Table top workbench

[karlmansson]

I've tried out a few different approaches to working at the bench so far. First off I tried to get my hands on a large enough bench that would go high enough. I have a section that is walled off on the same bench though for use with lathe and drill work so I couldn't bring it all the way up.
Then I tried to get a chair that would go really low but that ended up straining my knees and back.
I've looked around to find a good deal for a table top bench and I've seen a few from Esslinger and other places. None of them seem ideal for me though. I also missed out on a used one, an older bench of Swedish make that fetched a hefty price on an online auction.
In the end I decided to try and put one together for myself! Here are a couple of 3D renders of a Sketchup model I made of it. It's 40cm wide excluding the arm rests. I sized it so that an old four cup oiling station that I use will fit inside the grooves at the rear. Including armrests it sits 70cm wide. It will add 15cm in height to you working surface.
The arm rests and tool holder are detachable and held in place with a screw that passes through the wall of the body of the bench and connects with an inside part of the arm rest and tool holder respectively.

If anyone is interested in the model and the plans, let me know and I can share them with you.

I'll start out on the actual building tomorrow and I'll keep posting my progress!

 

[karlmansson]

This a separate view of the armrest:

 

[AJSBSA]

Looks interesting I would like to see the finished table when its done

 

[gmorse]

Hi,

I've been using a far simpler version for some time now; (picture taken before the latest tidy-up ).



Regards,

Graham

 

[Max Phillips]

Hey Karl, any build progress? I'm curious to see it take shape! I've been kicking around similar designs in my head... I have so little in the way of woodworking tools and ability that I'm leaning toward something simpler and possibly not made of wood at all.

Graham, I like your simple idea quite a lot as well. It's got me thinking...

 

[cazboy]

I'm curious to see your build progress, too. Like Max, I like the simplicity of Graham's design. I might build something similar - a bit larger, for clock assembly.
...Doug

 

[gmorse]

Hi Doug,

I can't take any credit for the design of this, it was inspired by the pictures of George Daniels' workshop in "Watchmaking".

Regards,

Graham

 

[cazboy]

Graham,
Even so, it's worth copying. I have a copy of Daniels' "Watchmaking" but somehow those pictures eluded me. I'll have to revisit it again soon.
...Doug

 

[karlmansson]

There certainly is progress!
I'll be back with pictures later. I was lucky enough to be able to borrow a really nice workshop for a couple of days. The guy who runs it handles materials in pretty large quantities so I even got the wood for this as "scraps"! I started out with a disused collision shield for walls in passages where electric trucks travel. It was 2m plus in length, 2,5 cm thick rod glued beech. Heavy.

the body, top, armrests (minus the padding) and drawers are done! I'm doing the finishing at the moment, sanding and such but it's proven to be pretty much more time consuming than I had though it would be... Then comes oiling the top and armrests and varnishing the frame.
I decided to skip making the tool rest at the moment, it can be added at a later stage and I think the drawers will provide sufficient storage now. The process of making the block for the tool rest with the grooves was a little hard to work out, especially with the tools I had at hand.

I'll be back later!

 

[karlmansson]

And so! Pictures!
The image orientation doesn't seem to translate from my phone to the page so sorry about any neck strain in advance...
The images show the process pretty much from the start.
The ones that look like I've got the workbench set up are just sort of mock ups to see how everything would fit on the surface. And to show it off...

As I mentioned earlier, the frame is rod glued beech. The inner walls are birch as well as the plywood material used as the bottom for the drawers. The frames for the drawers are beech as well as the thin panels they run on. I also rubbed a candle on both the tracks and grooves where the drawers run, as per recommendation by my dad. It actually helped quite a bit to make them run smoothly, even though the surface was smooth, straight and sanded down with 240 grit paper.
The whole thing was glued together first, then holes were drilled and plugs were hammered in with glue in place.

All that is left to do now is to get rid of the last few machining marks, put plugs into the top (not glue though, I want to be able to remove it if I want to change it or to grind it apart from the bench) and then oil the top and varnish the sides. Still trying to decide if I should go with a real old school look and get a shellac based varnish or if I should go more durable.

Hope you like it! I'm feeling pretty happy about it so far!

Best

/Karl

 

[karlmansson]

I might add that the arm rests are missing their cushioning. I'm still looking for a suitable gel material for it. I've found this so far ( http://www.ebay.de/itm/191346193853 ) but I was hoping to salvage some high quality gel armrests from an office chair. No luck so far though.
If I end up making them myself, I'll add the gel sheets to a 4mm masonite piece, add screws to protrude through the masonite, drill holes in the armrests to accept the screws and a nut on the other side. Then dress the assembly with either pleather or leather. That should bring the arm rests up to height with the work top!

 

[cazboy]

Bravo! Your project looks to be exceedingly nicely done. I had real trouble with the orientation of your pictures, so I downloaded them and re-oriented them one-by-one, which let me follow your project more easily. I especially like the inclusion of drawers into your design. At any rate, you've created a first-class addition to your workshop. I think the addition of gel material to the armrests will be a nice touch; certainly a comfortable one. When I read your plan to add gel material, I immediately thought about another product called Sorbothane, but I suspect your solution will be much less expensive. Please post pictures when it's completely finished!
...Doug

 

[cazboy]

Karl, I hope you don't mind - I thought I'd re-post your photos with corrected orientation (I hope I got them all correct). I thought it might help others see your progress with a bit less confusion.
...Doug

 

[AJSBSA]

Excellent thanks for posting I have saved the pictures for future reference

 

[karlmansson]

Thank you Doug for the correction of the pictures! Of course I don't mind! It's always tricky to know which ones are in the wrong orientation as all of the programs on my mac seem to read the code from my iphone about orientation. So I only know which ones are the wrong way around once I've uploaded them and by then it's sort of bothersome to redo it. I was in a hurry yesterday too but I'm glad you found the time to do it!

I can't find the auction that was for the one that Inspired me right now. It had one drawer and the arm rests were solid wood and not angled out from the body. It also didn't have the groove for catching parts but a small ridge outside of the edge. I had a hunch that a ridge would get bothersome pretty quickly when you had to rest your arms on it. That bench had one drawer but as I wanted to get more height out on mine (in total it's about 17cm now including the bench top), I decided to add a second drawer.

Thanks again for your kind words, I'll be back with more pictures in a while!

/Karl

 

[cazboy]

Hello Karl,
No problem at all. I actually enjoy doing things like that! I have two questions for you: (1) In the fourth picture (the one I took the liberty of renaming "04"), the wood strip appears to be oak. Is that what it is? Did you build the whole project out of oak? My second question is: (2) How did you achieve the groove around the perimeter of your work surface? I'm betting you did it with a ball-shaped router bit. And, I agree that the groove is more desirable than a ridge or a wall - those would be painful on your wrists. A groove like that would be good for catching a stray rolling piece.
All in all, EXCELLENT woodworking skills - you are certainly more skilled than I am!

 

[karlmansson]

No, it's not oak, that would have taken my hubris to it's edge I'm afraid .
I thought about making it out of some sort of fruit tree wood, pear, cherry maybe, but when I got to the workshop the man who runs it had a lot of beech on hand, close to the thicknesses I needed.

The project is made out of solid beech, rod glued beech, rod glued birch and birch plywood.

I'm going to turn brass knobs for the drawers as well, that might prove to be a slightly more distant addition though.

And thank you! I had help in the beginning with making the rough parts but this is the first, and by far the biggest, project I've undertaken in woodworking for a very long time.

 

[karlmansson]

Oh yeah, and about the groove!
I DID use a 12mm, spheric tip router bit. The tricky part was starting and lowering the bit running. That and joining the grooves in the angles. I got a little shake in some of the grooves but they got better after some sanding. I also used a router to round off the outer edge as well as making the grooves for the drawers. Different bits though.

 

[cazboy]

Ahh, so it's beechwood I see. I've done a half-dozen or so woodworking jobs in my life, so I'm not very experienced. I was erroneously under the impression that I was seeing oak in the pictures. Very, very nice indeed. I can imagine the groove was tricky to get started - you would have had to had the router table running at top speed, and then slowly lower the wood top onto the spinning bit, and then finish the groove without letup!
Thanks for filling us in. I am still hoping for more pictures after it's all done! Thanks, Karl.

 

[karlmansson]

Yep, that's how it went down. I also had to let the router rev down before lifting it which resulted in a lot of friction heat marks. I marked the approximate ending for each straight line and started with the easiest ones. Then filled in the odd angled ones where I didn't have much support.

Haha, well you still have a lot more experience than I do! This is the first woodworking project I've done since junior high. I thought I'd give it a shot and it is actually really satisfying. It differs a lot from making an old watch run again (also satisfying though) but now being able to see how my 3D model actually exists in physical form, and being part of how it got there, is something else entirely. I can see how people get hooked on doing this...

 

[cazboy]

Yep, that's how it went down. I also had to let the router rev down before lifting it which resulted in a lot of friction heat marks. I marked the approximate ending for each straight line and started with the easiest ones. Then filled in the odd angled ones where I didn't have much support.

Haha, well you still have a lot more experience than I do! This is the first woodworking project I've done since junior high. I thought I'd give it a shot and it is actually really satisfying. It differs a lot from making an old watch run again (also satisfying though) but now being able to see how my 3D model actually exists in physical form, and being part of how it got there, is something else entirely. I can see how people get hooked on doing this...