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Workbench, height, timber size etc

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Gazz292:
Planning my conversion of the garage into my workshop in my head, i have a few things that are best answered by people who have been there, done it etc.

i plan to make up a sturdy wooden workbench to go along one wall of the garage, from the door at the front you shove a car through to the door in the side you walk through from the garden, about 12 feet i guess, leaving a little room for the up and over door to operate without sweeping what ever tool is positioned nearest the end off.

I hope to have this bench purely for metal working tools, first the lathe im getting tommorow (real bull 7x14) my little bench mounted pillar drill, bench grinder, and one day a mini mill.
so i want to make it out of something that will be sturdy and not wobble about when i'm using the machines, but not be so over sturdy i'm spending more than i need to, i can bolt it to the wall no problems, and could bolt it to the floor if i really have to.

would 6 x 4 inch timbers be overkill? thinking i want a leg front and back at either end (i've been told that bit is importiant  :loco:
then a pair of legs ever so many feet?? with a set of legs (4) idealy directly under where the lathe will go, and try to put a pair of legs under the drill, and where the mill would go?
i have woodworking toold (table saw,compound mitre saw, router table and handheld router, biscuit joiner etc)
but what would be the optimum joints,

and should i run cross braces?

And before i start cutting anything, is there an ideal height for a lathe to be at? i have arthritis, so i know i'll be sitting down to use it a lot, but i can make the chair any height, for quick jobs i'd use it standing, so dont want to set it too low,
i read somewhere about setting a bench grinder at elbow height,

the bench top will be an old length of kitchen worktop, nice and heavy and thick (sounds like how my GF describes me :)
think it's 2 foot 6 deep, does that sound deep enough? too deep, just right etc?

bp:
Good questions Gazz, and really important to get about right....don't get too anal about it though.
Here's my thoughts, if you have a vice which you intend to use for sawing and/or filing, the top of the vice jaws need to be at about your elbow height when you are standing comfortably upright.
According to Guy Lautard in his "Machinists Bedside Reader" the "....milling machine should be mounted so that the nose of the spindle is at "chest height"....say about 6" below your chin".  My Mini Mill (Sieg X2) is mounted on a table which is about 30" high, I reckon its about 9" to 12" too low, after a short period of milling I get a sore back.
My C3 lathe (Sieg 7 x 14) is mounted on a bench which puts the handles at about my elbow height and is very comfortable to stand at for long periods of time.  Also, when locating the lathe leave more than enough room to get at the changewheels at the left hand end.   I too suffer from arthritis and have had a knee replacement, all as a result of an old motorcycling injury.
The more solid you can make the bench, the better.  If it was up to me I'd bolt it to both wall and floor.  My current lathe bench is I believe too wide there is about 12" behind the chip shield which gets full of grot, and is fairly awkward to get at to keep cleanish.
As to structure, I think that it would be better to have 4" x 2" legs, 6" x 4" might be a bit OTT.  Try and get bench top supports (legs) underneath the heavy items (lathe and mill) at the front and back of the bench.  Also try and put your vice directly over a leg.  If you have to do any hammering in the vice the last thing you want is for it to be bouncing around.  Take the opportunity to fill up the underbench space with some solid drawers, ask me how I know!!
Best of luck!!
cheers
Bill Pudney

foozer:
Using a wall as a back bench support is ???.  Whatever noise is generated upon the bench will travel to the wall, if the Bride happens to be on the other side. . .  Hitting upon the vice will also travel to the wall and cause the hanging items to bounce about.

A free standing bench if possible eliminates the reverberating sound of "What are you doing in there!!!  You gonna wake the baby"

4 X 6  might be a bit of overkill. Did a 12 footer 3 foot deep 2 X 4's with 2 X 6 legs, 3/4 ply top covered by 3/16 steel top. Holds whatever I can put on it.

Robert

Gazz292:
you know, i was just thinking about the noise being transmitted through the wall, living room is the other side where the computer is set up and the rats have their cage, so not only would i have the GF moaning about the noise, the rats would be annoyed at me disturbing their sleep (but it's ok for them to wake me up chasing each other around the cage at 5am, which is when they are most active)

vibrations, it's a double brick wall with a cavity, but i can imagine some vibrations would make it through, but hopefully not like when i was hammering a couple of nails in the bedroom wall, only bit of wall that is studwork and plasterboard, other side is the kitchen, and the plate rack was right where i was hammering, it took 2 plates being launched off the rack to alert me to how much the wall was moving as i hit the nails.

will do it in 4 x 2 then, and will deffinately be putting legs under each machine, and the vise will go at the end, and will have a double leg under it,
a bit of cross bracing, and i'll box in 3 sides, loads of shelves and drawers, and front sliding panels, so if i make it solid enough, just floor bolts should be enough.

Jonny:
Swings and roundabouts here. If free standing and theres a vice going on you will need another pair of hands chasing it around the workshop.

Another problem wouldnt be vibration through the wall but noise from the actual wooden bench. Woods flex and thats what creates the vibration and noise. Even a compressor underneath amplifies the noise.
A belt driven! RF25 mounted on such a bench became unbearable. Wooden 4" sq uprights and several 8"x4" on top bolted to floor and rear wall. Mill was bolted to tops.
Similar noise again with 4x2" with contiboard tops.

Mill mounted on a steel frame 30x30x5 RSA with just two front legs rawl bolted to wall was silent. It will only get noisy when theres movement or not solid rawl bolted against a wall.
If looking at 12ft long, an impact at one point would be spread over the length. RSA is better for noise than SHS presently using but still very good topped off with thin cheap kitchen work surface.

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