The Workbench Works

The next phase is complete, the workbench works. Eight drawers, eight cupboards, and three roll-a-rounds, 27 inches deep, and 14 feet long. The top is made of two, 3/4 inch thick MDF lined with a 3/16 inch piece of hardboard. The edges are trimmed out with two and half inch boards. The entire bench is red oak, it has nice wood grain, cheap and hard enough to take a pounding. I used dark spring hinges and made my own handles. I guessing the entire project cost about 300 dollars for the lumber, hardware and glue. Of course that doesn’t include the new table saw and shaper I purchased.

The roll-a-round cabinets are great for hardware. It allows me to roll the hardware I need right to my project site. The roll-a-rounds do not work as smooth as I hope for. The issue concerns the slopping foundation. There is about a 3/4 inch drop in the foundation from the front of the bench to the back. Therefore I had put a riser in the back of each opening, it keeps the front flush with the rest of the bench front. Plus I used straight rollers instead of casters, so the roll-a-rounds would pull straight out which also prevents them from rolling away from whatever project I am working on.  The far left will be used to support my table saw and shaper. The center has two sides, one for nails and the other side supports my wood screws. The right cabinet is for hardware not commonly used and contains bends.

The entire workbench project has allow me to experiment with unfamiliar  methods for creating drawers, and cabinet doors. The most important thing is Donna likes them has ask me to take a break from building shop furniture to building her a buffet table for the dinner room. Of course it will not look like my workbench, but it will have drawers and possibly lower doors for storing her nice table decorations.

My inlaws (Del and Arlene Johnson are coming to visit this week. Del is going to help me install 220v in the man cave to run my larger air compressor and my father’s radial arm saw.  We will also install 4 additional 4 foot lights closer to the walls which will put more lighting over the center of the shop. These 4 footers will not replace the LEDs I have placed over  my power tools.

I will also mount three more over the workbench, under the wall cabinets after I complete my buffet project. To justify the existence of the man cave and all its addition tool requirements I have to make something for the house. This keeps the little woman happy and the man cave donations up.

Drawers & Doors

The drawers went together well though I had to make a few adjustments to allow for smooth rolling. An empty drawer may work well but putting weight in one adds stress for testing.  This week I began to put the fronts on the drawers and doors on the shelves.

I found a couple easy handle plans and decided to make my own. A drawer/door handle can cost between 2 & 4 dollars. The bench is going to take 19 handles and the upper cabinet will take another 8. I save about 60 dollars making them. It only took 5 ft of 1.5 inch Red Oak and 2 hours of labor. I made 40 identical handles just incase I wanted to make more cabinets.  The next  step  is to fill the spaces between the cabinets. These I haven’t design yet but the idea comes from kitchen cabinetry. For kitchens with no pantry, the builder usually puts in a pull out where cans and boxed foods are stored. Instead mine will be used for hardware, screws, nails, hooks, etc.

Now for some cool stuff, I’ve updated yet another major tool in my shop. My old table saw (Craftsmen) has been a muscle in my shop but like many things has begin to show some wear. Lately my cuts have not been as exact as I like. I did some shopping around and found three saws that were within my price tag. Lowe’s had two, a Hitachi and a Delta, both good saws, price at just below 600 dollars. Home depot had a Ridgid with in the price range. I choose the Ridgid for two reasons, 1) A good consumer reports rating, 2) a 2 inch marble table top, sweet! All three were belt driven which means super quite operation, that combined with easy adjustments and with the ability to cut at 30 inch verses 18 makes it more conducive to cabinet work.