Turning Workmate into workbench

[boorite]

Hi all,

I made a removable top for a portable clamping table, and it's become a passable imitation of a real workbench. Just wanted to share. Hope somebody finds it useful.

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

I like to think my workbench will not let me down on its legs.

I hate the B&D workbenches...you cant get a good sweep of the hand plane because the workbench wants to take the plane elsewhere other than the wood.

[boorite]

That's why I weighted mine with so much geology. Still, if you use hand tools all the time, especially planes, my bench would only just get you by in a pinch.

The reason I got the Craftsman instead of the B&D is durability. Reviews of the B&D tend to note really flimsy packaging that results in damage, plus some fussy, breakable parts in the clamping mechanism.

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

In all honesty at some stage or other you will encounter numourous problems working on it whether you have adapted it to take that platform or use it as it came.

It looks like you have the room there for a proper workbench but lack the ingenuity to hang things on the wall high or build a couple of shelves or even put struts across the ceiling and hang stuff up there. :-)

[B A R R Y]

Nice idea!

[mac davis]

Good idea, Scott... If it gets you through your projects until you can build a bench, it's the solution to a very common problem.. Mac

[boorite]

Excuse me? You couldn't possibly see that from the photographs; it's nothing to do with the project; and it isn't true, as I have stuff hanging all over the walls and ceilings. I can and have built "proper" workbenches, but there's no sense doing so in a temporary situation like this. A remark like "you lack ingenuity" is nasty, the smiley notwithstanding. Apparently you like belittling people.

[bremen68]

Awww just ignore em... I think it's a pretty good idea myself. I have the B&D version and will probably use this idea. It's fast set up, easy to move, and relatively solid. Like you said it was a fix for a problem... some folks (luckily a small number only) tend to forget that little tidbit... I could pull my soap box out about folks getting high and mighty, but I'll save that for another time... ;-)

Thanks for the link and pics too. Always good too see as well as read what your projects are.

[boorite]

Thanks. Even when I do set up permanent shop somewhere, I figure I can keep this thing to carry wherever the work is. I've seen similar things in WW mags, but far wimpier. I can see using something like this in an apartment or in a garage that has to be shared with cars. Most people deal with the latter situation by sticking the workbench against a wall, which I could do, but I like being able to walk all around it and have the work hang off both sides and all that. Thanks again for the feedback.

[boorite]

:-D thanks very much. You'd think I'd get thicker skin after so long online. Hope you do get some use out of the idea.

Some things I do like about the B&D are the big hold-down step and large work surface. I have heard some things about plastic parts in the clamping mechanism. Does anything like that seem like a problem to you? I ask because I've still got my eye on 'em. Just being wary.

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

Wasn't belittling you,merely pointing out that safety in the workshop is paramount to ones health.

[boorite]

Turning such an innoccuous remark into an insult takes talent.

[Darrell Feltmate]

[busbus]

Scott,

I made something like this as well to put on my B&D Workmate but I have to confess, yours is leaps and bounds better than mine! I used a 4'x4' piece of old 3/4" plywood and slapped a 2x4 underneath to lock into the table after I took the middle piece out. It works OK but it is heavy and unruly. I would think your solution is way better.

Don't let other people's comments hackle you too much. I also do not have the time nor the space for a nice, big bench. I do have a bench in the back of the garage but it is dark and dingy back there and there are times when I would like to have the bench right in front of the garage doors.

I agree with the statements that this bench is not going to perform well with things like hand planes but I would not use it for such work. I can think of oodles of time this would be simply perfect.

In fact, I am going to build me one of these and scrap my old monster. It has done me well for 15 years--I just wish I would have thought about actually having it be a workbench and not simply a work table.

Great idea! I hope you post some more ingenious things like this in the future!

ray

[boorite]

I was hoping someone would!

[boorite]

Thanks, that made my day!

[Dave Balderstone]

on the next update.

[upand_at_them]

Nice idea, Scott. I'm sure there are a lot of garageshop ww'ers who would find this useful.

I have the top of the line B&D that I got at Sears about 20 years ago. I like it a lot. I bought a bunch of those fasteners that hold the removable top to the bench with the idea that I would build some attachments (namely to turn it into a router table), but I never got around to it.

Mike

[B A R R Y]

I'm not a garage-shopper, but I like the portability of it.