Shopsmith workbench

[robinson46176]

I made a rather casual reference on another thread about making a work bench out of a SS. I was just down in the woodshop doing some stuff and I am actually considering it. I have been using the same old sort of crude "Topsy" (it just growed) workbench since about 1978 or so. I have been promising myself a new one for several years now but just hadn't found the right design.
I got to looking at the SS's and measured the height of my old bench that I made to fit me. It is 34" tall. The SS legs are about 20" wide and with a narrow top would probably be fairly steady if the top was heavy and also if there was a storage unit hung underneath. The thing is that I wanted a fairly wide bench top (front to back) and I didn't want to have any kind of outriggers sticking out to trip on. My old bench top was about 32 inches front to back. After some more looking I decided that if I used two SS frames back to back that I could make a top for it that would be about 42" front to back and maybe 84" end to end. The top would need to be attached in a manner that would allow quick removal in case I wanted to move it through a door. The two SS frames would probably not need to be attached to each other except by the benchtop but I would still probably still fasten them together near the bottom at each end, maybe with a couple of bolts with wing nuts and a tapered spacer between the legs. Both frames would have a caster sets and be configured so that you worked the front set from the front and the back set from the back. Since they would be bare frames I see no reason that they could not be faced opposite directions. Since I like a bench out in the floor the under bench storage could face half each way if I wanted it less than full depth.
-
It would be kind of neat to be able to say that my shop was Shopsmith based including the workbench.
- I have 9 in the shop but I probably bought a total of close to two dozen and the bench/frame parts don't sell all that well anyway. It would be frames consisting of caster sets, legs, latch end, pivot end, way tubes and bench tubes. None of those are in great demand like tables, carriages etc.
With nothing sliding the way and bench tubes could be painted rather than polished and waxed.
I kind of like the whole concept...

[a1gutterman]

Show us pictures when you are done???

[iclark]

interesting. and if you put the pivots on the same end, you could have an adjustable tilt bench. seems like that might come in handy occasionally for layout and gluing.

you could use 4 of the extension table bases to mount the table top if you don't want to allow tilting. 2 extension table bases on the pivot end and 2 spacers with U-shackles to the way tubes on the latch end if you do want to tilt. could be a bit challenging to remove and install by one self.

seems like the biggest problem would be the flex of the legs - spreading in the direction of the tubes. I have seen pictures of SS with a shelf between the legs (using the holes for the accessory shelf, I think). putting a cabinet on a shelf there (instead of a hanging cabinet) would brace the legs while adding weight.

[ryanbp01]

I just use a piece of masonite 5' long to cover the main table, extension table and the two floating tables. Works great for assembly!
BPR