Ben wrote:
Would the plywood warp over time? Is that the reason? I'd rather learn
the answer from someone knowlegable now than build it and learn the
hard way.
There must be reasons for the choice of real lumber for these
workbenches I see foir sale (other than they are beautiful).
Actually, engineered sheet goods would be more dimensionally stable
over time than solid wood, I'm pretty sure.
You can make a fantastic cheap bench top, in my opinion, out of el
crappo OSB or other sheet goods laminated on both faces with hardboard
(Masonite), tempered side out. You can trim it out with dimensional
lumber or even hardwood, which will stabilize the nasty plywood edges
and give screws a place to go when you attach stuff like vices.
The top will be slick, smooth, dead flat, and hard as a freaking brick.
If you gouge it totally to hell, you just glue on another layer of
hardboard (instead of weeping over your destroyed heirloom).
I made a 24"x48" top like this out of a 1/4 sheet of 1/2" A/C ply and
some Masonite and rigged it up to clamp into a Sears-brand Workmate
clone. Drilled a load of 3/4" dog holes in it, stuck in a lower shelf
made of particle board scraps, and weighed the whole thing down with
about 120 lbs of rocks. My "tail vise" is a clamp-on job. The threaded
bolt and guide rods ride over the top of the bench, so I made a little
block to go over the ends of them, and with the vice pushing closed,
this does the same thing as a dog on a tail vise, if you can picture
it.
I can take it all down and throw it in the truck in less than 5 minutes
and set it back up anywhere in the same time.
I did this because I'm currently stuck with just about the smallest
workshop possible. Otherwise I'd slap together a permanent base out of
2x4s and make the top longer and out of thicker sheet goods. I'd still
weigh that down with a couple bags of Quikrete.
Here's a pic of the top before dog holes (with only the front edge
trimmed out) and another of the cleats-n-wingnuts assembly for clamping
it under the Workmate jaws.
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b5...rktop_over.jpg
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b5...ktop_under.jpg
It works. Still, I drool over the Sjobergs Elite 2500.
--Scott