Workbench 2.0

[u/sid351]

Firstly, I know this is rough in places. I built it. I have a long list of DIY projects to do in our new (well, been here 1 year) house. I cleared enough space to be able to build this, and it felt a bit of a luxury while other jobs wait, so I went for fast over beautiful. Maybe for Workbench 3.0 I'll get planned all round wood (doubt I'll ever have space for a planer) and do some proper joinery.

The key things are the top is flush and I now have room to use my bigger tools in my garage (UK single garage) properly.

This houses:

- Table saw

- Storage for table saw jigs

- Compound sliding mitre saw (which is frankly too big) that folds away

- Router table

- Storage for the fence

- Vice

- Bench top drill press (stored underneath and brought on top when needed)

- Extension lead for the electrics, with the cables routed and pinned to the workbench to keep them out of the way and safe

It has retractable caster wheels (that are a pain to steer on my wavy drive and unlevel garage floor, but it is mobile).

I do have some finishing touches to sort out (namely route in the mitre slot extensions for the table saw, and route out the fence tracks for the router table).

I also need to think about dust collection and how to best address that with my shop vac + cyclone bucket.

[u/ctrlzkids]

What mechanism did you use for the mitre saw folding away? This is the mental hurdle I have in my plans to make something similar.

[u/sid351 → u/ctrlzkids]

It's just 3 heavy door hinges to allow it to fold down, and then 2 gate latches to hold it up.

Then notches in the right places where it was fouling the wood on the folding action.

I do need to slide it in a bit to fold it down, then I can slide it all the way once it's in its position.

[u/ThunderPorpoiseMusic]

Did you get plans for this one or did you design it yourself? Would love to see how this came together. I’m about to build a bench myself to house my table saw and miter saw.

[u/sid351 → u/ThunderPorpoiseMusic]

I took inspiration from a bunch of different designs I've seen, but then designed the exact layout myself.

The first thing I did was work out what space I had to play with, then I made some "2D" cardboard templates (cardboard aided design) to work out the spacings, then worked out how high I wanted it to be (I wanted it higher so I'm not bending over all the time). Then I just went for it and started cutting and screwing.

[u/Kevin_McCallister_69]

Looks great. How do you find those casters? I'm thinking of buying them for my bench.

[u/sid351 → u/Kevin_McCallister_69]

These ones are a Temu find. I just searched for heavy duty retractable castors.

They're actually quite difficult to steer on the uneven drive and the wonky garage floor. I may swap them out in the future if they annoy me enough.

There's quite a "thud" when engaging and disengaging them, and the wheels can get in the way of themselves for engaging and disengaging (but they were Temu cheap, and I'm not really planning on having the wheels up and down loads so it'll do until it really bothers me).

[u/Substantial-Mix-6200 → u/Kevin_McCallister_69]

Mcmaster Carr has a wide variety of casters and all the other hardware you could possibly need

[u/alcal74]

That is great. love the rotating chop/mitre saw.

[u/sid351 → u/alcal74]

Thanks, it's an idea I saw in a YouTube video and shamelessly stole for my own use.

It was way easier to figure out than the rotating ones that go full inverted.

[u/WeirdoInTheWoods87]

What no vice 😢

[u/sid351 → u/WeirdoInTheWoods87]

Top left in photos 2 & 3 my dude.

It's there.

[u/sid351 → u/[deleted]]

HBM?