Bench Covering?

A short time ago, there was a thread discussing lino material as a work bench covering

I am now unable to locate it. I am just erecting a bench and would like to cover the thick plywood top with a lino type material as was done in the past.

Especially where can you buy this type of covering?

Andrew.

Not sure about lino but I used this **LINK**

which has been OK.

Regards.

David.

Andrew

Any decent carpet shop!

At work we always covered the bench tops with oil tempered hard board about 3/16 thick tacked on and under vice etc replaced it most Christmas just before we broke up.

David

**LINK**

My dad's garage has a quite old workbench which is covered with that stuff. I'd have no clue where to get it from.

I prefer MDF or hardboard coated with a couple of thick coats of one pack semi gloss clear urethane. By thick I mean poured on then brushed smooth using as much as the surface can carry without running off.

It works really well in three days it is very hard and durable.

Edited By John McNamara on 25/10/2017 04:45:13

A friend gave me a sample of Hospital flooring which was much heavier than any lino I've ever seen in a shop. I tried to find a source to do my kitchen floor and failed miserably. It doesn't seem to be available retail for DIY; the expectation is that it's bought as part of an outfitting package, which would be OTT for covering a bench.

My local happens to be a large Teaching Hospital. It's a constant building site and more than once I've noticed lino off-cuts dumped in a skip that would be big enough to do a bench .

Dave

I think the post was likely about summat else but digressed to material scavenged from naval vessels. There again, that could have been on another forum....

The original thread is linked by ASF above

I have a rubber car mat on one half of the bench and the other half covered with a piece of carpet. The carpet is useful for dismantling parts as they stay where they are, it also is a good soft surface for filing small parts etc.

Alan

Bits of industrial/safety vinyl are available on Ebay - search for e.g. "safety flooring roll end". Altro seems a good brand - I got some for my kitchen recently. Definitely much heavier duty than the 'normal' vinyl that was there before.

Edited By Bikepete on 25/10/2017 10:46:20

The original thread is linked by ASF above

Not the one I was thinking about,. Sorry!

I live in the States and found sheets of hardboard coated with a white plastic coating like whiteboards in offices. I use this on my bench and like how it is easy to clean and any small items are easily seen on the bench. Temporary sketches or calculations can easily be done in felt tip pen and wiped away when they are no longer needed.

John

Thanks everyone,

It looks like the thick lino material that I am thinking of is unobtanium from normal retail outlets. I will try Ebay for some roll ends as suggested.

Andrew.

http://www.armstrong.com/flooring/products/linoleum?intcid=link_TopNav_Products_Linoleum

Just have to look properly.

Or perhaps 2.5mm or 3.5mm linoleum sold by the metre? **LINK**

I must admit it has me tempted, my dad's bench was covered in linoleum and was tough but didn't bruise anything placed on it.

Brian

My dad did TV rentals. He had some mats that were like thin lino with a fleecy layer on the other side. He used them in his van as they stopped TVs getting scratched up.

I am using 1/4" conveyor belt. Very durable.

From experience at work, best workbench surface I ever used was inch thick chipboard covered with formica sheet. Very hard wearing, wipe clean, looks smart. (it wasn't a kitchen worktop). Our bench tops were about 5' by 10' and we used a kind of light green colour. Easy to see stuff when you dropped it. Our new bench tops are 3 inch marine ply covered in 3/16 ish white perspex. It too is very good. We clean it down with brake cleaner spray, or sometimes just a water spray bottle with a few squirts of washing up liquid. On those we service and repair every thing that can be carried on a Fire Appliance, and they still look good as new after over 18 months hard use. With the white tops once we tidy up and wipe down, the place looks as clean as a laboratory.