my new workbench :oops:

[big soft moose]

rebuilding my shop at the mo and spent the last two days carefully building a rock solid dead level workbench -spent ages getting everything parallel or at right angles and put special care into getting base and top dead level.

after hours of loving care everything goes together with e gentle tap here and nudge there - then finally tip it up vertical and manuever it into position..... only to discover that the workshop floor isnt remotely level - in fact it makes the himalayas look flat .... ho, and indeed hum.

theres about an cm of play from one end of the bench to tother. grrrr

now i know i could (and probably should) deploy some self leveling compound but i'm hopefully moving out in the next few months - getting married in march,-and i just cant be bothered (the new bench is specially designed to come to bits for transport in anticipation of the big move) so i guess tommorow eveing will be spent packing it out with shims until it sits level. what fun.

 

[Shultzy]

Big soft moose, don't confuse "level" with "flat". A workbench or assembly table need to be flat, getting it level is a bonus but not strictly necessary.

 

[big soft moose]

yep - i aware of that - however my shop floor appears to be peaked so the workbench rocks - i'll wedge it at one end or the other so it is reasonably level - its always good if the tools dont roll off

 

[Digit]

I built and Oak break front cabinet some time ago to fit the alcove alongside the chimney breast.
5 and half feet long and with a 2 inch thick packing piece under one end! Some floor!

Roy.

 

[big soft moose]

well its done with a 3/4" bit of packing under one back corner and a 1/2" under the coresponding front its now level in all planes and flat - well hurrah - all i need to do now is build the under bench storage shelves and i'll be done.

My new (well second hand) dust extractor went in tonight too - £250 for a two year old barely used record dual motor which cost the best part of 500 notes new - cant be bad (bought off a mate so i know its history is accurate) twas a puppy to screw to the wall on my own tho.

I'm begining to wish i hadnt started the shop refit - i cant belive the ammount of cack ive packed into such a small space - and i seem to be spending most of my time moving stuff from one end of the shop to the other (and persuading the old dear that no, it wouldnt be a good idea to hang my sisters bike , lawn mower, garden tools or whatever other rubbish she has at hand on the shop walls)- and its been weeks since i did any turning or scrolling.

still nearly done ... maybe

 

[woodbloke]

Big soft moose, don't confuse "level" with "flat". A workbench or assembly table need to be flat, getting it level is a bonus but not strictly necessary.

I disagree entirely. IMO it needs to be flat and level. When it's level it's far easier plane an edge in the vice as you somehow are able to gauge when the plane sits level on the edge of the wood. If the wood is tipped to start with, then a relatively easy job becomes twice as hard as it needs to be. Leveling the bench is easy though, all you need is a decent spirtit level, some shims and a car jack to up it a bit to put the shims under each corner...well worth it - Rob

 

[Paul Chapman]

IMO it needs to be flat and level. When it's level it's far easier plane an edge in the vice as you somehow are able to gauge when the plane sits level on the edge of the wood. If the wood is tipped to start with, then a relatively easy job becomes twice as hard as it needs to be.

I agree - it's very difficult to plane straight if your bench is pointing up-hill or down-hill or sloping across its width. Well worth the time taken to get it right.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[Shultzy]

A workbench or assembly table need to be flat, getting it level is a bonus but not strictly necessary.

Paul and Rob, I agree with you that a bench should be flat and level, but I was trying to convey that spending a lot of time getting it flat is well worth the effort whereas being 1/4" out in 6' is not going to make a lot of difference.

 

[woodbloke]

A workbench or assembly table need to be flat, getting it level is a bonus but not strictly necessary.

... being 1/4" out in 6' is not going to make a lot of difference.

If the bench is out front to back by 6mm then that makes a big difference, it then becomes 6mm in 600mm which is not acceptable and that's what makes it more difficult when stuff is in the vice - Rob

 

[big soft moose]

fortunately my bench is now both flat and level - checked it with a laser level tonight - there was a highpoint on the floor which was causing the bench to rock.

eventually i said the **** with it, and with a loud expletive did what i should have done in the first place and used a bolster chisel and lump hammer to remove said high point - et voila the bench now sits flat and level as originally designed

tho that said - i'm basically a turner and scroller so i very rarely plain anything and i could have got away with the packed out bench - was just my pride that was offended by jamming bits of ply under the legs - whats worth doing is worth doing properly as my granda used to say....

 

[Vikash]

I realise this is an old thread now, but while anticipating the same problem with the bench I'm currently building, I noticed this which seems quite reasonable...

http://www.axminster.co.uk/recno/5/prod ... 362777.htm

V

 

[woodbloke]

A workbench or assembly table need to be flat, getting it level is a bonus but not strictly necessary.

I totally disagree. A bench needs to be flat and level. If it's level in both planes operations such as vertical chopping and planing an edge become far easier, in fact a doddle, because you're not continually fighting against the skewed surface. Getting it level is absolutely essential and something that's very often overlooked...just shim each of the legs with some hardboard and test it in both directions with a spirit level - Rob

 

[Night Train]

I'd go with flat and level for a bench for all of the reasons mentioned already.

Another reason is that sometimes you need to assemble something that is complex and to ensure that surfaces are assembled flat or to the correct slope a spirit level or angle level may be used.

When trimming the legs on a small table or chair I would shim it level on my bench and then use a surface guage to scribe around the legs for cutting off. This ensures that it will be level on a level surface.

When I was building axles for competition Land Rovers I would use a level metal bench and spirit levels to get the diff casing level and then to get the brake back plates in the right orientation before welding in the axle tubes and suspension mountings. Everything was leveled both from the bench surface and with a spirit level checked both ways.