Workbench Made With 3 Pallets, No Tools, No Nails, No Screws
by bad pixel in Workshop > Pallets
49015 Views, 270 Favorites, 0 Comments
Workbench Made With 3 Pallets, No Tools, No Nails, No Screws
I wanted a workbench/utility table for a while now, when I got this idea of using two pallets for legs and one pallet on top to create the work surface. I then used four bar clamps to keep the structure together. You can of course place another piece of wood on top of the horizontal pallet to form a seamless work surface, or fill in the gaps with other wood planks. I have left mine as is to use the gaps between the planks to aid with holding beams in place when sawing. In the pictured arrangement there four shelves right underneath the work surface to place tools in. In the pallets I have sourced there is a notch in the back end of the shelves that will keep things from rolling out and falling out. That might be something to notice if you have a selection of pallets to choose from.
The workbench can be disassembled for storage, as it takes up less space when the three pallets are stored vertically. It can also be reclamped in different configurations to change the height of it or change the structure's function completely. As it stands now it is 85cm tall.
Further improvement ideas
• As it is now the table is pretty stable for most uses. If however force is applied horizontally, perpendicular to the pallets that form the legs, it does move a bit. This might be rectified with bigger bar clamps, although those will be taller than the wood planks on the work surface and that might not be desirable.
• Use another four clamps to hold horizontally crossing the clamps that are clamped vertically. But that will bring the cost up if you do not have clamps that you can spare. A variation to this idea is to wedge planks in between the "legs" and the middle bottom plank of the top pallet to hopefully reduce movement.
• Using a fourth pallet and placing it upside down on the bottom of the structure and clamping it (or wedging it) as the top one might also provide additional stability.
• After reading Mr_Liss' comment the following idea emerged: Looking at the table from the side where the clamps are, a piece of wood can be bolted to the "cube" which has EUR branded on it, on the left side of the left clamp, and continue down to the right leg to be fastened on the bottom right "cube". That will form a right angle triangle where one side is the top horizontal pallet, then right angle down to the right vertical pallet and the aforementioned piece of wood would be the hypotenuse of the triangle. Then the opposite can be done on the other side. The table should be solid as a rock by that point. If there still is some sway then another piece of wood to form an X could be added where there would be no room for movement. In addition to removing the clamps in favour of using t nuts on one end and perhaps butterfly nuts or bolts to connect parts together. Thank you Mr_Liss!
Please do share any ideas that can make this workbench better. I have not tested any of the improvement ideas myself so I cannot comment on their effectiveness. The idea behind it is a simple fast and cheap way of getting a workbench that can be disassembled if needed and/or reconfigured for other uses easily, and more importantly without tools, nails or screws!
The workbench can be disassembled for storage, as it takes up less space when the three pallets are stored vertically. It can also be reclamped in different configurations to change the height of it or change the structure's function completely. As it stands now it is 85cm tall.
Further improvement ideas
• As it is now the table is pretty stable for most uses. If however force is applied horizontally, perpendicular to the pallets that form the legs, it does move a bit. This might be rectified with bigger bar clamps, although those will be taller than the wood planks on the work surface and that might not be desirable.
• Use another four clamps to hold horizontally crossing the clamps that are clamped vertically. But that will bring the cost up if you do not have clamps that you can spare. A variation to this idea is to wedge planks in between the "legs" and the middle bottom plank of the top pallet to hopefully reduce movement.
• Using a fourth pallet and placing it upside down on the bottom of the structure and clamping it (or wedging it) as the top one might also provide additional stability.
• After reading Mr_Liss' comment the following idea emerged: Looking at the table from the side where the clamps are, a piece of wood can be bolted to the "cube" which has EUR branded on it, on the left side of the left clamp, and continue down to the right leg to be fastened on the bottom right "cube". That will form a right angle triangle where one side is the top horizontal pallet, then right angle down to the right vertical pallet and the aforementioned piece of wood would be the hypotenuse of the triangle. Then the opposite can be done on the other side. The table should be solid as a rock by that point. If there still is some sway then another piece of wood to form an X could be added where there would be no room for movement. In addition to removing the clamps in favour of using t nuts on one end and perhaps butterfly nuts or bolts to connect parts together. Thank you Mr_Liss!
Please do share any ideas that can make this workbench better. I have not tested any of the improvement ideas myself so I cannot comment on their effectiveness. The idea behind it is a simple fast and cheap way of getting a workbench that can be disassembled if needed and/or reconfigured for other uses easily, and more importantly without tools, nails or screws!