Evolution of a Workbench

I am a terminally untidy person-- just ask my wife! (and look at the current state of the shed too!)

So anything that allows my workspace to become more functional has got to be a good thing.

Many moons ago I built a workbench to roll around my shed/mancave, it was made from 2 drawer units that cost me $5 each and a discarded piece of marine ply top and bottom rescued from a skip, it was perfectly functional as both storage and a work surface but that was about it.

I have quite limited space in my workshop, so anything that makes the space more usable would be good but mounting the vice/grinder etc on it would make the useable space, well much less useable

Time for some lateral thinking!!!!!

Supplies

Scrap Plywood 3/4 inch

Scrap Moldings

Screws

90 degree locking brackets

Emergency stop switch

Powerboard

An unhealthy amount of powertools

First Incarnation

I bought 4 chest of drawers from work for $5 a set, I used 2 in this bench

They are nothing special, MDF but are pretty robust

The first thing that I did was bolt them down onto a piece of 3/4 plywood and screw another piece on top, I left a kneehole gap between the 2 sets of drawers and added wheels to the base

The wheels were from a display unit that was being thrown away at work, the 3/4 plywood was rescued from a skip

The top is approx 1200x800mm

So total cost up to this point $10 plus a few screws

It stayed like this for a couple of months, just being used for storage and as an assembly area

Running total $10

A Change of Wheels

As the whole assembly got heavier I found that it was really difficult to maneuver. This was because one wheel swivels and one is locked on each pair.
Fortunately I have 2 more sets, so I cut off the locked wheels and bolted on another pair of swivel ones. This also has the added bonus of making the whole thing more rigid.

First Modification

I wanted to use my bench grinder but realised that if I bolted it to the worktop I would be compromising my workspace

I made a couple of cleats and added a base to the grinder so that it can quickly be installed in a working position and then stowed away in the kneehole when not needed
Again it stayed like this for a while and in the meantime I bought more tools and space became an issue once again

There was space under the grinder in the knee hole for the MIG welder but I thought that I could get more use from the bench top

No extra cost incurred

Running Total $10

Making the Grinder Attachment

Those of you who have read some of my other Instructables will know I hate stuff being thrown away and going to landfill.

Well in another skip I found several decent sized pieces of really good quality plywood, when I "liberated" it I had no idea what I would use it for, but free is free!

Grinder Base

I cut 2 pieces of 5/8 ply to suit the base size of my grinder, obviously size will vary depending on what tools you are going to stow.

The Runners (or Cleats If You Prefer)

I ripped 2 pieces of 60mm wide and 2 pieces of 30mm wide 3/4 ply the same width as my bench

Glued and screwed them together and set aside to dry

Baseboard

Ripped another piece of 3/4 ply the width minus 60mm of the kneehole in my bench by half the bench width

Also shown is one of the bases which I bopped a couple of holes through

I continued the holes through the baseboard and then opened them up as clearance holes for nuts (later!)

Securing the "tool"

I bolted the base to the grinder (in this case) and then glued and screwed it to the larger baseboard

Attach the Cleats/runners

attached the cleats to the underside of the worktop and screwed in place, sorry not the clearest of photos but I think it can be made out.

This was a bit fiddly trying to get the clamps on by myself but managed it, I also trial fitted the baseboards to make sure they would fit and slide

Grinder Ready to Go

All glued and screwed

And There It Is

So first picture is the working position, and second in the stored position, I will probably drill a hole and put a drop nose pin or bolt through to ensure it stays in position when working.

It stayed like this for a while and in the meantime I bought more tools and space became an issue once again

There was space under the grinder in the knee hole for the MIG welder but I thought that I could get more use from the bench top

No extra cost incurred

Next Incarnation

I saw a video that had all the most useful powertools mounted on pieces of wood so that they could be slotted in to the top of a custom built workbench, and thought that I could probably modify mine to do this

I cut a recess in the bench top and made inserts for a circular saw, a router and a jigsaw

Again all the plywood was scrap

I also made a saw fence from a sash clamp that i modded (cut off the end and welded it) this was also found in a skip, it had been thrown away as the sliding jaw was broken, I added hardwood "side runners" from some scrap moldings that were being thrown away at work from a kitchen refurb

I also wired in a 4 socket powerboard and an Emergency Stop Push

I also made stowage cleats for all 3 tools so once again they fit in the kneehole (which is getting a bit crowded now)

$5 for the powerboard

$18 for the emergency stop

and a few more screws

Running total $33

Supplies for This Stage

Not much really, a bit more 3/4 inch ply and some nuts and bolts, and a rivnut gun and rivets
And a powerboard and emergency stop switch

Cleaning Up the Top

First thing I did was take all the top screws out, countersink all the holes and then put them back
Then I sanded the whole top work surface so all the detritus from the 3+ years I had been working on it was gone and I had a nice smooth, level work surface.

A Bit of Marking Out

After checking that the knee hole was going to be big enough for what I wanted, I marked out the section I wanted to remove

Infilling the Recess

Now they say that "the man who never made a mistake never made anything"
Initially I ripped 4 narrow pieces to screw underneath the hole for the cutout to rest on but it quickly became apparent that this wouldn't work so a rethink was needed

Cutting

Sometimes you just have to commit
So using my battery circular saw I "plunge cut" the 4 straight edges of the part I wanted to remove (this will be used as a tool base and template for the other tool bases later)
I completed the curved corners using my jigsaw

The Rethink

I cut a continuous piece from some scrap mdf and screwed it into place underneath the recess
I also extended the hole with a side recess cutout in order to facilitate the circular saw motor

Rivnuts

I had "borrowed" the rivnut machine from my work and drilled a hole in each corner of the infill support piece to accept an M5 rivnut.
Note at a later date I changed these to M8 as they were stronger

Mounting the Circular Saw on Its Base

Using the original cut out from the bench top
I bolted my circular saw to it and then cut through (plunge cut) to give a zero clearance slot for the blade
The whole lot was then drilled in eack corner (from underneath) the the holes countersunk and the circular saw assembly bolted into place
I may fit a blade guard and riving knife later, but they are not essential (or compulsory in NZ)

Infilling

An infill blank was made to fill the hole when I just required a work bench. I also painted the work surface white.

Other Tools

The same/similar process was undertaken for the jigsaw and router

Storing the Tools When Not in Use

I made a couple of cleats to store the tools in the knee hole when not in use, fortunately I used the strips that I originally ripped in step 5, so no harm, no foul

Saw Fence

I found, once again in a skip, an old sash clamp.
It's sliding jaw was missing but perfect for me
I cut the end off and rewelded it at right angles to make a moveable fence
Using an old bolt I made a new tightening handle
I then cut 2 pieces of wood to go either sideand screwed them into position
These were pieces of dado rail rescued from the refurbishment of an office at work, so free.
The fence can be used on either side of the blade/router

Wiring It Up

Now safety first
In order for most of the tools to work I'm going to have to override the 2 step starting (where you have to press in a release before the trigger will operate)
This is easy enough (and easily removed again by using zip ties)
The tools are plugged into a power board (extension lead) which is mounted inside the nook and is wired to a cut off switch (emergency stop) and then to the regular power supply
Unfortunately I ran out of spade connectors for the emergency stop so will rewire it later when I can buy some more, but I managed to temporarily wire it to test that it all functions correctly (it does, the green button starts the tools and the red stops them!)

The Emergency Stop Mount

Originally I was going to flush mount the emergency stop, but that would compromise the drawers sliding, so I made a couple of packers to allow it to stand proud
Then I screwed the stop switch and packers to the side

And Completed

Ready for some "Hot Tool Action"
I may mark the top with ruler measurements for simple quick alignment of the saw fence

The Next Mod

Again a few months went by and I bought myself a laser engraver (The Laseraxe!)

I soon realised that the benchtop wasn't big enough (the Laseraxe had a footprint of 1100x1100mm

So something needed to be done

It seemed that the easiest solution would be to add a drop down leaf to extend the table, I didn't want it to be permanently larger due to space constraints (I wouldn't be able to get past it!)

I found some 300mm 90 degree folding brackets in Bunnings and using a plank extended the side

I had to grind a little bit off of the saw fence that I made in the previous step, but it fits neatly in the gap between the main benchtop and the fold down leaf

The brackets were $19.95 each

Running total $72.90

Laser Cutter Laptop and Power Supplies

These are all kept safely in the top drawer, however when the Laser is in use I found I was having to balance them, so I decided a shelf was needed, again it needed to de detachable

I had a nice piece of wood (part of a shelving unit that had been left out for inorganic collection - so again free, and I bought 2 right angled brackets ($10 each)

I made 2 recesses inside the drawer from scrap ply and put in 2 screws to allow stowage when not being used

Running total $94.90

Storing the Laser Engraver

Now obviously the Laser Engraver can't stay there all the time so with some Carabiners, Nylon rope and cuphooks it can be pulled up to the ceiling and safely put away

While I was at it I also made this platform to support the material being "Lasered", it was the base of a coffee table I bought for my V8 table as I wanted the smoked glass

it cost $2 (complete)

Running total $74.90

A Bench Vise

I wanted a carpenters bench vise , but they are hideously expensive and also I didn't want it sticking out the side too far or impeding the use of the benchtop

I had been given several pieces of "L" section hardwood molding (again from the kitchen refurb at work and thought I could make those work

Firstly I cut 2 pieces down to the length of the bench (approx 1200mm) and cut a piece of 3/4 ply to the same length and 70mm wide

I then glued and screwed the 2 moldings to the ply leaving a small gap(big enough for the shaft of an F clamp to fit) and a larger recess behind it for the clamp head

The assembly was then screwed to the sides of the chest of drawers from the inside (after removing the drawers)

Running total $94.90 still

Vice Continued

Because I didn't want to extend the saw fence, the long "vice" assembly was screwed on about halfway down the chest of drawers (between the top of the welder and the bottom of the grinder so they can still be used)

A second smaller "vice' was made for the left side of the bench and this was mounted flush with the benchtop

The F clamps can be slid in when needed to clamp small pieces in the small vice, or using the lower rail, large boards

The F clamps were $11.95 each (I bought 4)

Running total $142.70