Six tool bench?

[Mr T]

For some time I have had an idea for a good beginners bench that can be made using very basic tools such as a DIYer might have. I never got any further with this until someone asked me to make a basic bench for them. I decided this would be a good opportunity to prototype my idea. This bench was 1500mm x 675mm x 910 high. The top is 18mm birch ply reinforced with 150 x 50 redwood underneath. I used 180 x 35 beech for the apron round the top, you could use redwood for this, I used beech because I thought the customer would prefer it. The legs are solid pine while the rails are a box section the whole undercarriage being pulled together by 10mm threaded rod.

I thought I could make the bench using just six tools, however one of those tools would be a power drill with various bits so I’m not sure it can be classed as one tool. I have also not counted the support tool, in making my bench I used a pair of saw horses, I guess most DIYers would have a Workmate or similar.

I started with the under carriage. This consists of legs 95 x 95 with rails made as a box section held together with 10mm threaded rod running from leg to leg. The height of the bench was decided by measuring to the crease of the user’s wrist then adding 25mm. The top is 18mm thick at the legs so this was deducted to get the length of the legs. They were cut to length using a sharp hand saw.

The box section rails were formed using 125 x 25 (rail sides) and 75 x 25 (rail top/bottoms) pse redwood (in effect 120 x 20 and 70 x 20). I made them in lengths so that a long rail ((1245mm) and a short rail (412mm)could be cut from a length, so allowing for cutting etc they were about 1700mm long. As I was limiting the number of tools on the project they were jointed just by gluing and screwing:

- The pieces were cut to length.
- The rail top/bottoms were marked and drilled and counter sunk at approximately 300mm spacings 10mm from the edges.

- 115 x 30 temporary spacers were cut to fit into the void inside the rails. The pieces were sawn then planed to width. The fit was checked by offering the pieces up to the rail top/bottom with the two sides adjacent.

- A test run was done to check the rails will come together correctly
- Next assembly with glue, this was applied to the edges of the sides. The parts were held together by binding with parcel tape then the screws driven home. This overcame the need for clamps.

- When the glue was cured the tape was removed and the sides planed to remove any overhang of the top/bottoms. As the screws were well counter sunk I could also clean up the tops and bottoms also arris the corners. The spacers were knocked out using the threaded rod which will be used for fixing later.

- The rails were then cut to length using a hand saw. It is essential that the ends are square so it’s worth doing some practice cuts first (making the rails a few inches over length will give you some practice space). If the cut is not square some cleaning up with a plane may be needed. I did couple of practice cuts in the waste to get my eye in, this is partly why I made the rails over length.

The next step is to locate and fix the rails to the legs more on that next.

 

[Mr T]

The rails are located on the legs using blocks screwed to the sides, they fit into the internal void in the rails. I used the temporary spacers made when assembling the rails for this but first planed a slight taper on the sides to aid locating the rails onto the blocks. Before fitting the blocks I cleaned up the legs with a plane, arrising the corners and also chamfering the bottom of the leg, dragging the bench over a hard floor would lead to chipping of the ends if this was not done.

The blocks were glued and screwed centrally to the sides of the legs 140 mm from the bottom. It is important that these are fitted accurately. When I assembled the under carriage I found it was a little twisted, I had not been careful enough when fitting the blocks and one was twisted causing the whole frame to be in wind. To correct this I would suggest using a spacer to align the block against the edge of the leg.

The whole under carriage is held together by 10mm threaded rod running through the legs and rails. the legs were drilled for the rod with a 12mm drill bit. It is important that the rods in the two directions do not obstruct each other so I drilled for the long rod 50mm from the bottom of the locating block and 65mm for the short rod.
The rods were cut to length with a hack saw, the length was the length of the rail plus double the thickness of a leg plus 30mm for the nuts and washers
The undercarriage could now be assembled. I started with the long rails.

- A nut and washer was screwed onto the end of a rod
- I threaded rod through the leg and laid it on the floor with the rod vertical
- Then I placed the long rail over the rod and located it onto the block.

- The other leg was placed on the end of the rail with the rod through the hole, ensuring that the blocks for the short rails are on the same side.
- The legs were then tightened up with a nut and washer using a socket spanner.

- I repeated for the other pair of legs.
- The short rails could now be fitted by threading rods through the legs on one pair and laying them down with the rods vertical.
- The short rails were then threaded over the rods and the other pair of legs fitted with the blocks locating into the rails. The whole lot being tightened using nuts and washers on the threaded
rod.

That completes the undercarriage. More on making the top later.

 

[Stoatally]

Lovely project and different from a lot I've seen. Subscribed to the thread so I don't miss anything. I think I may have a go at this in the not too distant future.

The pedant in me though wants to point out its a 7 tool bench as you need the socket/spanner to do the bolts and nuts

 

[Mr T]

Yes, you are right about the seventh tool, that's partly why it's called Six tool bench ? I have a feeling that it may get up to eight as I will need a mallet to gp with the chisel. Basically the piont is that it can be made using simple tools that most people will have laying around. Whether they will be sharp enough is another matter!

The top was constructed from 18mm birch ply reinforced with 150 x 50 pse underneath. A 35 x 180 apron was glued and screwed around the edge. A Record 52 ½ QR vice was used for the front vice and a 52 for the tail vice. The bench dogs were made from 20mm beech dowel.

I started by cutting the ply top to size. I used 18mm birch ply, other types could be used but I like the quality of good birch ply, it looks good, takes screws into the side well and the laminations are quite thick. I cut it just with a hand saw, obviously it would have been easier to have it cut to size, but I was experimenting with a worst case scenario. After cutting the edges were trued up with a plane. This included the factory cut edges, they all had to be crisp and square.

The 150 x 50 pse reinforcing pieces were cut to length, the central piece the full length, the two side pieces shorter by about 220 to allow space for the legs. I drilled the pieces at about 280 mm centres about 25 mm from the edges. The holes were also counter bored so that 2” no. 10 screws would bite into the ply (I was concerned that 2 ½” screws in counter sunk holes may be too long). The pieces were then glued and screwed under the top ply using Titebond and the 2” no 10’s. The centre piece was off set by 25 mm toward the back, this was because I planned two rows of bench dog holes and I wanted to be sure the holes for the inner row would be into the reinforcing pieces. I also ensured that the edge pieces were overhanging a millismidgeon so it could be cleaned up to a good wide surface for fixing the apron.

I used some beech machined to 33 x 180 for the top apron because this is what the customer wanted but 38 x 150 or 225 redwood PSE would be OK. The apron is glued and screwed to the edge of the top, the screws in counter bored holes that were then filled with ½” beech dowel.

It’s important that the edges of the top are straight and square so the reinforcing pieces at the edges were carefully planed with a hand plane square and straight to the previuously cleaned up ply edges.
The side pieces were cut precisely to length with a hand saw then cleaned up with a hand plane so that a good butt joint could be achieved with the later side piece. One of the reasons for doing the under carriage first is because I now had it available for supporting work when planing and sawing etc.

The ½” diameter counter bore holes where drilled about 12mm deep at centres about 50mm from either end and at about 250mm intervals 10mm from the top edge. For all but the end holes additional holes were drilled 40mm from the top edge, this meant that screws would be driven into the ply top and also the lower reinforcing piece). A good spur point bit gave a very clean hole. A 5.5mm clearance hole was drilled through from the counter bore hole. The ccounter boring had to be done first, if the clearance hole had been done first there would have been no centre for the centre pin of the drill to engage with.

The side pieces were then offered up, taking care that the ends were precisely aligned with the edges of the top and level or even a smidgeon higher than the top surface, and pilot holes (3mm diameter) were drilled through the clearance holes. The side pieces were screwed in place and final alignment checked. I didn't glue up at this point because I wanted to be sure the end pieces fitted well before I committed myself


The end pieces were then cut to length, allowing a millismidegeon over length for final cleaning up after they are glued on. Holes were drilled for the screws into the top in the same way as the sides at centres 70mm from the ends, double holes in the centre (although I don’t think the lower screw into the redwood end grain had much grip). I also drilled for three screws to go into the side pieces, these were 20mm from the end and 20, 90 and 160 from the top. The end pieces were offered up and the fit checked, some flexing of the side pieces was required to ensure square alignment with the ends, this involved slight slackening of the side piece screws. With the end /side pieces aligned correctly pilot holes were drilled throught the clearance holes into the top and side pieces.

The apron could now be fully glued and screwed into place. The side pieces were fitted first leaving the screws slightly slack, then the end pieces were glued and screwed and then the side screws fully driven home.

To be continued.

Chris

 

[Mr T]

The counter bored holes in the top were filled with 1/2" beech dowel, gluing and tapping in the dowel then trimming it off a couple of mill clear of the surface then planing flush.

The top could now be dropped onto the undercarriage. This can be difficult as it's a tight fit. I planed a chanfer on the outside top edge of each of the legs to aid with location.

The top is fixed to the undercarriage with 2" no 12 screws through the side apron. I drilled counter bored holes in the apron at centres 50mm and 150mm from the top edge and 60mm and 105mm from the end. The clearance holes were 6mm, I drilled 3.5 pilot holes. The legs were marked so that I knew which way round the undercarriage should fit.

Now to deal with the holding facilities. I used a Record 52 1/2 quick release (QR) vice for the front. I had one in store left over from a banch making course. I also like the Parkinson Perfect Patent Vice No 15 (I just love that name!.) You can usually get a Recrd or Parkinsons for about £60-70 on ebay. The tail vice was a Record 52, this did not have QR but I don't think it's necessary here.

The front vice can either be fitted on to the front of the bench or recessed into it. Fitting onto the front is easier but you lose some capacity, recessing entails cutting a large recess into the apron, I went for simplicity and fitted on the front.

The depth of the vice from bracket to top of back was 88mm, the whole thing was 230mm wide. I wanted the top of the vice to sit 20mm below the top of the bench to allow for the wood cheeks. The apron was 180mm deep so it had to be cut out by 72mm (180 – (88+20)) deep and 230mm wide.

The size and position of the recess was marked out 175mm from the left hand end of the bench (the customer was right handed). The recess was chopped out by sawing the width then taking repeated cuts in between to break up the waste. The waste was then chopped away using chisel and mallet then paring. 45mm packing was required behind the apron for the vice bracket to sit on I used an off cut from the top reinforcement boards for this. I offered it up to the back of the recess when paring to make sure the recessed apron and packing provided a level surface for the vice bracket to sit on. When the recess was completed the packing piece was glued and screwed into place making sure the screws did not clash with the bolt positions for the vice.

 

[Mr T]

The vice has a pair of strengthening lugs at the back, I needed to cut slots in the apron to accomodate them. The vice was offered up in the recess so the lgs marked the edge of the recess, the position of the slots could be marked up based on these marks. The slot edges were sawn and the waste between them chopped away until the vice was a neat fit onto the edge of the apron. There was a slight raised piece between the lugs that required a slight easing of the recess edge to accomodate it.

Once the vice was fitting properly it could be placed in position and the position for the four fixing holes marked. The vice was to be fixed using 120mm M10 coach bolts. The heads of the bolts were to be recessed and plugged in the bench top so the top needed counter boring for the heads and plugs. The bolt positions were squared round to the top and the positions marked accurately by measuring from the front to the positions marked underneath, accuracy was vital here. I did not have any dowel readily available to match the forstner bit I was going to use for the counter bore (25mm ish). However the workshop broom handle was a perfect match so I cut a few inches from this. The top was counter bored about 15mm deep at the marked positions then a 12mm clearance hole right through.

I could have fitted the vice with the top upside down but it would then have been too heavy to turn over on my own. So I turned the top over and fitted it from below:

- The height to the top of the vice was calculated. This was marked onto a length of off cut and then clamped in the vice with the marked position aligned with the top of the vice
- The vice could then be slid into the recess supported on the protruding off cut.
- The coach bolts were drive home in the clearance holes and the vice secured with nuts and washers
- The alignment of the vice was checked to ensure it was parallel to the front and square with the top.
- When everything was OK the broom handle dowel was glued into the counter bored holes a little proud for later leveling.

The recessing and fitting for the tail vice was a similar process, the recess being 165 from the bench edge. I did have a problem with the central apron fixing screw clashing with the vice fixing bolt so it would have been best if I had shifted the recess about 10mm to the left.

I used 20mm beech for the vice cheeks, redwood would not have been resilient enough. The width of the front cheeks was 350mm. The back cheek was formed by gluing pieces on the back to pack to the width of the vice back protrusion from the bench edge. This was aided by the fact that I now had a vice to clamp stuff in. The front vice cheek was just an “L” shape formed by gluing a piece to the back of the cheek. It’s better to have the piece glued to the back, if it was glued to the top it may break off when holding pieces in the top of the vice. The cheeks were screwed on very slightly proud of the bench top and later planed and sanded flush.

The 390mm wide cheek for the tail vice was slightly different as it had to take a couple of bench dogs. The cheek was 48mm beech with a 70 x 20mm piece glued and screwed on top (not sure why I didn’t apply this piece in the same way as the front vice!)

 

[AndyT]

What a brilliant, generous thread. No need to buy a magazine or book, it's all here for free.

Chris, I hope you don't regret needing to keep stopping to take pictures and write up the next installment. This needs to be a sticky, and will be useful to many.

 

[Mr T]

I seem to have got two duplicate postings at 12.17 today, any idea how I can delte them, or perhaps the mods could do it.

Thanks for the kind words Andy. I had planned on doing this as a video on my youyube channel but coulkdn't summon up the energy to film it. I may do so some other time. so I thought this was thennext best thing.

Chris

Mod edit: duplicates removed .
P.S. great job

 

[AndyT]

I seem to have got two duplicate postings at 12.17 today, any idea how I can delte them, or perhaps the mods could do it.

Chris

While your post is the last in a thread, the edit button leads to a screen with a Delete option but after someone replies that button disappears. You can edit all the text and leave an empty post. Best option is If you report your own post, a mod will see it and can delete it tidily for you.

 

[Mr T]

The top was to have two rows of bench dogs at 395mm and 120mm centres from the front of the bench. I wanted the dogs in the bench to be angled slightly towards the tail and those in the tail to angle slightly towards the bench. I did not trust my drilling to do this consistently free hand so I needed a jig to hold the drill at the correct angle. The dogs were made from 20mm beech dowel so the holes were to be drilled with a 20mm forstner bit (Axminster Axcaliber tungsten carbide 119mm long), I could have used an auger bit but did not have one available. The shaft on my bit is 10mm diameter so I needed a jig that the 10mm shaft could run in. To make the jig:

- In a piece of 50 x 75 pse (top piece) I drilled two 10mm holes 120 and 395 mm from the end (datum end) and about 15mm from the edge. Drilling free hand I angled the drill slightly. It was important to get the angle the right way. Looked at end on from the datum end the holes were on the left of the piece and tilted slightly towards the right.
- I then planed the edge of the piece at the same angle as the drilled holes until the face sat just above the centre of the holes, this meant that the shaft of the forstner would engage positively in the hole.
- The 50 x 75 was screwed to a base piece of 75 x 25 pse to allow clearance for the head of the forstner bit. This piece would also act as a spacer between the dogs so it was important to get the margin between base piece and the two holes was equal.
- I tested the jig on a piece of scrap to ensure I had the angles and spacings right.

I started by drilling the tail vice cheek first. I wanted the dogs in the vice to tilt towards the bench so the base piece on the jig had to be swapped to the other side of the top piece. The hole positions on the cheek were carefully marked and the jig positioned so the drill aligned with them. I have to admit that I used a couple of quick clamps here so the tool count is rising (although I could claim that the bench is finished, I am now fitting things to it!) With the drill guided by the jig I drilled the holes as far as I could in the cheek. I then had to remove the jig and complete the holes the last 20mm or so free hand.

To drill the holes in the bench I swapped the base piece back to it’s original position. The first pair of holes had to avoid the leg in the corner so they were to be 220mm from the edge of the holes in the tail vice when it was screwed up. I measured and marked this and aligned the jig so the bit hit the mark, thinking about it it may have been better to make up a spacer piece so the jig could be pushed up to the dogs in the tail vice. All the pairs of dog holes have to be aligned accurately with the pair of dogs in the vice.
Once the first pair of holes was drilled the jig could be positioned just by pushing it up against dogs in the previous holes, but always checking that the new holes would be equally spaced from the vice dogs, shimming the jig if there was a discrepancy. Again the holes had to be extended after removing the jig. Care was also taken that the drill did not hit the screws used for fixing gthe reinforcing boards.

The jig gave a spacing of 100mm between the dog centres. The dog holes extended to the front vice where the bracket prevented further drilling.

To make the dogs I used 20mm beech dowel from Plugit. This was a little too tight so I eased it slightly with a plane until it was a sliding fit. However the dogs need to grip the holes even after they have been in and out many times so they needed to be sprung in some way.
To achieve this I made a 60mm long saw cut 5mm from the edge of the dowel. I had some 3mm bamboo kebab skewers which I occasionally use as small reinforcing dowels. I thought I could use these to splay the cut piece. I drilled a pair of 2.7mm holes at the bottom of the cut, one at the very bottom the other about 10mm up. I then applied glue to the upper hole and inserted some of the skewer splaying out the cut using a screw driver at the top. This permanently splayed the cut edge piece so it would spring against the side of the dog hole. I then trimmed of the ends of the skewed and cut the dog from the length of dowel at 100mm.

Some of the dog holes needed easing a little where the hole had been extended I did this using a piece of 120 gritabrasive paper fitted to a 12mm dowel in the drill.

The bench top was finished with four coats of Danish oil.

This was an interesting exercise in building using a minimal tool set. I have to admit the set grew a little beyond what I had hoped but I think I stuck to the principle of the project. Obviously things would have been easier without the self-imposed limit. A compound mitre saw would have been most helpful! However, disregarding the tool limitation, I think this design leads to a very stable and robust bench. I have not worked out the costings yet but will add them in a further post.

The bench did not have a tool well because the customer did not want one, but I'm sure the design could be amended to incorporate one. I have a crude sketchup drawing which I can send to anyone making the bench.

Chris

 

[graduate_owner]

Wow, as has been said, no need to buy a magazine. Well done you.

K

 

[custard]

What a great thread from Chris Tribe!

Workbenches are a common rabbit hole that hobbyist woodworkers fall into. Once down that hole they spend all their time obsessing about workbench height, construction materials, bench designs, vices, round or square dog holes, tool tray or flush top, plus a million other details. Consequently they rarely progress to actually making any furniture and most of them don't even progress to making a bench!

All the more reason to listen to Chris, because he has made loads of furniture and loads of benches too, therefore his is an opinion that's well worth considering.

To the OP's question, if you're mainly using sheet good with power tools you can manage perfectly well with a Workmate (if you've got deep pockets then a Festool style Multi Function Table is an even better option). But if you're using hardwoods and handtools then a decent bench is a huge advantage.

Good luck!