Lighting & workbench?

SPIKER · Nov 18, 2004

LOTS of good suggestions, I built my workbench a few months back (sorry no photo) but like others siad Imade it higher than a standard cabinet size. it is ~40" high and was more or less all scrap material. 1- 4x8 sheet of 3/4" ply solid core! then cut down to 26 or 28' (forget which) to make the top then used the drop to make the bottom shelf. used 8' 2x4's mounted and built frame for the small sized ply to go inside & under the upper top. the vrame was braced diagonally too across the back using 2x4's. the top frame is smaller than the 3/4 so I ahve an overhang to clamp things to. the vice is mounted to the right corner like others said. (i'm right handed) works nicely there and can piviot at the corner while closed for working in the two different clamping planes. I painted mine with some inexpensive white outdoor house paint. White makes seeing a bit easier (blinded us outside while painting it! lol) I also chanfered the edges a bit with a belt siadner so the edge & ends are rounded over nice. as far as electrical & lighting there is never enough after you are done, so go with as much as you can get a 50 amp is min size I would say for a work shop. 60 or 100 or 200 beter! /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif I have 200 amp service to my barn, put in myself and have been slowly wiring stuff myself as needed...

MarkM /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Bird · Nov 18, 2004

I built two of my own workbenches that were perfect for my purposes, but maybe not for yours. I made them taller than you're considering (legs about 42" if I remember right) because I worked there a lot standing up, or sometimes sitting on the barstool in the picture. The top, and the bottom shelf, were 3/4" particle board, legs were "landscape timbers", perimeter 2 x 4s under the top and a single 2 x 4 under the middle of the bottom shelf and all assembled with 3" countersunk screws. The shop had lots of plain incandescent light bulbs only, so I hung the two tube 4' florescent fixture over the spot where I worked the most. And I put my 4" swiveling vise on the left end of the left bench, the bench grinder toward the left end of the right bench, (and a 3 ton arbor press out of the picture on the right end of the right bench).

Boxman · Nov 18, 2004

(
As for lighting, what's the approximate price for a double 4' T8 fixture? Any particular brand better than another. I'll see what I can find.)

The orange box store sells 4' and 8' T8 fixtures. As far as I know T8 bulbs only come in 4'. The 4' fixture is about $25.00 each and two can be joined to make an 8' fixture, the 8' fixtures are about $45.00. The 4' takes two 4' bulbs and the 8' takes four 4' bulbs. Bulbs are about $1.60 or so each. Each bulb typically uses 32 watts and each 4' fixture typically draws .5 amps.

Boxman

Tdog · Nov 18, 2004

Thanks again to all. I went to the orange box store this afternoon & bought 8 double 4' T8 fluorescent fixtures. They were $27+ apiece. Also bought some coaxial cable to bury when the trench is open, along with some wire for a phone jack.

Bird, what a great looking workbench. Mine will never be that neat or complete. I work at it but I always seem to clutter. I plan to install a couple of 4 x 8 pegboards - - maybe that will help.

My builder says we can pull more than the original 30 amps I mentioned. Says he will know more when he gets to the panel in my garage. Maybe tomorrow, but we are expecting rain.

Thanks again to all - - as a cartoon character might say, 'dis is grate'.

PineRidge · Nov 18, 2004

Bird, what a great looking workbench. Mine will never be that neat or complete. I work at it but I always seem to clutter. I plan to install a couple of 4 x 8 pegboards - - maybe that will help.


Tdog I used pegboard on two walls in a 24 X 24 garage at my last home and it was great for hanging the tools just where you needed them. Unfortunately every spider on my block seemed to make a home in the multiple pegboard holes and there was no getting rid of the critters. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif Since I'm really not fond of spiders I elected to use OSB to finish the inside walls of my present pole barn. It's easy to drive a nail into the OSB to hang the tools wherever you want them and the spiders now live elsewhere.

GregJ · Nov 18, 2004

Tdog,
I used some 5 inch casters from Home Depot. My 2 biggest concerns when I designed the bench was racking due to no cross bracing and being so heavy that it would be hard to roll. I glued and screwed all the joints in the bench and there is absolutely no movement or racking. It is solid. I used Gorilla glue with the screws. I have become a big believer in that stuff. As far as solid....it is so darn heavy, I had to have my neighbor come over to help me flip it back upright when I built it. I was pleased that it does roll "fairly" easily on the casters. I bought locking casters thinking that I would need to lock them to keep it from moving. That's not a problem. It stays put and takes a bit of effort to move, but not bad. As far as stability with heavy pounding, no problem.

I didn't mention it earlier, but my shop is 20x24 and I have 6 - dual 4' flourescent lights. This is very adequate light... (as long as they're all working /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif). I built the shop 25 years ago, and I think I have had all 12 bulbs working about 10% of the time.

Hope this helps,
Greg

LarryD · Nov 19, 2004

I've got to echo in on the power requirements, 30A is really small for a shop, what with the compressor, welder, barley pop fridge... /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif. Even if you don't feel comfortable putting in a bigger sub panel right now due to curent house load, you can safely oversize the wire for future expansion. Even a couple of 1" conduits will let you change your configuration for power, alarms, comms or anything else you run from the house.

For my bench height, I measured from the floor to my elbow with my arms bent parallel to the floor. It is very comfortable when standing there for long periods and gets the item closer to my tired eyes. I also have an old drafting table lamp I can move to just about any position for up close lighting.

mrcaptainbob · Nov 22, 2004

That wall full of tools looks a lot like my shop floor! /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

CTyler · Nov 22, 2004

You said you have the trench open, have you considered running conduit so you can pull stuff later?

With conduit you could run a 30 amp for now to get you by, then at a later date you can run more wire. I put in two 2" conduits from my house to the shop. One for communication and the other for power.

Tdog · Nov 22, 2004

CTyler - - two conduits were laid, one carries power & the other contains a phone line & coaxial cable. Trouble is, with T'giving approaching, I can't get enough free time to get things in working order.
My builder finished last Friday, so it's all mine. All I need is time.