That should last you a while, good work! This is an effective, simple, sturdy, versatile, and very inexpensive to make bench design which can be knocked together in short order.
Only thing I would have done differently, and it can still be done in ten minutes, it to add two screws to each of the short side stretchers, into the end grain of the long side stretchers.
Every little bit of added stability adds to the total, and just 16 more screws won't break the piggy bank.
YMMV ...
Thirty years from now you will still be using that puppy!
Thank you, I will add the 16 screws. I guess screws into end grain may do a lot better than nails into end grain (which, as you know better than I do, have little holding power).
Maybe I'll add 1 more screw for a pencil holder!
Nope, it's not going to fall apart! I hope I have an opportunity to prove you correct, or even incorrect! :-)
How about a 3/4" plywood shelf on top of the stretchers. That would add a lot of rigidity in side impacts and some heavy stuff stored there would help stability.
Never had a problem, and that bench top is just a solid core door with a Masonite type skin on it, but my vise is not that heavy. I would think that with sufficient apron mass, and a 4x leg close by to transfer the weight down to the floor, that 50 lbs would not be of great concern. For a couple of years I had a Delta Mortiser more or less permanently attached to the other end and never had a problem with it ... is your vise that heavy?
I've only seen and used the vise on my bench in the past ten years. You know how it is: each and every horizontal surface is filled within a minute of being cleared.
-- It is easier to fool people than it is to convince people that they have been fooled. --Mark Twain
Larry Jaques wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:
The solution to that (if you'd have seen my workspaces you'd be laughing now) is to build more horizontal surfaces. Put stuff on there instead of your bench and clean off your bench every now and again.
Eventually, you'll have enough horizontal surfaces that not all of them will be full. Then you'll go to the store...
Maybe down the road a bit. I am not without project ideas.
FWIW, this evening I:
-- turned it upside down and beveled the 4 feet with a block plane (thanks tiredofspam).
-- added the 16 additional screws suggested by Swingman, countersunk.
-- added a .09" shim under one end of the rear top board to improve it's fit--it's "close enough to perfect" at both ends (thanks Alabama). I created it from a paint mixing stick and a sheet of 80 grit. And Yes, the batteries in the Harbor Freight digital calipers DO always seem to go dead on the shelf. I still used it to estimate I needed .1" reading from its rule. I used the micrometer Doug Miller sold me to measure the .09".
--I used WD-40 to clean all the gunk off the new vise my wife bought for Christams about 5 years ago. I promptly got quite sick (at that time) hand-sanding the piece of plywood I was going to put it on. I did breathe a little of the dust. But as I've mentioned here before, I've had issues just being in the same room with fresh plywood/particle board.
I'm wondering whether I might do okay with a couple of small pieces of something along the lines of Baltic Birch style plywood to mount above and below the bench for the vise (hoping that it outgasses less or slower than cheaper plywood)? If you knew how sick I got/get you'd understand my trepidation. It's a "scary shortness of breath" sick. But knowing the source (s) makes it better than when you don't know...and I already endured that. Last time I checked, the Formaldehyde-free plywood that Home Depot sells was only "countertop-grade" stuff, and I haven't tried it yet. I see little alternative but to experiment a little. The Baltic Birch stuff would be handy for jigs too... Anyone have a favorite homemade-plywood recipe?
Is counter-grade stuff good enough for my vise application (reviews say it's got gaps in it...)? Other F-Free substitutes? To me, my sense of well-being is more important than stability.
Are you making adequate use of pegboard? I think that's where I'm going next. I mean after I do the next 4 or 5 big projects on my list. I need to get back to my drywall and painting, so I can get some of those lights up!
I've seen some interesting storage ideas in Shop Notes, if you are looking for a storage project!
A "Mobile clamp holder" is on my project list--a way to store the fifteen 4-foot pipe clamps I got to glue a heavy workbench top (someday), or a kitchen table top. My new impact driver should help make easy work of that. I hope you are enjoying your new one.
According to amazon.co.uk, it's 18.6 kilos, so that's just over 40lbs, but mine doesn't have an integrated bench dog and their's does, so it's not exactly the same. It's all I can do to lift this beast off the ground and place it on the bench. I'm reasonably sure it's more than twice as heavy as my Senco PC1010 20lb compressor. Think it's the biggest vise that Record built.
It really is massive which was one of the reasons why I could see it almost fifty yards away as I was driving by. Bought it at a deceased owner's yard sale. Only decent tool that was there. No questions asked, I paid the asked for $75 on the spot for it. This was before the wheelchair, some thirtyfive years ago. Don't quite remember, but I think I ran full speed back to the car with it and left pretty fast.
I spent a couple of (more) hours looking into plywood again tonight. Enough. I have an old lengh of Ash. I think I'll try a couple of pieces of that where I would have used the plywood, unless someone tells me it's a crappy idea. :) Ash (White) scores 1320 on the Janka Hardness Scale. I couldn't locate a Janka rating for any plywood to use for the sake of comparison. I planned to get some Yellow Poplar to put in my vise jaws, but perhaps two halves of a short length of 2by4 would work just as well. My intuition says that may be better for working with Yellow Poplar (as long as it will hold it)--and that's something I'd like to do.
I'll start using pegboard the day I become a member of the Handyman Club of America, Bill. (It'll be a cold day in hell, IOW.) I hate the stuff.
I need to build and put up more cabinets. But that's AFTER I get rid of all the sheer -crap- in my shop. I've reclaimed about 64 square feet so far, with another 50 or so to go. I now have enough room to finish the CNC router. Craigslist has been a boon, getting rid of all the unfinished repair projects I decided didn't need to get done in the first place. I got $100 for the riding mower with the blown engine yesterday, but it wasn't stored inside. My yard is looking better.
I'm thinking about dismantling mine. It's in the way more often than not, and I have wall space under the cabs.
Yeah, I love my Makita. What'd you buy, again?
-- However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results. -- Sir Winston Churchill
Well Bill you might try a quality respirator (for the formaldehyde) , and a fan together (for dust and form..) . See if you can get a small squirrel cage fan... Then make an enclosure for a high quality filter to catch the dust. Re-direct the output outside using hoses.. That respirator and fan should solve your problem unless you have a beard.
I'll post a picture of a sanding unit I made a long time ago shortly.
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