Split top Roubo bench on a budget

[Farmer Giles]

Not much done today, I was helping a friend hang a stable door in an old farm building and the door hole needed a lot of fettling with the angle grinder so we could fit the galvanised frame to something approaching being square.

However the benchcrafted criss-cross arrived from Fine Tools

Quite heavy castings, I'm sort of regretting not making them as its pretty simple, I have the steel stock, the welder and milling machines. But it does mean I can get on with the woodwork. I could have made them today instead of helping my friend, but I know I may need his help at some time so I wouldn't do that.

I couldn't get hold of the local joinery shop to see if they will stick the tops through their PT and sander, I will see if I can catch them tomorrow, then I'm off walking around Goathland and Whitby for the weekend so it will be next Monday before I can get much done.

Cheers
Andy

 

[Farmer Giles]

Nothing too exciting happening on the bench, I have been planing the stretchers for the base to size, not much point posting any pictures, I guess you have all seen planed timber and a huge pile of shavings before.

I now have a 5/8" mortise chisel which I should be using tomorrow on the legs once all the timber is to thickness and I've got rid of the shavings. I need to plane the planks for the shelf under the bench and the sliding deadman, that shouldn't take long then I can start construction proper.

The tail vice arrived into the UK from Australia on Friday according to tracking so should be here soon.

 

[Farmer Giles]

A bit more progress so far today, I've just about finished thicknessing, I should think about having a clear up and maybe get some chip extraction on the PT :lol:

I've now started to workout how to pimp or personalise the bench. Firstly while I have the PT out, I was thinking of laminating the vice chop with a bit of walnut, the bit on the right has a large knot that I can lose easily on the vice chop.

Do I have a walnut sliding dead-man or is that a bit of a waste of timber, I do have a bit of pippy oak, or should I use that on the vice chop too, decisions decisions!

The other bit of pimping is the vice handle, the one I bought of e-bay many moons ago is very low rent.

So I bought this off the bay, its bronze and 8", same size as benchcrafted but a lot cheaper

I shall attach it to the York vice screw once it arrives, should be here soon. Here's the vice screw, I shall remove the T-bar and probably mill a square on the end of the shaft, building it up with a bit of weld if necessary.

EDIT

Here's a couple of picture of a sample of the pippy oak I could use, however I have a dining table and chairs to make and this may be needed there.

Cheers
Andy

 

[DTR]

A bit more progress so far today, I've just about finished thicknessing, I should think about having a clear up and maybe get some chip extraction on the PT :lol:

:shock:

So I bought this off the bay, its bronze and 8", same size as benchcrafted but a lot cheaper

Great minds think alike (or fools never differ) 8)



Mine apparently came from a combination machine that had been broken for scrap. It already had a plain shaft attached so I just screwcut a thread on that. I like how your wheel has a flat cross-section though.

I'm following your build with interest!

 

[Farmer Giles]

Mine apparently came from a combination machine that had been broken for scrap.

I was looking for something similar but then the bronze thing came up and I had to have it

The decision has been made on the wood to use for the vice chop lamination, it is the walnut as SWMBO wants the oak for the kitchen and dining table builds. Here it is in glue up.

Cheers
Andy

 

[woodworm2017]

hi andy,
the bench is coming along nicely can't wait to see the finish item.
regards.
ahmed

 

[Farmer Giles]

Thanks Ahmed
I did a bit more yesterday on the leg vice screw but was in a rush and made an error that means I will need to do it again. Nothing major, I could have called it a prototype but to be honest it was a ****-up, more later.
Cheers
Andy

 

[Farmer Giles]

A quick update, the good news is that my local joiners shop are willing to put my top through the PT and sander. So I will start the glue up tomorrow or Thursday, my youngest daughter wants to help with the glue, could get messy!

The ****-up I mentioned was all to do with adapting the leg vice screw to take the bronze handle instead of the default T-bar.

Here's the screw with the T-bar removed

Then lining it up with the new handle

The shaft needs to be a bit longer to maintain a healthy knuckle gap between the handle and the bench, at least as thick as the handle (20mm) or maybe a touch more. So I had an hour to spare so I got out the MIG and welded the hole up on the shaft and built up the shaft about 25mm in length and a bit in thickness for the first 30mm or so. I then placed it on the vertical milling machine with the end of the shaft down a little towards the back so that when I mill it I get a slight taper to match the hole in the handle. I started to mill the flats.

I then realise that in my haste I forgot to put the collar and washer back on, plus drilling the hole in the end of that shaft for the handle retaining bolt will be a PITA with the collar and washer on, it will rattle around in the lathe unless I fix it in some way.

So I stick the shaft in the lathe and turn it down so I can get the collar and washer back on, but before I remove the shaft I drill the hole to take an M8 tap. It will distort a bit when I build the weld back up so no point tapping it but it will be easy to clear out later without it going back into the lathe so no issue with the collar rattling aroun

After putting the collar and washer back on, I then built up the end with weld again, you can see the drilled hole in the end.

Then back on the mill, you can see the slope on the shaft so I get a nice tapered square end on the shaft to fit into the handle. I may have to add a bit more weld here and there and mill again, I shall find out once we get milling. I have a small clamp to add to make sure the collar doesn't migrate up the shaft due to vibration.

that is as far as I have got. The shaft is about 17mm OD, obviously larger across the corners where the tapered flats are, there needs to be a spacer between the collar and the handle, this needs to go on after the milling so the ID will be about 24mm, I have a bit of bronze to do this.

 

[AndyT]

I like the way you got out of that problem - and it's a perfect justification for why you must have welding kit and a lathe and a milling machine - how else could you make this bench to the budget?

 

[Farmer Giles]

I can't fault your logic at all Andy, makes complete sense to me, can you just explain it to the missus for me

To be fair, she doesn't give me much hassle as she has loads of hobbies and occasionally makes stupid purchases. All I have to mention is the dog poo wormery she bought and I could probably even justify something from Festool

 

[custard]

I bought a HNT Gordon 150mm tail vice mechanism.

That makes so much sense. You only normally need the slightest nip from a tail vice, so why install some massive job that's powerful enough to rip your bench apart?

Good luck with the build by the way, looks like you're in the home straight now.

 

[Farmer Giles]

Thanks Custard

That's if I ever take delivery of the tail vice, it came into ParcelForce from Australia Post then went to customs who are supposed to be raising a charge. That was 28th September, I haven't seen a letter asking for cash yet, evidently its 2.5% import tax so not a lot. I'm not sure if I can pay ParcelForce and they pay customs, I have no contact details for them and the reference number I need to pay it will be in the letter I haven't go yet.

If anybody has any experience of doing this, please let me know. I'm going down to the PO tomorrow with the tracking number to see if they have any ideas, failing that it will be calling ParcelForce and probably 2 years on a phone.....

Cheers
Andy

 

[Phil Pascoe]

You'll pay ParcelForce the import tax and probably VAT and for the privilege of having them collect it/them.

 

[Farmer Giles]

Thanks Phil. I've just gone back to parcelforce tracking and at last the status has changed, it looks like it may be on its way typical, I checked it 6pm, it changed 8 minutes later after almost a week of inactivity.

I bought another bronze handwheel from the same supplier. I have some douglas fir left, my 8 year old daughter wants a mini version of my bench. I have the screw I was going to use for the tail vice before I bought the HNT Gordon one that I can use for the leg vice and she can use wonder dogs or similar instead of the tail vice and I'll fabricate a criss cross for the leg vice.

 

[memzey]

The mini bench would be worth a project thread on its own!

 

[Farmer Giles]

The mini bench would be worth a project thread on its own!

Good idea, it will be less confusing that way. I may have to make it slightly differently to take advantage of the timber left over. Thinner top with more laminations and a few more prominent knots.

 

[TFrench]

Does the weld machine ok? Something I've never tried. I wondered if the heat would harden it too much?

 

[Farmer Giles]

Does the weld machine ok? Something I've never tried. I wondered if the heat would harden it too much?

Yes, it machines fine, I let it cool slowly, sometimes it has inclusions that you find when machining but you usually need at least two cycles of weld and mill to get it about right so you fill any imperfections the second time around when your not building up as much weld. Here's a test run on the first cycle, it needs a touch more weld in places.

It is relatively quick to machine, mill one side, turn it through 90 degrees and use a square on the mill bed to clock in the next side and off you go again. Even with cups of tea, searching for specs, face shield, cutting oil etc. it took about 30 minutes for the first pass.

Which is rather fortunate as I'm going to stick it in the lathe and turn it off one more time :roll: I have been thinking about the friction of the bronze spacer between the handle and the galv nut. It can be made to be ok however I want it to be lovely and smooth and be able to tighten the handle up so it doesn't wobble. So I'm going to replace the galv washer with one of these. Well similar, it won't have a bit missing It's a thrust bearing, it will be recessed into the bronze spacer so only a small gap will be visible.

I should have glued up the top first while I thought the handle through a bit more. So I did glue up the first half of the top today.

The face of the bench is pointing downwards, the face is resting on two pipe clamps resting on the two workmates and I made sure the two pipe clamps were parallel to each other by packing up the feet a bit so the bench is not twisted during glue up.

Cheers
Andy

 

[MusicMan]

Does the weld machine ok? Something I've never tried. I wondered if the heat would harden it too much?

Heat generally softens metals not hardens them. Hardening occurs in steels when it is heated (to approximately red heat) then quickly cooled, in an oil or water quench. If it is slowly cooled it stays soft ('annealed'). If it is cooled at medium speed, e.g. a chisel-sized piece just left to cool in air ('normalised') it is reasonably hard and tough but not hard enough to take an edge.

Annealing just softens most other metals. Aluminium-copper alloys (and some others) are a special case; with the right composition, a few percent copper, they will be soft when they first cool after heating but will gradually strengthen with time ('age-hardening').

The problem with welding is that it introduces violent heat treatment into a small zone. Depending on the alloy (in steel) this can be soft, hard or brittle. It doesn't matter for the application in this thread since the component is not highly stressed, but for applications needing strength after welding the alloy must be designed for it.

Keith

 

[DTR]

That's looking smart! 8)