chrsgrain
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| posted on 19/10/14 at 05:42 AM |
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Workbench design help needed...
Hi all,
I want to build a workbench for the garage, plan is to make it of angle iron to hold a wooden top, with a angle iron frame just above the floor to
hold a shelf. Legs would be square tube welded to the underside of the angle iron holding the top. The shelf would be welded to the internal faces if
the legs. Total length 2400 mm, depth 700. Plan is at the moment to have a leg at each corner and one front and back in the middle to support the
span.
Couple of questions... Can anyone suggest wall thickness for the angle and the tube? Also, any obvious improvements?
Cheers
Chris
Spoing! - the sound of an irony meter breaking...
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Matt21
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| posted on 19/10/14 at 06:28 AM |
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thought about putting a back on it?
stops bits falling off the back, gives you a nice area to hang tools and add small shelves for bits and bobs. And you can also add a shelf on the top
of this.
make a reinforced corner to bolt a vice too.
add supports under the work surface front to back quite often along the length of it to stop the surface sagging (even thick wood will sag
evetually)
cupboards are always nice to keep power tools in underneath too?
as for steel thickness, 3mm angle would be fine, 1.6mm box also fine.
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RichieW
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| posted on 19/10/14 at 06:58 AM |
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I used 50*50 *3mm box for my workbench. Also bought and fitted some m12 adjustable feet from ebay. They aren't fitted when I took the pictures.
They allow you to adjust out any shoddy workmanship and if you do manage to weld it perfectly square you will probably find your garage floor
isn't perfectly level anyway.
Mines a lot smaller than yours but it is nice and heavy. I would like a heavy steel plate top for it but funds dont allow.
 
Description
 
Description
 
weld
 
Description
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DW100
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| posted on 19/10/14 at 08:10 AM |
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I built some benches about 15 years ago for my workshop. They are all 2400mm long and 600 deep. Made them from standard 25mm box with 18 mm ply tops.
A leg in each corner and central ones at front and back on the long runs. Held to the wall with a couple of screws to stop them moving around.
I have a large pillar drill on one and a hydraulic press on another and a big record steel vice above one of the centre legs. They are great, plenty
strong enough to drop an engine or gearbox on.
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joneh
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| posted on 19/10/14 at 08:19 AM |
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I made mine from 3 old kitchen cabinets and a lenght of worktop.
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mark chandler
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| posted on 19/10/14 at 08:43 AM |
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Scrap tube and old tennis court fencing angle, I guess 6' long and 2' wide bolted to the floor and wall with 1" thick MDF flooring
dropped in the angle recess.
It's also braced where the large vice sits, because its bolted I can really swing on the handle of the vice.
Completely open at the front so I can roll my welder trolley, power hacksaw etc underneath, I also have a couple of wheeled trolleys which other stuff
sits on.
If you are planning to drop the ply on top of the frame then get some thin angle and screw along the facing edge, this allows you to bend stuff and
stops the wood eroding and chipping.
[Edited on 19/10/14 by mark chandler]
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big_wasa
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| posted on 19/10/14 at 08:49 AM |
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I used the build board and some 2x2 after I made my chassis 
I haven't decided on the new one yet
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ReMan
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| posted on 19/10/14 at 09:11 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by joneh
I made mine from 3 old kitchen cabinets and a lenght of worktop.
I built mine using NEW kitchen units and worktop.
Plenty strong enough and storage benefits
www.plusnine.co.uk
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nick205
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| posted on 19/10/14 at 09:33 AM |
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I'm planning a bench for my new garage. Will be 40x40x3mm box legs and 40x40x3 angle top and shelf with 25mm MDF work top and shelf (the MDF
was salvaged from work and free otherwise I'd be using chip board). I'm on the look out for some steel plate for the top to make it
suitable for welding as well.
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Slimy38
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| posted on 19/10/14 at 09:38 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by ReMan
quote:
Originally posted by joneh
I made mine from 3 old kitchen cabinets and a lenght of worktop.
I built mine using NEW kitchen units and worktop.
Plenty strong enough and storage benefits
Same here. Wickes were selling some butt ugly carcasses for a bargain price, something like £12 for a double and £7 for a single. And there's a
place near me that sells seconds worktops (mine had a chunk missing out the back), so I was all sorted for about £30.
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joneh
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| posted on 19/10/14 at 09:39 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by ReMan
quote:
Originally posted by joneh
I made mine from 3 old kitchen cabinets and a lenght of worktop.
I built mine using NEW kitchen units and worktop.
Plenty strong enough and storage benefits
Posh git 
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ReMan
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| posted on 19/10/14 at 11:27 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by joneh
quote:
Originally posted by ReMan
quote:
Originally posted by joneh
I made mine from 3 old kitchen cabinets and a lenght of worktop.
I built mine using NEW kitchen units and worktop.
Plenty strong enough and storage benefits
Posh git
Yes that's me POSH 
As Slimey says though with a "seconds worktop (dint one end that was cut off anyway, the whole lot cost less than £50 and was up in no time
www.plusnine.co.uk
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Hellfire
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| posted on 19/10/14 at 06:23 PM |
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I built mine from old kitchen units and used lengths of 6" x 2" pine, fastened together for the work surface. Plenty strong enough and
great for storage too. Only problem is...... my workshop looks like a kitchen..... Think I need to paint the cupboard doors dark grey
Phil
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Staple balls
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| posted on 19/10/14 at 06:56 PM |
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I threw this together last year from some pilfered scraps and a few pallets, cost me nothing but screws, since then I've screwed all the boards
on the top together.
Not quite as strong as I'd like, but I can jump up and down on it without any problems, so it'll do.
(Excuse the sprog's contraption, I don't even know WTF that was)
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RichieW
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| posted on 19/10/14 at 07:19 PM |
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I think the most important thing with a workbench is that you make it heavy enough or secure it well enough so that when you put something in the
obligatory attached vice and attach a scaffold pole for leverage that the bench does not move when you apply the required force.
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chrsgrain
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| posted on 20/10/14 at 05:51 AM |
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Thanks guys, that's exactly the sort of thing I was after.
Chris
Spoing! - the sound of an irony meter breaking...
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DIY Si
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| posted on 22/10/14 at 10:17 AM |
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I was tempted to make mine from steel, but went with wood in the end as I had some suitable 2" x 6" offcuts. It's also now a
semi-structural part of my garage! This is the frame of mine, which is 3000mm long and 630mm deep:
The frame was then topped with old kitchen worktops, which are always available cheaply, and then the whole lot was topped with a galvanised 3mm steel
sheet, bent to suit by my local trailer builders. They also happened to be the only local place with 3000mm long sheets. The steel sheet is stuck down
with 3 big tubes of contact adhesive to stop it ringing and then screwed to the wall and the front face of the bench. I can jump on it, swing on the
vice etc and it doesn't move at all. Including the top, I think I spent £120 or so on it. It's perfect for me, but a mate finds it too
high to use. But then I'm 6'3" and he's not. It's probably the best money I spent on my garage.
“Let your plans be dark and as impenetratable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.”
Sun Tzu, The Art of War
My new blog: http://spritecave.blogspot.co.uk/
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HowardB
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| posted on 22/10/14 at 02:34 PM |
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Mine was built from an ex m/c pallet. It was 16' long. So I made a garage bench at 12' and a garden table at 4'. The top was
2" x8" timbers over 6"x4" timbers. Cost nowt . The garden table is strong enough to take an engine for working in the
sunshine
Howard
Fisher Fury was 2000 Zetec - now a 1600 (it Lives again and goes zoom)
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