace the legs into place, rather than relying on them just being bolted to the rear wall. I was happy just with gravity and a couple of little slider bolts for the front legs but if the whole thing is being moved around, it feels a little dangerous. Still, this isn't necessarily something I need to design up-front. Basically, adding casters to the bottom of legs just involves shortening them, so I can defer that decision.
The other idea that came to me, probably even stranger, is that I might want to have the legs folded in to some degree to make the bench lower overall. Again, this is probably something with little effect on how I do the legs now and can wait, especially as it would require some fairly solid bracing to have legs partly folded.
thanks
Andy
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27th May 2008, 12:59 AM #2
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
ianLast edited by ian; 27th May 2008 at 01:00 AM. Reason: spelling
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27th May 2008, 03:03 PM #3Novice
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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.
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27th May 2008, 03:37 PM #4zelk
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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
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27th May 2008, 04:07 PM #5Member
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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.
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27th May 2008, 05:20 PM #6Novice
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That was actually Plan A until I finished making the benchtop and realised
- 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
- 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,
- 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.
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27th May 2008, 06:21 PM #7AllegedlyJeremy
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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.
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27th May 2008, 06:28 PM #8zelk
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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
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27th May 2008, 10:52 PM #9
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
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28th May 2008, 02:37 PM #10Novice
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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:
Unfortunately, I don't have anywhere to put a non-collapsible mobile bench.
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.
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28th May 2008, 02:41 PM #11Novice
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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
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28th May 2008, 03:13 PM #12zelk
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28th May 2008, 03:59 PM #13AllegedlyJeremy
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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.
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29th May 2008, 12:25 AM #14
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
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29th May 2008, 12:29 AM #15
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