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Workbench surface – personal advice and durability please.
Hi folks,
Now that my business has went full time, it moved out of the home and into a unit last week and I’m building a proper work bench. All good so far, but what does everyone use as a surface for the bench and how durable is it? I’ve got MDF on it for now, and I’ll leave that there as a base for anything else, but I can’t help thinking that MDF alone will cut up quite badly and make short work of the scalpel blades. Any opinions?
Cheers
Baz -
7 Replies
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Glass.
Toughened. 10mm. And if you use stainless steel blades they will not scratch, you can cut directly on it.
It is dust free, flat, and you can shine a light up from below to register.
I had two steel tables made up, the glass tops are 3m x 1550m and they are on wheels so they can be set up anywhere.
I wouldnt use anything else
Simon. -
polypropylene from Amari. William Smiths, Robert Horne cut to size. After a few years just turn it over
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we use mdf, with cutting mats, yes the mdf gets cut up sometimes we just replace the mdf tops
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quote MW:we use mdf, with cutting mats, yes the mdf gets cut up sometimes we just replace the mdf topsBut if you use polypropylene you’ll replace the tops every 2-3 years…or flip them over…and no ‘bits’ of MDF under your vinyl…cheaper too. And wet, dry, solvents, knives, glue, paint…it resists them all.
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Wish I’d thought about putting a light underneath before I built the bench . On a purely cost basis, I reckon the polyprop option is where I’ll go. One concern, are there any static issues with a polypropylene surface?
I’ve used a plastic folding table before for weeding and taping and when using clear app tape it has a habit of going static as it comes off the roll and when you pull it over the vinyl the vinyl leaps off the table onto the app tape – needless to say that was the vinyl ruined. No bother with paper app tape, and I did find the answer to that particular issue is to earth everything or tape the vinyl to the bench!
Cheers
Baz -
Like Simon my work surface is toughened glass, not as thick as 10mm though as mine is straight onto an MDF top.
Cheapest option for me as well, the unit next to mine is a double glazing company so I just picked up a glazing unit which had toughened glass in it that was big enough to fit on the bench.
It does blunt blades quicker than other types of surface but blades are pretty cheap & I use the same scalpel on the bench all the time & as it’s only trimming graphics doesn’t need to be as sharp as one that’s being used to trim vinyl when fitting. -
I use 5 or 6mm toughened glass myself, simply supported with a heavy timber frame and double sided glazing foam tape. only broken one of the two panels in 9 years, cost about £130 for two 800 x 2200 panels, including the broken one thats £200 for 9yrs use.. not bad in any account book!
easy to clean – razor scraper if need be, resistant to all chemicals, takes a lot of weight etc.
Hugh
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