I finally finished up the last few details on the workbench I finally got around to building. Although not as pretty as a lot of the benches I've seen, including several recent posts, I think the functionality it represents will still make it a joy to use. Since this is basically a step up from a Workmate, there is no question that I'm going to be thrilled to put it to use.
I'll post a few pics on ABPW, but you can see them all, as well as some further details of the bench, at this website:
obviously put a lot of thought into the various work-holding devices. I especially like your setup for clamping boards for jointing. The little trick of having a horizontal dog in the end-vise is a good one. (And one that I'll steal from you as soon as I figure out how to adapt it to my bench. :-)
I'm sure you'll get a lot of pleasure from the bench. Sometime down the line you'll stop in the middle of working on a project and wonder how you ever got by without such a stable work-surface. DAMHIKT.
nice bench, hope to have mine finished before the year is out. I like your cordless drill too, have one just like it and the companion circular saw. they both do a great job.
So far, the bestest thing about having a real workbench for me has been glue day. I used to have to use these gigantic 48" pipe clamps for every little thing that was bigger than 18". Of course, I still need the pipe clamps, and can't ever have too many clamps, but the workbench is working out great for this most of the time.
Only problem with mine so far is that my two most-used dog holes are already wallowing out badly. Yes, that's the price I paid for grafting a poplar top onto a pine substructure to make my own cheapass imitation of the bench you're talking about. I understand that, but I was still hoping it would be longer before I'd have to think up some way to make bushings for the thing.
I think you must be an aspiring Ted Turner or something. Looks for all the world like you ripped off some photos from Sam's book and colorized them. :)
Looks a lot better than my Frankenstein monster, but I'll bet it cost me less to get the functionality I wanted out of my grossly unsuitable bench. ($0.)
How does that whole truss rod setup work in the field? I'm thinking about retrofitting my bench with some judiciously-placed rods to try to improve its ability to resist wracking.
How about weight? Is it pretty solid, or does it want to scoot around on you?
The Milwaukee drill earned it's weight and then some on this bench. All the dog holes were drilled with it, as were many of the the joinery joles for the bench base. Having the quick charger is a big plus. But the best thing was the torque on this drill - never had a problem even in the hard maple drilling a 3/4" auger bit. I know that some of the new impact drivers have even more torque, but I can't see why you'd need more than this drill has.
Thanks for the compliments. I can't take credit for any of the ideas represented in this bench. Almost all of them came straight from Sam Allen's bench. Strangely, he has the horizontal dog-holes in his plan for this bench, but doesn't instruct the drilling of a horizontal dog-hole in the end vise. The Veritas workbench and vise instructions do have this shown, so it wasn't as if I had any eureka moment. I bet it'd be hard to find any original workbench innovation in this day and age, considering they've been in use for thousands of years.
And, believe me, having made do without a really good bench for a long time has me already appreciating the bench even if I haven't used it much yet.
I was just noticing the thread title and wondered if you secured your bench to your liking for some serious Neander-style, heavy duty, all out, sweat inducing PLANING?
I haven't really addressed that issue yet. I'll see how it goes, now that I have the end vise on, and if I put some heavy power tools on the shelf, maybe I won't need to do any more than make sure the thing is level and all four feet are touching the floor evenly. I might try the sandpaper on the bottom of the feet thing. I'm still not too keen on drilling holes in the garage floor.
I must have missed the original thread, but in case it wasn't mentioned, a great way to shim bench-legs is with those old hard rubber mousepads. They grip the floor well, and they'll compensate for any unevenness of your garage floor.
how about putting a piece of plywood down and L bracketing the legs to it. then stand on the plywood when you are working... all forces exerted by your upper body will be balanced by the counter force from your lower body. ;)
how did you maintain vertical? i will be drilling through prefinished hardwood flooring and 2 x 3/4" plywood so it won't be as difficult but vertical seems to be an issue.
yep, lots of power and the quick charger is very good. SWMBO got me the package last year for Christmas and the "rebate" was another battery, so one in the drill, one in the saw and one in the charger. I have never had to wait for a battery to charge.
what do you mean by "maintaining vertical"? If you mean drilling the holes perpendicular to the surface, then I follow. I used a drill guide
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This worked very well. It only accepts 3/8" shank bits though. I used a
3/4" auger bit for everything, and it worked fine.
I did end up destroying the drill guide, though. On the 2nd doghole in the hard maple end vise jaw I didn't have as good a grip on the drill as I thought and when the auger bit started to bit into the maple the torque whipped the drill around, pinning my hand between the drill and one of the guide posts. The bad thing was, the force from this was strong enough to bend the shank where the drill chuck attaches to the sliding portion of the drill guide by about 45 degrees. AND the trigger on the drill was stuck in the depressed position, causing my fingers to be compressed between the drill body and the guide bar. Needless to say it hurt like a B**ch and I was yelling something fierce. It took a second or two to realize what was causing the drill to keep trying to turn. Anyway, the moral of the story is make sure you have a good grip on your drill when drilling in hardwoods, especially when you have a drill that can put out some torque like that Milwaukee. I did the remaining vise jaw dogholes freehand, as well as the dog holes on the edge of the benchtop. I wouldn't have tried that with the holes on the benchtop itself, though, and if I ever need to do this type of drilling again I'll definitely buy another of these drill guides.
Yes, you're right there. I figure I've got close to $500 in this bench. This is mainly hardware. The Veritas twin-screw vise was $160, the Record vise was $85 (got it on clearance), the bench dogs were $8/pair, the wonder dogs were $23?/each, and the hold-down was $52. So, that's about $350. The actual materials (MDF, masonite, lumber, truss rods, etc.) for the bench weren't too bad. The contact cement was probably $25 on it's own. I guess it's more like $425-450. Still, that's a lot less than many mail-order benches. And I can reuse the vises whenever I upgrade to a solid 8/4 hard maple bench. (probably not for 10 years hehe)
So far so good - haven't really had a chance to put it through it's paces yet. Will be starting a lingerie dresser project very soon, so I'll get to really get the bench on the road, so to speak. The truss rods definitely made the base extremely solid. There are dowel pins at each joint, also, which is really where the anti-wracking comes from. I have no reason to believe it won't maintain it's stability indefinitely.
This is a good question. I had tried to practice edge jointing a board that was held in the front vise, and was about the same length of the bench. It was actually the hard maple that became the vise jaws. The piece was
3"x8"x5', so it was pretty heavy. I did find that the bench wanted to walk a bit with this when I got catches during planing. I posted a question about this a little ways back and I think that if I improve the tuning of my planes, and install some sort of anti-skid material to the bench feet, that will help immensely. I'm not really sure of the overall weight of the bench, but I estimated it at about 250 pounds, fully outfitted. I'm already thinking of building a storage cabinet out of 3/4" MDF that will fill up all the space under the bench. A bank of drawers on one side and a cabinet with shelves on the other. I think Sam Allen's book has some details about this, but I know I've seen it somewhere and it is common on a lot of the commercial benches. If I do that and fill it up with tools, I can't imagine the bench will walk at that point.
Thanks for showing off your bench. Now if only you had made it out of 12/4 rosewood... :)
I have somewhere around $100 in mine. Maybe not that much. To some extent, you get what you pay for. It sure isn't an ideal bench, but it's what I have room for, and what I can afford.
I don't have any hold-downs yet. My dogs are 3/4" oak dowels with a brad shot into one end so I have a way to keep them from constantly falling through the bench.
I bought some steel rod to tap for fake wonder dogs, but I haven't been able to come up with a decent way to make a pad for the end, or a decent crank, or a decent screw, so I'll probably suck it up and buy the real deal. They look very handy.
I'm wishing I had some kind of tail vise already, but have made no decision as yet. I might try one of those pipe clamp deals that was posted on here a bit ago, or else buy some parts from Lee Valley and try to cobble something together on my own.
You've probably heard me blathering about my other vises. I think that was you. Old vise, new vise, big vise, small vise, free vise, cheap vise, one vise, two vise, blah blah, blah, right?
The sweet thing was a the top. Neighbor's old table. Poplar with walnut veneer. Not very tough, but it's pretty, and I could afford it. :)
Sounds like maybe I should do more than retrofit some rods then. I s'pose I should go dig out the book in question and pay more attention to the base construction. :)
Or not. I can always fix it when it gets a lot worse. Angle bracketing it to the wall of the shed^h^h^h^h shop helps some.
Oh yeah, I forgot. I didn't realize that was you. :)
Filling up the space is a good plan. Just by way of demonstrating that, I dropped the cap off my 1" chisel. Spent every bit of an hour rooting around in the shavings on the floor trying to find it. Even vacuumed, and then rooted around in the shop vac. I finally found it on the shelf under the workbench, on the base of the circular saw, curled up in a walnut shaving. I'm kinda thinking closing that space off would be a good idea myself.
I've been thinking about hanging some weights from mine. Hang them so they swing. Seems it would have a dampening effect.
knock of the sharp corners now rather than after they gouge out part of your body. They will bite you- honest.
lightly round over the edges - reaching under the bench to get a tool and making contact with the back of your forearm will be less painful.
don't know if your bench dogs will ovalize your dog holes but I do know that the whack down, bump to remove, hold downs will in relatively few uses, especially if you whack them down hard.
probably to late to add leg levelers but should you ever get around to doing another bench or changing the feet on this one (as if) check out the bottom of this page (all one line)
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Using an allen wrench you can adjust them up or down without having to lay on the floor, fiddling with a pair of wrenches. The foot swivels so you can compensate for floors that are less than flat and smooth. Some 60 or 80 grit glued to the bottom and the bench won't slide, even on an epoxied floor. IF THE BOTTOM OF THE LEGS AIN'T COPLANAR THE TOP AIN'T GONNA BE FLAT LONG.
Bullseye levels make leveling - however you shim/ wedge things - easier and quicker.
Hadn't thought of putting a dog hole on the side the the vise jaw but it makes sense. Am going to have to go over the Allen book again. Way too many things to miss in that book, even on the third pass. Add the Landis book and it's mental overload time.
OK to pick your brain on installing the Veritas Twin Screw?
Thanks for the page with all the good photos.
charlie b
ps - your shop floor is WAY to clean. That will change once all those hand planes start getting used. And curlies will clog that dust collector.
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