I was getting pretty tired of (and sore from) doing all my shop work on the floor of my garage. At least, that's my official excuse. In reality, I want to build a tool shed to store all the tools I need to make a tool shed. And to build the shed, I need a proper table. And to build a proper table, I need some tools, but more on that later.
Since my wife refuses to park on the driveway, I don't have enough room for a traditional work bench so I designed one that folds up nicely beside my car.
The structure is made of 2x4s and has a pine top. Pine is a soft wood, but the frame was already pretty heavy so I opted for something lighter that is both easier to lift and puts less stress on the hinges. If it becomes a problem, I may replace the top later. I was just barely strong enough to install it alone, but once hung it's not heavy at all - the wall bares most of the weight.
The legs swing down from beneath the table. To prevent the legs from collapsing accidentally, I use a 6' piece of dowel that sits on a couple screws. I'm considering adding a second 2x4 to each leg to make it more stable, look a little better, and give a little bit of room between the table and the wall when it's closed. With this extra room, I can install plywood or pegboard beneath the table for extra tool storage. This would help as my tool chest is full, possibly because of all my screwdrivers!!
I did make a few mistakes when building the table. It's designed to sit 36" above the floor and I measured it where the floor meets the wall. My garage floor is slanted though, presumably to help water escape and flow away from the walls. So the back of the table was 36" off the floor, the front-right was 36.75" and the front-left was 37.75" (that's a full inch drop from right to left!). Since the legs weren't quite long enough, I had to remove the 2x4 support on the wall and screw it in 3/4" lower to accommodate. Just when I thought I was done!
Next, the door hinges I bought caught on the wood and prevented it from moving. If you look at any door in your house, you'll notice that the axels of the hinges hang off the door, in the air. In my design, there is no gap between the axel and the wood so there was a lot of friction when I screwed in the hinges. I fixed it by installing washers between the hinge and the wood. In the picture below, you can see the washers and a set of four holes (two of which are unused after moving the 2x4). You can also see that the hinges don't support any weight when the table is open - it's all on the feet and the wall mount.
To smooth the table, I bought a hand-held band saw. This turned out to be useless - it made the surface more rough than when I started - so I had to fix the sand job by hand. Next time I'll know to ignore the advice of the Home Depot employee and use a random orbital sander. But now I have a belt saw.
And now I can build things for real!
Nice workbench! I'm looking to do the same thing.for the same reason... wife won't let me park in the driveway. My bench will be a bit heavier but shorter. I need to be able to mount a vice. Thanks for posting. This has helped me a lot.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad it helped. I debated adding a vice for a long time (and making part of the bench sturdier to handle it) but eventually decided not to because the place I wanted the vice would sit at the same spot where my car door swings open.
DeleteIf I were to build this bench again, I'd add one more 2x4 or 2x3 to both the left and right sides of the table. If you look at my second picture, there are no screws on the right and left sides of the pine slab. As the slab dried, it warped a bit and the center bowed up slightly. I should have (and probably still will) add a 2x4 on both sides, under the slab. My final picture would look slightly different, with the side wall being two 2x4's thick instead of one.