Assembly Bench Completed

Stand an 8' 2x4 on end. How much floor space does it take up?

If you mean me (it's "Keith", BTW), no it wouldn't be good for an outfeed table, for the same reasons. I don't currently have one, mostly because it hasn't floated to the top of the "do" list. But when I do build one, it'll be made the same way as my cutting table. I already have the parts (though haven't decided if I want it on wheels).

I needed to add this to this drawing anyway. ;~)

Now I get it, thanks. So the wall space is 96" x 20" x 17. I think it was the "bottom of one against the top of the other" and ignoring the

Yes, sorry about the name, I always thought you were Kevin, not sure why. Also not sure what "the same reasons" are you mention that it wouldn't work as an outfeed table?

What I don't like about it, assuming you are not tearing it down between uses, is it has no storage. I would put it on wheels, put drawered cabinet under the top and make it the right height for the TS outfeed. I try to have cabinets under most of my big tools, other than drill press, planer and shaper.

I believe the intended purpose of the table, as described by its designer, it to be a portable work surface that is (relatively) light, quickly set-up and torn down, and can be easily handled by one person, and also have some of the features of a shop workbench, like under-surface temporary tool storage.

If you put wheels and cabinets underneath, when then you might as well build a non-portable, regular shop work table. :-)

No problem with the name. I don't use it often on the Usenet, so I wouldn't expect anyone to remember. They usually just use the initials.

I didn't say it wouldn't work. It's whole purpose is to save space, which is of no consequence for me. I'd rather have the outfeed table as a permanent feature.

Exactly. Drawers take a lot of time to make, which is something I'm dearly short of. Of course, right now I have time but can't physically do the work (for the same reason I have time ;-).

A picture is worth a thousand words!

I think it

Too many numbers. :~)

See, if you'd hung it on the ceiling like I suggested, you would have used zero floor space. ...and confused the crap out of Jack. ;-)

Yes, for Kevin, I mean Keith, that was my thoughts exactly. He has

I see that as rather dumb, would prefer a cabinet with drawers and such for storage, and I'm not a fan of open shelves under a bench. They end up collecting junk thats hard to find and dig out. Drawers were invented for a reason. There is a lot of stuff I'm not a fan of however, that many people love. For example, those 5" thick, solid maple, drawerless work benches with tool tray in the back of the top that all the books show. What a waste they are (IMNSHO).

I only needed a "flat" assembly work surface. I already have adequate out feed for my TS, 15 roller HTC fold down. I wanted it to break down because I still take it to a location and more importantly when I'm not working on a job or project my wife's car gets parked in the garage. The fancy top, is very rigid and flat, the goal. The tool storage is just a bonus. I'm in the middle of building a quilters design wall for my wife and it is ironic that this 40x96 inch work surface is a bit too narrow, but leaps and bounds better that anything I have used in the past. Did I mention Flat and Rigid? LOL As far as fancy, nothing like most others that have all of the holes drilled in the top. Jay's is the acceptation to that too. But his is the older design built with 3/4" material and 50% heavier than mine that I built with the later design and 1/2" material.

Yes, piling stuff under a bench is a RPIA. Drawers are my preference also. I have 4 mobile and one stationary drawer units/chests.

That 5" thick top gives the bench some mass so it doesn't try escaping, stage left, while you're playing with planes and chisels/mallets.

No need for a super expensive maple top that thick. Build a bench with drawers full of tools and you will have all the mass you need, plus storage. An inch and a half pine top is plenty robust for 99.9999% to

Another thing that makes me laugh is woodworkers putting sand bags on their lathe to give it mass. OK I guess if you are the type that only does turnings, but for a guy with a basic wood shop, build a bench with drawers to hold your lathe up. You get mass, storage, and build skills all at once, same with a workbench, and you don't need expensive wood to do it.

It don't work that way. The top needs the mass to resist movement.

It's amazing that you know more than woodworkers who have been doing this for their entire life.

Amazing that woodworkers that have been doing it their entire life don't agree with me, who has been doing it his entire life as well. I explained the reasons behind my extremely experienced opinion, you are free to disagree and give the basis for disagreement. Saying others disagree with me is rather lame, but expected from one with about no experience. Besides, if you look around, you will see very few actual wood shops with 5" thick $1000 maple worktops, so apparently plenty of woodworkers agree with me. Also, if you own a lathe, why would you rather have sand bags holding it down than a cabinet with drawers full of tools and stuff? Even someone like you should be able to figure it out, let alone one with a lifetime of experience.

Woodworking has certainly changed a lot since those heavy types of workbenches were necessary. Power tools have changed our world and the types of work surfaces we need. I think that's enough to explain why you don't see those hulking benches much anymore.

Now you're just trying to force your preference on others. :-) When I had my lathe I did both. I added covered storage underneath for the lathe-associated tools and that was extremely handy. I also had sandbags and/or brake drums on the bottom. But to criticize someone for not building a cabinet into their lathe stand is a bit narrow-minded to me. Maybe these people have plenty of room in the shop and don't need the extra storage space. Yeah, I know, that's an oxymoron, but I'm sure there are unicorn woodworkers out there with lots of room in their shops.

In my shop, the cabinet tops *are* work spaces and if I had tools permanently attached, I would need to build more work space. I'd rather have bigger power tools on mobile bases and roll them in and out of the work area. If/when I have a big enough shop, I'll gladly have dedicated floor space for each and every tool station.

But we see those types of benches advertised, plans everywhere and so on. If power tools changed anything it would be how easy it is to build a cabinet with drawers full of tools instead of a $1000 5" thick maple top for bulk, that had no storage other than a shelf.

Not at all, just vocalizing my opinion. I have no problem with someone else spending a $1000 on an unneeded maple top for a bench with no storage. Or building a stand for a lathe with no storage, and throwing a sand bag on it for bulk. The lathe I could see if the turner had few tools, and no skills to build a cabinet with drawers.

I'd guess few home shops have enough room to waste space. Some might, but most don't. When I see plans on the net for workbenches and lathe stands, they almost always have no storage other than a shelf or two. My opinion based on a lifetime of experience is that is lame. Actually, that was my opinion before I had a lifetime of experience, and I'd think it was just plain common sense.

Router tables of course have complicated cabinets with drawers to store router bits and all that, not bad but really, a router is a portable tool. a stand can be a flat piece of wood clamped to the workbench (particularly easy if your work bench top isn't 5 inches thick)

Thats pretty much my point. Whether your work tops have tools permanently attached or not, the space under the tops should be for storage, lots of drawers to put stuff in. This really doesn't change much even with plenty of space. Even with a 2000' shop like Keith has, my experience is you need a place for everything, and cabinets with plenty of drawers is the way to go. If building a cabinet for storage, might as well design to hold a lathe, or building a workbench, might as well build drawers for storage while you are at it. Just makes sense to me. That doesn't negate building a tear down assembly table like Leon's. That's not what I'm talking about.

But what "Doesn't know Jack" doesn't get is that there are still Neanders out there, who appreciate a good Neander bench. I don't have a desire for such a bench because I'm more of a Tim. OTOH, I don't like Festering tool "benches" because they are way too spindly. I don't like my work moving around under my (more power) tools. The Festool router table is just nuts.

Lefties do that.

Or the storage space is more useful elsewhere. OTOH, a cabinet under a lathe may make cleanup a little easier (not so many nooks and crannies to collect shavings).

The drawback is that things get further apart. Need a screwdriver? Dang, they're in the other room.

On 3/3/2018 10:42 AM, snipped-for-privacy@notreal.com wrote: Snip

FWIW I have the larger Festool work table. It does wobble...and there are braces to add at an additional cost. I have used this bench extensively over the past 5 or so years. The wobble does not bother me. Like you I thought it would drive me nuts. But I do not notice the wobble when I am using it to hold clamped work when using the Domino, or when sanding, or when using the cross cut for the track saw. I love it's versatility and because it has all the holes for dogs and clamps and slots for vertical clamping I chose not to make my latest work surface with holes in the top.