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24K views 8 replies 7 participants last post by  BGST 
#1 ·
Phase 1

Like many of my fellow LJ's my workshop is setup in half of my two car garage. My workshop has been setup over the last few years as I've acquired new tools, and taken on new projects. Because it grew gradually there was no overall design or plan behind the setup… it's just kind of happened. I'm sure that sounds familiar to someone else out there…

So after I completed a couple of Christmas projects, the whole time muttering under my breath (or occasionally just cursing out loud) I decided it was time to make some changes. I started making my list of all the things I wanted to change about my shop:

Lumber Storage:
All my sheet goods are just stacked up against the wall, with lumber either on the floor or standing up leaning against the wall. This has lead to problems with a few boards and sheets becoming warped, and I can never find anything that I'm looking for when I need it. The pile of lumber on one wall/floor of my shop has also lead to a huge mess that requires constant cleaning and reorganization just to walk around it. Even my three year old talks about Daddy's big mess… that was a true sign that something needed to be changed.

Workbench Issues:
There technically is a workbench in my workshop, but in practical use there really isn't… My current workbench consists of two metal storage shelving units side by side with plywood on top. I didn't take a picture of this before I got started with the updates, but here's a link to what it looks like. I had the full unit and only made it 3' tall so I could have the two units side by side. These shelves were in the garage when we bought the house, so I just went with it. It was a temporary solution until I could build a real bench. You can use your imagination to guess what a bat setup this was. There's no way to clamp anything, it's flimsy, and on and on… Possible the worst part was that because it wasn't useful as a workbench the top ended up collecting piles of stuff. The one thing that was useful was it had plenty of storage, but that's because it was a shelving unit and NOT a workbench! This is a priority to resolve!

Poor clamp storage:
My clamps are currently in drawers, hanging on a nail that I drove into the wall, sitting on my "workbench" (see complaints above), or on any other flat surface in my workshop. This just made things a mess and impossible to find what I was looking for when I need it.

Too many bench top tools, not enough places for them
One solution for many of us with a small shop is to invest in smaller bench top style tools rather than dedicated machines. In my shop I have bench top versions of: Router Table, Bandsaw, Drill Press, Jointer and a miter saw. Right now these tools all get moved from their storage place (which is usually on the floor) to the "workbench" for use and then back to the floor to be stored again. This is one of my biggest complaints for my shop… okay, I have a lot of things that are my biggest complaint :)

So that's it for right now, but I can promise you that there are MANY more things that I want to update in my shop. Along the way I'm happy to get any advise from fellow LJ's in similar workshop situations or anyone else who feels like chiming in! Thanks for reading!
 
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#2 ·
Same problem here.
What are the walls of your garage made of?
I would recommend putting peg board on the walls to hold stuff.
As for bench mounted equipment, I bought roll around tool boxes and mounted band saw, belt/disk sander, and miter saw on top of the boxes.
Here is a link to that project:
http://lumberjocks.com/projects/72068
Just a couple of idea from someone that's been there, done that.
 
#3 ·
I actually do already have a fair amount of pegboard (6' x 3') behind my workbench. I have everything from screwdrivers, saws, measuring and marking tools hanging there. That part of the shop isn't an emergency to fix up, but definitely on my to do list.

I like your roll around carts, those are high priority for workshop renovations!
 
#4 ·
The Workbench

So the first phase of my workshop reorganization/upgrade had to be my workbench. In my first entry I mentioned that my current "workbench" was actually two metal framed shelving units which stand 3' tall and have a plywood top. When I bought my home in 2011 this shelving unit was already in the garage half loaded up with old paint, left over tile and a few extra trim boards for the kitchen cabinets. At the time, I didn't have the setup or time available to start building a new work bench, so I made due with what I had. Each shelving unit got topped off with a piece of 2' x 4' plywood and I had a work surface. This should in no way be confused with an actual work bench :) I couldn't clamp anything to the surface, the whole thing wobbled and vibrated if I even tried to pre-drill a hole with my cordless drill on it. Because it was so useless, it eventually just became a collect all for me to pile up all the one-off things which didn't have a home on. With all of that going on with the "workbench" I ended up using my table saw and extension wing as my main work bench… not an ideal situation!

So I decided that I was going to start from scratch. My main objectives with the new workbench were:
1. It had to be cheap!
2. It had to provide ample storage underneath
3. I wanted to have a wagon wheel vise
4. It had to be solid to stand up to hand tool use as well as being able to use bench top tools on it.
5. Again, it had to be cheap… I started this the week of Christmas, so available funds were already allocated to toys for the kids!

I decided for cost savings I was going to make as much of it out of materials I already had on-hand, which included a stack of 8 2Ă—4's, and a few sheets of 2' x 4' BC Plywood from the big box store. After establishing that the overall dimensions were going to be 8' x 30" deep x 38" tall (I like a tall bench).

The first step was to start to build the frame:
Wood Wooden block Flooring Wood stain Hardwood


Wood Workbench Gas Engineering Table


All of the 2Ă—4's were stickered for a few days in my workshop before I started to plane and joint them. Jointing approximately 45 2Ă—4's generated a LOT of shavingsIn total there were 2 overflowing wheel barrow loads of shavings:
Wood Flooring Gas Soil Hardwood


Once I had the frame constructed, I added 3/4 BC plywood to the inside to create a cabinet on either side of the bench. Each cabinet measures 40" wide x 24" deep X 28"tall which will give me plenty of space for storage.
Wood Table Flooring Hardwood Tool


Notice the small space heater in the picture, this was during the first "polar vortex" here in the northeast, and I think it got down to -8 that night. Not sure of the temperature in the workshop, but let's just say that little heater needs to be about 5 times bigger…

The Top:
Like the base, the entire top is made of planed and jointed 2Ă—4's. It may not be up to the standards of some of the Roubo benches out there, but this will be more of a general use bench than a dedicated hand tool bench. I still wanted some of the nicer bench aspects like the wagon wheel vise and a front vise. The top was glued up in three segments, and then they were all glues up to make the whole top. The overall bench is nearly 32" wide.

Wood Tool Hardwood Flooring Gas


Picture frame Wood Tool Workbench Flooring


The Wagon Wheel Vise:
I don't currently use a lot of hand tools, but I'm trying to get started with some of the basics. With that I wanted to build this bench so I have the features I'd need when using hand tools more often. I started researching buying one online, but found them to be way too expensive. So I headed off to the big box store, and picked up a piece of 3' 3/4" threaded rod, and some corresponding bolts.

I thought I had taken pictures of the build of the vise, but apparently didn't… however I did get some pictures of it once it had been installed:
Wood Wood stain Hardwood Flooring Table


Table Wood Wood stain Floor Flooring


Wood Curtain Hardwood Flooring Ceiling


It's basically just a 3/4" nut seated and epoxied into the runner. Then I drilled through the threaded rod and put a locking pin in to prevent it from pulling out of the bench. I made a basic wheel handle by locking the wheel between two nuts. It works remarkably well for a $7 investment!

Here's what the final bench looks like. The only thing I still have to do is get two more hinges for the last door (thought I had 8 but only had 6) and add wome shelves within the cabinets. Eventually I'll turn one or two of the doors into a drawer unit when I'm able to do something else with my bench top tools, but for now they're stored in the cabinet base.

Wood Workbench Tool Table Desk
 

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#5 ·
The Workbench

So the first phase of my workshop reorganization/upgrade had to be my workbench. In my first entry I mentioned that my current "workbench" was actually two metal framed shelving units which stand 3' tall and have a plywood top. When I bought my home in 2011 this shelving unit was already in the garage half loaded up with old paint, left over tile and a few extra trim boards for the kitchen cabinets. At the time, I didn't have the setup or time available to start building a new work bench, so I made due with what I had. Each shelving unit got topped off with a piece of 2' x 4' plywood and I had a work surface. This should in no way be confused with an actual work bench :) I couldn't clamp anything to the surface, the whole thing wobbled and vibrated if I even tried to pre-drill a hole with my cordless drill on it. Because it was so useless, it eventually just became a collect all for me to pile up all the one-off things which didn't have a home on. With all of that going on with the "workbench" I ended up using my table saw and extension wing as my main work bench… not an ideal situation!

So I decided that I was going to start from scratch. My main objectives with the new workbench were:
1. It had to be cheap!
2. It had to provide ample storage underneath
3. I wanted to have a wagon wheel vise
4. It had to be solid to stand up to hand tool use as well as being able to use bench top tools on it.
5. Again, it had to be cheap… I started this the week of Christmas, so available funds were already allocated to toys for the kids!

I decided for cost savings I was going to make as much of it out of materials I already had on-hand, which included a stack of 8 2Ă—4's, and a few sheets of 2' x 4' BC Plywood from the big box store. After establishing that the overall dimensions were going to be 8' x 30" deep x 38" tall (I like a tall bench).

The first step was to start to build the frame:
Wood Wooden block Flooring Wood stain Hardwood


Wood Workbench Gas Engineering Table


All of the 2Ă—4's were stickered for a few days in my workshop before I started to plane and joint them. Jointing approximately 45 2Ă—4's generated a LOT of shavingsIn total there were 2 overflowing wheel barrow loads of shavings:
Wood Flooring Gas Soil Hardwood


Once I had the frame constructed, I added 3/4 BC plywood to the inside to create a cabinet on either side of the bench. Each cabinet measures 40" wide x 24" deep X 28"tall which will give me plenty of space for storage.
Wood Table Flooring Hardwood Tool


Notice the small space heater in the picture, this was during the first "polar vortex" here in the northeast, and I think it got down to -8 that night. Not sure of the temperature in the workshop, but let's just say that little heater needs to be about 5 times bigger…

The Top:
Like the base, the entire top is made of planed and jointed 2Ă—4's. It may not be up to the standards of some of the Roubo benches out there, but this will be more of a general use bench than a dedicated hand tool bench. I still wanted some of the nicer bench aspects like the wagon wheel vise and a front vise. The top was glued up in three segments, and then they were all glues up to make the whole top. The overall bench is nearly 32" wide.

Wood Tool Hardwood Flooring Gas


Picture frame Wood Tool Workbench Flooring


The Wagon Wheel Vise:
I don't currently use a lot of hand tools, but I'm trying to get started with some of the basics. With that I wanted to build this bench so I have the features I'd need when using hand tools more often. I started researching buying one online, but found them to be way too expensive. So I headed off to the big box store, and picked up a piece of 3' 3/4" threaded rod, and some corresponding bolts.

I thought I had taken pictures of the build of the vise, but apparently didn't… however I did get some pictures of it once it had been installed:
Wood Wood stain Hardwood Flooring Table


Table Wood Wood stain Floor Flooring


Wood Curtain Hardwood Flooring Ceiling


It's basically just a 3/4" nut seated and epoxied into the runner. Then I drilled through the threaded rod and put a locking pin in to prevent it from pulling out of the bench. I made a basic wheel handle by locking the wheel between two nuts. It works remarkably well for a $7 investment!

Here's what the final bench looks like. The only thing I still have to do is get two more hinges for the last door (thought I had 8 but only had 6) and add wome shelves within the cabinets. Eventually I'll turn one or two of the doors into a drawer unit when I'm able to do something else with my bench top tools, but for now they're stored in the cabinet base.

Wood Workbench Tool Table Desk
very nice bench,love the storage area underneath.thanks for sharing.
 

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