My Workbench Design - Drawer Sizing (page 3)

[sliver]

http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/ ... x?id=28530

Also, try watching this for ideas. very inventive

cheers,sliver
oops! that didn't work, wrong bit. :roll:
Same site but what I'm trying to show is 'John White's new fangled workbench revisited' video.

 

[Geno]

Maybe I've misread this but I'll comment anyway. In one of the images it shows the cross rails nearly in line with the front face of the bench top. Ok there's room for your feet to get under but would it not be a little more comfortable if your bench top had a little more overhang to avoid a bit of knee banging etc.

Just my pennies worth!

 

[Jake]

Tail Vices

Looking at the Axminster range (I can't afford the Veritas!!), this one caught my eye. ... I'm still thinking of running two side-by-side, to try and imitate the Veritas vice... Do you think it would work?

Not without some considerable work. A pair of Records are easier to mod that way (and about the same cost, s/h) because the end of the screw sticks out the back, and has a prong on the end which will happily take a cog. Do a search, I've posted details of mine before.

 

[xy mosian]

A thought about the removable tool well. How about using pre-made 'plastic' (ugh! ) or even wooden ( yeah! ) tote boxes with two compartments and a handle built in to make removal easier and possible when full of tools. They could be set to sit in a suitable rebate etc.

 

[OPJ]

Thanks for your thoughts, guys.

Regarding the End Vice(s), I've bought a pair of the smaller ones of these a couple of weeks ago. I've also got one of the larger ones, just in case that doesn't work. :wink:

Geno, you're quite right; I've drawn this up now so that all the front rails and legs are flush with the front edge of the top. I take your point with regards to 'comfort' but, I like my idea as it should allow me to easily clamp anything in any way. If I don't like it thought, I could always release the top, slide it forward and re-fix it!

xy mosian, I like your way of thinking - if they were wooden boxes, I could even make it so they stack together to form a portable tote box for working on-site... :-k For now though, I'll stick with the ply/MDF idea and will add some strips of timber below to create a supporting rebate. The beauty is that I could always change things later.

 

[Geno]

Good point about the clamping issue, and as u said, u can change it later if you like.

Good luck with the build! Couple of these projects in here that I'm keeping an eye on so plenty of WIP pics!!

 

[SketchUp Guru]

There's something I gleaned from working on the plans for the latest workbench featured at finewoodworking.com which I think is worth considering. The fellow who designed and built the bench only put 3 dog holes in the top. He also made the front edge of the bench deeper and set four dog holes in it lower down. He used the Veritas Twin Screw vise and set the dog holes on the front so they are level with the pins on the vise that keep the work off the screws. He also added a retractable planing stop to the left end of the vise. He uses a couple of iron holdfasts when he needs to keep the work from moving. By not actually clamping it down though, he doesn't spend as much time positioning the work for planing.

His plan is to add holes as needed.

You might want to check it out here

 

[OPJ]

Thanks for that, Dave. I really like the planing stop at the end of the bench. No matter how many holes I drill though, I have the feeling that I'll only ever be adding many more as the months go by!

 

[SketchUp Guru]

Olly, I bet you'll find you don't need as many holes as you think.

 

[OPJ]

I spoke to Nick Gibbs earlier today and Yandles and showed him my design. He seemed impressed. 8) He also got me thinking on the positioning of the vices...

Nick's way of thinking is that you should break tradition and fit the end vice to the left-hand end of the bench (even if you're a 'Righty'), with the front vice moving to the right hand side. Nick also likes to saw off the ends of boards and, being right-handed, it's not easy to do with an end vice and handles getting in the way.

I'm starting to see what Nick is saying - when a right-handed person is planing, they would probably find it easier to work towards the left-hand end of the bench. If I bring the front vice in from the right, that should allow me to work either side of the jaws... :-k

I guess the only way to know for sure is to try it and see! :roll: Bearing in mind that, at college, I was using a bench with a right-hand front vice for the best part of six months (...until the vice fell apart and I had to switch to a bench with a left-sided vice! ), I feel confident about giving it a try.

Any thoughts on this?

 

[OPJ]

For those of you that don't follow my Blog, with another couple of coats of Danish Oil, my 'bench frame will be ready for assembly! I already did a couple of dry-runs yesterday...

...It's always pleasing when your your work turns out to look a lot like your SketchUp drawing!! 8) :wink:

There may be some delay before I'm able to start working on the top so, I'd like to turn all attention to the drawers below.

My plan is to only fit drawers to one-half (vertically) of the lower space between the two rails. Total given height is 370mm, minus two lots of "18mm" for the ply top and bottom of a removable carcase (approximately 334mm, then. ).

I'd like to use these drawers for the storage of my hand tools (currently, they're all jumbled up in the top drawer of a three-drawer filing cabinet... ). As Seanybaby suggested in another thread, I'm now thinking of a narrow drawer for chisels and the like at the top (100mm fronts???), with a couple of others for wider objects.

Removing 100mm for the top drawer would leave 234mm below... Half of that would make it 117 for each of the lower drawers...

Alternatively, I could go 75mm for the top drawer (maybe less?), leaving 259mm, which would give me two lower drawers at 129.5mm each...

What do people thinking about these sizings? Graduating the sizes would work better, I'm sure. I'd like to keep the bottom one as large as possible, just incase... How shallow do you think I can go with the top drawer?

Your thoughts would be appreciated, as always.

 

[SketchUp Guru]

Very nice. That will go nicely in my shop. When will you be bringing it around? :lol:

 

[OPJ]

Thanks, Dave. Are you happy with just the frame or would you like a top as well?! :wink:

I'm glad it will fit in your 'shop because, right now, it won't fit in mine, fully assembled... :x

Now, back to my question on drawer sizing... :wink:

 

[SketchUp Guru]

I'll make room for it, top and all.

I think I'd go with a 75mm deep top drawer for things layout and marking tools. Maybe split the top drawer in half and use one for chisels.

 

[big soft moose]

like my metalworking vice (although I don't have one yet...),

I think there is a spare metal working vice in our 'shop at work - if there is you can have it if you want as last time i looked it was just getting in the way.

too big/heavy to post but you can pick it up when you are next over our way or i could drop it off when i'm next going west.

I'll check next week (i'm off tommorow) and get back to you

 

[OPJ]

Thanks for your thoughts, Dave; I agree.

Pete, it would be great if you could check that out and I'm be happy to take it off your hands, whenever we next meet - thank you!

 

[SVB]

Olly,

I have just been through this dilemma myself.

I have ended up with a 4", 5" and 8" draw (although the usable depth will be circa 3/4" less once the draw base has been rabbeted in).

I have also fitted a 7" deep faced draw below the bench (although it only really has 5" usable height as the stretcher will foul anything higher).

Simon

 

[DaveL]

Olly,

I made a small drawer chest that sits under my bench, look here, if I did it again I would loose one of the small drawers and make all of the rest a little bit deeper, but all of them are full now, looking for more space* elsewhere.

*The Final Frontier :roll:

 

[OPJ]

Thanks, guys.

I'm quite set on the idea of having one shallow drawer at the top for chisels and marking tools. As it stands, I'm looking at having three drawer fronts measuring 90mm, 109mm and 135mm. Each will have a space of 55mm, 74mm and 100mm respectively. I'm losing 35mm from each front as I've currently got them overhanging the drawer rails (19mm thick) below... I may or may not stick with this. Then, there's 16mm for drawers runners - I may go with NK-style, as Dave R has previously suggested to me. :wink:

I've also drawn my drawer bases at 10mm. Maybe 6mm would be enough? Certainly, if I added a muntin... :k

My sides are likely to finish at around 10mm thick, as the timber I have for that is only about 1¼" (and I can't afford to buy any more wood! :shock so, I think that rules out most other methods, which is why I'm sticking with 'traditional' runners.