Thread: New work bench advice wanted

Originally Posted by wixy

I'm looking for a work bench, and stumbled across this on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Work-bench-24...QQcmdZViewItem

Does this look decent? Is it good value for money?

What other options are there for prebuilt work benches?

Hi wixy,

I don't think it's good value for money. There wouldn't be more than about $130-140 in materials in it, were you to buy it yourself and do it and at most a day in construction. Also, it might be a bit wide if you are using it against a wall with shelves etc above it. If you were to make a narrower one say 600mm wide then material cost would be even lower. It wouldn't be too good for hand tool use, but would be ok for powertool and assembly.

Cheers
Michael

I'm pretty sure that's the same one that bunnies sell for the same price

My brother isn't much of a woodworker, but he knows which end of the saw to hold as long as its orange, and he made that sort of bench out of reclaimed denailed hardwood he bought for about $50, and a fire door he paid $5 for and its much stronger than that one looks.

Pine looks great when you buy it, but you'll push on it every time you use it, and the screws will widen their holes, and the whole thing will wobble around all over the place.

Its poorly designed too - those end screws won't last long - if they'd cut the long rails off flush, they could have run the side rails across the legs and screwed them to the legs.

If you want, I'll spend 5 minutes and draw a back of the envelope sketch for you. Go to to local timber yard on Saturday morning, and by tea time you'll have a bench you can jump up and down on for years.

Make it 2400 x 600 and you could do it for close to $100...

Last time I did a framing project I bought 70x35 hardwood second hand from Caylamax at Brendale in northern Brisbane. They did it for $1.70 this time last year, so:

18m 70 x 35 hardwood = $30
1 sheet of 2400x1200 x 25mm mdf $65
Packet of 50 screws $15

All up $110, but you could probably get some second hand or seconds mdf for the top, and cut the price down.

If you wanted to be flashy, spend $5 on some little square brackets to screw the top down and then you won't have screws in the top of the table.

A non expert could put that together in a day with a hand saw, a cordless drill and 2 drill bits.

Thanks for the advice guys, looks like i will be building my own!

Its far more satisfying than buying one! Keep asking the questions - there's plenty of help on these pages!

Originally Posted by rhancock

All up $110, but you could probably get some second hand or seconds mdf for the top, and cut the price down.

If you wanted to be flashy, spend $5 on some little square brackets to screw the top down and then you won't have screws in the top of the table.

A non expert could put that together in a day with a hand saw, a cordless drill and 2 drill bits.

As a non-expert with few tools and no bench, that sounds like a great project to start with!

Are there some rough plans or good photographs of basic benches anywhere? I've seen some fancy ones on the forum, but I'm thinking of something simpler, like a workbench that doesn't require you to already have a super workbench to build it!

Any recommendations on suitable timber, and where in Melbourne it might be acquired?

Build the one on Ebay! Just cut the ends of the front and back rails off flush with the legs and screw the side rails into the legs so they're not screwed into end grain.

Cutting list:
Start with 8 lengths timber 2400 each
4 rails at 2300
6 legs at 900
4 side rails at 500
mdf top 2400 x 600
mdf shelf 2150

Screw together.

You make it sound easy! I like that!

Point taken about the end-grain screws, that makes sense. I like the idea of having brackets underneath to avoid having screws down through the top.

Why two drill bits though? You want to drill holes before screwing it together so it doesn't split all over the place, right? Do they need to be two different sizes? Oh, countersunk screw heads, I suppose. (I don't even have a drill yet, be gentle!)

Is it possible to attach a simple clamp or vise of some kind to a bench like this? Would the top need to project out a little more?

The one on eBay has a frame of "F5 structural pine", is that good? Is there an alternative to MDF for the bench top that is still easy to work with? I guess it's probably the easiest way to begin with.

Questions, questions. There is no such thing as a stupid question, right? Even from a complete newbie?

So many questions, keep on asking!

Pine is always pine, its soft, easy to work with, doesn't last long. F5 means its been tested for strength so you can use it to hold your house up. You don't need F5. Utility pine is cheap and fine for non structural stuff, just try to only buy straight bits.

Its sort of traditional to use whatever you can scrounge for your first bench, but unless you're only doing needlework on it, the more solid and heavy the better.

Hardwood is ... harder... so it'll make your bench more solid which is good and it'll last longer as the screws won't loosen which is good too. Its also harder to work with, but you don't need to do anything more difficult than cutting it, so it won't be a problem. It is usually a bit more expensive, but second hand shouldn't be hard to get hold of.

Drill bits - one to drill holes with, one to screw screws with. And a third one to countersink if you really want.

I put a 50mm overhang all the way around - thats why the top is 100mm bigger than the rails - which is about all you'll want to clamp to. You can fit a vice later on when you're a bit more confident.

Personally I have MDF. Its horrible to work with handtools, which are my favourite, the dust is carcinogenic, and it falls apart if a drop of water gets on it. I'd try to find an old solid door. Otherwise I'd use ply wood, maybe 25mm. The best benches have 50+ mm hardwood boards on top - mine is made from a mates old decking boards.

Have fun!

By the way, my first bench here was an office table with steel legs and a melamine top. It was about 30 years old, and the melamine was flaking off, but it lasted me 3 years until I built my current one, which is just a practice for the prototype of the proper one I'll build ready to build the best bench... when I'm about 120...!

Drills to screw screws? Now my screwdrivers are feeling jealous.

The cancerous-difficult-to-work-explodes-on-contact-with-water nature of MDF is something of a turn-off. I like the old door idea, that sounds much better.

Now I just need to find some piles of stuff to scrounge through!