Benchtops & Shelving

One thing that works very well are Formica kitchen counter tops. Find a
counter top place that removes old tops and you can get them fairly cheap.
They also may have some mistakes or customer rejections with wrong color
and dimensions that they will sell just to get rid of them.


"Jim Weir" wrote in message
...
Oooookay, let me try again.

What NONLUMBER bench tops have you ever seen or considered that might
work?

I'm not making 747s, fellers, nor am I building spars. The worst I might
want
to do is bend up a 4" x 6" bracket out of 5052H32 and drill it with a
Harbor
Freight benchtop drill press.

Jim



Jim Weir
shared these priceless pearls of wisdom:

-However, since I'm going to a new method of framing, I'd like thoughts
on what
-you have used as workbench/shelving materials. The benches will be
about 2'
-wide and 6' long. Yes, I know, solid moulded Teflon would be best, but
quick
-and cheap is high on the list of attributes I'm looking for.
-
-Thoughts appreciated.


Jim Weir (A&P/IA, CFI, & other good alphabet soup)
VP Eng RST Pres. Cyberchapter EAA Tech. Counselor
http://www.rst-engr.com

In Jim Weir wrote:
Oooookay, let me try again.

What NONLUMBER bench tops have you ever seen or considered that might
work?

I'm not making 747s, fellers, nor am I building spars. The worst I
might want to do is bend up a 4" x 6" bracket out of 5052H32 and drill
it with a Harbor Freight benchtop drill press.

The imported drill press may be a POS and undeserving of a nice bench
but it is still heavy and will hurt when it lands on your foot. Even my
substantially built lumber and plywood benches shift around more than I
would like during small forming tasks (yeah, I could bolt them down but
my small shop needs to be readily reconfigurable).

Out of curiosity, how long did your lumber workbenches last before they
rotted out?

8^)

----------------------------------------------------
Del Rawlins-
Remove _kills_spammers_ to reply via email.
Unofficial Bearhawk FAQ website:
http://www.rawlinsbrothers.org/bhfaq/

Del Rawlins wrote:

Even my
substantially built lumber and plywood benches shift around more than I
would like during small forming tasks (yeah, I could bolt them down but
my small shop needs to be readily reconfigurable).

I had the same problem with my main woodworking bench, which has a maple
"butcher block" top and rock maple legs. I took care of it for the most part
by building a removable cabinet for my small power tools that fits on the leg
stretchers. This only covers half the stretcher area, so I added a shelf on
the other half. Two loaded machinist's tool boxes on the shelf keep the bench
down pretty well.

If you don't have enough heavy stuff to do the job, a few bags of sand would
work just as well.

George Patterson
A diplomat is a person who can tell you to go to hell in such a way that
you look forward to the trip.

Well ok, but I like a bench I can bolt a vise to and beat the crap out of whatever is clamped in it without the bench changing
hangers.

Sounds more like you just need one of those stainless work tables from Sam's Club. (or are they just chrome?)

Or....hmmm, everything synthetic I can think of costs too much.

Mike

"Jim Weir" wrote in message ...
Oooookay, let me try again.

What NONLUMBER bench tops have you ever seen or considered that might work?

I'm not making 747s, fellers, nor am I building spars. The worst I might want
to do is bend up a 4" x 6" bracket out of 5052H32 and drill it with a Harbor
Freight benchtop drill press.

Jim

"Jim Weir" wrote in message
...
Oooookay, let me try again.

What NONLUMBER bench tops have you ever seen or considered that might
work?

I'm not making 747s, fellers, nor am I building spars. The worst I might
want
to do is bend up a 4" x 6" bracket out of 5052H32 and drill it with a
Harbor
Freight benchtop drill press.


8" C-purlin, 3 wide. Weld or bolt together. Cheap, sturdy and ugly as
hell. The radius between purlin is the only drawback, but it does keep
small parts from rolling off the back.

Dick

Jim Weir wrote...

Oooookay, let me try again.

What NONLUMBER bench tops have you ever seen or considered that might
work?

NONLUMBER? For a 2'x6' top? Shoot, Home Despot has marble for, like,
$70/sf. Steel's probably too expensive too. If it doesn't have
to be super rigid you might try 0.064 AL. The short answer
is there probably isn't anything readily available and cheap.
Bricks, maybe, or patio pavers.

Me, I'd use plywood and slather epoxy on it. That's what
I do already. Whenever I have leftovers I just dump it on
one bench in particular and squeegee it over the top.
But that's not what you asked.

Dave 'hardtop' Hyde

Cast some concrete in a 2" form?

How about some of those new plastic deck 'boards'.



--
Dan D.



..
"Jim Weir" wrote in message ...
Oooookay, let me try again.

What NONLUMBER bench tops have you ever seen or considered that might work?

I'm not making 747s, fellers, nor am I building spars. The worst I might want
to do is bend up a 4" x 6" bracket out of 5052H32 and drill it with a Harbor
Freight benchtop drill press.

Jim



Jim Weir
shared these priceless pearls of wisdom:

-However, since I'm going to a new method of framing, I'd like thoughts on what
-you have used as workbench/shelving materials. The benches will be about 2'
-wide and 6' long. Yes, I know, solid moulded Teflon would be best, but quick
-and cheap is high on the list of attributes I'm looking for.
-
-Thoughts appreciated.


Jim Weir (A&P/IA, CFI, & other good alphabet soup)
VP Eng RST Pres. Cyberchapter EAA Tech. Counselor
http://www.rst-engr.com

Blueskies wrote:

How about some of those new plastic deck 'boards'.

I used those on the last deck I built. It's like working with spaghetti. You'd
need lots of reinforcement, and it won't take any punishment.

George Patterson
A diplomat is a person who can tell you to go to hell in such a way that
you look forward to the trip.

On Fri, 05 Mar 2004 03:27:40 GMT, "G.R. Patterson III"
wrote:



Blueskies wrote:

How about some of those new plastic deck 'boards'.

I used those on the last deck I built. It's like working with spaghetti. You'd
need lots of reinforcement, and it won't take any punishment.

Trek? I'd have said it's like working with slippery iron and you need
a truss (for the hernia you'll get from lifting it). DO NOT BUILD
AIRPLANES OUT OF THIS STUFF. (ObContent)

Don

Don Tuite wrote:

On Fri, 05 Mar 2004 03:27:40 GMT, "G.R. Patterson III"
wrote:



Blueskies wrote:

How about some of those new plastic deck 'boards'.

I used those on the last deck I built. It's like working with spaghetti. You'd
need lots of reinforcement, and it won't take any punishment.

Trek? I'd have said it's like working with slippery iron and you need
a truss (for the hernia you'll get from lifting it). DO NOT BUILD
AIRPLANES OUT OF THIS STUFF. (ObContent)

Don

I'm building some walls in the shop using steel studs.

Light steel sections (maybe .020 thick?) rolled into the most
beautiful beams, channels, other odd shapes...

All three times too heavy.


Richard