In February, I started working on my workbench. I drew up plans to have all drawers of various sizes to maximise storage space and also wanted somewhere to store my MIG welder / trolley. I also wanted something that was deep enough to comfortably sit the subframe(s) of the Mini on if needed.
As a busy dad to two young kids, my spare time will now always remains limited so it took almost 2 months to finish it, but I put a lot of care and effort in getting it done well. The last thing I wanted down the track is to eg find that something was off square and a drawer wouldn't fit and have to cut and re-weld pieces.
It's an ALL STEEL frame weighing in at ~120kg for just the frame. It's made from second hand 76x38mm patio tube with a 150x50mm tube as the front so I could have a 50mm overlap for clamping items to the bench if needed. Overall dimensions are 3.4m long x 0.8m deep. It's screwed to the two steel columns by only 4 tek screws but the whole bench does not move at all.
The drawer boxes were made also from second hand MDF I sourced from a cabinet maker from their cover sheets. All drawer bases are 18mm MDF while the sides and fronts are 12mm MDF.
The benchtop is made from 18mm MDF (screwed to the steel frame) with a layer of 3mm masonite over the top. Masonite is a great hardwearing material which can take light hammer blows without damaging it and is also waterproof. I also oiled the masonite which involves pouring and wiping any kind of engine oil over the board, let it soak it in (I used about 1 litre in the whole area!) and wipe off any excess. This apparently prevents any other stains from showing up an also darkens the wood nicely but we'll see how it goes in the long-term. The drawer fronts and bench frame were painted in an enamel Colorbond Woodland Grey colour.
Finally, I bolted on a new 150mm offset engineering vice which weighs a hefty 16kg. N.B. - The photo below is before I screwed on a masonite end panel. I haven't sorted out where everything is being stored yet, but so far ... all my readily accessed tools (screwdrivers, hammers, files, pliers, drill bits, pencils etc) are in the top drawers. The 4x larger drawers hold all heavy power tools (some in plastic blow-mold cases) and arc welder - these drawers have heavy duty full extension metal drawer runners. Socket sets, various drivers, clamps are in smaller drawers on the left. One wider drawers is for rolls of fibreglass matting and misc fibreglassing materials. The MIG welder trolley is stored in the door on the left. And lastly, anti-fatigue matting on the floor. I still have a few drawers empty, however actual use of the bench will inevitably make me change the configuration of the above.
As a busy dad to two young kids, my spare time will now always remains limited so it took almost 2 months to finish it, but I put a lot of care and effort in getting it done well. The last thing I wanted down the track is to eg find that something was off square and a drawer wouldn't fit and have to cut and re-weld pieces.
It's an ALL STEEL frame weighing in at ~120kg for just the frame. It's made from second hand 76x38mm patio tube with a 150x50mm tube as the front so I could have a 50mm overlap for clamping items to the bench if needed. Overall dimensions are 3.4m long x 0.8m deep. It's screwed to the two steel columns by only 4 tek screws but the whole bench does not move at all.
The drawer boxes were made also from second hand MDF I sourced from a cabinet maker from their cover sheets. All drawer bases are 18mm MDF while the sides and fronts are 12mm MDF.
The benchtop is made from 18mm MDF (screwed to the steel frame) with a layer of 3mm masonite over the top. Masonite is a great hardwearing material which can take light hammer blows without damaging it and is also waterproof. I also oiled the masonite which involves pouring and wiping any kind of engine oil over the board, let it soak it in (I used about 1 litre in the whole area!) and wipe off any excess. This apparently prevents any other stains from showing up an also darkens the wood nicely but we'll see how it goes in the long-term. The drawer fronts and bench frame were painted in an enamel Colorbond Woodland Grey colour.
Finally, I bolted on a new 150mm offset engineering vice which weighs a hefty 16kg. N.B. - The photo below is before I screwed on a masonite end panel. I haven't sorted out where everything is being stored yet, but so far ... all my readily accessed tools (screwdrivers, hammers, files, pliers, drill bits, pencils etc) are in the top drawers. The 4x larger drawers hold all heavy power tools (some in plastic blow-mold cases) and arc welder - these drawers have heavy duty full extension metal drawer runners. Socket sets, various drivers, clamps are in smaller drawers on the left. One wider drawers is for rolls of fibreglass matting and misc fibreglassing materials. The MIG welder trolley is stored in the door on the left. And lastly, anti-fatigue matting on the floor. I still have a few drawers empty, however actual use of the bench will inevitably make me change the configuration of the above.
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