I need to build myself a new bench for my new garage so I'm looking for ideas on how and what to build it from as well as any nice extra features....

In true locostbuilders style my budget is zero £ (or as close to it as I can manage )

so show us what you've got

I created a nice bench, then within minutes filled it with junk.

Made with some spare shelving from an office clearout and 4 30x55mmx3mm beams found in the grass at the back of my garage. It's pretty sturdy, can put an engine on top of it without much flex!


Bench


[Edited on 19/7/12 by coyoteboy]

I have built a lot of benches, in fact never bought one.

Lathe bench
This was for my Myford and you can just see it in the back ground of the pictures below. It was a 4x2 frame with a knee height shelf. The top was a doubled up piece of 3/4" ply we had laying around. The back, sides and shelf deck were in 1/4" ply. I would think this would suppot many many hundreds of kilos.

Metal working bench 1
I made this from a scrap piece of storage tank annular plate approx 3/8"x10'x3'. I made a rectangular frame from 3"x3"x1/4" angle. Same material for the legs. This has had temporary diagonals put on and removed a couple of times. At the moment its tied into the wall of the workshop. You can seen this on the left hand side of the pictures just. Has a little cubby shelf holding the plasma underneath also.

Metal working bench 2
Much the same but a 1" thick 3'x3' top, given to Chrisf. Again storage tank scrap.

Car build table
See pictures below. Only addition is a hole for the engine sump and stiffening plank nailed into the centre underneath

An old piece of kitchen worktop works well. In fact new worktop is pretty cheap if you go for the really basic stuff.

Stu

Don't have a picture, but mine is made from old kitchen units strategically reinforced with plywood and fixed securely to the wall. Holds a Pinto no trouble and the vice attached to it has taken beating too. Useful storage space underneath as well.

Have a look for a house being done up and see if the kitchens being pulled out.

I used bits of old kitchen worktop for two of my benches. The frames were made from pallets I disassembled

my benches are made of an old m/c pallet, made of 6" x2" timber on 6" x 6" bearers. It was 18' long, so I have a 12' bench in the garage and a 6' picnic table (bench) in the garden. All they needed were legs. Sorted! Pics to follow

Scaffold planks for me, then screwed a length of 2" angle along the front edge so I could bash things on it

I currently have a couple of joists fixed across the garage wkith joist hangers with some worktop on - been great for years and never given any problems (originally I used some kitchen base units as well but these didn't last very well).

Because I plan to change the layout a bit now that I have a Westfield and an Enduro bike crammed into a small modern house garage, I plan to build a couple of simple 1000x500 timber benches so that I can arrange them in a couple of different ways to try and get the most useful work space. I figured on making them only 500 deep because I wouldn't miss 10cm on the work surface but it'd make a difference to the standing room I have.

Something like this

I've got an old electronics lab desk at home with a nice circuit breakered power strip along it and even a popper for a grounding wristband! I'm waiting for the back garage to be renovated, then it will be my kit car workshop!

It's amazing what companies throw out!

I got this lot of fleabay for £113/free delivery (not her though) last night.



I doubt I could make them any cheaper

Shelving ok for 175kgs per shelf

ATB

Simon

[Edited on 19/7/12 by Simon]

[Edited on 19/7/12 by Simon]

Have a sniff around over at

Garage Journal

Loads of stuff in the gallery and projects forums. Be warned though - you can lose a serious amount of your life looking at the threads


Cheers

G

Going to start putting together my build table tomorrow and have a good idea of how it's going to go together but what height do you guys tend to go for? Was thinking 1000mm to top of table top?

Whatever height is comfortable for you, if your vertically challenged like me you don't want it too high

I have my build table just over knee height, puts more of the welding into the down hand position and you can climb onto it easier

Cheers

Fred W B

[Edited on 2/9/12 by Fred W B]

I bought a couple of pallet lifting scissor lifts (like hydrolic scissor table lift 250kg lift capacity | eBay). Then I went for a couple of scaffold planks for running ledges (bolted on) and a couple more planks for ramps to drive the car up.

Each scissor lift I got was rated at 350kg, so fine for my car (600kg).

Driving the car on is a slightly hairy experience, so i went and got a winch and bolted it to the back wall of the garage; now i can haul the car up on my own at a safe pace.

Once it's on there, I raise it on axle stands, take the planks off and hey presto - chassis at whatever height I want. And done in try locost style I feel. all in, about £250.

My benches are made with kitchen work tops, and one 12' length, was only £20 in b&q as it was old stock, and had a corner damaged