MFT-style vs. Trad-style workbench design (is there a middle ground??)

[Calum Bettison]

With the MFT box sat in situ I gave it a couple of coats of OSMO. To be fair MDF doesn’t look completely unattractive with a bit of Osmo!

 

[Cabinetman]

I’m not an MFT sort of person but I can tell when something has been planned and well made. The Beech side of things and the underframe I can say from experience is really very good indeed!
It’s normal for a woodworker to make a few benches over a lifetime using the experience of the previous ones, so it will be interesting to hear what you think in a couple of years time about the two sides of the bench.
Brill work.
Ian

 

[Calum Bettison]

Alongside doing all this I had been restoring a big old Record 53 vise.

I got it at an auction for £40 which I reckon was a right bargain.

Here it is pre-treatment.

It want in too bad nick. Everything moved, it just needed some love.

I dismantled it and gave it all a good wash.

Then went at it with some wire wheels.

A few hours and it was looking pretty nice.

 

[Calum Bettison]

I’m not an MFT sort of person but I can tell when something has been planned and well made. The Beech side of things and the underframe I can say from experience is really very good indeed!
It’s normal for a woodworker to make a few benches over a lifetime using the experience of the previous ones, so it will be interesting to hear what you think in a couple of years time about the two sides of the bench.
Brill work.
Ian

Cheers Ian, a lot of planning for sure. The design is an exploration more than a confident idea. I know I have a tendency to over complicate things sometimes, but I’ve tried to keep clarity of concept for this design. Hopefully it will at least do a lot of things I need it to do.

 

[TRITON]

Hello all, thanks for all of the input and apologies its taken me so long to respond!

Before I posted my initial post, id done a few design sketches but since then taken a few steps back.

I've had a proper good look at the 3x3 custom, Hooked on wood, and Pedulla studio YouTube benches to steal some ideas and general inspiration. Also taken on board the generous advice from your kind selves.

For the sake of reduction and simplicity I've removed one of the main elements being the router table. I do use a router table quite regularly, but as a function, it felt like it was battling with the trad bench aspect too much. Clearly they're very different beasts and trying to combine them was just forcing things not meant to be together.

Of the YouTube workbench designs ive seen, the 3x3 custom one built by Tamar looks great. Way too fancy for me and my budget but definitely a good start point to work from.

What I feel suits my needs is the simple split of the two bench styles. So with that in mind Ive drawn up a preliminary design.

Main design elements:

1. Trad bench-
   1. Probs beech, maybe ash? Affordable hardwood ideally
   2. 280 x 1800 x 100 thick
   3. Big 500mm front vise (sacrificed a proper tail vise for now - router table will be in the way making it inaccessible - I can use one of those small dog hole ones until I get more space)
2. MFT -
   1. Plain old MDF
   2. 480 x 1800 x 100 thick
   3. Making a torsion box for rigidity and flatness. The top sheet will be fixed down mechanically so when it becomes knackered I can put a fresh MFT sheet on top.
   4. Apron to help with assembly (only partial width so I have access to tool shelf )
3. Cross cutting -
   1. Benchdogs fence seems to have plenty of great reviews - happy to go with that
   2. Rail hinge? or maybe rail clips unsure just yet, probs come down to cost
4. Base -
   1. Softwood - larch, Doug fir, also considering something cheaper like constructional grade pine?
   2. Big open shelf for quick access to tools (plenty hight to accommodate festool track saw for cross cutting sessions etc)
   3. Will put drawers in bottom, just not drawn up yet
   4. Festool extractor lives under overhang and can be pointed to either side easily
5. Router table -
   1. Doesn't live in the bench, but planning to build one and house it at the end (the non-overhang end) - the reason for non-overhang is so I can securely but removably bolt/clamp/however the router cabinet flat to the workbench to increase sturdiness of everything. But can remove if necessary.

Thanks again for everyones input its very much appreciated! It might be slow progress as I have a lot on at the moment but I will deffo post updates of how I'm getting on.

Also any feedback or advice on my current design is more than welcome!

Cheers,
Calum

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As its a work top, i would think you'd do a bit of sanding there.
What about adding a downdraft section to the table ? I know its probably not the type of thing any would have thought and probably tricky to install even if the holes did line up. But came across it again the other day researching "Anything to keep dust low" and wondered if it could be retrofitted into an mft im building.
Im using the Ujk frame,, so i've got room below it to fit some sort of sealed section.
https://www.axminstertools.com/axmi...utm_content=2266&tagrid=63158213&glCountry=GB

 

[Calum Bettison]

While the vise was in its raw state, I started on making its house in the beech.

I masked and marked out where it would go.

Then chiselled out the edges, following behind with a palm router to clear out the remaining mass of material.

 

[Calum Bettison]

Once I’d got the depth I chiselled out the gaps for the curvy brace bits on the vise (no idea what these are called)

Ive sat the rear part of the vise about 18mm back from the bench side. A piece of beech facing will sit in front once it’s bolted in.

 

[Calum Bettison]

At this point I realised I’d have to remove the whole beech part of the bench top as I wouldn’t be able to drill the hole or drive in one of the coach screws for the vise.

But with that off I could clamp the vise in situ and drill the pilot holes for the coach screws and do a dry-fit.

 

[Cabinetman]

Oh good you’ve done it right, none of this mounting it proud nonesense.
Those things are called Webbs or sometimes ribs btw.
You might want to consider fitting a planing stop whilst the top is off?

 

[Molynoox]

Very interesting thread to follow. Loving the planning and attention to detail.

Martin

 

[gmgmgm]

It's going to be a fabulous workbench. What are you planning on making on it?

BTW, if you ever want to move the workbench, these retractable castor wheels are quite neat, and the feet adjust to the floor:
4pcs GD-60F 3.2" Industrial Casters Plate Casters Swivel Wheel Retractable Leveling Castor Load Capacity 551lbs
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07SCXSFDC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Those particular ones are now "unavailable", but Amazon suggests similar alternatives, and even higher weight ratings. Perhaps not suitable for vigorous planing, but I have some and they are sturdy.

 

[Calum Bettison]

As its a work top, i would think you'd do a bit of sanding there.
What about adding a downdraft section to the table ? I know its probably not the type of thing any would have thought and probably tricky to install even if the holes did line up. But came across it again the other day researching "Anything to keep dust low" and wondered if it could be retrofitted into an mft im building.
Im using the Ujk frame,, so i've got room below it to fit some sort of sealed section.
https://www.axminstertools.com/axmi...utm_content=2266&tagrid=63158213&glCountry=GB

Hey Andy that could be a good shout. And maybe something I could retro-fit. I am fortunate though in that I have access to another workshop space where there is a decent through draft to take care of any lingering dust.

I honestly don’t know how people back in the day could work without a mask

 

[Calum Bettison]

Oh good you’ve done it right, none of this mounting it proud nonesense.
Those things are called Webbs or sometimes ribs btw.
You might want to consider fitting a planing stop whilst the top is off?

Ha I did think about it, would certainly have been a lot quicker!

 

[Calum Bettison]

Very interesting thread to follow. Loving the planning and attention to detail.

Martin

Cheers Martin. There’s a lot of faffy detail I’ve not included in the thread too, mostly because I was cracking on and forgetting to take photos.

One thing was that two of the beech staves are domino end-jointed half lengths (didn’t have enough full length timber). Working out a way to send a long and weak-jointed length of beech through the thicknesser was tricky!

 

[Calum Bettison]

I spent far too long deciding what kind of finish to put on the vice, but found out that you can get 2pack paint in a spray can. I thought it was only available for pros with proper spray gun setups.

I bought some panel wipe to clean of all the residual muck and dust from the vice, masked off the slidey bits, then primed and top coated.

I went for RAL 5004 black blue.

^ After first dusting coat

Then with three top coats it got much darker.

Apparently 2k paint need to be about 20°C to properly cure so I sat the bits in front of some heaters to keep toasty.

 

[Calum Bettison]

The main part installed with its facing panel bit on.

Then with the front part. The quick release mechanism was a bit of a faff to get in, the lever spring needed to be held in tension whilst I held the slidey bar and hammered it in place. Three hands would have been ideal.

I’m so impressed with how far the jaws open on this thing, it’s seriously lanky.

 

[Calum Bettison]

Then with a piece of beech on the front part. I ground off the end of some m7 coach screws to attach it on.

It’s a handsome looking thing with a fresh paint job. I think the cool black blue colour sits really nice with the warm pinky beech.

What’s slightly confusing is that the angle of the vice’s front jaw tilts inward. A pal who fitted a record vice recently said his did the same. Not sure why this is but will probs end up putting a shim at the bottom between the iron and the beech to make the beech sit flat against the bench side.

 

[Calum Bettison]

With the vice fitted I tentatively started the MFT grid with the Peter Parfitt parf system. Reading the manual and watching the videos seemed really complicated but in practice it was pretty intuitive.

Marking out, pilot drilling, and finally 20mm drilling with the parf kit was an absolute pleasure. What an excellent design and well made product.

As my bench layout is a bit unconventional it took a bit of head scratching to work out how to extend the grid to the full length of the bench.

My holes are drilled at 35mm centre from the edge. This is because that’s where the bench dogs quad hinge needs it’s holes positioned.

Having the entire row at this distance would come back to bite me in the arse further down the line.

 

[Calum Bettison]

It's going to be a fabulous workbench. What are you planning on making on it?

BTW, if you ever want to move the workbench, these retractable castor wheels are quite neat, and the feet adjust to the floor:
4pcs GD-60F 3.2" Industrial Casters Plate Casters Swivel Wheel Retractable Leveling Castor Load Capacity 551lbs
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07SCXSFDC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Those particular ones are now "unavailable", but Amazon suggests similar alternatives, and even higher weight ratings. Perhaps not suitable for vigorous planing, but I have some and they are sturdy.

Thanks for the link, I did consider these and was about to go for them but then thought about how infrequently I’d need to move it.

The bench in its current state can be shuffled along on its plastic feet relatively easily, whilst not budging too readily either.

I’m looking forward to the day when I’m not building this bench any more! but I plan to build furniture, lighting, homewares etc. mainly medium sized furniture I’d say.

 

[TRITON]

Hey Andy that could be a good shout. And maybe something I could retro-fit. I am fortunate though in that I have access to another workshop space where there is a decent through draft to take care of any lingering dust.

I honestly don’t know how people back in the day could work without a mask

Shortened working life with respiratory complications. Leading to a premature demise.

I know the feeling, having worked in a shop that have nothing bar chipping extraction on the thicknesser, and that was about it. Table saw, radial arm - nowt. no air cleaners nothing that healthy.

Havent done my health any favours working there, thats why for my own small workshop, and given its where I live/eat/sleep, im keen to get all dust emissions down to as near zero as i can. Hench buying that big extractor thingy.