Workbench idea

Looking at cheaper workbenches for the lathe and they don't seem strong enough for the job, however don't want to spend a small fortune on even a used myford workbench cabinet/stand. So was thinking what about making a frame out of scaffolding and then once all In position welding the clasps/brackets in place, filling the legs with sand and then welding a steel worktop to which the tray could be bolted/welded too. Any thoughts or anyone else tried this?

Hi Curtis

Unless you have access to a very cheap supply of scaffold. you would probably find it just as easy and more practical to buy some square box section. If you are in the uk this is available delivered from plenty of local suppliers.

This welds easily, can be clamped together anywhere you wish with simple G clamps. and also doesn't have the problem of being galvanised, like the majority of scaffolding and clamps which will make the welding more awkward.

To position your laterals, cut a short piece of angle, clamp that to the leg and rest the box on it while you tack weld.

Hope this is helpful.

Kind regards

Brian.

Curtis,

​All my workshop bench frames have been built up from Dexion angle and topped with flooring grade chip board, a practice I have used for years.

Cross bracing under the machine mounting points give secure clamping points and any gaps between the steel frame and top are made good with sheared off pieces of aluminium sheet. With the feet bolted down to the floor, these have been more than adequate for the job and they remain stable in terms of level as well.

​The slotted angle construction leaves plenty of scope for extending or altering things as the workshop grows.

Regards
Brian

Curtis, no idea where you are in the country, but I've just reinforced a bench in my new house using 40mm thick wall box @ £20 for a 21' length from Sheffield, and topped it with ex-mezzanine floor 43mm chipboard from a chap in Huddersfield.

Adjustable feet from ebay, as recommended in a different thread on here, and smartened up on the top with a couple of boxes of cheap laminate flooring from a special offer in Wickes.

pm me if you want the dealers' details.

Didn't we just have a thread about benches last week? One of my lathes came with a bench made from two tower scaffold sections shortened and spaced with angle iron. That was probably more trouble than starting from scratch but may have been available free.

If it is fixed in a garage just make brick piers and ply top for a general bench and if for a lathe perhaps a more solid block, hollow filled with concrete, under the headstock. see this thread

my bench is made from 40x40x2mm angle and taken years of abuse in it's various uses.

got converted to lathe bench when i got lathe, top is 2 pces of 3/4" ply as are sides ( machine crates from work.

then made wood drawers for it.

Fence posts and kitchen worktop at this end.

Rik

4" x 2" frame, screwed to the wall, and a top made by glueing and screwing 3 28mm floor panels together.

Solid as a rock, with both a milling machine and a lathe bolted down on it..

The bottom of this page might interest you.

**LINK**

The value ones are ok for 300kg and the dearer ones 400kg. If you want more stiffness you could sheet in 3 of the sides. They are strong units.

John

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Take a look at Unistrut.

I've made a bench using it and it's as solid as a rock.

Steve.

Thanks for all the ideas guys, I may bolt it to my existing workbench for the time being as it's pretty sturdy wooden structure with a sheet of 25mm marine plywood for a worktop,used currently for motorbike maintenance,until I can sort something else out.

The front leg of that wooden bench looks like it is held by a couple of dinky little screws and neither horizontal rail is over the leg. Definitely need a welded version.......

.

Some plywood panels, glued & screwed, would stiffen it enormously

MichaelG.

Interesting stuff and worth remembering - dexion on steroids.

The problem with the wooden bench is bracing the legs against side to side movement of the bench. A shelf or two with a fairly deep support all screwed in place can fix that in the same way as I did on the one I posted a shot of.

Just sheeting in the side wont achieve the same thing unless it's extremely stiff.

Yes I under hung the top shelf. Most have been feeling perverse. More likely couldn't get at the screws when I made it.

John

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Edited By Ajohnw on 22/11/2016 09:28:55

Scaffolding pole and its clamps are usually galvanized. Avoid welding if possible.

Martin

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John,

If that's a response to my post:

1. I said nothing about 'just sheeting the side' ...
2. May I suggest that you read-up on triangulation; and more particularly, on the use of diaphragms to provide 'infinite triangulation' in a plane.

MichaelG.

My wooden workshop bench is based on Steve Ramsey's design over at WoodWorking for Mere Mortals

Details of my workbench build are here, all made from 2x4 PAR timber. Legs are 4x4, 2 x 2x4s glued and screwed, the end braces are also glued and screwed, the side braces are coach bolted through the entire leg, then 2 layers of 18mm marine ply glued and screwed for the worktop.

It was built in-situ around the compressor and probably weighs nearly as much as a metal Myford stand - it does'nt move

Edited By Zebethyal on 22/11/2016 10:13:25

The frames of my wooden benches are bolted together using 10 mm galvanized coach bolts, the tops are made of 40 mm x 200 mm pine, the legs 100 mm sq, NZ Oregon, this is much less dense than North American Oregon, our trees grow too quick, a 50 year old tree is ready to fell for timber, where as in its native America, the same size tree would be at least 200 year old. while the bench is solid, it really needs a harder surface toi work on, on top. The cost of a wood framed verses a metal frame was very similar 30 years ago, but I had all the bolts needed, and a saw mill a mile away, so wood it was.

Ian S C