Work Space for Hobby/Crafts

[drw]

When we first moved into our house, I spent a lot of time getting my shop functional. Now that I have made good progress on that front, my wife asked me to build a work area for my other hobby (building 18th century sailing ships from kits) and her paper-crafts hobby. As you can see in the pictures, I built a cantilevered bench between two walls in the upstairs TV room; the bench is over 11' long and 27" wide, except in the middle where it is 45" wide. I built this extra-wide section both for its utility and so that there are two distinct halves (hers and mine ). I ordered a 5'x12' roll of formica so that the bench has no seams. The next step is to put two or three floating shelves on the walls at both ends of the bench and build a couple of rolling storage cabinets to store our supplies under the bench.

 

[Phil S]

I will be watching your progress. I am designing a new great room which will include a craft center

 

[McRabbet]

Just curious: What did you use for brackets under the countertop and do you plan to provide added support for the divider which is pretty vulnerable without a leg. I used some very strong brackets from CS Hardware several years ago and was pleased with them.

 

[drw]

Just curious: What did you use for brackets under the countertop and do you plan to provide added support for the divider which is pretty vulnerable without a leg. I used some very strong brackets from CS Hardware several years ago and was pleased with them.

Rob, I too was concerned about the stability of countertop, especially the extension. I purchased (online) 2'x2' steel brackets that are rated to hold 1,000 lbs. I have six of these along the length of the bench. The extension was a concern, and in all candor I am not sure if I have over or under engineered its attachment to the main bench. That said, the top consists of 3/4" baltic birch ply. I have three dominos (6mm x 40mm) that register the 18" x 24"extension to the main top, there are also two 4" x 40" splices made of 3/4" ply that are glued/stapled to the underside of main-top/extension; I also purchased two 0.25" x 2" x 12" straight steel support-splices that are epoxied and screwed to the underside of the main/extension. The steel supports are normally used under cantilevered granite counter tops. It seems to be very stable, but only time will tell.

 

[Roy G]

Donn, you could test out your extension by putting your weight on it and see if it deflects. There's always the situation where some body visiting decides to rest their body on the handy table-in this case, the extension.

Roy G

 

[Melinapex]

Donn, sounds to me like you have over- engineered this, just the way I like it!
Looks good!

 

[McRabbet]

Rob, I too was concerned about the stability of countertop, especially the extension. I purchased (online) 2'x2' steel brackets that are rated to hold 1,000 lbs. I have six of these along the length of the bench. The extension was a concern, and in all candor I am not sure if I have over or under engineered its attachment to the main bench. That said, the top consists of 3/4" baltic birch ply. I have three dominos (6mm x 40mm) that register the 18" x 24"extension to the main top, there are also two 4" x 40" splices made of 3/4" ply that are glued/stapled to the underside of main-top/extension; I also purchased two 0.25" x 2" x 12" straight steel support-splices that are epoxied and screwed to the underside of the main/extension. The steel supports are normally used under cantilevered granite counter tops. It seems to be very stable, but only time will tell.

From your description of the underpinnings for the extension, it sounds like you've added pretty good support to the extension with the additional splices and steel flat bars. The flat bars don't add much if they are attached in the plane of the strips (or the countertop), but would add considerable strength if they were screwed at right angles to the sides of the strips in the vertical plane so the steel truly provides a rigid backbone. Alternatively, you could have used angle iron for even more rigidity.

 

[JohnnyR]

good thing you've got that picture so you can remember what it's like after all the clutter it's inviting! looking good Don.

 

[Jeremy Scuteri]

Looks great Donn. Not having any seams is a very nice touch.