Workbench complete
posted 2003 Nov 30
I finished the workbench today; I glued two 3/4" sheets of plywood together to form the benchtop, and did the drilling and screwing to attach the top to the base. This sucker is heavy. No doubts about it being a real workbench.
In hindsight, I have to say that the two sheets of 3/4" is probably overkill - a top of two sheets of 1/2" is more than sufficient, and a lot lighter, too. Plywood is also pretty expensive, so it might be worth making one layer ply and the other particle board (and buying the cheapest plywood possible). If you do make the top narrower, be sure to reduce the depth you drill the pilot holes in the benchtop, and the depth of the 1" hole in the support legs (or put in a lot of washers to take up the slack).
I have also been building shelving for the strips from the
leftovers of the table. I've got long scraps of 3/4" ply lying
around, so I figured I'd put it to good use and use it to create the
shelving system. Five vertical supports spread over 13 feet; thus
each 16' length of strip will have five support points. All the
lumber has a shipping weight of 250 pounds, so each support will hold
50 pounds (a bit less when you remove the packing tube weight). The
vertical rails are 2x2, and they butt up against the foundation, so the
weight can be distributed through both the studs and vertically to the
foundation.
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