After working in my shop for about 8 months, Im undertaking table replacement. I had some old rickety workbench which ive used extensively but im ready for something more stable.
I decided on 3 tables to replace odds and ends I have in the shop.
First table is complete- except for dividers in those monster drawers. BTW- i hate drawer slides- getting them to work well is something I haven't figured out yet.
1st table has a flat top-no features-just a big work surface. The drawers do close - trust me ! Pic was taken while polyurethane was drying.
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You can see what the 2nd table will incorporate :
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The third - I have some ideas-but happy to hear suggestions !
LIKE!! wheels wheels and wheels !! its nice to have the option on moving the tables around , I have been using saw horses and table tops now for a long time because they can be stored easily but a table on wheels definitely has it's benefits .
Hobbyman2 Favorite Quote: "If a man does his best, what else is there?"
- General George S. Patton (1885-1945)
Yes- Part of the design choice is that 3 of the table top edges are flush with the vertical table walls...so I can butt 2 tables together for a larger surface when needed. I'm thinking about adding some little flip clasps to them together when needed.
What you have looks really good and the lockable casters are a great option. I had some old kitchen cabinets that the previous house owner left in the garage. I finally got around to reinforcing these and putting casters on them which was a big improvement. I decided to use one of these base cabinets to make my own custom MFT & assembly table. For the top, I bought some 80/20 Al extrusions and built a hinged top. This lets me clamp on the sides or attach my tracksaw track pivot. Hinges let me lift the top to clean sawdust underneath and attach bench dogs that need underneath attachment. The work surface is 3/4" Baltic Birch with a Formica top. The Formica is an experiment. You can either cut into your MFT style top, i.e. meaning it is sacrificial...or you can make a nice top and use sacrificial surfaces underneath it and/or make a replaceable sacrificial cut strip. I am trying to do the latter. I have seen online a few other woodworkers recommend a Formica product that has a "MicroDot" textured finish. Essentially it has a bunch of small dimples, similar to a golf bowl, in a grid pattern. They lower friction and make it easier to slide items on top of it. I know some prefer the opposite, i.e. they don't want lumber sliding off, but I haven't had any issues with the top so far and really like it. Still it is an experiment that I am doing. You can see a small pic of this top at the thread link below. IF anyone is interested and wants to know more, I can try to take some better pictures and post them.
Well the 2nd table is nearing completion. It is a bench dog top with an experimental addition- I built a chamber to capture dust which draws air thru the bench dog holes themselves out to my dust unit. Heres the base unit.
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And the dust chamber to fit underneath the tabletop. Really don't know how well this might work. I sized the bench dog opening total area to be similar to the 4" port on the side of the table-hopefully giving good flow thru. We will see !
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Heres a fun view of the interior of the dust chamber-with light coming in through the benchdog holes in the tabletop.
one issue I created-as the dust chamber gets closer to the top-the length of the bench dogs I can use in the outer bench holes gets shorter...not a big issue-but punching a hole thru the 1/2 ply dust chamber with a hold down would be...aggravating!
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and close to final assembly - I am working on a couple of drawers for the bottom and then I can move on to the last table.
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As a teaser-the third table top is in the background of that last picture-behind the dolly. Can anyone guess my intended use for a tabe like that ?
Looks good! After you have used it a bit, let us know how the dust collection works on that table. I considered it for the one I recently built, but decided to push it off and consider it as a possible add-on in the future. Please share an update on yours in the future once you've had some time to try it out.
Finally- 3 tables done. The third table I cut big slots into it to allow me to clamp stuff easily. Like my Vise and my miter saw ...which had always been bolted to the table I finally got rid of .
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With that- I could finally re-arrange the shop a bit to add more work surface space- which seems to always be missing.
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Meanwhile- the wife came wandering around and noticed all the scrap plywood I was making and decided to turn out some small holiday cheer to send to friends and family. She enlisted me to cut veneer like strips of the plywood which she then deftly glued to triangular scraps I had. Way more creative than I will ever be.
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One thing I am already noticing- veneer on the bottoms of the tables gets nicked up pretty quickly- ah well-they are shop tables !
RF Guy