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I was is the same boat a few years ago and took the easy way out. I waited for cyber monday and got a Gadiator bench from SEARS. Very pleased with the purchase THUS FAR.
Found a used set of melamine cabinets from a medical office on Craigslist. Made a base out of 3/4 x 4 pine board. Made the top from 3/4 plywood. screwed 'em all together with typical drywall screws. The upper cabinets came out of the house years ago when the kitchen was remodeled. I just cut them to size and hung them... I think I have $200 into this workbench. Its UGLY but its very functional...
I just got another grey storage cabinet from work. Being going through my crap for the pass couple of years, getting rid of I will do something with that, some day. And after the lawn/garden, house tools, car tools I still have alot of sh$t!!!! Seems the the more I get rid of twice as much shows back up, what the face. Been looking at metal work benches, and everything is out of my price.
Right now mine life in the basement, so they get some duty with woodworking general shop stuff as well as machining/car stuff. The left came with slide out bins (a few filled with useful stuff, I grabbed them when I was liquidating a big server room with a couple of large tape robots, one had things like some nice torque wrenches, o-scope, various components...) which are great for hardware and other goodies.
I would kill for more, but they're hard to move even if you find them (these had to come in from the backyard through a door under a deck)
LOL, I just realized something... I'm tall with a wonky back... just about all my storage has the bottom shelf empty and the tops are all full. In my garage I have >14' ceilings, and with the exception of my bench and a few regular tools (like a parts washer...), most of my storage starts at about my chest level and goes up from there. I'd rather climb a ladder to get to my tire rack (mounted about 8' up and stacked to the ceiling) then get stuff from the shelves under my bench.
My toolboxes are the same way. I typically use the bottom drawers to throw the orignal blow molded boxes things came in and don't really go in there otherwise.
yeah the HF porta band died. i used the hell out of though.
my advise is to buy a used milwaukee. even a decade old, beat to hell in the back of an electrical contractor's van, 5 different colors of spray paint milwaukee will outlast anything else. seriously one of the toughest tools i own. the HF one was not a waste though. definitely proved the worth of that set-up.
anyone got the info on a decent drill press for ~$200? that HF one in my pic is total crap. it's easier and safer to drill stuff by hand.
The base is 2x6, then 3/4" plywood, and topped with 3/4" hard wood. The backside is lag bolted into the wall studs and the front legs are 4x4s. They are quite stout... I stand on them to put stuff on the shelves and have placed engines and transmission on them as well.
I also have a steel workbench that I used to mockup my Fiero engine swaps.
My new freebie from work again, making the top out of 3/4" plywood, 2 layers. There is a seam on the top layer, going to glue and screw it together. Trying to clean up/out the garage, realizing that I have a bunch of junk as the wife has been stating for years now, not worth anything.
Thanks.
Last edited by Stampede4ever; 02-26-2017 at 09:41 PM.
Messy right now. Usually kept somewhat cleared out but my youngest son has his Honda build taking up some serious space. At least he's not out getting into trouble.
12-18-2016, 09:51 AM
