Workbench question

[Pvt_Ryan]

Due to the dire nature of what currently passes for a workbench in my garage I was considering buying / making one.

However is it really cost effective to make one vs just buying one premade?

Looking at http://www.axminster.co.uk/sjobergs-nor ... rod724482/ which is about what I would be willing to spend on a bench. It's £300.

Now if I look at building one the vices alone (going by axminister prices) are going to cost me ~£100 leaving £200 for wood, bolts etc. Not to mention it's going to take me quite a while to build (hand tools only). So assuming wood & bolts etc cost me £150. That leaves buying the bench £50, bench dogs that come with the bench are £30 on their own leaving me £20 for someone elses labour.

What do you guys think?

I am not completely against doing it myself, I just don't really want to spend more than I could just pay to have one delivered to my house. Also getting time to actually build it with SWMBO & 2 kids is going to be a whole different story...

Ryan

 

[9fingers]

Not sure how that design prevents racking especially if you don't have the optional storage unit. However it is a reputable brand so presumably they have got it sussed. It your position with time, budget and hand tools only, I'd be very tempted to buy it and if there were design shortcomings, fix those once you have got it.


Bob

 

[Chems]

You'd be hard pressed to make one for £300, materials alone would cost perhaps more. Having said that I wouldn't buy the one your looking at. It just doesn't have any heft to it, looks very spindly.

Have you thought about making a cheap bench from some large softwoods with an MDF top? Won't be as expensive but should do until later in your woodworking life.

 

[knappers]

The one I built is similar to what Chems describes. It's no award winner, but it was CHEAP. Legs and base were made from timber salvaged from pallets, top cut from one piece of MDF, a few lengths of studding from Ebay and an old vice and we are there.

https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/project-2-a-bench-t42681.html

Si.

 

[9fingers]

Nice one Si!

I'm jealous of your Bridgy!! I have to make do with my Myford VMC knee mill c/w 2 axis Heidenhain DRO - about half the size in all dimensions apart from height compared to yours!
I suppose I can forgive you for using it on wood :shock:

Bob

 

[myturn]

You do realise the one you linked to does not include the under-storage unit, that is an optional extra? The legs look pretty thin to me too.

It depends what you want to use it for.

If you are using it as a general-purpose bench, not specifically for carpentry, I would make one up against one wall of the garage using floor joists bolted together and a top liner pinned on. Use steel angle brackets to attach the top to the wall and to the legs and to rawl-bolt the legs to the floor. It'll be rock solid, cost very little and not take long to make.

That's what I did and on the bench I have a Myford ML7 (weighs 100kg+) a pillar drill, a large engineers vice and my DML305VS.

 

[knappers]

I wish the knee mill were at home... it's in our tool room at work. I do work for Bridgeport (now Hardinge), so we have all sorts of toys here, most of which you wouldn't let a piece of wood anywhere near...

Si.

 

[flounder]

I guess it depends on your priorities. If time is your most valuable asset then it is probably worthwhile buying a good bench from somewhere providing that it delivers on what you need it to. For most people here though who work wood for a hobby, the actual process of designing and building a workbench of their own is the primary motivator, and rather than be a consumer of our time, it is spending time doing what we want to do with the end result of having a bench tailor made to our needs.

 

[woodbloke]

You'd be hard pressed to make one for £300, materials alone would cost perhaps more. Having said that I wouldn't buy the one your looking at. It just doesn't have any heft to it, looks very spindly.

Have you thought about making a cheap bench from some large softwoods with an MDF top? Won't be as expensive but should do until later in your woodworking life.

I agree as well, just the vice(s) alone will take a fair sized wedge out of your budget. I'd get hold of some decent sized fencing posts (with as few knots as possible) and some suitable stuff for the rails. Joint it simply together and screw a sheet of 15mm ply or mdf across the back to prevent racking. For the top, I'd go for a triple thickness 18mm mdf jobbie with a sacrificial hardboard top...include a bench well if needed. It would be quick to make and give a really solid, cheap bench that ought to come within budget - Rob

 

[Anonymous]

i had that bench. its rubbish,it is prone to move when using it. the vice that are supplied do not do a great job. granted i bought mine second hand! but i would not buy another one.

 

[Pvt_Ryan]

Thanks everyone for your input it is invaluable and duly noted. Still not sure if I want to buy or make but I am not in a rush so I'll consider it some more.

Thanks Mike it's always good to hear what someone who has one thinks, based on your opinion I doubt I will be getting that model (unless I get several 1st hand opinions to the con-try) , I thought the vices were ( at least they looked like to me) the Veritas ones..

I like the idea about pallets as there is a food factory near me that burns a lot of pallets so I might be able to get a few for free. What is that like for weight though as I'd have assumed the pallets were made of pine.

Ryan

 

[Chems]

You don't ideally want your first bench to be excellent. As you sort of evolve the way you work so want a bench that suites the things your doing. Your first bench should be a get to know what you want affair.

 

[jumps]

You don't ideally want your first bench to be excellent. As you sort of evolve the way you work so want a bench that suites the things your doing. Your first bench should be a get to know what you want affair.

a psychologist could probably do a complete thesis on that post......... =D>

I would like to think that someone using the full resources of this site with regard to 'a bench' would at least be able to make an extremely well informed decision regarding his current, and likely evolving, needs - after that... who knows (hammer)

Surely you only need to build/buy something to find out what you initially need if you exist in a vacuum

 

[Chems]

I dunno its not that simple really. If you look at all the Roubo builds, although that's a set design there's loads of variations on it for different peoples wants. With wagon vices, twice tail screws, normal vices, leg vices and combinations of all and inbetween. Depending what work you do dictates what you want from the bench. I know that for me I'm not going to be doing hand cut dovetails but would like to plan long edges so a leg vice and sliding deadman are more for me than a twin screw face vice.

If what you said was true, then all of us wouldn't be constantly selling and buying new versions of the same tool! We'd have known we wanted a 12" cast iron table saw in the first place and not wasted the money on a site saw!

 

[Mark A]

I agree with what everyone else said about building a "jack of all trades" workbench until you know what area of woodworking you want to specialise in, then either modify or build a new one to suit.

I'm quite new to all this so I just wanted a large sturdy basic workbench for the time being, just to get started really. It was going in my metal shed so I didn't want to use softwood because of the damp problem I had over the winter, so I laminated strips of plywood to make up the framework for the base
The total cost was £127 (2 sheets of 18mm WBP ply, 2 sheets of 25mm MDF, 1 sheet of hardboard, 2 bottles of glue and 2 boxes of screws), but that's excluding a vice because there hasn't been any on ebay locally yet !! I only bought the materials as and when I needed it, due to lack of space.

It weighs nearly 200kg without anything on the shelves and doesn't move around at all (the floor does though #-o !!)

For my first workbench I'm very happy with it!

Mark

 

[dennyom]

Hi Ryan
About ten years ago I had the same problem/questions as you are faceing. I was advised to just build one. Which i did, in stages over about a year. I used mostly hand tools to do it. The first thing I did was make a 72" x 22" top of construction grade 2x4's from a big box retailer. I waited untill they were on sale and picked the best they had on hand. This top was used on top of a couple of saw horses and I used it to build the base a few mounths later. No vices of course but I made a wedge thingy to hold wood for planeing and hold downs for keeping things flat to the top. Later I added the face vice and still later the end vice. The drawer unit under neath came later. This was intended to be a starter bench to be replaced by a better one later. That later has not arrived yet. I do not think that the lumber cost me $100.00 US. The vices were also bought on sale as I could justify the cost. Actually I use the wedge thingy more than the vices along with planeing stops and a bench hook none of which cost more than a buck or two each. Building the bench taught me a lot which I would not have learned if I bought one. It was fun and it was cheap, less than $300.00 US spread over about a year. Go ahead and build one you won't regret it.

 

[jumps]

I dunno its not that simple really. If you look at all the Roubo builds, although that's a set design there's loads of variations on it for different peoples wants. With wagon vices, twice tail screws, normal vices, leg vices and combinations of all and inbetween. Depending what work you do dictates what you want from the bench. I know that for me I'm not going to be doing hand cut dovetails but would like to plan long edges so a leg vice and sliding deadman are more for me than a twin screw face vice.

If what you said was true, then all of us wouldn't be constantly selling and buying new versions of the same tool! We'd have known we wanted a 12" cast iron table saw in the first place and not wasted the money on a site saw!

I agree that bench requirements can evolve with changing needs, and to a degree I accept that even if you never changed what you produced it's likely that you would evolve the way you did it - and this could include not only how you use certain equipment but the equipment itself.

However, I would like to think that this latter stage could be significantly reduced as people get to benefit from the huge range of experience presented here, and elsewhere.

As to the site saw - I want the CI table saw but simply don't have the space so I make do with a combi

Cost and available space drive many, potentially poor as you point out, buying decisions.

 

[MickCheese]

The bench from Axminster looks OK for the price. A ply back would stop racking and your first project could be a storage unit or tool box and that would increase the weight substantially.

If you then decide to build your own then you can use this one and after the build resell it and recoup some of your outlay.

Mick

 

[Benchwayze]

I suppose you could buy a few railway sleepers off 'flea-bay', and build them up, brickie style, into a block. Then flatten the top with a hand plane. You can always plonk that on two sawhorses, while you make the underframe, using the new top from the word go.
I would advise buying one, but for what you want, you would have to pay a lotta munnie. So you might be best off building.

I have been through lots of stages. An old bar-top from a Victorian pub, on two brick piers .
An old pine door with hardboard on it on an old table frame.
Multi layers of plywood on an old carpenters bench frame.
Laminated hardwood panels from B&Q on that same frame.
Finally, in my dotage, I am going to make a real bench!

Best of luck Ryan.


regards
John