My workbench Project

[markturner]

Hi Pete, as far as I can make out, the flex is a movement in 2 directions, and 2 planes - as I push along the length of the bench, from right to left, when the plane digs in or encounters a bit of resistance, the whole thing moves very slightly to the left and rear at the same time, so the flex is a kind of diagonal movement.

I wondered wether some kind of diagonal; brace between the 4 legs, immediately under the benchtop and bolted through might help. I was also going to brace from top left of the rear to bottom right diagonally, inside the drawer frame so you dont see it. The legs themselves seem very stable.

Could you explain a little about your idea? I cant visualise what you mean.

Cheers, Mark

 

[Paul Chapman]

You say that you didn't glue the joints of the frame and I suspect that is causing a lot of the movement. If I were in your position I would cut three pieces of MDF and screw them to the back and sides of the base - that will hold the legs square and rigid and stop them wracking. What I meant about adding feet concerned the problem that the base is much narrower than the top. This will tend to make the bench pivot around the feet. You need to increase the width of the base so that it's somewhere approaching the length of the top. You could do this by getting two pieces of wood just a little shorter than the length of the bench and screwing them to the legs, thereby extending the length of the base. Anything would do - softwood would be fine.

This sort of idea, but along the length of the bench

However, I suspect MDF and softwood would not be to your liking - but it would make your bench far more pleasant to use.

Hope this helps.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[Chems]

I'd peg those joints too.

 

[markturner]

I have dowelled all the joints, and there was zero movement in the frame as far as I could tell, before I put the top onto the frame. Hmmm, this is going to be tricky I think. I am going to start with the discreet bracing and see if helps, the problem is, getting the brace in the right place without it obstructing anything like dog holes etc. Paul, I think the feet extension will be a last resort, as you said, I think it will spoil things. Thanks for the advice so far ,

cheers, Mark

 

[Chems]

I have dowelled all the joints, and there was zero movement in the frame

I was looking back through and couldn't see any holes for the pegs. I'm surprised your getting racking really its a pretty solid looking frame and all and those tenons are properly huge.

 

[Benchwayze]

Hi Mark,

To solve the problem of large overhang at the ends, put in diagonal braces from the legs up to the underside of the top.
Chris Schwartz's new book has an example inside. I am sure the public library has a copy if you didn't want to buy.
HTH

Regards
John

 

[markturner]

Well guys and girls, its finally finished!! John's advice re the diagonal braces was taken and has proved remarkably effective in stopping the flex, so I am very pleased about that and they dont look too bad actually, in fact, i think they add to increasing the "rightness" of how it looks..

I made the drawers from birch ply with walnut lippings , one drawer for my planes and the other for other hand tools, its double layered, with a nice little sliding tray for my chisels and hammers. I rebated some 6mm strips of iroko into the drawer slides for the smaler drawer to slide in. Drawers were lined with some nice rubber grooved mat I think came from screwfix, and the whole thing was finished off using the new Festool Surfix oil system, which i can certainly recomend, very easy to use, the oil is nice and waxy and does not dry out like danish oil.

Anyway, here are the pictures:

Cheers, Mark

 

[Orcamesh]

Mark, that is a fantastic looking bench. Just out of interest, what are the top dimensions?

I ask because my current workbench (homemade, but badly), I think is too big for my small room. I also don't have a tail vice currently and make do with alternative holding methods.

So I am thinking of eventually making it smaller, adding a tail vice, and maybe redesigning the top too (currently a single very thick MDF board).

cheers
Steve

 

[markturner]

Thanks Steve, I am very pleased myself at the way it turned out, there some mistakes, but as a first major project of this kind, I am very happy with the result. Usually, I am building houses and fitting kitchens, so this is a different direction for me. I am looking forward now to using it to make my first real piece of furniture by hand. The dimensions are 1600mm x 760mm. I was going to have the bench at home, but I think that I dont really have the room in my workshop there. It's better at our warehouse unit, where i have more space, easy to clean floor, and all my other power tools like the bandsaw etc. However, long term, i would like to extend my workshop at home and have all my gear there, so i dont have to go back to work to carry out my hobby!!

Cheers, mark

 

[South]

Wow the bench is great the closes design I have seen to what I intend to build as soon as I have finished my pillar drill stand and taken it off my make shift bench.Oh and of coarse as soon as I find some silly person plans I can follow to build one lol
Excellent bench love it

 

[Benchwayze]

Nice Job Mark.
Compact and neat. Should last you a while. Like the tool storage too. Helps with the weight a little I should think. Unless you haven't got enough tools yet! :lol:

Regards
John