Project Information
This is my new workbench, based on Ron Paulk's design with the openings in the side for keeping tools and things that otherwise clutter up the top of the bench.
I made some changes to fit my requirements - there is a pine frame at the bottom made of two-by-fours. Dimensions are 1.5m. Eventually I'll make drawers to use all that space for storing frequently used tools so that they are easily accessed.
The Paulk top is 1.6m long and 1.1m front-to-back, and 310mm tall. The openings were enlarged to 200mm high - I thought that this would be OK because I was making it with 18mm plywood, not 12mm like Mr. Paulk does. The 200mm openings will allow the Festool ETS sanders to fit through easily, and even the Domino XL. It's a big machine to have on the top while working on things, so the ability to keep it off the bench top should be good.
The total height of the bench is 830mm.
I have used a similar top for some years but with many more holes in it (it was just a plain sheet of MDF). Now that I've got the spaces underneath to hold tools (and catch dust!), I wanted to minimise the holes I made. After some thought, I realised I could use a long piece of wood over two small dogs as a clamping stop, with just one (or perhaps two) adjustable clamps to hold a workpiece firmly in place against the long stop. I tried planing an old chunk of Rimu (one that I made the feet from) and am very pleased and surprised to say that neither the bench nor any of the clamping arrangement moved at all!
Happy to field questions and might even supply the Sketchup plans if anyone's interested, but I'll warn you in advance - they're in Metric!
I made some changes to fit my requirements - there is a pine frame at the bottom made of two-by-fours. Dimensions are 1.5m. Eventually I'll make drawers to use all that space for storing frequently used tools so that they are easily accessed.
The Paulk top is 1.6m long and 1.1m front-to-back, and 310mm tall. The openings were enlarged to 200mm high - I thought that this would be OK because I was making it with 18mm plywood, not 12mm like Mr. Paulk does. The 200mm openings will allow the Festool ETS sanders to fit through easily, and even the Domino XL. It's a big machine to have on the top while working on things, so the ability to keep it off the bench top should be good.
The total height of the bench is 830mm.
I have used a similar top for some years but with many more holes in it (it was just a plain sheet of MDF). Now that I've got the spaces underneath to hold tools (and catch dust!), I wanted to minimise the holes I made. After some thought, I realised I could use a long piece of wood over two small dogs as a clamping stop, with just one (or perhaps two) adjustable clamps to hold a workpiece firmly in place against the long stop. I tried planing an old chunk of Rimu (one that I made the feet from) and am very pleased and surprised to say that neither the bench nor any of the clamping arrangement moved at all!
Happy to field questions and might even supply the Sketchup plans if anyone's interested, but I'll warn you in advance - they're in Metric!