What is the firmest wood or alternative?

[Ian Johnston]

can you post a picture warren?

[Harry Cleary]

Can you run two beams from centre to edge support and then 18mm fibre board should be fine

[John Childs]

18mm minimum MDF with a glass top. 😀

[Peter Normington]

:yes1:

[David Rowland]

quote :

What is the firmest wood or alternative?

:lol1: made me chuckle that did… :lol1:

[Simon Strom]

I built a bench in SketchUp really quickly. I made the dimensions 3′-0" x 8′-0" as you’ve called out. I used 4×4 and 2×4 lumber, 18mm MDF and 1/8" glass. Feel free to adjust anything you want. I’m not sure what you already have. If you post a picture and some info I can try and re-create it. I’m learning SketchUp now. It helps me learn if I have specific problems to overcome.

DropBox link to SketchUp file:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/117426/3ft%20x% … 0Bench.skp

I’m attaching screen shots so you can preview them. Hopefully it might help some.

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Attachments:

[Jill Marie Welsh]

quote Dave Rowland:

quote :

What is the firmest wood or alternative?

:lol1: made me chuckle that did… :lol1:

Me toooo.
I guess it depends whether you take Cialis or Viagra.
:lol1:
Love….Jill

[Simon Strom]

Ha Ha Ha @ Jill.

I guess all those junk mails will come in handy after all.

[Robert Lambie]

quote Dave Rowland:

quote :

What is the firmest wood or alternative?

:lol1: made me chuckle that did… :lol1:

Good Greif Charlie Brown…

do you ever let up? :lol1: :lol1: :lol1:

[Warren Beard]

OK picture attached of bench, it’s 8×3 foot, I put the straight edge across the work top on the 2 unsupported areas and they have drooped by 2mm.

The last time I tried to get glass it was so expensive but will try calling around again, about to do some vans for a double glassing window company so will ask them if they have anything 😉

I’ll need to replace the wood anyway as I wouldn’t want to put glass on a dipped surface, do you think this will cause a problem in the future and make the glass break?

cheers

Warren

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[Simon Strom]

It looks like you could use some cross supports between the legs. I would bet that’s why your table is wobbling. The top looks like it has a strut running across, so I’m sure that isn’t the problem.

Another idea of a place to source larger glass, if the other place doesn’t work out, might be to go to a custom art framing shop. I use to work at a few different ones for years here. We had large sheets of glass that we would cut down to size. It wasn’t too expensive, but that was over 10 years ago. Sorry I can’t remember the exact sizes of the sheets, but I know they were taller than I am. I’m 5′-10" so I would guess they would be somewhat close to 8′-0". The only problem might be that the edge of the glass that is cut is rough. It didn’t matter so much in framing because the edge was inside the framing. So you would have to find some way to clean it up. Either cover that edge with something or flame polish it. Unless you don’t care about the rough edge.

When I have some time I’ll guess at the sized of the parts on your table to approximate, and do another SketchUp drawing if you think it might help. I have some freelance to work on tonight. So might be tomorrow before I can do it.

[Warren Beard]

Thanks Simon but sharp edges will be a problem, I also don’t want to replace the table so just looking for options to put a new top on it.

Yes it dips where there are no supports and it is because the area is quiet big for chipwood with no support and will slowly dip. I’m thinking it might be time to fork out the cash for glass and a new sheet of 18mm MDF and hope it stays flat so the glass doesn’t stress.

Thanks anyway.

cheers

Warren

[Simon Strom]

Here’s an idea then. If you replace the top with newer material, then maybe you can use the old top to brace the legs down below. Maybe get some brackets from your local hardware store to hold it in place lower on the legs. No point in throwing the top part out if it could be used.

[Phill Fenton]

Remove the central spar and screw some lengths of 2"x2" timber lengthways under the work surface. These will act as ribs and prevent the work surface from sagging in the middle.

The central spar is only keeping the outer rails from bowing horizontally but if you screw the worktop onto the outer rails this bracing will be restored.

[David Rowland]

turn the chipboard over? no?

and yes the wood jokes, bring a little light humour here.

[John Childs]

That’s the exact same type of bench that we use Warren, so I don’t understand why you are having a problem.

Fair enough, ours are only 2′-6" wide, but we store vinyl rolls on the bottom shelves, and don’t get bowing, even with all that weight on. All have glass tops

In the print room we have two of them bolted together, giving us 8′-0" by 5′-0", covered by one big sheet of glass. Again, no bowing.

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[Jill Marie Welsh]

quote Simon Strom:

It looks like you could use some cross supports between the legs. I would bet that’s why your table is wobbling.

This topic just gets more risque…
:lol1:

[Warren Beard]

John, I think maybe because you have glass on yours there is no pressure on the wood, I think from constant pressure every time I lean on the wood to make a cut has slowly bent it (it is only 2mm but it’s still a pain)

Phill’s idea might be an additional option to help with the support so might do that as well.

I think glass is the way to go and just hope I don’t have to move for a long long time 😕

Cheers

Warren

[Neil Speirs]

quote John Childs:

That’s the exact same type of bench that we use Warren, so I don’t understand why you are having a problem.

He’s just not got firm wood!

Is this a problem you’ve had for a while Warren, sounds to me like its just the age of your wood. Try laying something new to see if it stiffens up for you 😀 😀

[Warren Beard]

I really tried to keep this professional and I really don’t appreciate you all taking the piss, I’ve been a member here for a while now and deserve some respect…….

… you really do make it hard for me sometimes …….

…. other times it’s my wife :lol1:

But seriously now, can we please get back to talking about my wood 🙄

[David Rowland]

you do realize that us english dont call the sheet that sits on top ‘wood’!

u plank!

[Steve Morgan]

Warren,
Your other ‘wood’ problems aside and looking at your bench pictures I think I would be inclined to first of all, add a bit of strength, to the top rails of the bench, using a length of 3" x 1" prepared screwed to each. The existing ones look like MDF: looks nice but not very good at resisting bending loads. I would also be inclined to add an additional pair of legs, front and back, 1/2 way along the length of the bench. Having added those some diagonal bracing in the end frames and similarly in between the legs at the back of the bench, a small section of timber will suffice for this 1 1/4" x 1/2"doorstop will do.
For the top, why use 18mm MDF? have you ever tried to lift a piece of MDF that size? 18mm Finnish birch ply is a lot lighter and stronger and if it’s the very smooth finish you need put a piece of 6mm MDF over that, you can always turn it over when it gets crappy.
I’ve never used a glass top bench as it wouldn’t be practical for some of the work I do + my bench is 3000 x 1500 that would be a very expensive piece of glass me thinks.

Oh and who is giving you wood trouble on the boards? 😀

Steve

[Harry Cleary]

Question for John Childs
Do you find that setup with the 3 narrow benches efficient or is it because of space?
I still haven’t found a setup for my workshop that works. 🙁
Currently have one large bench which just gets piled with stuff.

[John Childs]

quote Harry Cleary:

Do you find that setup with the 3 narrow benches efficient or is it because of space?

Hiya Harry.

Sure, it’s a bit tight in our cutting room, but we’d use the same benches if we had more space. The thing is that the majority of our work is done on 610 vinyl, so anything wider than 2′-6" would be pointless. Not every bench needs to be a monster, and in fact can be a disadvantage for smaller people who may not be able to reach right over a wider one.

Of the two benches you see in the foreground, the left hand one has the Sheeter taping machine (visible in the photo) screwed to one end. The right hand bench has a Weeder machine fixed to the end out of shot.

The bench in the background was spare and is just used for storing stuff on and some shelves or a rack would be just as useful.

The cutter just peeking into the right hand side of the shot is a 760mm. To the right of that is it’s 1370mm twin, and directly in front of that (to the right of the camera position) is an 8′ x 4′ bench positioned so that the vinyl will come out of the cutter and straight onto the bench for weeding.

It probably wouldn’t be ideal for everyone but, for our purposes, it is efficient, and has the benefit of flexibility.

I can’t get back far enough to take a photo that shows everything, but I could email you more piccies from different angles.

[Harry Cleary]

thanks John that would be great. I’ll PM you