lef@nlm-vax.ARPA (10/12/84)
I recall seeing a discussion (brief?) a while back about workbenches. This newsgroup gets cleaned out rather quickly at our site and I guess I missed most of the discussion. Could someone tell me if there was mention of a set of plans for a good workbench ? How about a good kit ? I really don't have the $$ to spend on completed one. Thanks. fitz lef@nlm (arpa)
dat@hpcnoe.UUCP (dat) (10/16/84)
I just built a workbench, and they are pretty simple to build a fairly heavy-duty one. I used the following; ------------------------- / / / / / / -------------------------- / -------------------------- ! !! ! !! ! !! ! !! ! !-------------! !! ! !-------------! !! ! !! ! !! ! !/ ! !/ ---/ ---/ with cross beams on the legs... (side view of legs) top ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ------------ ! ! ------------ ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ---- ---- the parts turned out to be; 1 3' x 5' x 1/2" sheet of cheapo plywood 2 3' x 1" x 1" strips and 2 5' x 1" x 1" more strips to edge the top for reinforcemnt 4 30" x 3" x 3" legs of Fir (also pretty cheap, but strong) 2 1 1/2' x 3" x 3" short end reinforcements for the legs 2 4' x 3" x 3" long end reinforcements for the legs 16 2" wood screws - affixing the legs to the top 16+ 4" nails (bad ass puppies!) for cross beams 1 container Wood Glue. Useful stuff anyway to have around! misc: sandpaper to finish the top and sides smoothly liquid plastic to seal the table etc etc...leaves a nice finish too I built the top with the edges, glued and screwed together, then sanded smooth as a whole, and (in parallel) built the legs and reinforcements as a sort of strange sculpture. I then measured the legs onto the top and used scrap wood to 'butt' the edges (I am not sure of the correct term: I took scraps of wood and affixed them to the top to force the legs to stay where I was going to put them by making a 'frame' of the scraps) then glued and (from the up side of the top) screwed the legs on with long wood screws. (I suppose that it would be a heck of a lot easier to send a drawing...why not just drop me a line with your address and I could send some semi-rough sketches of what I did...) It is VERY strong! It also does NOT sway...at all! I can sit on it too without any buckle (I weigh 175 lbs) Sound like a nice table, guys? Dave Taylor