A home handyman must have comfortable spot, this is a guarantee not only of convenience and speed of work, but also of safety. High-quality European-made workbenches cost as much as industrial equipment, while Chinese and home-made ones are not reliable. However, you can make a good workbench with your own hands, because, in essence, it is a table equipped with various fastenings, stops and tool storage.
The height of the workbench depends on the height of its owner; it should be comfortable to stand, without slouching, to perform basic operations. For average height, this is usually 70-90 cm. The configuration of the workbench and the necessary fastenings and devices depend on what operations are most often performed on it, but it is worthwhile to provide several stops and a pair of screw vices or clamps (). You also need to take into account which hand the owner of the workbench uses.
Workbench diagram - first option
The width and length of the workbench depend on the area of the workshop; it is convenient if the length of the workbench is at least 2 meters and the width is 80-100 cm. It is convenient if drawers or cabinets are mounted under the workbench for storing tools and consumables.
When designing a workbench, you need to consider whether it will be permanently installed in the workshop or constantly assembled and disassembled. In the second case, it would be reasonable to lighten the structure due to a material of less thickness. In a collapsible workbench, you can make a tabletop that can be unscrewed, or you can also provide folding legs.
It is better to place the workbench near the window; additional local lighting is also required. Directly next to the workbench you need to provide several electrical outlets for the equipment. All wires nearby working area must be enclosed in a box or corrugated pipe.
The optimal material for a workbench is planed timber, from which the frame frame and legs will be made. For legs, you can take it with a size of 100 * 70 mm, and for jumpers - 100 * 50 mm. The tabletop can be made from smooth boards 5 cm thick. It can also be made from a solid piece of material, for example, an old blank door or laminated chipboard with a fairly durable coating. For a workbench, it is better to choose hard wood, preferably beech, oak or maple. Thicker bars and boards will make the workbench heavier and more stable, and will be more comfortable to work on.
Fasteners for making a workbench are selected taking into account whether it will be prefabricated or dismountable. Self-tapping screws, nails and nuts with bolts will come in handy.
Before building a workbench, you need to select a vice. It is convenient if there are 2 of them - on the right side and on the left in front. In the first, you can fix long boards, and in the second, you can clamp short parts. The most universal jaw width is 175 mm.
Scheme of the second version of the workbench
The production of a workbench takes place in 2 stages: assembly of the base and installation. At each stage and during each operation, you need to control the size of the parts and the evenness of their installation using a level.
The base is a frame of beams fastened in such a way that the structure is as rigid as possible. To do this, a horizontal jumper is placed between the legs of the workbench, and a drawer is provided in the middle, along the length. The lintels and drawer are placed 40-50 cm from the floor, then shelves for storing tools can be installed on them. The beams for the base are combined using a tongue-and-groove connection, gluing it. In places where this is not possible, self-tapping screws are used. If the workbench is expected to be disassembled, then the parts of the support frame can be connected using metal corners. Usually, the grooves and tenons are first prepared according to the drawing, and then the entire structure is assembled at once, gluing the joints with wood glue and fixing them with clamps.
A good option for a stationary workbench is if one or more parts of the support frame can be screwed to the wall, so the structure will be even more reliable. Strength can be increased by using diagonal bridges or wedge-shaped inserts between the legs and top part frames made of the same timber, which are fastened with self-tapping screws. The narrow ends of the upper part of the frame also need to be connected with a jumper.
If the tabletop is constructed from separate boards, then they need to be properly fitted to each other so that debris does not get into the cracks. The size of the tabletop should be a few centimeters larger than the base to make it convenient to work and clean. The boards are nailed or screwed to 3 bars located across the boards with reverse side countertops. In the base you need to provide grooves for these bars.
The board tabletop is carefully sanded several times and coated with a protective solution, preferably oil or drying oil, to avoid injury from chips during further work. The tabletop is screwed to the base using metal corners.
A vice is attached to the finished tabletop; a recess must be provided for it at the end of the tabletop so that the vertical plate forms one plane with it. You will also need a plywood pad on the underside of the workbench. The jaws of the vice should be flush with the surface of the countertop. Applying a vice, mark the location for the holes and secure them with bolts and nuts (M12 is suitable). The holes for the bolt heads must be pre-milled so that they sink completely into them. The vice should not be located in the very corner, so as not to tear it off under heavy load.
In addition to the vice, it is necessary to provide stops on the workbench. You can secure ready-made ones by drilling a hole of the required diameter in the tabletop, or make them yourself. You should not use bolts or round dowels instead of stops, since the bolts can damage the workpieces with their heads, and the dowels do not fix the parts well enough.
It’s easier to make rectangular stops, or pegs, which can be adjusted in height to fit different parts and securely fix them. Under them you need to make holes in the tabletop or build it up using blocks of suitable thickness, screwed to its edge, and covered with a strip on the other side. The nests should be located from each other at a distance of half the travel of the vice so that any workpiece can be fixed.
The pegs themselves are cut out of hard wood; you can make them with a “spring” that is screwed to the base, or you can simply make them rectangular. The rectangular stops can be slightly expanded at the top, then they will be fixed in the sockets more reliably.
Building a carpentry workbench with your own hands is not an easy task, but then it workplace will be able to serve the owner for a long time, acquire useful parts and devices and adapt to the specific needs of each master.
The general principle of the development of materials processing technology from prehistoric times to the present day is how to make parts for more precise ones using inaccurate equipment. And it all started with a workbench; prototypes of it are found during excavations of Stone Age settlements. It is quite possible to build a workbench, a full-fledged one, with your own hands, and this will not only save a significant amount, but will also simplify, facilitate the work and improve its results.
Amateurs, sometimes, judging by their designs, very experienced, knowledgeable and diligent, sometimes make themselves workbenches on which, figuratively speaking, you can smash a tank with a sledgehammer. They take a lot of time and labor, and hardly less money than a good branded amateur workbench. Repetition of industrial prototypes in a design for one’s own use, designed for intensive work in 3 shifts and a static load of more than a ton, with a service life of 20 years, is one of typical mistakes development of workbenches of our own design.
The second is neglect of vibrations. Not a clearly felt “game” or “recoil”, but a small tremor that significantly complicates the work and reduces its quality. Vibrations have a particularly strong effect on workbenches on a metal frame.
The third - repeat carpentry or metal workbenches; perhaps with some modifications to suit your needs. Meanwhile, there are many designs of workbenches for home/amateur work of various types. There are workbenches that are more or less specialized or, conversely, universal, temporary, made from scrap materials, etc.
In this article we will figure out how to make a workbench taking into account these errors, firstly, simpler and cheaper, in accordance with the range of needs and/or hobbies of the craftsman. Secondly, how to make a workbench general purpose or universal for special conditions use - in a cramped garage, for carpentry at a construction site from scrap trash, at home for small precise work, children's
Among the branded products, which are sometimes quite expensive, you can find “universal” workbenches in the form of a carpenter’s bench with a lid without a tray, a complete bench vice on a wooden cushion, and a clamp for their installation, like the one in the photo:
“Universal” factory-made workbench
This is a wrong decision not only because the wooden tabletop is damaged by carpentry work. The main thing that is bad here is the technological fluids used in metal processing - oil, kerosene, etc. Wood soaked in them becomes much more flammable. Self-ignition is also possible; Remember, it is strictly forbidden to accumulate oily rags in production. Approach to designing a tabletop (boards, lids) universal workbench another one is needed based on the type of work it is primarily used for - fine or coarse, see below.
In the West, amateur/home workbenches with a stacked table top framed by a side are widespread. Drawings of such a “work bench” are shown in Fig. Under the fitter, the lid is covered with a sheet of steel 1.5-2 mm thick and a vice is placed on the pad.
The bench workbench dampens vibrations well; It can be made from pine or spruce. But the design is complex, and it is inconvenient to work with long materials and furniture on such a workbench. Therefore, we will first look at how to make the most common carpentry workbench, then a garage and a mechanic's workbench. Next, we will try to combine them into a universal workbench and see what we can come up with on this basis for special needs.
A workbench of “our” type (conditionally, since it is impossible to accurately establish its origin) consists of:
Note: workbench height approx. 900 mm. The length and width are selected according to the installation location and type of work within the range of 1200-2500 and 350-1000 mm, respectively.
The lid and shelf are most often made at the same time, one-piece, and are simply called a lid, a workbench board or a tabletop. To dampen vibrations, the shelf is always made on a base (bed, substrate) made of wood. In a metalworking workbench, the bed is covered with a steel sheet of 2 mm thick and can be made of coniferous wood. Its overall strength is sufficient, and the steel tire protects the tree from local damage and the ingress of technical fluids. In a carpentry workbench, a bed made of high-quality (without knots, twists, etc. defects) solid fine-grained wood (oak, beech, hornbeam, elm, walnut) also serves as a shelf; in a workbench for the home, for the sake of simplifying it, without sacrificing quality, it is possible to have 2 -layer construction, see below.
The traditional design of the bench, on the contrary, is collapsible from the same wood as the carpentry shelf. This comes from the master craftsmen of the past, who transported their equipment from customer to customer on a cart. It is from the bed/bench that you should start developing your workbench, no worse, but simpler than traditional ones.
A stationary wooden workbench has advantages over one on a steel frame not only in lower cost and labor intensity. Wood, firstly, is not plastic. Workbench on wooden base can be broken, but if the wood used is seasoned and impregnated, it will never bend. Secondly, wood perfectly dampens vibrations. The foundations of your buildings are not reinforced vibration-absorbing ones, like workshops in a factory? And the overall strength and stability of the home workbench frame will be fully ensured by commercial coniferous wood of ordinary quality.
The design of a wooden workbench frame made from 120x40 boards is shown on the left in Fig. Permissible static load – 150 kgf; dynamic vertically downward for 1 s – 600 kgf. Corner posts (legs) are assembled on 6x70 self-tapping screws in a zigzag (snake) pattern with a distance from the edge of 30 mm and a pitch of 100-120 mm. Double-sided fastening; the snakes on both sides of the package are made in mirror image. Intermediate support beams are fastened with steel angles on self-tapping screws; the edge ones - with pairs of self-tapping screws at the tenons of the posts and, on the outside, with corners.
If timber 150x50 or (180...200)x60 is available, the design can be simplified, as shown in the center in Fig. Load bearing capacity will increase to 200/750 kgf. And from timber 150x150, 150x75 and (180...200)x60 you can build a frame capable of bearing 450 kgf in statics and 1200 in dynamics, on the right in Fig.
Note: Any of these beds is suitable for both carpentry and metalworking workbenches. Under the joinery, a box-shaped lid is placed on it (see below), and under the fitter, a tray from a 60x60x4 angle with welded 4-mm strips above the intermediate beams is placed. A wooden cushion is placed in the tray and covered with steel, also see below.
An all-wood workbench, without the need for welding work for its manufacture, can be made according to the following scheme. rice. The “trick” here is the tabletop, glued together from 75x50 lumber and fastened with ties. If the beam is oak, then the permissible load is 400/1300 kgf. Corner posts – timber 150x150; the rest is timber 150x75.
It happens the other way around: metal is more accessible than wood, and welding is available. Then the workbench table for a load of 100/300 kgf can be assembled according to the drawing on the left in Fig. Materials – corner 35x35x3 and 20x20x2. Boxes are made of galvanized steel. Disadvantage - it is impossible to make an opening at the bottom for the legs; the structure will lose its ability to bear dynamic loads.
For a load of 200/600, a more convenient metal workbench according to the diagram at the top right, made of corrugated pipe 50x50 (corner posts), 30x30 (other vertical parts) and a corner 30x30x3, is suitable. The plank cushion of both workbenches is laid only across (bottom right) from tongue-and-groove boards (120...150)x40.
Shelf – steel 2 mm. The shelf is attached to the pillow with 4x(30...35) self-tapping screws, a pair at each edge of each board, and along the outer boards - in increments of (60...70) mm. Only in this design will the workbench show the specified load-bearing capacity.
These workbenches are already universal: the lid is turned over under the joinery wooden side up or adjusted as described below. A bench vise is mounted on a wooden pad, but is not secured with a clamp. A collet anchor for an M10-M14 bolt is driven into the vice pad from below, and a through hole is drilled in the cover for it. A 60x2 washer is placed under the bolt head. This solution is convenient because it is possible to use inexpensive non-rotating vices.
The cover of a carpenter's workbench, unlike a metalworker's one, is tightly attached to the bench and is box-shaped for overall rigidity. The optimal mounting option for a non-dismountable workbench is steel angles and self-tapping screws. The underbench can also be a steel frame from those described above.
How a traditional carpentry workbench works is shown in pos. And rice; accessories to it on pos. B. The bench board (in this case it is a separate device) is used to work with long pieces. The support in its groove is made from a wedged piece of board, see below. It is advisable to drill a longitudinal row of holes in the board and secure it into the sockets with bolts with conical heads. The traditional design of a carpentry bench is shown in pos. G, but - see above.
It is possible to reduce the cost of the carpentry workbench cover by making it 2-layer, pos. Q. Then high-quality hardwood boards will only be needed for the shelf. They lay it by laying the boards with “humps” of annual layers, alternately up and down, to avoid warping. The shelf flooring is first glued together with PVA or carpentry glue, tightly compressed with a clamp or wrapped with a cord; put on the pillow using the same glue. The lid skirt is assembled separately using glue and through tenons (inset in pos. B) and attached to the pillow-shelf package with self-tapping screws.
Solid wood carpenter's vices, front and chair, are now almost completely replaced by a vice with a metal screw clamp, pos. D; their device is shown in pos. E. Some comments are necessary here.
First, you need to place 2-3 steel washers under the head of the clamping screw, otherwise it will quickly eat through the cushion (wood 4x4x1 cm). Secondly, if the nut is not custom-made or purchased, then at least temporarily acquire a set of taps for the thread you are using. In this case, do not try to use a screw that is too thick for evenness and smoothness of the clamp; M12-M16 is quite enough.
The nut of a homemade clamping pair is welded onto a base with a diameter of 60 mm or, square, from 70x70 mm. It is not necessary to recess it into the clamp pad, this way there is less chance that the nut will break off when clamped. But welding will cause the thread to go ugly; you can’t get rid of it with a bolt. The thread of the welded nut will need to be passed with taps according to the complete pattern, as when cutting: first tap - second - third (if included in the kit).
Note: The nut welded to the base must be allowed to rest for 2 hours before passing the thread so that the residual deformations “settle down.”
The vice on the bench is installed in the corner (see inset in the figure) so that as much of the dynamic loads when processing metal, it fell vertically on the corner post. Location of cross beams and intermediate vertical racks It is advisable to make a workbench with a stationary vice slightly asymmetrical, placing them at smaller intervals towards the corner with the vice. The vice is also installed starting from the corner:
Note: Stationary power tools are also secured in the same way, for example. emery.
A workbench can also be adapted for carpentry work if you drill 2-4 pairs of holes for fixing in the tabletop carpenter's stop(right and center in the figure). In this case, round bosses are screwed to the lower surface of the stop with self-tapping screws; plugs from plastic bottles, they endure a tight fit many times.
It is impossible to make a workbench in a garage with an optimal width for the ergonomics of the workspace - the dimensions of a standard box of 4x7 m with a car parked in it do not allow it. Long ago, through trial and error, the width of the garage workbench was determined to be 510 mm: it is quite convenient to turn between it and the hood, and it is more or less possible to work. A narrow workbench under a heavy load (for example, a motor removed for rebuilding) turns out to be unstable, so it is attached to the wall. Often - angular, this increases stability, but any wall-mounted workbench “resounds” stronger than a workbench-table of the same design
A diagram of the structure of one section of a garage workbench is shown in Fig. This design uses an ingenious method of additional vibration damping: cells of the lid frames and the bottom shelf of the edge farthest from the corner different sizes. The installation accuracy of the crossbars is +/– 1 cm. For the same purpose, the lid and bottom shelf are made of 32 mm thick laminated chipboard and covered with linoleum instead of steel. Its durability is sufficient for garage work; can be easily replaced.
Fastening to walls - self-tapping screws from 8 mm or bolts from M8 with a pitch of 250-350 mm. Recess into a stone wall is 70-80 mm; in wooden 120-130 mm. Propylene dowels are placed under the self-tapping screws in the stone wall; for bolts - collet anchors.
Another version of the garage workbench is already wall-mounted, and the wall-mounted one is on the left in Fig. It can only be mounted on stone walls. Bench board folding 2-layer; each layer of plywood is 10-12 mm. Opening for the machine with a stepped inner edge. In this case, a “milling machine” means a mini-drilling machine with a movable rotary table and a workpiece clamp. The design is convenient in that the shavings fall directly onto the floor.
If your car is something like a Daewoo or Chery with a 3-cylinder engine, and the garage is very small, then you can put a folding mini workbench cabinet with a lifting tabletop in it, on the right in the figure; It is also suitable for fine work in the home (electronics, precision mechanics). The tabletop is suspended on a piano hinge, the legs are on cardboard. To fold, the legs are tucked under the tabletop (it would be useful to tie them with a leg), and the tabletop is lowered.
Note: for a cramped garage with an ordinary city car, perhaps a folding workbench box would be optimal, see the video below.
At home, they engage in smaller, but painstaking technical creativity: soldering, model making, watchmaking, artistic cutting from plywood, etc. For small, delicate work, a universal workbench is suitable, drawings of which and its accessories are given in Fig. The durability of the working surface and its vibration absorption in this case are not as important as evenness, smoothness and some adhesion (“stickiness” of parts), so the tabletop is covered with linoleum. The bench vise for this workbench needs to be small, with a screw clamp fastening.
In general, it is undesirable to work with metal “roughly” on plywood, because... she calls back well. If the board cushion of the bench is made from plywood, then to its underside you need to glue a frame (frame) also made of plywood to its underside, see fig. Then it is advisable to first cover the upper (working side) with linoleum without a lining, and then lay the steel on it.
Another case when making a workbench board from plywood is justified is a student workbench for a child. Pedagogical considerations play a role here: let him learn to feel the material and not beat him too much in vain, but work carefully. For the same purpose, masters of the past deliberately gave their students bad instruments.
When a country house or other light wooden structure is just being built, there is no time for bench intricacies; you need at least something on which to carry out simple carpentry work. For such a case a quick fix you can put together a carpentry workbench for a summer house from scrap materials, on the left in Fig. The design is remarkable in that it clearly and fully embodies the principle: we make good things with bad equipment.
For subsequent work on arranging the dacha, a mini-workbench will be useful, on the right in Fig. With minimal material consumption and an extremely simple design, it is sufficiently stable for ordinary carpentry work in all respects, because the middle of the bench board is supported by a pair of struts. If you put them on bolts, the workbench will be foldable and stand in the pantry from weekend to weekend. For disassembly, after releasing the struts, the spacer is removed along with them, and the legs are tucked under the board. Finally, for a dacha inhabited permanently or all summer, with a craftsman owner, by the way, you will need a more complex but fully functional folding workbench, see the video below.
May 09 2017
So, I finally made a couple of folding workbenches for my workshop, which now significantly save space in my small workshop. I got the idea from the Internet, but I drew all the drawings myself to suit my needs and dimensions.
In principle, based on my subsequent descriptions, you can assemble such a workbench yourself, just use your head and hands. But if you are too lazy, then I can provide you with the materials I worked on myself ( drawing, detailing, proportions and dimensions). This will save you time and effort. The cost of the package is 300 rubles - in fact, it’s not money, but how much you value your time is up to you.
I’ll move on to the traditional one for “golden hands” detailed description manufacturing process. As the material for my future workbench, I chose 15 mm birch plywood, of which I had quite decent supplies. Using my plunge-cut saw with a guide, I cut the parts to the required size. 
First I assembled the base box. In addition to the confirmations, I coated all joints with wood glue. 
The bottom is solid, two side walls, a back and an internal rib are attached to it. 
Cut out strips for the stands. We try them on the side walls of the supporting box. 
We coat them in pairs with glue, which it is advisable to distribute evenly over the surface to be glued. 
Having tightened them with clamps according to the dimensions obtained as a result of fitting, we fix them with self-tapping screws. Wipe off the excess squeezed out glue with a rag. 
We cut strips of the same width but shorter, which are counter strips attached to the supporting frame of the tabletop. Using a sharpening stone, I marked the rounded edges and central holes on all workpieces. 
I roughly sawed this circle with a jigsaw with an allowance of a couple of millimeters. 
Then using belt sander, bring the shape to the marking lines. 
These are the details you get. 
We drill central holes in the racks and counter parts
Having coated the joint with glue, we tighten them with self-tapping screws in the center of the supporting box. 
We do this symmetrically, resulting in a design like this. 
We attach the swivel wheels from the bottom of the supporting box using M10 cage nuts - they are the cheapest, but as practice has shown, the option is not the best. It was necessary to install wheels with locks. 
To insert a drawer inside the supporting box, I used additional spacers to add thickness to the side walls up to the vertical posts. 
Let's move on to making folding legs. Similarly, we cut the strips and trim them on a miter saw. We mark the fillets and centers in the same way. 
We glue and tighten the manufactured parts with self-tapping screws 
After this, we bring the assembled legs to shape using a blade grinder. 
In the same way, using glue, we assemble the underframe for confirmations. 
We glue the mating parts of the supports from the inside.
We tentatively install the supports, fixing them with bolts and adjusting the final dimensions to the location 
We carry out trial assembly and transformation tests. 
After that I sanded all visible surfaces
Additionally, I strengthened the vertical supporting posts with a couple more parts that I sanded in place. 
Replaced simple bolts furniture with round heads, no threads under the head and a square base. Having placed a washer under the nut (with protection against unwinding), we reassemble the structure. 
In the end part I used a router to select a couple of windows for small items. They can be made anywhere. 
On top I placed an inset tabletop made from my old workbench. So far it has worked out like this. 
The next stage is the installation of synchronizing parts. During transformation, they allow the legs to be folded/unfolded synchronously with the supporting support. 
To ensure that they did not rest against the bolts, I selected niches in these jumpers using a Forstner cutter. 
The result is like this. You can put an additional shelf on these parts - using a simple workbench with it is much more convenient. But my workbench is not simple, so let’s move on. I didn’t dwell on additional components, such as drawers, lids, etc. I’ll tell you a secret, I still haven’t finished them))), so I’m only showing the load-bearing structures.
When folded, the workbench looks like this. It is necessary to place another frame between the front (folding supports), otherwise the table is not very stable and the legs do not lower synchronously, which makes jamming possible.
When unfolded, it looks like this: The tabletop with the hole serves for reinforcement. 
Another tabletop is then attached to it on top, exceeding the size of the underframe. I subsequently mounted a router and tabletop into it circular saw(I'll talk about this separately). 
After all the manipulations, I ended up with such a mobile harvester, which, if necessary, can be easily folded and put into a corner. 
Using the same principle, I assembled another workbench - an assembly one - it is located in the foreground. The tabletop in it is made of 26 mm laminated chipboard.
The workbenches are slowly being improved. The assembly room is already completely finished (although I still plan to make holes in it for clamps and some replacement equipment)... As a result, the workshop has so far taken this form. 
Optimization work continues. But I am already very pleased with the intermediate result.
For a thrifty owner, a work desk is an indispensable attribute of a garage, barn or an extension to the house. Of course, you can purchase a carpentry workbench. But if this product famous brand, then it is quite expensive. In addition, it is not known whether it will fully meet all the needs of the master. Cheap tables won’t last long – that’s for sure.
The most rational decision, if you really want to have the most convenient and versatile carpentry workbench, make it yourself. Having dealt with optimal sizes, drawings, features of the selection of materials and a number of other issues, it will become clear that there is nothing difficult about this for any man.
This is where you need to start. Any desktop is made for specific purposes and premises. Carpentry workbench is a generalized name. One is needed only for woodworking on a personal plot (for example, during construction or overhaul), the other is assembled for everyday work with small parts, and from different materials. Depending on the specifics of use and installation location, its design features, dimensions, and drawing are determined.
Option A – portable (mobile) workbench. Such a desktop is most often assembled with one’s own hands for small rooms (annex, garage), with a complex layout, and its main purpose is to perform minor works with small parts. The relatively light weight of the structure makes it easy to move it to another segment if necessary. As a rule, the maximum that can be equipped with such a workbench is a medium-sized vice and electric sandpaper. This will allow carpenter's table partially used for small plumbing work.
For household purposes, the home craftsman is best suited for the table according to option A. It is called mobile purely conventionally, only because of its relatively low weight. If a specific place is allocated for it in a barn or garage, nothing prevents the owner from fixing its legs to the floor (fill it with concrete, “fasten” it with large screws, and so on). With your own hands - whatever you want.
If the workbench is assembled for household use, then there are recommended linear parameters (in cm) that you can focus on. But this is not an axiom, so the master is free to change anything at his own discretion.
What to consider:
If the owner is left-handed, then this should be taken into account. All standard drawings posted on the Internet are designed for craftsmen whose “working” hand is their right. Consequently, you will have to place additional equipment on the table according to the “mirror” principle.
Example of a workbench drawing
A work desk is not installed in residential areas. And in the workshop there will definitely be changes in both temperature and humidity. That's why Wood recommended for making a workbench is hornbeam, beech, oak. The only disadvantage of this solution is high price materials. You can choose a cheaper option - maple, larch. These rocks are quite hard. Although for the tabletop of a homemade workbench, if it is not planned to carry out any “impact” work on it, sometimes slab samples (chipboard, OSV) are taken. In principle, any good owner can easily determine what suits him best.
Wood that is too porous should not be used. Even high-quality treatment with antiseptics and oils will only increase the water-repellent properties, but will not add strength to the wood.
In the process of making a desktop with your own hands, the master must constantly, at every stage, control the angles and levels. The slightest distortion, even in one place, and everything will have to start all over again.
Part of the fastening features have already been said - self-tapping screws + reinforcement elements. But still, the main method of fixation is a tongue-and-groove connection with wood glue. But the fasteners only add strength to the entire structure of the workbench. But this is practiced only for massive tables that are not planned to be disassembled in the future (stationary options).
Here you should take into account the degree of maintainability of the workbench. If it is in a room with good conditions, it is unlikely that the wood will quickly begin to rot. In such cases, adhesive joints are quite justified. For work tables that are located in cold sheds, unheated boxes, and especially under open air, “landing” on glue is undesirable. Partial repairs will not be possible, and you will have to reassemble the frame.
Additional reliability of the structure can be ensured by installing various jumpers - diagonal, horizontal. This is all thought out at the stage of drawing up the drawing, although “rework” can be done during the installation process.
This is the most loaded part of the workbench, and it is advisable to make it removable. In this case, it is easy (if there is significant damage) to replace 1 - 2 boards.
At what stage and what exactly needs to be done is decided depending on the modification of the desktop and the selected drawing. For example, the same vice. They can be purchased ones that are easy to attach to the edge of the workbench. People experienced in carpentry make clamping devices on one's own.
In principle, a man who is “friendly” with the simplest tools should not have any difficulties when assembling a carpentry workbench. The only recommendation is that before you start drawing up a drawing, you should carefully review all the photos of desktops available on the Internet.
Even if there are no sizes on them, it is not difficult to determine them. But with a large share chances are that new, interesting ideas will appear. After all, the workbench can also be folding, which is very convenient in a small box or shed. Yes, and having familiarized yourself with the table configuration, design features various models, you can come up with something of your own, original. After all, the beauty of assembling it yourself is in the absence of any canons. Only creativity + knowledge of the issue.
A garage is a multifunctional space. In it you can install and repair cars, design and make various things and mechanisms with your own hands.
If a person likes to spend time in the garage doing repair work, he needs to properly equip his workplace. A workbench is a multifunctional work table on which you can process various materials, carry out plumbing, electromechanical and installation work. Also in the design of the workbench, you can consider shelves and drawers to store tools and other items.
Workbenches are made for processing metal (metalwork) and wood (carpentry). The designs differ in the material of the countertops. For metalwork models, the table top must be metal, since working with metal involves the use of machine oil and other liquids that wooden surface may leave marks.
Also, when processing metal parts, force and the use of sharp tools are often required, so it is best to equip the workbench with a metal tabletop.
Woodworking benches are designed for working with wood, so they are not as durable or functional as bench models.
If the design of a work table for a garage is made by hand, then first of all you need to carefully think through every detail, figure out where the tools will be placed, what work will be carried out on the workbench. The model of the garage table depends on this.
Standard models are often equipped drawers, which can be made from wood or metal. Also, the table design can be supplemented with shelves, a power shield for hanging tools, which will always be at hand. But most importantly, the workbench must be stable, durable and reliable.
Grinder with a circle for cutting metal and a grinding disc.
Welding machine and electrodes. Workwear and protective devices for welding work.
Screwdriver.
Jigsaw for cutting plywood.
Angle 50 mm by 50 mm, thickness 4 mm, length 6.4 m.
Square pipe 60 mm by 40 mm, thickness 2 mm, length 24 m.
Angle 40 mm by 40 mm, thickness 4 mm, length 6.75 m.
Steel strip 40 mm wide, 4 mm thick, 8 m long.
Steel sheet for tabletop 2200 mm by 750 mm. Thickness 2 mm.
Steel sheet for making drawer holders. Thickness 2 mm.
Wooden boards for the table top. Thickness 50 mm.
Plywood for making drawers and for the side and back walls of the table. Thickness 15 mm
Guides for desk drawers.
Screws for assembling plywood boxes.
Self-tapping screws for metal.
Anchor bolts.
Paint for wood and metal.
The workbench, which will be made from these materials, has quite impressive dimensions: table length 220 cm, width - 75 cm. The overall design and large tabletop allow you to place a vice and, for example, emery or other tools at different ends of the table.
The first step in making a workbench is cutting the available material into elements. Profile pipe intended for the manufacture of frames. The steel angle is designed to create stiffeners. It is cut into pieces and a power frame is formed from it. Also, a steel corner is needed for edging the tabletop on which the boards will be laid.
The steel strip is intended for the manufacture of guides on which the side panels will be attached. This material will also be used for brackets for fastening boxes and plywood.
Table drawers are made of plywood.
The second step is welding the power frame of the workbench. The tabletop elements are welded first - 2 pipes 2200 mm long and 2 pipes 750 mm each. The frame must be welded so that another frame of corners can be welded on top of it, into which the tabletop boards will be laid. To reinforce the tabletop, it is necessary to weld a few more after 40 cm steel pipes, which will serve as stiffeners.
Then 4 side legs are welded along the edges of the workbench. Their length is 900 mm. Power bridges are welded between the legs to strengthen the structure.
Once the basic frame is ready, you can begin welding the structure for the boxes. To do this, square frames are formed from steel pipes, which are welded to the tabletop on both sides of the table. The frames are reinforced with longitudinal stiffeners.
The third step is making a frame for the tabletop. Two steel angles, 2200 mm long, and two more angles, 750 mm long, are needed to make the frame. The structure is welded so that wooden boards fit inside it.
The angle frame is laid on a pipe frame and welded. The result is a reinforced tabletop, 8 cm high with internal stiffeners.
The metal frame of the workbench is almost ready, all that remains is to weld the panel sheathing for attaching the tool. This requires one metal corner with a length of 2200 mm and 4 corners with a length of 950 mm. Two elements are attached to the sides of the structure and two in the middle for reinforcement. The tool panel is welded to the tabletop.
The frame of corners and pipes is ready. You can begin to strengthen the structure. Brackets are welded to the sides of the table, which are cut from a steel strip. A total of 24 parts are needed. A hole is drilled in the middle of each bracket. Using these holes, the side and back walls plywood tables will be attached to metal frame workbench.
The fourth stage is making drawers for the table. Plywood is cut into blanks, which are screwed together with screws. The number of drawers depends on what will be stored in the table. If the parts are small, then you can build 3 drawers; if the parts are large, then 2. It all depends on personal preference.
You can place drawers on both sides of the table, you can mount pull-out structures on one half, and regular open shelves on the other.
After the drawers are assembled, you need to weld metal strips with holes between the sides of the drawer compartments. To these holes with inside the slides for the drawer guides will be attached.
The fifth stage is laying the boards into the tabletop frame. Boards 50 mm thick are cut into pieces of a certain length. If you have a long board available, then you need three blanks with a width of 245 mm and a length of 2190 mm. If there are no long boards available, then you can lay the blanks across the table. For this purpose, wood 205 mm wide is cut into 10 pieces 740 mm long.
Before laying the wood into the table frame, it must be treated with an antiseptic solution. This will protect the material from rotting and damage by beetles.
Then it is imperative to paint the entire metal structure workbench. This will protect the metal from corrosion. It is best to use a weather-resistant and anti-corrosion coating option. Welding seams need to be painted especially carefully. Drops of metal and unevenness are recommended before painting works clean thoroughly. This can be done using an angle grinder with a metal grinding disc.
After the structure has dried, you can begin laying the boards on the countertop. They should not be driven too tightly into the frame. This is due to the fact that wood tends to expand and dry out when temperature and humidity change. It is better to leave a small gap of a few millimeters between the boards. The surface of the wood needs to be sanded, this will make it easier to lay the metal sheet on top of the wood. The boards around the entire perimeter of the table are screwed to the frame with self-tapping screws.
The sixth stage is fastening the top steel sheet. It can be welded to the countertop, but there is wood inside the structure, which can ignite during the welding process. Therefore, it is best to attach the steel sheet with hidden screws to wooden boards. The metal must first be painted on both sides with a rust converter. This covering material looks like a transparent paint coating, is easily restored and reliably protects the metal from rust. You can also paint the metal tabletop with the same paint that was used to cover the frame. It will be beautiful, but over time the paint may scratch and the table will not look very new.
The last stage is installing the drawers on the guides and attaching the plywood to the side walls, shelves and power shield in front of the table. This work can be called finishing workbench. After work with plywood is completed, it must be coated with a composition that will protect the material from exposure environment. Also, do not forget about the design of a power shield for tools. You can attach special hooks or screws to it, from which the necessary things will be hung.
To make it convenient to work at a workbench, you can attach a special lamp with a bendable stand to the power panel. In this case, you can optionally direct the flow of light to the desired location.
A vice is an indispensable attribute of a mechanic's workbench. It is not recommended to attach a clamping tool that weighs several tens of kilograms to the tabletop itself. It is best to place a metal gasket 1 cm thick between the metal of the table and the tool. You need to drill holes in the gasket for the anchor bolts. Then, in the same places, drill holes of the same size in the tabletop. The entire structure is fastened with anchor bolts.
Plywood for board
