tim
Established Member
I have two work benches in my workshop.
One is due for a serious overhaul later this year , with at least the top being remade (it has a slight cup to it!!), new vices etc etc, courtesy of Ian's excellent article and plans.
The other is an MDF beast that is about 2m long and 1m wide. It doubles up as an outfeed table, but sits at 90 deg to the TS ie the width is the outfeed part. The structure of it is no different to a run of cabinets (although it is one unit) with the right hand side containing full ext 750mm drawer slides with the pullouts used for portable power tools. The other half has been commandeered by the dogs!
Anyway the top of this cabinet although supported in several places still isn't flat and the obvious solution to this is to build a torsion box top to replace it. There is only one snag - how do I build such a top when I don't have a guaranteed flat surface on which to build it? Everything I hvae ever learned (inc logic) is that the torsion box will pick up the topology of the surface on which its made.
edit: The MDF bench isn't really a bench in the strictest sense but more of an assembly table.
Any thoughts?
Cheers
Tim
One is due for a serious overhaul later this year , with at least the top being remade (it has a slight cup to it!!), new vices etc etc, courtesy of Ian's excellent article and plans.
The other is an MDF beast that is about 2m long and 1m wide. It doubles up as an outfeed table, but sits at 90 deg to the TS ie the width is the outfeed part. The structure of it is no different to a run of cabinets (although it is one unit) with the right hand side containing full ext 750mm drawer slides with the pullouts used for portable power tools. The other half has been commandeered by the dogs!
Anyway the top of this cabinet although supported in several places still isn't flat and the obvious solution to this is to build a torsion box top to replace it. There is only one snag - how do I build such a top when I don't have a guaranteed flat surface on which to build it? Everything I hvae ever learned (inc logic) is that the torsion box will pick up the topology of the surface on which its made.
edit: The MDF bench isn't really a bench in the strictest sense but more of an assembly table.
Any thoughts?
Cheers
Tim