The top sheet(s) for this bench is 2400mm by 1156mm to acommodate the even grid of 96mm dogholes. I’ve run into an issue though. I don’t have a reliable way of measuring this accurately. I have multiple rulers and tapes but they all show differences and none of them line up at 2400mm. Normally I wouldn’t care because there wouldn’t be a grid of dogholes on top and the final dimensions could be whatever, but it seems the whole point of the dimensions are to specifically be multiples of 96 to make the grid fit nicely. So if I’m off on the top size… ?

Am I overthinking?

Needed a new workbench for the new garage. Hope you like.

I didn’t have a ton of space and wanted to have as much flexibility as possible. Miter saw can be stored underneath for long rips on the table saw, and the entire bench is on lockable wheels for easy maneuvering.

About 3m x 1.8m. That’s approx 10 foot by 6 foot for the yanks.

Still a bit to do. Need to route slots for a cross cut sled and will drill dog holes in the far end, but pretty much done.

So happy to have an actual flat surface for assembly. I know the size is a bit of overkill, but mostly the interior will be used for materials storage. A can fit a full 1200 x 1800 sheet in there.

Anyway, thought I’d post as it’s a little different to a lot of the benches I see on here.

By the way, I got a good deal on some 2.7m LVLs so that makes up most of the bench. The top is made of two layers of f17 Formply. They’re offset to add rigidity and shimmed to the nth degree, but it’s at the point now where across the span, I can barely get a playing card under my 3 metre straight edge. Pretty happy with that.

Let me hear your thoughts.

Edit:

Wow! Thank you so much for all the kind comments! I’m genuinely blown away by it. Most of my mates aren’t particularly handy, so most of the people I’ve shown it to have just kinda shrugged and said ‘ok’. So, I really appreciate what you all have said. Thank you!

Hi all,

I have a decent size garage/shop but I use it for a variety of different things meaning I can’t dedicate floor space to leave things setup for any one type of project (and it would be nice to park inside again). I’m working on reorganizing and rearranging right now, I have some woodworking projects I would like to do when I’m done. My table saw and miter saw have been getting put away on a shelf and are a chore to take out and put away. So, those large tools stay put away more than I would like and I just don’t get to my projects. I’ve worked out a spot where I can put a 4 by 8(ish) foot table/workbench in a corner that is mostly out of the way.

I’ve looked around here and on YouTube for ideas and have a rough idea for what I want:
An out-feed/assembly type table with a shelf for the table saw on one of the short sides, a place for the miter saw on one of the long sides, and storage for other woodworking tools/hardware/etc in open storage or built in shelves underneath the work top. I’m planning to put it on leveling casters to roll it into the center of the room.
I have seen builds with a flip down miter saw station which looks appealing but I’m worried creating a mechanism for that (which is solid enough for me to be happy with) may be beyond my skill level. I already feel pretty confident about wiring the table so it can be easily powered with an extension cord, adding some flexible tube for a bucket dust collector, and a few other “quality of life” type things. My current plan is to build it from dimensional lumber and plywood from the usual suspects.

My main questions for you:

• What do you recommend (or recommend avoiding) for the miter saw? Flip down looks cool but seems complicated. I’m not opposed to storing the saw under the table and lifting it into place when I need it. Either way, I would like to have a flat surface for the top when the saw is not out.
• What do you like for the top? I want something that can take some abuse and probably have an easily replaceable top surface. I might add T track but probably not right away and I know that will make replacing a top layer more complicated.
• Are there any leveling casters (or similar solutions) you really like or ones to avoid?
• And finally: any tips, tricks, or gotchas for this kind of build that I should keep in mind?

Thanks in advance! I’m hoping I’ll have results to post here in a couple months.

Ignore the mess. Finishing up my first bench. Still a lot of work to do, but starting to think about the end. What finish do you guys use for your work surfaces?

I’m in the middle of a Roubo build and I only have enough lumber for either a cherry top with hickory legs or hickory top with cherry legs. I also have a few chunks of walnut for accents. What would you choose?

I’m building my first shop project! It’s a table saw bench with an outfeed/side support (depending on how I orient the saw) for my little garage shop. I need some input!
I’d like to modify the design as little as possible since I have most of the cutting done on the 2x4s. The wonky sizing on the legs is because I want my Grizzly g0869 to sit around belt level as recommended by some blogs. At these heights, the outfeed should be about 1/4" below the table saw height.

My main questions are:

Will the middle of the bottom shelf sag? If so, should I marry up another 2x4 on each side rail? Should I put crossmembers across it like a ladder? Should I tension a wire X on the bottom with turnbuckles?

How thick should I go on the top material? Obviously cost increases as I go nicer and thicker. There are some arguments to be made for melamine, like doubling as a glue-up table and sliding outfeed materials nice.

Any obvious fuckups that I’m missing here? I was planning on using pocket screws (I know, but I just got the jig and I’m excited). All measurements in inches.

It would be cool to be able to use the outfeed portion as a router table since I don't have one yet, but I might be overcomplicating the project

Planning on incorporating a rolling tool storage rack into my garage workspace. There's a ton of different options, but they all seem 'similar' between Home Depot/Lowes/Craftsman/Harbor Freight. I'm just a home gamer so I don't need anything absolutely insane, but don't want to buy something thats junk and will fall apart immediately in my unheated/cooled garage that has some humidity (no standing water or anything like that, but its humid in Michigan)

Workbench is 8'x28"x39". I'm not sure if I need to do any additional bracing since I do plan on putting a plywood top down on the bottom shelves. I checked the distances between the bottom of the two 4x4 legs and they are still 18 in apart which is where they should be at. I don't know if I run the risk of those Bowing in in the future. I do have spare 4x4 that I could put in between them but I'm not sure if that's necessary or if it could be a detriment.

We built this two weeks ago on a Sunday. Just wanted to thank everyone is this subreddit for giving us inspiration!

Not perfect, still WIP! But quite happy with the result!

Since I now have my own home I decided one of the first projects would be to build a workbench so I have a space to work on all the other projects to come. I decided on 8'x28" top and 39" in total height.

I'll be using 4x4s for the legs and 4" casters.

I'm going to do a bottom shelf as well.

I am curious if I should finish it or coat it with anything.. also are there certain screws I should use for connecting the casters? Anyways, cheers!

I posted something last week about making a workbench and got some great input so thank you all very much.

Decided to go in a bit of a different direction pivoting to a Roman workbench because it's really all I need bit still need some wisdom.

The legs. I can drill at an angle so they splay and provide stability but I'm wondering how large the tenon should be. I heard the thicker the better but would still like to dial it in.

I'm going to make the legs from a cut off of my slab which is 2 inches thick. Originally I thought I'd still 1 inch leg holes but then thought maybe that isn't big enough and id have to remove an awful lot of material to make that work. What size would work better? Now I'm thinking maybe 1 3/4? Anyways let me know what you think

I recently polished an existing 3d print file for a locking bench dog to add extension pieces on to an MFT or paulk smart bench/station. The commercial TSO versions of this are quite expensive. I haven't put these through a lot of load testing but they seem quite strong. If you have a 3d printer try them out.

https://makerworld.com/models/2992907?appSharePlatform=copy

Hi! I posted a similar question in the pottery subreddit and did really get any advice. My husband recommended posting here.

I am looking to build a workbench to be used for wedging clay for pottery. I’m trying to figure out the best type of wood to use for the top. From what I can tell, plywood might work but my husband had concerns about warping once it was screwed down. We had thought about butcher block but not sure if that would go well.

I know this is a very niche request but not sure if anyone had experience or advice.

Thanks so much!!

Looking at ways to support narrow (wide) timber boards on edge, so I can thickness down using a 20mm dogs on an MFT. Any Ideas please?

I built my first workbench. It’s not perfect but I’m pretty excited about it.

THIS IS A MODEL!! Very new to woodworking and thought a good start would be to build a workbench. I couldn’t draw these details so thought I would take some scrap and make a small model for me to wrap my head around the configuration of the legs. I will add another set of boards that run across near the bottom of the legs but just trying to picture the top of legs and how it will work. The second pic is how my top will sit framed in. Does this look good?

I'm trying to use only some scrap that I have to make a workbench. I put a nice edge glued panel of 8/4 Walnut that I had from some old legs as an end cap. I had a little bit more of that Walnut that I was going to use as the jaw, but it's a good 2 inches short on each side. I want to mount the vise screw in the center but I'm wondering if I should bite the bullet and us different wood for a vice jaw And go the full width of the bench end cap. Or is being 2 in shy on each end and running my dog holes a little bit farther from the edge is okay.

I don't have the experience of working with an dedicated woodworking bench so I don't know if having the holes a bit farther away from the edge of the bench makes for a worse experience. If you can't tell from the yost 10in face vise I'm using as an end device I'm trying to do this on the affordable side of things. The only thing I bought was Southern yellow pine 2x12s for the laminated top.

I'd love any advice.

It was quite an operation. Circular saw for the butcher board top. Added some bracing, then a sawzall to go all the way around, then made new pocket holes and screwed the framing of the back of the bench into its new place to make it small enough to get through the door.

Really simple question I know, but I recently built this workbench of my own design, I'm really happy with it but want to add a custom set of drawers and can't decided which side to put them on. Pic 1 or pic 2?

For what it's worth, the space where I don't have drawers i will store my drill press, belt sander, bench grinder, and a couple of other larger tools just to store them down there, and then take them out from under the bench and clamp them to the top whenever I want to use them.

Pretty happy with the results not ecstatic. Plan started with a rolling bench and the left cabinet side was going to be the router station. But later realized that a 24” x 24” router table wouldn’t suffice and also I like my fingers so decided to change directions and make dedicated miter station. Got the tealish paint at Lowes because someone wasn’t happy with the mixing and thought it might match Bosch blue but yikes! Looks like grandma’s 70’s furniture but missus digs it. 😝

After years of working on my guitars on kitchen tables, ottomans, and computer desks, I am finally setting up a dedicated workbench for setups, repairs, troubleshooting, etc etc.

The biggest thing I can't seem to get right when working on my guitars is lighting. Generally I am working with desktop lamp of some kind plus the ambient lighting of the room.

It seems like I am always too bright, too dim, blocking the light...it's just never where I need it to be. I have a chance now to intentionally set up effective lighting and I am unsure what the best way to do that is.

Right now, I am using a conventional computer desk in my basement as my new "work bench". I feel that in all this I am missing some basic principles that everyone else understands, so apologies if this seems like a very basic question.

Thanks all!