Hi everyone,
I thought I would start off this blog with a project I have almost completed. Yes in order to complete projects and build from plans you must have the necessary equipment. At the heart of that equipment is a workbench. I had trawled the internet looking for a design that I thought would work it had to be strong, stable and sleekish!
Many designs had long diagonal braces and/or horizontal braces going from one leg to another. I decided against this for a number of reasons.
- First, this seemed like a waste of material to me as the strongest shape is a triangle.
- Secondly, when working around the bench it would be very easy to hit your legs/ankles on these braces
- Finally they make it hard to store tools under the table wasting valuable storage space.
So, I decided to go with my own design and brace each leg with a smaller triangular brace to each side of the table (see first pic).
Having decided on a design next was the material to built the workbench from wood or metal being my 2 main choices.
I decided mild steel for the structural components and wood for top, only because that is what I have access to in my area. I will either use 16mm MDF or ply for the top though many material could be used for the bench top stainless steel, masonite, hardwood etc I think I will go with the MDF because it is easy to shape, its strong, level and cheap! Another idea for a great top to the workbench is an old solid wood door though this restricts dimensions a little.
For the base of the bench I thought 40mm 1 1/2 inch box mild steel with a thickness of 1.6mm would be fine, as it is strong and easy to cut. This would probably be the minimum size I would use; anything bigger would be ok too, just more expensive. Use this design to make some good coin! Next Installment.