new bench in the making..

[cvrs]

Not really radio related but it’s the forum members chat , anyway here’s what I,ve been doing…

my basement consisted of bare studs and shiplap ,and had a bench made from a couple of old planks, draft came through like wind.
I got about 10 sheets of drywall up , 3 on the ceiling at one end and got some insulation in to try to spare the neighbors and my wife from the noise from my saws and stuff. it’s still unfinished but I have a bright spot at the end.
I latched onto a huge slab of laminated fir 2 3/4 thick. i used about 4 feet of it for a radio bench I built in this goofy room in the attic. it has a big box in the middle of the room to incorporate the stairs to the attic, so I made it into sort of a bench.

with what was left over , about another 6 feet, I am making a woodworking and metalworking bench. It came with two big slabs for legs. I cut them down to pieces and glued them into 4 L shaped pieces. The legs are 7 inches x7inches and made from the 2 3/4 material as well.
to gain more hieght and to make it easier to attach the legs tot he top I cut some more blocks from similar laminated material about 8×8 and attached it top and bottom of the L shape. ( not shown yet)
I wanted levelling feet so went to princess auto and found no levelling feet but instead, 4 chrome 2inch trailor hitch balls 🙂
they have a 4 inch x 1 inch fine thread bolt. at 5 bucks apiece I though they were better than any levelling feet I would find for the price.
I am currently drilling and setting the nuts into the blocks for the base of the legs. so it will have chrome ball feet to adjust the hight a bit and level it. I spent the last few nights grunting away with a brace and bit. I drilled a 1/4 hole right through each of the balls so I can stick a pin into the ball to turn it when I want to adjust the feet.

when I got my new leveling feet I realized the bolts were going to go up into the Lshape and be half sticking out and be pretty ugly as they would show, so I also cut some 4×4 pieces diagonaly and I am putting that into the L shape to hide the bolts. The legs are getting to be about 50 pounds each. ill do it so they will come off the top. in the event I need to move it. it takes two people to move the top. I might still need rails to tie the legs together, hopefully I can add drawers one day.

I am hoping to mount a wood vice to it, and then to also mount my mechanics vice to a 2 foot square slab of 1/14 inch thinck laminated material. I have some offset door hinges ( left lower corner of pic) and I figure I can mount this slab in such a way that I will be able to flip the mechanics vice and it’s mounting board off the top, where it will flip right over and hang beside the bench leaving the top clear.
I am planning to build some kitchen cabinets, so it can catch sheets as the come over the tablesaw.

The legs are a work in progress and shop is getitng messier and messier, but I was trying to clean it up and replace the bench and sort of got carried away. It should be nice to have something super solid and level to work on though.

Phil

Download benchparts4.jpg. (Caution: This file may not be virus scanned.)

Download 42x66x30.jpg. (Caution: This file may not be virus scanned.)

[phil]

I am getting further, but the legs took longer than anticipated. I cut holes int he legs and had to make the holes three different sizes to incoporate the outside diameter of the ball, the OD of the nuts, and the OD threaded portion. I used epoxy to anchor the nuts in place.

The bolts came up through the base of the legs and I didn’t like looking at them so I cut a couple of 4×4’s diagonally and fitted them into the legs.

I notched out a portion of the underside, this is to incorporate the edge of top with the vice when it is swung down into the stored position under the side of the bench. Ill need to notch out a bit more wood for the hinges to have clearance.
Phil

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Download ball.jpg. (Caution: This file may not be virus scanned.)

Download legs_w_balls.jpg. (Caution: This file may not be virus scanned.)

[cvrs]

Here it is on it’s feet. I used a gate latch and filed a notch in it so it hooks to the casting of the vice,I can even lock it in the down position.

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Download top_clear.jpg. (Caution: This file may not be virus scanned.)

Download metalworking.jpg. (Caution: This file may not be virus scanned.)

[Gerry O’Hara]

Looks like you are ready for some real heavy-duty radio servicing on that sucker Phil! Looks ideal for Racal RA-117’s – all you need now is an engine hoist above it to turn them over… Do you have a flamethrower for those tough soldering jobs?

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