Shopsmith Forums

Just finished workbench project for my son-in-law for Christmas. Similar to earlier project I posted. Overall dimension is about 21” wide, 32” tall, 40” long. He doesn’t have a lot of work space or a work bench, so a compact bench on casters seems like a good fit. Work support when the two ends are fully extended is slightly over 6 ft. The dog strips and hole locations allow the vise to clamp up to 49”. I extended the top work surface about 2” beyond the lower cart (16 1/2" deep x 32" wide x 22" Tall) all around to provide an 2" edge for other types of clamping.. Drawers are full extension – about 14 x 30 x 3+ high. Lower structure is made from ¾” oak plywood, including the drawer bottoms. Lever and knob on the back side engage or disengage both pipe clamps, slide in and lock on the bench side rail to allow both hands to adjust the vise. Then pull out to lock the pipe clamp ends. I posted some details of the release mechanism earlier. Everything trimmed in oak. Whole thing is fairly heavy, so casters lock bench solidly on reasonably level surface.

Nice Job, are you going to stain it ?

Nice Job!

I'm sure he will be pleased.

John

Yes. I just finished using Danish Oil to bring out the grain in the oak and seal it. Here's a picture. He has a miter saw, so I might make some add-on supports for the extension and vise. That gives him up to a 6 foot support span. He can put the saw anywhere in between. I did that for my version of the bench. fairly handy.

When we finally finish our down sizing maneuver I will have a somewhat smaller shop. This just might be a solution to the work bench deficiency that is then likely to occur. I currently have a work bench that is approximately 5' x 7' that is not going to be compatible to my new shop area and one of my daughters has already placed her bid for future ownership.

Thank you for the detailed post and the ideas.

By the way, here's a view of the underneath structure with some of the dimensions. I did this in Excel so I can do calculations on the side & the dimensions change automatically. Helped with locating fasteners so they didn't interfere with dog holes, clearance for pipes & release mechanism, etc.

ARCretired wrote:By the way, here's a view of the underneath structure with some of the dimensions. I did this in Excel so I can do calculations on the side & the dimensions change automatically. Helped with locating fasteners so they didn't interfere with dog holes, clearance for pipes & release mechanism, etc.

Are you saying that you can make drawings in Excel, such that drawing dimensions change to reflect cell values???

If yes, I'd love to know how it's done!

Very nice !
Paul

BuckeyeDennis wrote:

ARCretired wrote:By the way, here's a view of the underneath structure with some of the dimensions. I did this in Excel so I can do calculations on the side & the dimensions change automatically. Helped with locating fasteners so they didn't interfere with dog holes, clearance for pipes & release mechanism, etc.

Are you saying that you can make drawings in Excel, such that drawing dimensions change to reflect cell values???

If yes, I'd love to know how it's done!

+10

Comment on using Excel to calculate & draw. I resize the column widths in a large section of a spreadsheet so their width is equal to the height of the rows. This makes all of the cells in that area perfect squares. Then I decide those cells to individually represent a standard dimension, say a 1/2 inch. So each cell represents a 1/2" square. To draw something, say a cabinet, I use the cell format (FORMAT - CELL - BORDER) to bold various cell borders to "sketch" the object. To draw a 10 inch by 5 inch rectangle, you would choose 20 cells by 10 cells and format the outline to a bold line. This seems tedious, but once you get used to it, it goes very quickly - you can copy, paste, etc. cells that you've already drawn.

If I have something complicated, then I'll put in dimensions and formulas in a side area, to figure out the various sizes. Once the math is set up, I'll assign various results cells (shown in yellow) next to the appropriate drawing item to reference the appropriate calculation cells. For woodworking, I format the yellow cells to display numbers in fractions, even though I do calculations in decimals.

Of course there are a number of drawing software packages available, but for these type of projects, I like the flexibility of Excel.

Then if I change the calculations, say make something larger or smaller, all the related dimensions change in the calculations and in the yellow results cells automatically. When I worked on the bench design, I probably changed my mind twenty times about some details. The related dimensions on the "drawing" changed each time I revised something. Since you are setting up the formulas, once they are checked, you are less likely to make mistakes adding & subtracting as you revise dimensions. And you can print out the "drawing" with all of the dimensions when you are finally ready.

I'm posting more of the complete Excel spreadsheet so you can see what everything looks like.

The yellow cell showing "14 1/4" is several cells grouped together, formated to show decimals in fractions, and linked to the corresponding cell in the calculations. As I designed the bench structure, I changed my mind several times on how much clearance to have between several parts, what thickness of wood to use, and so on. As I adjusted those items in the calculation area, the drawing dimensions reflected those changes automatically.

I've done outside deck drawings & calculations (loading per square ft, dimensions, number of boards, etc). Room layouts in houses to do renovations, numerous woodworking projects. Anything that is complicated with a number of factors that must be managed together. The "sketch" helps visualize things, and the calculations help avoid arithmetic mistakes.

Hope this helps.