Who can suggest the best workbench?

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putttn
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Post by putttn »

I have a couple of Festool's MFT tables I've attached wheels to. With all the holes lined up perfectly to create straight line/right angles/45 degrees and all the different clamping options I can do just about any project I want with this setup. I'm cramped for space, sharing a 3 car garage so portability and set up ease are really important to me. Especially in the winter.
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robinson46176
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Post by robinson46176 »

Many years ago the Hoover Company made a canister vac called the "Constellation" that floated on a cushion of the exhaust air like a small hovercraft. It only had a couple of downsides. One was that if you pulled it across a wood floor with a lot of wide cracks it stirred up a lot of dirt out of the cracks. It was best to keep it on the part of the floor you had already swept. Another downside was how much lift it had (and the later Celebrity model) and it didn't take small kids long to learn that they could ride one around the house... :D Wreaking all kinds of havoc.
"SOMEWHERE" I have seen where someone used that ground effect to move shop tools. It was a sheet of plywood with a 1" lip around the perimeter and a hole where you attached the exhaust from your shop vac.
I was just looking for an example but came up empty. That is what I want to build on as a base for my workbench.
You can see the Hoover by doing a Google image search on Hoover Constellation.
BTW, during that search I searched on "air lift pad" and got a big quantity of bra pictures. I don't think that would help my bench... :)
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iclark
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Post by iclark »

machinistchest wrote:Here`s a plan by American furniture desig of a work bench. Looks nice.

http://www.americanfurnituredsgn.com/ac ... kbench.htm
is it just me or is the pricing for the combo a bit odd?
buy the vise set ($269.95), get the plan free (reg $19.95), and pay $55 shipping = $324.99
buy the combo for $295.95 ($289.90 separately) and get free shipping

I agree that it looks like a nice bench as long as you don't need to edge plane long boards.
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iclark
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Post by iclark »

robinson46176 wrote:BTW, during that search I searched on "air lift pad" and got a big quantity of bra pictures. I don't think that would help my bench... :)
if you keep the quote marks for the google search, there are only 3 or 4 matches - about moving nuclear reactors or large transformers.

this link turned up as one of the targeted ads, though:
http://www.hovair.com/landers/google/ai ... 7QodwmUDvA
Mark V (84) w/ jigsaw, belt sander, strip sander
ER10 awaiting restoration
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Post by Ned B_CNY »

Image

in the 'better late than never' category...

It is a super bench, and very reasonable on cost, given the capabilities. I think all told including the 4 pipe clamps, pipe, lumber etc... I have under $150 invested. I built mine at 5' long, which is plenty large enough in my current cramped woodshop.


Image



Image
again, bench in action hodling up the top to my kitchen island/table project last summer



and for those interested in the Kitchen island/table project... here's how that turned out:

Image
that's a slab of bowling alley with greene & greene styled two by legs.
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wa2crk
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Post by wa2crk »

I have been trying to post these pix here for a while. The workbench is from Woodsmith Shop and the router table is home made and attaches to the end of the bench with a cleat and some MDF legs.[ATTACH]9230[/ATTACH]
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workbench and router table.jpg
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wa2crk
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Post by wa2crk »

here is a pic of the new bench with the old Sjobergs bench for comparison. The new banch has twice the surface area than the old one.[ATTACH]9231[/ATTACH]
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new and old bench.jpg
new and old bench.jpg (82.51 KiB) Viewed 4086 times
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