Critique my work bench ideas

Jumper K Balls (Trent) said:

Patrick said:

In reply to Jumper K Balls (Trent) :

 

I love the working height as a 6" tall human. 
 

 

damn Trent you tiny

Dang that errant shift key!

...And then he says, "do you think I really wanted a 12" pianist?"

CarKid1989 said:

Figured I would pop back in here with some updates.

I really like the  Steevo Bench designs and variations that people have come up with which essentially creates a frame around the toolbox to provide a solid surface for a workbench and allows variation in bench height.

I have spent an absurd amount of time trying to figure out what will work best for me for the home garage workshop. (overthinking is my superpower) I think I have things mostly figured out. 

I got a bunch of 3x3x.25 angle for free that should be plenty to do enough bench for two HF 44 toolboxes.  Actually its way overkill in terms of thickness but again, it was free so its what I will use. The Steevo bench uprights are 1/8 thick and the horizontal pieces are 3/16 thick so I am sure it will be plenty strong.

 

Sketch A shows how the front angle rail will connect. Steevo has it welded on but a common variation is to have it bolted on with a welded nut. I will do the same as it will make loading the HF 44 box much easier.

Sketch B shows two different leg designs. The top one would just be to run the angle down as the leg. The bottom one would be end the angle design the the base of the design and have the leg be a piece of 2x2 or 3x3 box steel as the leg.  Either design may include levelling legs to aid in getting the work top level as the garage is not totally level.  The only other thing that pops in my head is that I still might want the ability to roll this setup around as the garage evolves/ cleaning/ etc so casters with levelling legs might be an option. (If not I could move it with some furniture or car dollys and a jack I suppose)

Sketch C Shows the basic idea of the frame and how the angle iron would be used and how it would look.  The top would be a solid core door, possibly topped with steel if our fab shop has leftovers. (One issue I see is that I have 3x3 angle and the orientation it sits at currently is too tall which would overlap and block drawers from opening. I could trim it a bit)

Lastly, the bottom left sketch shows an added leg and a trailer receiver. Neat idea but not critical.

 

I knows its a bit of brain drain here but I am starting to pull all my ideas together.  If anyone has any ideas or crituques I am all ears.

Looks good from here!

I have 3 hitch recievers in my bench and it's wonderful!  I have my vise, grinder, hole saw jig, etc. On the hitches and it works schwell.  I also embedded channel into to bench to be able to clamp things down, but I haven't cut it out to use it, yet.

Figured its been a long time since I posted in this thread.

I had mentioned I had found some 3x3 x .25 angle iron and I was hoping to use that to build a bench based on the SteevoBench over on GarageJournal.com.  However, I ran into some issues because of the shape of the angle iron and the basic design of the bench.  I hemmed and hawed and drew and sketched but nothing worked out the way I wanted, plus, with all this being 3x3 the thing would weigh a ton.

I reached a point where I was in a state of paralysis by analysis.

Then, I got a lead on a bunch of 1.5x 1.5 square steel that was available when a local school was updating their bleachers. I had to put in some sweat and blood and tears but I was left with an abundant amount of 1.5x1.5 square steel. (i think it was 1/8 thick? cant recall) 

I revisited the Steevo Bench plans and reworked the measurements to accommodate for the different material dimensions and for changes in the dimensions of the updated Harbor Freight 44 inch tool chest. I was back in business.

The garage at home is not setup as a "shop" yet per say but I made do what I had and got to work.  All the steel was cut and measured carefully and marked and prepped.  I bought some cull/refuse MDF and made a jig so I could make 4 identical legs with very little effort and very high accuracy.

It worked great.

I was able to scrounge up some more angle iron and used it for the base "shelf/floor" and the top edges that hold the table top.  I salvaged two solid core industrial doors apx 1.75 inches thick and those will get cut up to be the top.  Still unsure if I will top it in steel which seems like overkill or maybe just have a partial metal front tray to keep spills/liquids off the wood.

I really have been scrounging around and being resourceful in building all this. Most everything on this build was essentially cast off parts and materials or salvage. Im pretty proud of this and its been fun finding stuff.

Anyhow, just wanted to share some updates.

In reply to CarKid1989 :

That's a legit good effort! I like that a lot; with a solid top you'll be able to pound on that with no fears. Good stuff!

CarKid1989 said:

 

 

What's up with the yellow foam lines on the floor?

The yellow foam lines on the floor were an experiment to see if I could contain all the rain water/ winter slush that fell off the car. Its Great Stuff foam.

Actually worked very well and the water remained in the outline. I squeegied it out from time to time. Next time I might try some industrial silicone in a giant tube and cut the tip to get a fat wide bead.  The only problem with the foam is if you trip on it you tend to rip out a shoe sized section and you repair it by buying a big can of one time use foam that you barely use.

All that to say its a water barrier that worked out well.