Work Bench Help

B

Bill Hinds

Freshman
Sep 18, 2011
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Hi All,
Looking to build a work bench for the shop and was hoping to get some idea from others who already have built one or work someplace that has one and wishes it was laid out different. The work bench will be used for all type of service work such as soldering cables as well as servicing and bench testing equipment such as power amps and moving light fixtures such High End DL3's. Looking for things like width, length, depth. Surface top? Straight or L shaped? Just trying to avoid mistakes want to make it as functional as possible.

Thanks in advance!

Bill
 
Re: Work Bench Help

Not too deep-if it's against a wall, and you've got tools, parts, test gear along the back and above on the wall, anything over 24-30" deep is difficult to reach things. I'd also say keep it around 5-6' long max.

Carpet or some other covering for a bench seeing a lot of electronics-less scratches inflicted on the gear.

A soldering board or a section that isn't carpeted for soldering. Have threaded fittings mounted where you'd like to attach a PanaVise and other handy fixtures like a magnifying elbow lamp.

Make a matching cart that's the same height and carpet covered on the top too-it's handy for larger items moving them around and onto the bench.

Sturdy, especially if you plan to have a regular vise mounted on the bench.

Power where it makes sense-some along the back for all the test gear and some of the tools, a couple out front for convenience.

If you view schematics on a computer, think about installing an industrial type mount for a monitor that is a swing arm style, or a laptop mount of similar design if you use one instead of a desktop pc.

Get the height correct for the type of stool or chair used at the bench.

Don't build supports that you wind up hitting your knees, shins, or other body parts on each time you move around the bench working. Toe clearance on the floor too, just like kitchen cabinets, if needed.

Best regards,

John
 
Re: Work Bench Help

I whipped up a $50 masterpiece for my friend using a sheet of 3/4 plywood and about 10 2x4s, let me see if I can get a picture.

I'm an advocate of 'the more bench space you can get, the better'. This bench was 36" deep and the remaining 12" strip off the sheet of plywood was used as a backsplash. It's the full 8 feet wide. In my shop I have 8 feet of bench plus another 6 feet of auxiliary bench and it's nowhere near enough. Of course, I do more woodworking than electronic repair, but even for snake and cable making, it's nice to have space to put the bulk of the cable so it's not pulling itself onto the floor the whole time you're soldering.

The top of the bench for my friend was sanded, wood-filled, and then painted with about 8 coats of stain/polyurethane stuff. The resulting surface is rock-hard and shines. Very easy to clean, extremely durable.

I put a couple quad boxes in the front, since he doesn't have any test gear for the back. I think if I were to build a bench like this for me, I'd have a shelf across the back for my scope and signal generators and such.

On my regular bench I do have a vise, which is extremely handy, but I also have some 2" diameter holes drilled in strategic locations so I can quick-grip things down to to the top of the bench. This is extremely handy when doing things like jigsawing or routing holes in baffles.

Here are some pictures, one is before stain, one is after.

bench1.jpgbench2.jpg
 
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Re: Work Bench Help

Silas Pradetto said:
I whipped up a $50 masterpiece for my friend using a sheet of 3/4 plywood and about 10 2x4s, let me see if I can get a picture.

I'm an advocate of 'the more bench space you can get, the better
Click to expand...

Although I typically have to press my bench into double duty, for both woodworking or electronics, I'm not a fan of ultra large benches. Way back when I worked for Intersonics building Servodrive subwoofer cabinets and subassemblies, I built a bench that was essentially two sheets of 4x8 plywood braced out into an 8'x8' bench. I had put a large woodworking vise at one corner, and set up the other three corners as assembly areas.

The thing is that I wound up 90% of the time at the corner with the vise, and most of the rest of the bench was cluttered with other stuff.

My current bench is 26"x 72", with two vises, one on the end, one in the middle of one of the long sides. More than enough space. I keep the test gear over on a large shelf, and can extend leads or set up a folding table as needed.

The OP was describing what I'd refer to as a tech bench for electronics work, and I made an effort to describe the features that I like and have found logical in setting up for this. Actually having multiple benches- a small one for soldering with a hard top, Pana Vise mounted, perhaps even a small exhaust fan, etc., on locking casters, and another larger bench for test gear, carpeted, for the gear being tested and worked on appeals to me.

I'm about to start in on a new bench for my shop, where the legs/frame will be double laminated 2x6 lumber trimmed down to square edges, so about 1.5" x 5.0" real dimensions, lap jointed or mortise/tenon construction, and the top will be three layers of 3/4" plywood, laminated, edged with hardwood trim, and probably topped with a piece of sacrificial masonite. I'll be mimicing a solid butcher block style top, which allows work to be clamped to the top more easily than a single layer top supported by a lumber frame. Underneath, I'm thinking of framing it out for some drawers and cupboard space to keep tools and supplies. The current bench just has a large shelf.

I also have a 2'x4' low bench, about 15" high, for larger cabinets to set on, to put the working area at a good height.

Best regards,

John
 
Re: Work Bench Help

John, sounds like we do very different things with our benches. I do understand that the OP was looking more for an electronics/diagnostic setup, and I did come at it from the woodworking or general-purpose angle. I'm sure he'll compile something nice from all our ideas and provide us with pictures of his end result. This is the first time I've ever seen a thread on workbenches, and now I'm inspired to go make something better than I have now!
 
Re: Work Bench Help

John:

I've recently constructed some shop work benches that seemingly work-out well for similar to your applications.

The frames of the work benches are modified pallet shelving. The surfaces are 1" T&G plywood with a 3/8" fiberglass laminate plywood work surface. The modified pallet shelving worked well since the uprights and laterals are "pre built" to fairly exacting tolerances... all I had to do was get the uprights cut to the right lengths (and then very slightly shimmed to get the benches dead level... and square since they're bolted to the wall). To my eye, they turned out really nice... and were pretty cheap to-boot... solid as a rock, dead level and square(to a few thousandths)... and sturdy enough to flop an engine block on them if need be, or be fairly easily disassembled and reconfigured sometime in the future if need be.

I'd be happy to send you pictures if you're interested?

Oh, and I have all my bench outlets overhead, under the overhead shelves above the work benches which also incorperate the lighting for the benches and convenient storage above the bench, since the space above a workbench that your head wouldn't come into contact with is wasted space.

[email protected].
 
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Re: Work Bench Help

Silas Pradetto said:
John, sounds like we do very different things with our benches. I do understand that the OP was looking more for an electronics/diagnostic setup, and I did come at it from the woodworking or general-purpose angle. I'm sure he'll compile something nice from all our ideas and provide us with pictures of his end result. This is the first time I've ever seen a thread on workbenches, and now I'm inspired to go make something better than I have now!
Click to expand...

Well no, I think we do very similar things with our benches. Mine is primarily for woodworking too. I've had mine sticking out penninsula style from the wall now for many years, which I like as I can set up work on the open end(which is where the larger woodworking vise is mounted). I've yet to install holes for hold-fast type clamps, but I'm looking at these for the new bench:

http://www.highlandwoodworking.com/veritasbenchholddown.aspx

Nice thing about these is they use a round hole in the bench, which IMO is easier to install than the square hole traditional hold-downs require. I use masonite for the top layer as it gets sacrificed from all the router usage-not intential, but there's always a little each time.

I've been threatening to build a new bench for a while, the current one is twelve years old, and I think it's time for a new and improved version. The new one will be the same size basically, but will be much heavier, much more rigid, with enclosed storage underneath, not open, plus the hold down set up along the top.

Mark, post some pictures of these behemoths here, I'd like to see this. BTW, I do have one quad box above the bench too, although my garage/shop has a finished ceiling of 8.5'.

Best regards,

John
 
Re: Work Bench Help

I don't have any suggestions on size or layout, but when I needed a bench in my garage I used an old kitchen table. I cut it to width and attached the cut side to the wall. I then extended the legs to a comfortable standing-height. It came out great and is much beefier than a plywood topped bench. This is the standard table you buy at places like Sam's or target.

The thing I like about it is that it's made from strips of hardwood pressed together on edge. It's about 2" thick, and has nicely finished edges and is already poly'd. I used the cutoff piece to make a matching shelf that's about 8" deep.

You can usually find these tables for pennies on craigslist or a used furniture store. If they are scratched up you can get them cheaper.
 
Re: Work Bench Help

Lots of good ideas so far. John, I like the idea of 2 benches. One for soldering & such and the second shorter one to set heavier pieces on to get the work up to a more suitable working level. This would be ideal for cabinets such as EV XArray's or larger moving head fixtures.

Mark, I would like to see some pictures of your setup as well. You can e-mail them to me if you like to [email protected]

Keep the ideas coming. I want to get this thing built over the next month or so!

Thanks,

Bill
 
Re: Work Bench Help

+1 for several smaller benches - I have 4 work surfaces going right now, and like John says, they tend to get cluttered up ( un-finished projects etc..) It maddening to have to clean up a project , or move one in progress to have to work on another... Also having benches specific to a task ( like soldering / cable making) is beneficial, I 'd add to that to somehow incorporate a measuring tape, or marking system on the edge of the bench for measuring, an exhaust fan for pulling fumes away, and a peg board, or orginizer above where your working for parts storage etc... Narrow benches 24" or less might be the way to go, unless like the others say, you're doing wood working, then that's another story. Good luck, and yes post pics, like Silas said, you've inspired me to clean up my shop...
 
Re: Work Bench Help

I have several benches. Mostly 4.
The electronics bench is a kitchen counter (from Home Depot - 5' long) on top of a couple of base cabinets with a plugmold strip along the back. I attached a 5' x 2' plywood piece to the rear of the backsplash and have a shelf and the plugmold mounted there.

There is a traditional woodworkers bench - maple top with end and side vices.

There is the main woodworking bench which is about 12' long and has a 30" deep x 2" maple top and is on top of kitchen base cabinets (drawers and doors). I have a router built in and my mitre saw inset.

Then there is the utility bench. It is 3'x5' and built with 4x4 legs and a 2x4 frame and is on 4" casters and has a double 3/4" ply top. The height is set to the same as my main benches and the table saw so it can be rolled up to any other bench as an extension or serve as outfeed for the saw. Most of the time it is free standing in the middle of the wood shop. Very heavy and I can pound on it all day if needed. It is often used as an assembly bench or for when I have to open up speaker cabinets or doing refininishing of them.
 
Re: Work Bench Help

John Halliburton said:
Mark, post some pictures of these behemoths here, I'd like to see this. BTW, I do have one quad box above the bench too, although my garage/shop has a finished ceiling of 8.5'.
Click to expand...
ok... the place is kind-of a mess... it is Thursday, and the janitor doesn't come in till the weekend (unless he's playing a gig... but he isn't this weekend);)

Here's a picture of the work surface of one bench:

http://www.audiopile.net/Technical_Library/packing_bench_surface.JPG

Here's a picture of some underneith construction details:

http://www.audiopile.net/Technical_Library/packing_bench_construction_details.JPG

This bench and overhead shelf, bench lighting, and wiring took me approx. 3 days start-to-finish and cost approx. $300 in materials (admittedly most of the materials I sourced from various scrap yards).
 
Re: Work Bench Help

Shane Presley said:
and a peg board,
Click to expand...
FWIW: I'm death on peg board (I won't tolerate it in a shop or anywhere else that I spend a lot of time trying to get work done), because I personally believe peg board in the shop does a slow burn on your subconscious, culminating in eventually and unexplainably reaching a point of hating to go in your shop... because (I think)... it's kind of like how a cattle guard in a road works: Cattle don't cross cattle guards because they can't navigate the terrain, but rather, it's because they are incapable of focusing on the depth of field difference involved with a cattle guard. I think peg board works the same way on humans exposed to it over time... in that it's extremely fatiguing or subconsciously frustrating to be in eye contact with peg board because of the complexity of the depth of field... or something like that. Slot wall seems to be much less irritating.
 
Re: Work Bench Help

W. Mark Hellinger said:
FWIW: I'm death on peg board (I won't tolerate it in a shop or anywhere else that I spend a lot of time trying to get work done), because I personally believe peg board in the shop does a slow burn on your subconscious, culminating in eventually and unexplainably reaching a point of hating to go in your shop... because (I think)... it's kind of like how a cattle guard in a road works: Cattle don't cross cattle guards because they can't navigate the terrain, but rather, it's because they are incapable of focusing on the depth of field difference involved with a cattle guard. I think peg board works the same way on humans exposed to it over time... in that it's extremely fatiguing or subconsciously frustrating to be in eye contact with peg board because of the complexity of the depth of field... or something like that. Slot wall seems to be much less irritating.
Click to expand...

this is one of those things i've also experienced, but never quantified.

i declare no more pegboard for me either!
 
Re: Work Bench Help

Shane Presley said:
an exhaust fan for pulling fumes away,
Click to expand...
I installed an exhaust fan (fume extractor) in my solder bench as opposed to hoods and such I've seen employed in other shops. Having the fume extractor in the bench works well for pulling the fumes truly away from where they're unwanted.

The fume extractor unit was manufactured by Airflow, which contains a cage fan, paper filters, and an activated carbon filter... here a picture:

http://www.audiopile.net/Technical_Library/airflow_fume_extractor.JPG

Here's a picture showing the fume extractor grate in the bench and the pvc pipe joined to the boxed in area under the grate:

http://www.audiopile.net/Technical_Library/fume_exhaust_grate.JPG

I solder directly over the grate... the fume extractor system pulls the fumes down and away from the work area.
 
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Re: Work Bench Help

Lots of good input, one common theme is that many people get it wrong their first try...me too. Back in the '70s I made huge 4'x8' tables, and as others have observed most of that surface area just accumulated junk, and you typically work in a much smaller area.

Since then I have made more reasonable work benches from preformed counter tops and the like. Back in the old days we needed more depth to accommodate deep oscilloscopes, and/or crt computer monitors, but now with all the short thin stuff, you can probably get away pretty comfortably with typical counter depths.

Maybe throw up a simple temporary work surface, and see how you end up using it. After a few months finalize your design based on what you actually need.

An old friend of mine swears by building triangular shaped benches that nestle into room corners, to better utilize that usually dead space. I am not as enthusiastic about that plan as he is, but I offer it FYI.

JR
 
Re: Work Bench Help

John Roberts said:
Lots of good input, one common theme is that many people get it wrong their first try...me too. Back in the '70s I made huge 4'x8' tables, and as others have observed most of that surface area just accumulated junk, and you typically work in a much smaller area.

Since then I have made more reasonable work benches from preformed counter tops and the like. Back in the old days we needed more depth to accommodate deep oscilloscopes, and/or crt computer monitors, but now with all the short thin stuff, you can probably get away pretty comfortably with typical counter depths.

Maybe throw up a simple temporary work surface, and see how you end up using it. After a few months finalize your design based on what you actually need.

An old friend of mine swears by building triangular shaped benches that nestle into room corners, to better utilize that usually dead space. I am not as enthusiastic about that plan as he is, but I offer it FYI.

JR
Click to expand...
No doubt suitable workbench sizing (dimensions) is dependent on the likely applications. For general purpose shop applications 32" - 34" deep (front to back) seems to work well for me. Much deeper than that and the back of the bench tends to develop into acting as a shelf... breeding ground for clutter. Much shallower than that seems too narrow to accomodate "laying your work out".

Some of my handiest "work benches" are old video monitor road cases. The cases are approx. 21" cube and roll around on 3 1/2 Coleson casters... work height is approx. 26". These are handy for lots of stuff. I store my rarely used test gear in them, and use them as a roll-around surface for all sorts of stuff, everything from a place to lay tools (rather than on a fender or core support) to getting "something" up off the ground so I can work on "it" from every side without bending over... working on small motors for example... to being a handy impromptu beverage & snack holder sitting next to a lawn chair out in-front of the shop while enjoying a nice sunset.
 
Re: Work Bench Help

Back in the day when Oscilloscopes were huge and very expensive, they used to live on their own roll around carts. On very cold days you could sit between two of them to keep warm... :-)

JR
 
Re: Work Bench Help

John Roberts said:
Back in the day when Oscilloscopes were huge and very expensive, they used to live on their own roll around carts. On very cold days you could sit between two of them to keep warm... :-)

JR
Click to expand...

When I started my non audio career I worked in a lab where they had many carts with test equipment.. the most coveted being the ONE "network analyzer" which from my understanding cost way more than a luxury car.
you can imagine the light bulb that went off years later when I realized that Smaart is literally the same thing (at least at audio frequencies, which is where we were using these things anyway)
Heck, I'd bet that the cart itself probably cost more than a Smaart rig :)

Jason
 
Re: Work Bench Help

I am with the less surface area the better theory as well. Large flat surfaces become repositories far too quickly unless one is a vigilant neat freak/ocd sort of person. At the shop I use a simple plastic banquet style table as a work surface more often than not. When not in extended use, it collapses out of the way rather handily. Over in welding and fab land where I tend to keep things set up longer, I have a Craftsman work surface with a 1 1/4" thick wood top that I placed a 3/8" thick steel top over. Think the surface of it is 30x48". I opted for the non drawered version, so where the drawers would be is a simple shelf/foot rest that the foot control for the TIG welder lives along with other boxed items. In fabrication land I use a sturdy government surplus table with a steel frame and butcher block top that cost me a whole $30 and can probably support a VW Rabbit. Tons of room for tooling along a riser on the wall side, air and electrical under the riser, all easily reached from a normal office type chair.
 
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