Need benchwork ideas, show yours

[stevef45]

I need a workbench with possibility of a small test bench area to work on. I am sick of doing things on my dining room table, cleaning up, putting away and then taking things back out when i need too do stuff. I have a large area to work with where my paintbooth set up is in the basement and will be making sure the paintbooth is part of the work bench.

How heavy duty you guys make the build? 2X4'S? 1X4'S? 3/4 VS 1/4 osb/plywood doubled up for a table top? Attach to walls directly or just have as basically a table?

Show off your area's and give a fella some ideas/help.

[Christian]

This is my workbench which I built in 1981. It is in it’s eighth location. The ends are five layers of 5/8” exterior plywood sheaving laminated. They are upside down “U” shaped. The bottom ends have glider caps. The ends are connected by 1-1/4” pine stair railing. It does not disassemble, but with the top off it is easy enough to fit into a moving truck.


The top is 1-1/4” plywood floor underlayment. Yes, plywood was cheap when I built this! The top is 48” wide by 32” deep. The shelf at the back of the work area is set 22” from the front. There are pieces of 1X to raise the top off the frame to a height of 30" which works for me. An adjustable office chair makes adjusting the working height easy. The gray covering is vinyl felt backed flooring. No longer easy to find, nor cheap. Under the top are five pull out metal drawers which I bought in 1971 that were part of an earlier bench cut from a solid core door.


The first photo is from 2003 and shows the desk without the later additions. The second photo is current and shows the desk buried into my working space. It’s also been repainted. The red compressor is still to the left, but covered by the metal shelf unit. It is piped to the regulator which is on the right desk end and visible at the bottom of the photo.


As you can see in the second photo the actual working area isn’t very big. Most of the top is used to make clutter.


There are six light sources. The two swing-arm drafting lights in both photos are fitted with OttLite lamps. In the second photo they are joined by a LED desk lamp with variable color and brightness. Overhead is a large (15”) globe diffuser that is just high enough to clear my head. Behind my chair at about seven foot high and split by about six feet are two small halogen floodlights.


It’s easy to overbuild because now days 2X4s are cheap and other materials aren’t. How much does an HO model weigh? You need no wiggling or rocking. I’d suggest getting a Lowes/Home Depot build-it-yourself workbench kit. Wood is good because you can modify it easily. The hardware is under forty dollars. You supply the 2X4s and top material. Home Depot has an Acacia Wood Workbench for about $200 which is intended for woodworkers but can be easily tamed for building models.


Photograph one from 2003




Photograph two from 2022

[edwardsutorik]

I suggest using a hollow core door. They're usually 80" long, with an assortment of widths. Your choice would likely be 30" or 36". Be sure to get the thicker version, 1 3/4", as it is much stronger than the 1 3/8", without being much heavier.

I use mine as temporary set-up tables, across two sawhorses. I can pick the top up and "put it away" easily, by myself.

I regularly put a 60 lb. chop saw on top of this setup, without problems.

If it's to be more permanent, I'd scout out some shelf or drawer assemblies for holding it up.

Normal table height is 30". For my permanent model workbench, I used 32", because I'm modelmaking and want to be closer to my work.

If you remain anxious about the surface supporting your work, you can reinforce the span with all kinds of things, like a couple of 2x4's on edge. Likely not needed, though.



Ed

[ncrc5315]

Here is my workbench, the table is a Husky from Home Depot. The height is adjustable. The cabinet is from Hobby Zone: www.hobbyzone.pl

Workbench at apartment by Allen Gaspers, on Flickr

[stevef45]

Nov 25, 2023 6:23:59 GMT -8 ncrc5315 said:

Here is my workbench, the table is a Husky from Home Depot. The height is adjustable. The cabinet is from Hobby Zone: www.hobbyzone.pl

Workbench at apartment by Allen Gaspers, on Flickr

Who makes the storage solutions?

Are those rolling shelves under the tabletop?

[Colin 't Hart]

Nov 26, 2023 18:33:53 GMT -8 stevef45 said:

Nov 25, 2023 6:23:59 GMT -8 ncrc5315 said:

Here is my workbench, the table is a Husky from Home Depot. The height is adjustable. The cabinet is from Hobby Zone: www.hobbyzone.pl

Workbench at apartment by Allen Gaspers, on Flickr

Who makes the storage solutions?

As Steve wrote, they're from Hobby Zone, www.hobbyzone.pl

I have some of these too. They're great!

[ncrc5315]

Storage: www.hobbyzone.pl

Yes those are rolling shelves, two of them. I have the ~60” bench, they have both wider, and narrower benches.

[lvrr325]

I would go look at what your local live auction guys are doing and see if anything turns up in the pictures you can go bid on.

Heavy furniture items typically sell cheap because nobody wants to move them. I watched a Craftsman medium sized roll-around tool box with the top cabinet, probably a $500 piece, sell for $15 because it had to be hand carried down two flights of stairs to get it out of the building. It may have even had the tools in it - I myself was too lazy to go up to the third floor to see it. A bench like this you may be able to take apart enough to make carrying/transport less of a headache.

Those swing arm lights are also always cheap, under $10 quite often. Smaller vises also usually don't bring a lot.

[onequiknova]

My work space isn't nearly as tidy or organized as the ones above, but it gets the job done. My work benches are a simple 2x4 frame with cheap laminate kitchen counter tops from Menards.  

[nebrzephyr]

Dec 1, 2023 17:46:05 GMT -8 onequiknova said:

My work space isn't nearly as tidy or organized as the ones above, but it gets the job done. My work benches are a simple 2x4 frame with cheap laminate kitchen counter tops from Menards.  

Impressive! I don't know, but I'd say it's well organized.

Bob

[nsc39d8]

I have not been able to comment here till today. I have been working on a new work bench.
My new bench completed today is on the upper floor of the house where as the old bench was in the layout building.
I still have to get a few items like a new office chair, floor mat, spray booth and compressor so I will also be needing some ideas in these areas.

[edwardsutorik]

Spray booth:

If vented, it can either go in a window insert or through a wall vent.

The wall vent is kinda permanent. And not terribly attractive. But it works.

The window insert is (normallly) easily removable. My old one was a strip of plywood with a wall vent in a hole. Window was double hung, and the lower sash kept it in place. Problem with the window insert is that it can limit where you place things. As can the wall vent, actually.

Here's the latest chit-chat we've had about air compressors:

atlasrescueforum.proboards.com/thread/10658/looking-airbrush-compressor-recommendation



Ed