| The Shop > Our Shop |
| New Bench, and questions |
| (1/5) > >> |
| PeeWee:
Hi All, well since ordering the new machine tools i have been in a ponder y, should i use existing benching or build a new one. the answer was quite simple, an excuse for an additional bench. this all arrived at 14:15 this afternoon, the large sheet of ply will form the back, mdf the bottom shelf, the worktop speaks for itself. excuse the poor workmanship but i am no chippy. 1 hour in i had made the top and bottom frames. 2 hours in and the basic bench is assembled the question is do i need to add a secondary set of legs? all the frames are made of 2 by 4 in old money. here is what i mean whilst thinking about this a chucked up some shelves in my clean (ish) area |
| Miner:
PeeWee, At the rear of your bench I'd add some 2"x4"s at a approximate 45 degree angle running from the top of your outer bench legs to the bottom of your lower shelf at the middle leg area. This will stiffen up the whole bench a huge ammount and prevent racking of the bench itself. Alltho if your using a thick enough plywood back this will accomplish the same thing. When building wooden framed benches it's impossible to make it too rigid so I'd use large screws along with a good grade of glue for final assembly at all areas. You might want to add a few more 2x4s running front to rear at your lower shelf area as that will help support all the weight of stored items that will slowly build up over time. They also sell sheet steel corner braces that are not expensive. These could be used for any areas where you have the ends of your 2x4s meeting the face of the 2x4s and they would certainly help stiffen the bench too, But more importantly they would help prevent your joints from loosening up over time. End grain wood has poor fastener retention capabilitys compared to face grain. I'm not sure what you used but for myself I'd never use nails in this type of construction, Screws only, And on any areas I could I'd use thu bolts, fender washers with lock washers and nuts. Then anything that did loosen up is easily retightened. LOL, I tend to overbuild everything. Pete |
| Divided he ad:
Hi Peewee, As said by Pete bracing is essential! Of course the ply backing will provide this too.... As long as you use plenty of screws, from the way you have the legs the ply would need to go between the uprights and screw directly onto the horizontals IMHO. maybe put bracing on the back of that if you still think it needs it? A very useful thing to be able to do if possible is fix it to the wall at a few points, if you look at the brackets holding the tracks up on the rear of your garage door (Hormann retracting if I'm not mistaken? I know, how sad am I.... Fit 'em for a living!) they are great for fixing shelves and benches to the wall and floor... They hold mine solidly (no shakes when hacksawing 50mm metal bars!) also pin my mill bench to the floor :thumbup: What are you putting into the area under the bench? Cause there are some ideas on my thread in this section of the forum. Pretty cheap tool boxes from Chester UK and the project trays idea I borrowed from another party (named in the post IIRC?) is an awesome addition IMHO :thumbup: Looks pretty sturdy so far :dremel: Where about are you in the UK? Many of us have been/just started adding our general (not exact for security) area on our side bar/signature line (Profile edit) helps us know if we can aid in just text or come visit and talk about tons of stuff :beer: . Hope some of that is helpful? Ralph. |
| PeeWee:
Thank you for the responses, i will add the additional strengthening braces to the lower section as mentioned. on the back i will also add infill between the legs before putting on the back. all joints are screwed and glued, no nails have been used as i didn't think they would suffice. unfortunately Ralph the bench will have to be free standing hence the large ply backing, though i could use the mentioned brackets to bolt it to the floor. i forgot to mention in the 3rd picture near the bottom you will see some plastic trays as used in schools, these will be used in half the bench with a shelf on the other half. this would also add additional bracing from front to back. location added kettle can be spotted in the last picture :) |
| Trion:
Just a thought. I like to stuff things under my bench, like welders, vacum cleaner etc. Therefore I have made my bench without horizontal braces close to the floor. For rigidity, my bench is screwed to the concrete floor and wall. I have so far been able to "tow" an older vw bus into my garage by using a "packing strap" attached to a bench leg :whip: |
| Navigation |
| Message Index |
| Next page |