On Wed, 27 Jan 2021 19:55:15 -0500, J. Clarke
wrote:

On Wed, 27 Jan 2021 18:11:54 -0500, ads wrote:

On Tue, 26 Jan 2021 19:48:42 -0800 (PST), DerbyDad03
wrote:

On Tuesday, January 26, 2021 at 7:13:07 PM UTC-5, J. Clarke wrote:
On Tue, 26 Jan 2021 16:31:16 -0500, knuttle
wrote:

On 1/26/2021 4:19 PM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
I've been doing some reading about the proper workbench height. A lot
of sources say that for "general work" the proper height is right at the wrist
level of the user. Adjustments are made from there for specific types of
work.

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Vx94zSkRWBU/maxresdefault.jpg

If you were going to build a general purpose workbench for a new homeowner,
would you follow the wrist height rule? The person I have in mind is not a
woodworker. She knows which end of a screwdriver to use, but she might not
always use the right bit. ;-)

I made my work bench on wheels, and the same height as my table saw.

This permits me to use the workbench as an extention table for the saw.
For ripping it is an out feed table, and moves around the saw as I
work on different things and make differenct cuts.
I would talk to the person and find out if she had any preferences and
any other considerations or pet peeves. Also when you say "general
purpose" that can cover a lot of territory. What does she actually
envision herself doing with it?


I can pretty much tell you that she doesn't have a vision. She didn't
even know that she needed a workbench until I asked her where she
wanted me to put it.

It's my 30-ish YO daughter. She just bought her first house. She had
mentioned getting some shelving units so she could get her stuff
off the basement floor. I said "Just make sure you leave room for a
workbench. You currently have no place to open a can a paint or stain
a shelf or anything like that." She's more of a bookworm than a DIY'er
so the idea of workbench just wasn't something she has even considered.

On the other hand, there's a lot of work to do at the house and *I* need
a place to work when I'm there. It's 2.5 hours away, so it's going to be
a weekend here and there.

If you need a starting point ask her about the heights of the kitchen
counters and the dining room table. Are they "just right" or "a
little high" or "a little low" or is it "whatever beeping MORON
designed this beeping kitchen needs to be horsewhipped"?

I've decided to throw together a basic 2 x 4 workbench to get her
started. She's 5' -1". I'm going with about 31". Easy enough to make
it taller or shorter once she's had a chance to use it. I just finished
cutting all the pieces, creating sort of a kit. Eventually, if it makes
sense, I'll built her a nicer one, with drawers, etc. She'll have to prove
that she deserves it by beating this one up. ;-)

I'll toss it together Friday night so it'll be available for my weekend
projects:

- Install the drawers I made for her kitchen base cabinets.
- Install a garbage disposal
- Replace some beat-up receptacles with new ones.
- Whatever else she has on her list, if I have time.

That sounds familiar ;-)

However, that daughter has now progressed to diagnosing and replacing
a bad pump in the dishwasher and retubing the fluorescent fixture in
the kitchen with LED "bulbs". I did install the gas logs in the
fireplace in place of the gas lighter but that's an advanced project
for a lot of DIY people.

I'll take on most things but for some reason gas scares me.

Ditto. Electricity is simple. I don't much like plumbing (too much
breaks - water corrodes everything) but I will if forced to. I won't
touch gas.