a simple workbench - plans (free) and pix

I just completed a job building a workbench for a customer and thought people here might like to use it themselves. Use the plans for what you will. Original sketchup included.

-- uses base 90*45 mgp10's from Bunnings*
-- Simple but sturdy with thick legs that extend the whole leg (maximum pounding!)
-- Easy to make
-- really big (2400x800 deep)
-- 18mm MDF top and bottom
-- CHEAP!
-- Total weight was 64kg.

I machined all these bits to 80x40 with the thicknesser and tablesaw to smooth it. Sprayed with NC to offer protection to the MDF. These details were to make it more "commercial".

* buy the 5.4 or 6 metre lengths, its Baltic pine. The knots are tight and the growth rings are small and tight.

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Sketchup plans --> Attachment 343033

good tip about the longer lengths of pine, I'll have to give that one a try!

I have always used MDF for bench tops and I recently did a makeover of my bench and I had a sheet of 16mm White Melamine HMR particleboard laying around so I used it. I find it's a lot easier to clean glue off and its easier to move objects around on. Its also cheaper than MDF.

I'm going have to steal & adapt this one, thank you! Going to throw a couple of front to back supports under the bench top and add some hanging basket drawers for storage.

It's similar to mine, but a bit bigger. I used a bigger top rail front & Back, & I had a couple of supports running across the & level with the top.

I also used MDF, but I laminated 2 x 16mm sheets to make a 32mm top with overhang all round.

I made that 15 years ago & it is still going strong.

I also used 16mm MDF to make a cupboard underneath.

What did you seal it with? I like the look of yours better than mine.

Job well done mate

Steve

Ross.Willow - Steal away!

I've attached the Sketchup diagram as to how it was made. Use it as you will.

Ticky - The bench has a few compromises, but also a few tricks. First, it had to be built to a VERY strict budget - $200. When one calculates the 90x45 baltics and the 18mm MDF, there isn't much left! It was a love job that won me more biz later on, so it paid to sink the effort in.

-- It is sprayed with Wattyl Stylwood Nitro 95% gloss. 3 coats, lain down fairly wet. I used an Iwata gun with 3mm nozzle (probably too big), about 90 psi (I like to use heaps) and a mid fan. Nitro is so easy to use its criminal. Its flash dry in 5 mins, ready for another coat in 10 and I can wipe an old towel over it all in 40 mins to knock off all the nibs. I used 2 full cups (gravity feed) so it would have cost about $5 in nitro.

-- the top is flush very deliberately, just like a Robou bench.
-- I took great pains to ensure the top and sides and legs are all 90° so the user can use the edges for aligning things.
-- 18mm is VERY tough
-- A mid-brace would have been good, but it is trivial to add afterwards
-- the back comes off with only 4 baton screws
-- the whole thing is very heavy!

MISTAKES (all good woodworkers... ;) ) ...

-- I was a doofus and used 75 bugle headed bolts, but didn't offset the holes... der!, I should have offset them 10mm so they dont try to drill into each other :doh:
-- The back was a bit flappy in the middle at the bottom.. it didn't align too well, so I added a brace. Nothing fancy. worked well.


Please feel very free to modify and post any changes.

Great job Evan! Thanks for sharing your plans.

The only mod I would probably make (and this is a personal preference, not necessarily a recommendation) is using 18 mm black form-ply (to replace the MDF). Bunnings here will cut that for you to size with accuracy. Its good value, strong and pre-coated with a tough surface.

Cheers Euge

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Euge

The only mod I would probably make (and this is a personal preference, not necessarily a recommendation) is using 18 mm black form-ply (to replace the MDF). Bunnings here will cut that for you to size with accuracy. Its good value, strong and pre-coated with a tough surface.

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The form-ply was definitely on the agenda, but price killed it. The sheets were $75 from memory, the job needs 3 full sheets. 18mm MDF here is only $32. Also, the timbers are really deceptive!... a total of ~20 metres of pine...

So! Budget constraints strangled it a bit... but this wasn't a job for "us", it was a dude who would be using it in a big shed on a farm, so it was going to be abused badly and it was his first bench (of many I hope) so he wanted to see "how it goes". If it were for serious woodwork, I'd have used other materials :)

Thanks for the plans, and an intro to Sketchup, I hadn't used it before. I got quite addicted to it to be honest, and spent a couple of hours a day learning it. Fruits of my labour attached, a mock up of new benching in the workshop, including a mitre saw bench with 100mm inset to accommodate the base of my Bosch GDL12. Which looking at it now I think i'll put an extra set of legs are the back of the saw inset to keep the back cross bar from sagging at all. Attachment 349649