Thread: Material advice required to build wheelchair suitable bench

lowriderone

firstly, welcome to to the forum

I think a first and prob important question is, what is the maximum thickness you could tolerate in the bench top and still be able to comfortably work at it?

another question: what are you going to be doing at it? if it's light work then then a light weight top should work. If heavy chisel work then that has to be factored in.

A 3m timber span is going to bow in the middle unless it's thick enough to support itself. I suppose some angle iron support might lessen the bow tendency of thinner stock

for example, our bed is about 2.1m long, and the mattress is supported by 50mm angle iron and holds our combined weight. and hasn't bowed after ever how many years.

You might get away with a torsion box type construction (think hollow core door) with angle supporting on each long edge, with the gap in the middle.

I'm not sure this is clear, but hopefully is

I'm not too sure about Australia standards. In Singapore, we have 700mm below the table for leg clearance. Writing height is no more than 800mm from the floor. So I'm guessing that based on these accessibility standards, you'll probably want your thickness to be 100mm or less.

Also, structural wise, build 2 benches 1500mm long instead of a 3000mm one may make the bench more stable .

I like problems. First tell us what use it is going to get, then we can work around your needs. My first inclination is a torsion box but I imagine if you are using it as a conventional bench then when you hit something it will incur bounce. You could run supports at an angle underneath back to the wall/floor intersection from the front edge. A lot will depend on what material you have available, hardwood is better than softwood and some man made panels like flooring for instance might suit you better as it is more stable and does not react to weather changes, do you always have high humidity in Singapore? Wheelinaround from this board might have better suggestions as he faces similar issues. Where are you Ray?

Mini: The threadstarter lives in Sydney, not Singapore where I'm from. My local disablity accessibilty code gives him an idea of how high and how thick the bench may be. He can then decide how thick the torsion box may be or if he'll have other preference.

Thanks for the replies.
I'm fairly sure i'll be using lvl. Not the cheapest option, but seems to fit my needs.

Originally Posted by lsvop

Also, structural wise, build 2 benches 1500mm long instead of a 3000mm one may make the bench more stable .

This is what i'm trying to avoid.Nothing more inconvenient than bench legs(midspan) for a wheelchair.