Workbench Plans

I have been a woodworker for years and have built several pricy and heavy benches, but for light work try using an interior door and two bookcases of the correct height and width.  The doors structure acts like a torsion box to keep it straight and flat.  1x8 pine can be used to make the shelves as long as you use a piece of 1/4 " plywood on the back to keep it from racking.  If you get a used door the hole for the handle is great for dropping power cords through.

My first workbench was a 4'x8' sheet of 3/4" plywood set up on two saw horses.  It wasn't very pretty but sitting in the unfinished room in my basement, looks didn't matter much.  Also, it was a huge workspace.  I had room for books, a TV, my radio, a small spray booth and still plenty of workspace.

Move forward 15 years, a new house and a nice finished room in the basement and suddenly that sheet of plywood doesn't pass the wife test.  So I buy a nice, second hand Steelcase desk that looks great, has lots of drawers and passes the "test".  But , boy, do I miss all that space.

Deafpanzer,

I was actually looking at some of these items earlier this week. A lot of different pieces are available, possibilities are endless.I have two o;d desks sitting around that I have though about getting a bigger counter top to use as a work space.

Thanks to everyone for the feed back and info about your work area. 

Being the cheapo that I am. Nod to Hammer. I use a cheap fold up table that I picked up from Lowes. You know the kind...the "kids" table that people bring out for Thanksgiving. Not pretty and not homemade but does the job. I would like to have a set up like Fermis, but I am just not that handy.

I have started to build my work area. Just getting into the modeling business. I actually helped move the business I work for into the new building. Lucky for me bad for them. lol

I was able to acquire a nice 4x8x4 metal work bench with countertop top. Office metal 5 shelve book case and 2 drawer long width filing cabinet. All in slate grey. Then I repainted the brick walls and floor the same color grey. Long story short I gained all that for free. When It could have costed me over 500 dollars.

People are looking to just get ride of stuff. If you hear about a business moving ask them to take there unwanted furniture. 

Glass can be used as a "zero datum" base, too. "Float glass" (so called because it's cast in a bath of molten salts IIRC) is sold by wood working catalog companies for tuning and honing plane soles and blades. If you need an assembly that's dead flat (and you've got a square and something to measure with), square and parallel, that's the ticket.

Or a granite surface plate. But that's for the lunatic fringe like me.

deafpanzer

Fermis, loved the idea of using glass on top of the desk!  Will look into this.  Hope this helps...

 Whatever your bench is, I think glass is the best surface to work on. Any mess gets a swipe with a razor blade and it's clean! Cut against it, no damage, stick a piece of tape to it to cut (with a straight edge) to whatever width you need. I wouldn't have it any other way!

I admit I am not as handy as our friend Fermis.  Instead of building one, I bought a Gladiator set from Lowe's and used a old huge desk top since the set came with a small top.  I bought three pieces for about $350 while it was on sale last year.  And wall mounts along with trays, shelves and tool holders.  I am sure you have seen it at Lowe's, Home Depot or Mernards... it is pretty popular now.  Men's dream of garage would be like this... complete Gladiator system.  Not me...

Here's a picture of my work bench... it is missing a stool so I can sit while airbrushing during long sessions.  Need to buy a good stool but where can I find it?

Fermis, loved the idea of using glass on top of the desk!  Will look into this.  Hope this helps...

The only plan I had when I built mine was that it would be tall enough to fit a set of old desk drawers underneath. The rest just kinda happened as I went.

I built in a paint rack for Testors paints and a couple little shelves and slots for tools and brushes. I recently built a simple rack for my A/Bing paints(that's on the wall to the left). My main work surface is 1/4" glass, framed in, on top of a cutting mat(just for the angles and lining up parts. Also handy for sticking painting guides under!

A must for any workbench is plenty of storage space! You can never have too much storage space.

I am curently using a card table for my work space. I was looking for the FSM issue to use those plans as a starting point and modify it to my needs.  Thank you for the replies. I will use some of these ideas to make a work space in my basement (man cave as the wife calls it).

Yea, my plan requires you to do the "fine details" yourself. I'd assume anyone venturing into this would be able to quickly make a plan for all but the drawers.

Hello Everyone

My workbench is an old desk I had in storage. an open bookcase 36x18 and an old big box for painting.  Everything is in the third garage.

That is it.

This is as basic as basic gets...  I started off with something like this and modified it as I went.

Workbench

Unfortunately I don't know of the FSM issue you are referring to but I have built my own hobby work bench from scratch and can offer some quick tips.

Simple desk design:

-Use kitchen counter top.

-Whatever wood you want for the legs (I suggest 2''x2''), just measure how high you want your work space and cut the legs to that length.

-Use triangle blocks with a 90 degree cut for the inside part of the legs (8 blocks total) to reinforce the legs.

Eg, --- being top of desk, " | " being the leg and X being where the block goes.

----------------

|    X

|

|

Extra options would be:

-Pull out tray under the desk in a location of your choice.

I used kitchen drawer rollers and a narrow piece of kitchen counter top. Just attach it to two rectangle boards (~3/8 thick, maybe less) cut to the height you want between the tray and the work surface above. To lock in place i use a small dead bolt (you know, the ones you see on fence gates) that fit into a hole I drilled into the drawer slider.

-Shelf. Wall mounted or mounted to the desk

Stupid simple to make, just cut some rectangle boards (~3/4 thick) to the height and depth your want and put more rectangle boards in between to make the shelf spaces you want. Small doors (using kitchen cabinet hinges) can be used as well.Don't forget to attach it to something. -edit- Use the tool called a "Square", this is not optional if you make this yourself.

-Drawers. NOT easy to make, I recommend buying if interested.

Buy or make from scratch, I recommend have it as a detached unit. This makes the work bench easier to move as well as allow you to customize your space better.

Notes:

- I recommend kitchen counter top because it is VERY durable and often a smooth flat surface to work on. Stores that go through a lot of it may offer discount prices on short lengths. It also has a nice lip on the back to prevent stuff from falling behind your desk. Full price is by the foot and not cheap though.

-Use screws. Make sure they are long enough to get at least 1/2 inch into the wood blow that you are screwing into.

-To attach the legs & triangle bracing blocks I suggest drilling  straight down and "counter sinking" the holes. Counter sinking means creating a space for the screw head to go into so it is flush with the work surface. You can simply use a larger drill bit or you can buy the proper bit. Once flush you can fill the hole with putty or epoxy to make it a smooth surface.

-If you make a pull out tray, be VERY careful not to get sawdust or metal shaving (if you have to drill in some metal) into the inner workings the the drawer sliders.

-To make look more pretty you can get different woods (eg, oak) and / or stain/varathane/paint it.

-Edit- Pre drill, pre drill, pre drill your holes for the screws. Did I mention to pre drill? The right size drill bit is one that will cover the "shaft" but not the "threads" of the screw you will be using when both are lined up with the drill bit ontop of the screw (when eye balling before drilling)

Can't help on the spray boot though, sry.

I don't have plans for my homemade bench, but maybe a description of what I've done is enough. I hate building drawers, so I bought two of those plastic drawer cabinets they sell at Office Supply places.  They were on sale for half price- seems to me they were like ten bucks each.  They have casters on bottom which is nice- I can easily roll out the bench if I drop parts below it.

Now, the cabinets were not quite high enough for the bench height I wanted, so I made two rectangles out of 1 x 4, and screwed them to the cabinet tops (have to remove two top drawers temporarily to screw them in place.  I made a top from two pieces of half inch particle board with 1 x 2 between them.  Pieces were 2 x 4 feet, ripped them before hand to 18 inches wide (don't need full 24 inch depth).  Used L brackets to fasten to the boxes on top of cabinets. I use white self- adhesive shelf paper for top.  When it gets too messy with glue drops and paint, I pull it off and put down a new section.  I screwed on a piece of 2 x 4 foot pegboard on back (with 1 x 2 reinforcements) to hang tools on.