Make a Portable Workstation

I recently started working on my own tutorial blog, makerguides.com. I currently have written several Arduino tutorials on using sensors and controlling stepper motors:

• How to control a stepper motor with A4988 driver and Arduino
• HC-SR04 ultrasonic distance sensor tutorial
• 28BYJ-48 Stepper Motor with ULN2003 Driver and Arduino Tutorial

Feel free to check them out and maybe leave a comment with some feedback, thanks!

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After having finished my CNC router (see my other Instructable), my workshop (a small shed in my backyard 3 x 6 m), became pretty full. The only other tools that I can fit in there are a small table saw, a drill press and some small powertools and handtools. So most of my woodworking happens outside. Next to woodworking and CNC stuff, I also like to work on smaller projects with electronics, which requires soldering etc. Since my 'workshop' is pretty full, I didn't have a proper place to work on these smaller projects. So I just moved some of my smaller tools (screwdrivers, soldering iron, pliers etc.) into my bedroom and worked on my electonics projects there. My parents were ok with the fact that I did some soldering in my bedroom, (better than in the kitchen or the living room), but didn't like the fact that my tools were laying all over the place. The table I was doing my work on also became pretty dented and full of glue and solder blobs. That's why I came up with this portable workstation. It has plenty of storage for all the tools I need, it also has some drawers where I keep solder, heat shrink tubing, wires etc. The lid forms a worksurface, so my parents don't have to worry about the table. I made it in the form of a suitcase, so that it would be very portable.

Ben Heck, from the Ben Heck show had a similar idea a couple of years ago for his portable workbench. I really liked his design, but it was quite complicated to build and it required the use of a CNC machine. For this build I decided to simplify the design quite a bit, so that it would be easier to replicate by people without fancy tools. It also has a bit more storage capabilities and you can customize it any way you want.

Tools:

- Table saw (a circular saw or handsaw works as well)
- Router table or handheld router
- Drill
- Screwdriver
- Hand sander
- Tape measure
- Chisel
- Clamps
- A band clamp makes your live a whole lot easier when glueing.

Optional:

- CNC router

Safety:

Always wear safety glasses, hearing protection and a dust mask while working with powertools!

Materials:

- 1 sheet of 9mm birch plywood (2440x1220x12mm, you won't need the whole sheet, but it's nice to have some extra. Any 9mm plywood will work).
- 10 hinges (I used 6 40x20mm and 4 15x25mm)
- handle (I made mine out of some scrap wood)
- wood glue
- screws (+/- 3x12mm for the hinges)
- For the tool holders, I used scrap pieces of wood
- Elastic band
- Self adhesive velcro

Optional:
- powerstrip

I used the free CAD program Sketchup, to make a basic design of the portable workstation I wanted to build. This went pretty fast, and by making a CAD drawing first, the rest of the project went a lot faster. Sketchup allows you to quickly and easily experiment with different designs and looks.
The joinery isn't very complex, just a lot of rabbets (grooves). You can see that the two doors also have a place to store tools. The worksuface consists of three pieces of wood, which are hinged together. Everything folds up nicely and you can carry the workstation around as a suitcase.
 
 

Now that I had my design completed, I created a cutlist for all of the pieces (see image above). This was very convenient for the next step: cutting everything out.

Using a piece of chalk and my cutlist, I laid out all the pieces on the sheet of plywood. Try to order them so that you have the least amount of waist. I only needed about 3/5 of the sheet, so I saved the rest for a future project.

Next I used a handsaw to cut the sheet down into more manageable pieces.

I used the table saw to cut the pieces to their final dimensions. Make sure you set up your tablesaw correctly: all pieces should be square and cut to size as good as possible.

To make the grooves in all of the pieces, I set up my handheld router inside of a router table. You can also use a dado blade in your tablesaw. All grooves/rabbets are 9mm wide and 3mm deep. Always try out your setup on a test piece first!

I also created the grooves in the back and bottom/top pieces of the main body. This is where the divider will go. For this I used the handheld router and clamped down another piece of wood as a guide. I used a chisel to clean up the ends.

I also cut a notch in the top and bottom of the main body (see pictures).

Note: If you don't have a router or a router table, you can just butt join the pieces together. The grooves mainly help to align the pieces and also make the project a bit stronger. However if you can't cut the grooves the dimensions of your pieces will be different.
 

It is a good idea to sand the inside faces of all the pieces before you glue everything together. This will be a lot more difficult when everything is assembled.

The last few images show all of the pieces.

So that's it. Now I have a nice portable workspace, I can take anywhere. It has lot's of storage for all of my favorite tools and a nice worksurface where I can work on future projects. Total cost for this project was less than 50 dollars. It took me around 3 weekends to complete. There is still some room for more tools and I might add a small lamp in the near future, but I am very happy with the way it turned out. If you decide to build your own, please post a picture in the comment section and I will add it to this Instructable.

If you have any questions about this instructable, please feel free to leave a comment. And if you also like CNC machines, have a look at my other instructable.

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