WIP: Workbench Deisgn

[obxdiver]

Some of you may recall I mentioned a workbench a couple weeks ago...

Well, I may have done it bass ackwards from what you probably should have done, but I set about and gathered a collection of 4/4 & 3/4 ash, 7/8 bubinga, and 3/4 maple. Now this is where I may have been backwards. I didn't design the bench and then find the wood, I found the wood, then designed the bench. Wood selection was basically done by consulting Amazon, Woodcraft, and Wood-database... Strong, hard, and cheap, kinda like me, were the deciding factors. Anyway, I think I came up with materials for a kick #$%@ bench top on the cheap. ( 3/4 x 4 x 48 maple $15, 7/8 x 4 x 24 bubinga $10, 4/4 x 12 x 8' ash around $30 I think. About $100 or total. I'm no accountant!:dontknow:.)

So, here I am with a pile of wood and the idea that I'm going to build a workbench. Being the former engineer I am, that means some time playing artist with the CAD software.



The top was fairly easy... laminated ash with a maple skirt. Oh, and that odd piece of 3/4 stock. It gets cut into sections and spaced out for dog holes. Now taking into accout the wood I have available, My optimum dimensions worked out to 1-1/2 x 24 x 42 w/ a 2" wide skirt, threaded rod to keep it tight.... Got all that worked out:



Cut a bunch of these, then glue and blot em together:



Trestle legs, draw bored m&t's, of course, with a lil extended tenon and wedge action to facilitate knock down. Thoughts of a shaker style cabinet nestled in there also been poppin into my head. That's a plywood carcass for - 3 drawers and a door, laid out on the right.



The area I toiled over was the vises. I knew I wanted 2. But what design exactly?? Flush with the end or in the middle? Where at relative to each otherL or no L?... Must have changed my mind a million times and redrew it a hundred different ways. :BangHead:

Happened upon the bubinga on sale and really only bought it cause it was 1/2 price. Figured I'd I might use it in my plans to become a master plane and toolmaker...:wink_smil, a fretboard, who knows? At any rate, some of it became destined for the bench when I came across this and fell in love with it. It's only a model, but I'm gonna try to pull it off in full size. May end up with a workbench that lives under a protective cloth and doesn't get touched.

https://lakeerietoolworks.wordpress.com/2015/03/31/announcing-our-april-2015-workbench-of-the-month/

Here's my rendition of the tail vise Don't have any larger pieces, so, I've gone dovetail crazy and created a jigsaw puzzle of ash, maple, and bubuiga.





Here I'm going for a wedged dovetail effect with maple and bubinga...



Also plan to cap the outer ends of my face vise outer "jaw" similarly and how I plan to pull it off. The dark lines represent buginga and the white lines maple:



Think I have most of it figured out but the exact details of the vise. Those fancy wood screws aren't in the budget and I've got a couple of metal ones to use I salvaged from a Workmate for now. Anyway, the screw part isn't my area of concern at the moment, it's the sliding mechanism. I intended to have the face supported and guided by 2 birch dowels. The "L" part of the tail vise will utilize the dado runner concept from drawer construction. Being my first time engineering any such thing in wood, I have no idea what kinds of fits/clearances I need to aim for. In days past, I'd just consult the machinery hand book under the heading sliding fit. Does such a thing exist for wood of any suggestions?

And while I've got your ear and you've seen my work... While doing this workbench layout, I've begun to wonder if maybe I've come across a possible new income source, can't dive forever, you know. Anyone with any thoughts, experience, warnings, insinuations etc. regarding possibly marketing this type of thing - drawing packages, custom layout/design services, pdf, dwg, dxf... ???

Til next time...

 

[KenOfCary]

My only thought is that with today's wood glues the threaded rod is overkill. Unless you don't have clamps to hold things during glue-up. Or just like suspenders and belts - nobodies pants fell down that way.

 

[Mike Davis]

Is your shop so small to restrict the length to 48"?

Even my little shop requires a 72" bench.

Just curious why so short when so many want 6 to 8 feet in length.

 

[obxdiver]

Is your shop so small to restrict the length to 48"?

Even my little shop requires a 72" bench.

Just curious why so short when so many want 6 to 8 feet in length.

Cause my truck's too rusty to leave the island and I had to pick up materials with a Honda Accord.

But seriously, my space is severely limited and I don't have plans for any large projects. I like making small stuff. The bench will probably be the biggest thing I build for a while. I think it will suffice for what I have in mind. If I find myself building furniture or larger items, well then I've got an excuse to build another, bigger bench.

 

[obxdiver]

My only thought is that with today's wood glues the threaded rod is overkill. Unless you don't have clamps to hold things during glue-up. Or just like suspenders and belts - nobodies pants fell down that way.

You're probably right. They ended up in my design just cause a lot of the benches I looked at had them. Now, admittedly, most of what I was looking at was probably originally drawn on stone tablets.

I'll have to think about it. On one hand, it might make it easier to keep everything together and aligned during glue up. On the other hand, that's a lot of doggone holes to drill and if they're not really needed...

 

[Roy G]

Bart, if you can find the plans for Tage Frid's bench, it shows how to make a tail vise out of wood except for the screw. I find I use the tail vise almost all the time to hold boards on the bench for planing, so you may want to re-locate your screw closer to the front of the bench. When I built my bench years ago I made it too high so I had to cut down the legs. Figure out what you want to do on your bench before you settle on the height. Fun ahead for you.

Roy G

 

[KenOfCary]

Of course, too high is better than too low. It's easier to shorten legs than to lengthen them, though not impossible.

 

[obxdiver]

My table saw felt like it would make a comfortable bench height for me. So, I based my height on it. If things work out as planned, the benchtop will come out flush with the saw table top. Then I can use one to extend the other.

Also bought one of those Craftsman router table combos. Had so many surprise point, rewards points, coupons, etc., they practically paid me to take it. Router looks decent. Table's on the cheesy side, but it'll probably work for what little toying around I do. Anyway, I'll also have it to use as an extension after I build a stand, perhaps a cabinet, gotta at least have drawers for the bits, and one for the featherboards, miter fence..., and a storage area for jigs and fixtures oh my. Just love it when a new tool comes with its own project.

No way I could ever afford all the plough planes, rabbet planes, shoulder planes, router planes, molding planes, etc. it eliminates the need for. That, and the fact that I can't rip a board worth a plug nickel account for it and the table saw. Maybe Roy will forgive me some day. I still plan on hand cut joinery, at least. Maybe if I bought some new saws it would balance my karma. Been eye ballin one of those Veritas dovetail saws and maybe a cross cut carcass, lol!

 

[obxdiver]

Took Ken and Roy's advice -eliminated the threaded rod, moved the tail vise screw to the crook of the "L", and slimmed down the vise in the process.



Gonna use something like this to hang the face vise and end of the tail.



It's what I was gettin at earlier... how tight to make it? Say I'm using a 1" dowel. Do I buy a 1-1/32" bit and go with that, or bore it 1" and hone it with sandpaper til I get a nice slip fit of a few thousandths, or something in between.