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Work Benches

Made some progress on my workbench. Does not look like much from my last entry but trust me, it was a lot of work to get it to this point.

Since it was unsupported underneath the table was pretty flimsy. It was also really loud and noisy when you put something down on it. So that was all fixed by welding 1" x 2" square tubing and strut channel supports underneath. The ends of the supports rest on the pallet rack beam shelves. Worked out pretty well.
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As I've mentioned previously, the 36" depth of the bench top is really too deep so I got a set of back and side stops from McMaster Carr and modified them to work for my table. The backstop was cut down to about 3 1/4" height. The face was welded to a piece of angle iron then welded to the table top at a more usable 30" depth. The plan is to put a riser shelf behind the backstop to store stuff like my cordless drill charger, hardware boxes, cans of brake cleaner and WD40, radio etc.
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Here's a full view with the back and side stops in place. The mat is 3/32" (I think?) BunaN rubber.
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Trying to figure out the easiest way to build the shelf. I have an old metal table I may cut up and finagle into the space behind the back stop. Above all, I really want to be done with it so I can move on to the next project.

The table is super solid now and there's enough work surface to spread out all sorts of things and still have room to spare. Have not even begun the other side yet but it should go much quicker now that I have an idea of what to do.
Very nice! Maybe add the sound mat stuff on the underside of the top, to cut down the drum effect noise?
 
Very nice! Maybe add the sound mat stuff on the underside of the top, to cut down the drum effect noise?

I thought about that but it's OK as-is. Honestly, the less work I make for myself on this workbench project the better.
 
Well I might as well throw up mine here as well. I started a thread of my own a few months ago. But here she is. Simple. Easy to make in a weekend. Kind of pricey with the cabinets up here in Canada. But save a bit on the Canadian lumber. lol A good friend of mine has a saw mill. Of course! lol
Ok Nuff yapping.

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Reviving an old thread of mine. I have an issue of buying workbenches when they go inexpensively. I bought three more today. I am going to have to get rid of a few.

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Removed this workbench from my shop.
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Replaced it with the two 6 foot workbenches bolted together like they were in the barn I got them from. 12 feet of basically empty workbench. Now if I can quit dropping everything on the bench when I walk in the door.
 
Reviving an old thread of mine. I have an issue of buying workbenches when they go inexpensively. I bought three more today. I am going to have to get rid of a few.

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The first pic looks like the work benches we had at work only had more drawers when I was a machinist at Exxon.....and always thought they were kinda lacking working for an 'up and up' company like that. The drawers did not handle heavy tooling very well and.....I hated them!
 
The three workbenches were made by Lyon. Lyon is still in business making items out of steel. I used to specfy their lockers on jobs I designed. These are old solid benches. The steel is thicker than the newer benches. The lower shelf is a good stiffener for the bench.
 
10’ x 2’ x .125 steel made by my old friend Junior about 20 years ago. He made it of a single piece with a backsplash and rolled front edge. He broke some channel pieces from the drop and TIG welded them to the bottom side so it’s very rigid. Damn heavy too…

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I cleared it off for the picture so don’t give me too much flack about it being too clean.
 
10’ x 2’ x .125 steel made by my old friend Junior about 20 years ago. He made it of a single piece with a backsplash and rolled front edge. He broke some channel pieces from the drop and TIG welded them to the bottom side so it’s very rigid. Damn heavy too…

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I cleared it off for the picture so don’t give me too much flack about it being too clean.
Oh man....you would freak out if you saw my work benches full of crap and they are actually more clean than usual lol
 
Oh man....you would freak out if you saw my work benches full of crap and they are actually more clean than usual lol

I haven’t done much work in the garage after getting the GTX put back together last spring. All last winter it was covered in tools and parts. Even then, I tried to keep it somewhat organized because I like to hang out in the garage and do nothing…

Edited to add, when I help my buddies at their shops it seems like we spend more time looking for stuff than actually working on stuff. It’s one of my pet peeves, so I’m probably more OCD about organization than most people…
 
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I haven’t done much work in the garage after getting the GTX put back together last spring. All last winter it was covered in tools and parts. Even then, I tried to keep it somewhat organized because I like to hang out in the garage and do nothing…
LOL!! Oh yeah....I like to hang out in the shop too! Being in the house is like being in prison for me!
 
Wow, March of 2021 was my last response here but just got a bunch of notifications about it tonight and thought I'd update.

I use the bench pretty much daily and it's been good. I managed to finish the left side but never got to the other one so the top is still just kind of resting on the pallet rack beams. I don't do much heavy work on the unfinished side so it's OK for the time being. I'll get to it when I finish my Duster.
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Sorta hard to see it but I finished the shelf riser on the back of left side. It was made from cutting apart an old table top and is supported underneath by uprights spaced apart equally and welded in place. I put toolbox liner on top of it. It's nice to have all that junk off the work area and still have it within reach.
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I admit that it often looks like this. I'm building an engine right now so I'll clean it up before the next job. Note the quick connect hookup for the air line in the middle. I used a Rapid Air system throughout the shop and ran one leg across the rack beam above the bench and down the center. Good to have it right there.
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Working on my last work bench as of now it’s 30”x30’ . Still need to add 1 more tool box I ordered and the sink will be top mounted with the fridge under. So there will still be 10’ more feet of surface. And above the surfaces will be floating shelves and maybe TV.
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Right now my 3 main work benches are cluttered pretty good since I'm emptying cabinets of stuff I won't be using and about to get rid of it but my roll around work table (33X58) is unusually clean. Also have two more temp benches on folding legs that ain't too bad but are getting there lol. Hate cluttered benches but sometimes it happens....
 
Buddy passed and left me his place. He built 3 8ft long benches including 4x4 legs with, 2x8 tops and shelves then, he went to the steel supply place and had them shear, 6ga(.200) steel sheet tops, for all three. He never complained of the cost because they were built in the early 1990’s. If I ever move from here, at least one will go with me. (If I can lift it.)LOL
 
The last house I lived in was rented from a friend.
He had two 8 foot by 24" deep stand alone cabinets made to kitchen spec from cabinet grade plywood with real wood bracing and shelves, including a toe kick and doors.
When I moved he said "take what you want".
I wrestled one of them over to the new house by myself and it almost kicked my ***.
Would have loved to get the second one but I was running out of space and the experience of moving the first one along with all my other furniture was taxing.
 
...and as luck would have it, I found a similar piece "on the side of the road" a couple years ago.
84"x24" cabinet grade plywood with toe kick and a single door.
It was a corner piece so 1/2 of it is a blind compartment with no door.
That will be fixed eventually, as there was a second unit but parts were rotten although a few parts were salvageable.
Interestingly, the word "Publix" and an order number is written in grease pencil on the back.
 
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