Thread: WIP - SWK storage bench.

Looks good SWK. I hadn't thought of using those steel plate fastener thingies to hold down worktops, which I think is your plan?

Also didn't realise one could create an album of photos like that... Makes it very simple to step through the photos!

Interesting.

Andy, yes to the bench top hold down method. But I'll probably make up the steel tongue pieces and screw them to the bottom of the bench top with a bit sticking into the kerf.
I haven't (yet*) settled on what the bench top will actually be. I have been thinking about edge jointing some building pine (same as the frame so far) to make a fairly substantial top. But being a cheapskate I am toying with the idea of getting a stack of offcuts from building sites etc. I know where there are a couple near work and near a friends house. But I have to go there when there are people working on site to ask (I don't want to be seen to be pinching stuff, even offcuts from the bin), however, the work hasn't progressed on the buildings for a month or so and no-one's been around.
If I find an alternate in the meantime (like a solid door which others have mentioned or a discarded kitchen worktop) I'll grab that, So I am trying to plan ahead and be a bit flexible.
As far as solid doors go I have a couple of projects in the house itself which I could use a couple of doors for. I want one in the laundry to make a swing up table for clothes folding/ironing and I am toying with the idea of screwing a door to the wall in the kitchen (!). Not as crazy as it sounds, as it will be the obect which I will fill full of holes/hooks/etc to hang saucepans and knives on. I am thinking a few holes for mounting the door would cause less damage to the wall and easier repaired in the long term than a heap of holes for multiple hanging things.

*Maybe my design style is a bit different, I notice there seem to be people who do their design on autocad packages to a high degree. I am familiar with these packages through work (but don't use them directly). I tend to get a concept in my head, sketch out the main carcase, build it and add details as I go along. I don't seem to muck up very much (!). But there can be changes there too. My original concept for the bench had 70x70 legs, but the local Bunnings didn't keep that size (not that I saw anyway) so on the fly I changed it to 90x45. Because the legs are thinner I decided not to do dados for the end braces which in my original thoughts were a couple of 35x70 or 35x90 same as the main cross pieces. But as I thought about it a bit I realised that if I panelled in the end with matchboard I would get a more attractive look (FWIW) and there would actually be about 50% more bracing material cross section. Just tonight I have realised there are a couple of dead spaces between the middle and lower cross members which could house a long thin drawer (maybe for pipe clamps or similar), so I am thinking how to incorporate maybe one drawer (which means I must leave a gap in the matchboard for the drawer front).

Progress continues! )

Regards
SWK

Just checking it was wide enough and tall enough!



Ends filled in (its hugely more rigid now and still fairly light at this stage).
Drawer runners added.
Still thinking about adding some (additional to original plan) thin drawers in the cavities remaining.

SWK

6518 Flipped it over and using matchboard to fill under the box drawers. Starting the floor for the middle fixed space.
Originally I had thought about long thin drawers but in the end it was just easier to make some space accessible from the ends for storage of long items (pipe clamps and similar). The ledges that stick out are for the castors.

6520 bottom storage space floor put in.

6522 got a good cheap top off gumtree! Thanks Bert )
A good solid top 33x1800x800 approx, trimmed the end off and it fits spot on. Was even able to salvage the grey rubber edge lining so it looks OK

6523 Up the right way again. Partway through painting some of the legs and cross pieces. Just because. I would have chosen a lighter colour but the green was a mistint and cheap. And it actually is a darker brunswick green and looks much better than the photo shows.

Now to give another coat of green, put the castors on, varnish the bare wood and put the bench surface on.

Regards
SWK

Looks pretty good to me. Do you plan to add any vices, dog holes or anything else to assist in clamping things to the bench??

Mr Big,
nope. Just a flat top for assemply, painting and that sort of thing. I already have a "proper" bench which you might be able to see in the background.

The idea behind this bench was as a space saver(?) in my small work area. The plan is to have lots of storage space below and some working space above, which can be easily moved around (out of the way). Its actually a little bigger than I first thought, maybe half the depth may have been better, but then that might not have been so stable.

Anyway, done now.
and here are the final pix
6538 is the way I held the top on (with 6 of these)
6541, the finished bench. It holds 12 hobby boxes (I wouldn't buy them specifically for a project like this, but I had accumulated them over the years)
6542 well, I had to mark it somehow (signed and dated?!)
6543 slots in the ends allow long items (pipe clamps) to be stored. I originally thought to put some doors on the slots, but maybe I will leave them. Can't have a project which is _absolutely finished!

Regards
SWK

Looks ok. Just do not put short bits in the long slots.

Ah It's OK.
I thought of that already.
Worst comes to worst I can take the boxes out and get at the middle stuff quite easily )

Regards
SWK

Thanks for the WIP... Great result.

And there's yet another use for those versatile metal strap thingies.