The Garage/Shop/Tools Thread

[zj96sc]

I did a bit of searching around to see if we had a similar thread anywhere, came up empty.

I wanted to suggest that we create a dedicated Shop/Tools Talk subforum under Technical, but in the meantime I thought I'd kick off a thread to see if there's any interest.

Few of my offroad forums, Pirate4x4 in particular, have excellent shop forums that give you a place to share good workspace ideas, space saving ideas, organization ideas, wrenching tips and tricks, shop builds, etc.



On that note....I spent this past weekend finally building myself a legitimate workbench. For the past 9 months I've been doing all my work on the top of a 13 drawer tool chest and it was getting old. My vice was on the floor. Bush league.

Scooped together some designs from the internet, few of my own ideas and lessons learned, came up with the following:

height: 39"
rationale: 1" below standing elbow height (I am 5'10" for reference). Recommended by most sites as the least fatigue/back problem inducing height choice.

width: 6'
rationale: left enough space on that wall for a drill press and hydraulic press (future purchases)

depth: 28"
rationale: roughly a comfortable arm's reach to the back of the bench

3" overhang for clamping

surface is 3/4" birch plywood, held down with ~50 deckmate torx drive screws. 4x coats satin poly to cut down on oil absorption

4x4 legs, 2x4 bracing, 2x6 main structure. 2x6 laid flat under the vice.

screwed together to set square with boxes of deckmate torx drive screws and then drilled and bolted with 1/2" carriage bolts.

my brain barfed onto paper while i sat on the couch and brainstormed: (note elite math computations such as 1.5 + 3.5 = 5, etc)



cutting:



cut:



framed, test fit top and vice:



bracing in:



carriage bolts in:





done:



4' light installed above (I am a good lighting junkie...this marks the 5th one of these 4' lights in my 2 car garage):



testing gloss vs satin poly:



still wet, first coat of satin:



I'm very happy with the result. I hate flimsy work surfaces so my goal was to build this one super beefy. Will be nice to have space to spread out, finally.

Next time I get a chance to visit my parents place (where all my steel lives) I'm going to cut out some sheet to skin half of the top....maybe even in 1/4" if I'm feeling aggressive. Should give me a nice hammer/gouge proof surface.

I also think I'm going to pick up a 2'x3' or 2'x4' sheet of UHMW as a moveable sacrificial surface that will be even easier to wipe clean than the poly'ed birch. Throw it on top if I'm working on something heavy/sharp/oily, leave it off if not.

My future shop projects will be to get a sub panel run to the garage off the main for a few dedicated 30amp 110s and a 220 for my welder and plasma. Once the welder is back up again, I'd like to build a smaller welding table on casters that can slide under this bench. A good welding table is tough to beat.


So - that said, feel free to share anything you've done to reorganize your space, make space, tools you've acquired, benches, shelving, tool boxes, etc.....chime in!

Paul

[danewilson77]

Looks great. Thanks for sharing.

NOTE: This thread is for sharing workspace ideas, space saving ideas, organization ideas, wrenching tips and tricks, shop builds, etc.

[kayger12]

I highly support the idea of this thread.

I need to do this as well.

This might just be the motivation I needed.

[zj96sc]

If you're after something very similar i can get you the lumber list and cut list i came up with...

[danewilson77]

I love the bench. I think I would want it maybe 2' longer.

Cool thing with wood...is you can mod it

[kayger12]

If you're after something very similar i can get you the lumber list and cut list i came up with...

Yes, sir. That would be greatly appreciated.

[Oli77]

Cool thing with wood...is you can mod it

Well said right there.

[imola red zhp]

Nice thread great idea...

sent from dennis' personal electronic device

[328ioc]

Love this idea. Especially because I'm about to move to a house with a two car garage so I definitely need ideas about how to set it up.

Like the idea of lumber and cut list as well.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

[zj96sc]

I love the bench. I think I would want it maybe 2' longer.

Cool thing with wood...is you can mod it

Concur - 8' length is the bee's knees, not to mention simpler to build because that uses a whole length of plywood and 2x6s if you buy 8 footers.

I came off that door frame to the left of it in a few pics the width of a hyd press and drill press and let the workbench take up the rest of the space. I've quickly found that when packing a full set of auto tools, yard tools, and metal fab tools into a 2car, compromise is the name of the game.

Watch, the first project I use it for I'm going to sorely miss those 2'.

I'll work on a cut list and assembly guide tomorrow AM - some of the dimensions might need some words to make sense.