Split top Roubo bench on a budget

[Farmer Giles]

I have the under shelf finished and I'm on with the sliding deadman before tackling the tail vice. I doing the deadman before the vice as I am still pontificating about the dog holes and this has an impact on the distance of the vice from the edge of the bench. The instructions from HNT Gordon say that the centre line of the vice should be between 75 and 90mm from the edge of the bench. I'm sure there is a good reason for this so I have taken that into consideration.

Here's my first punt at spacings and number of holes, I may have a few too many! I have based the hole spacing on the parf guide system, i.e. 96mm apart as I bought a "seconds" version of the mk1 system from Axminster a while ago as the price wasn't as eye-watering.

The tail vice has a 150mm throw so I could ignore the parf distance and do that, but I like the idea of using the parf guide system to set out the dog holes. It's a pity the vice doesn't have a 200mm throw or I could have missed out every other hole and have a spacing of 192mm.

So I set out the tail vice centre at 90mm from the edge, this means that the distance from the second row of dog holes on the first half of the bench is 3 x 96mm to the row of holes on the second half of the bench, or parf distances, and places the holes in the second bench bang in the middle of the slab. So I can get a 45 degree angle between front and rear halves of the bench using 3 parf dog spacings etc.

I've decided to use 20mm hold downs only, maybe even have blind holes, not sure about that though, yet, probably get full of crud.

I'm still thinking about spacing and number of holes, thoughts welcome, especially based on experience.

Cheers
Andy

 

[autotrans]

following with interest

 

[Farmer Giles]

After looking at other Roubo projects and wanting to reduce the number of holes, I think I have settled on this pattern. It still supports the Parf idea of hole spacing, but also takes into account the centre line of the leg vice.

The two rows of holes are 4 "Parf" distances apart and there is a double row of holes centred on the leg vice. I won't drill dog holes on the leg chop top, sounds too weak to me, but I can make a slot over carriage for it with dog holes in it.

I can always add more holes to the bench later if required.

Cheers
Andy

 

[Farmer Giles]

Before I make loads of round holes, I am going to make a rectangular one for the tail vice.

I'm putting breadboard ends of the tops, might look nice in walnut but I've decided function trumps form on a work bench. So first mark up the top. Have brew, check the dimensions again. Then have another brew and check it one more time

The decide how to cut the slot. It will be a router, that's for sure. I have a trend jig that I've used for making square holes using a guide bush or bearing guided bit, but I need to plunge to 42mm and don't have a bearing guided bit that long, just a plane router bit. Then I thought that the hole is just a series of long grooves so a guide rail and router base would be better.

Mafell guide rail, Bosch router base and a DeWalt router may seem strange bedfellows but Mafell make the track for Bosch and their track is the same as Bosch and I modified the Bosch base to fit the DeWalt router a couple of years ago.

One of the clamps acts as the end stop so I can't go too far into the bench, in theory.....

More when I have done it. Off to check everything one last time as a mistake here will be hard to fix.

Cheers
Andy

 

[Farmer Giles]

I managed to get it done without major ****-up or loss of limbs. Time for lunch and dog walk.

Cheers
Andy

 

[Farmer Giles]

I got a bit more done on the bench, I found a small off-cut of walnut, resawed it to about 10mm then thicknessed it down to 7.5mm. I cut a slot with the same router bit as the trench for the tail vice and trimmed it to size. After a bit of fettling the vice cover plate fitted but the slot needed widening a little, so first chance I have had to try out the Lougier rasps, worked very well.

I left the plate couple of mm long so it was easier to get off with the vice fitted. The vice trench needed about 0.5mm more taking out of it, which I did with a bull nose shoulder plane and chisel.

Plate fits nicely

I then marked out all the holes on the front half of the bench with the parf system by drilling 3mm holes. I will do the back half after fixing the tops down in case screwing them down moves them a little.

Cheers
Andy

 

[Farmer Giles]

tail vice installed

20mm dog holes drilled, I had to put a few more in to get the accuracy of the parf system as you need adjacent holes to fit the pins or dogs into the jig to locate it.

I may put two more on the far side opposite the leg vice.

Do I chamfer the edges of the dog holes or not with the parf chamfer tool? Decisions decisions! I think I will then get the top sanded and run a very light rounding bit in the router around all the edges.

Cheers
Andy

 

[Bm101]

Looks the business Andy. I know its' just a bench' etc etc etc but that walnut looks lovely nevertheless. 8)
Second photo made me double lock my front door! Look at the size of that lad. :shock:

 

[Orraloon]

Andy,
Been watching the build as I have a pine split top. I would not chamfer the tops of the holes other than a small rub with fine sandpaper to remove any splinters. Way I see it dogs need support up to the surface level. The holes in mine that usually take the holdfasts are showing slight signs of spreading a bit at the tops after about 5 years work. Still holding fine however.
Regards
John

 

[Farmer Giles]

Andy,
Been watching the build as I have a pine split top. I would not chamfer the tops of the holes other than a small rub with fine sandpaper to remove any splinters. Way I see it dogs need support up to the surface level. The holes in mine that usually take the holdfasts are showing slight signs of spreading a bit at the tops after about 5 years work. Still holding fine however.
Regards
John

Thanks for your comments John, very useful

I've been looking at 20mm hold downs. Some 19mm hold downs do work in 20mm holes, the old fashioned hit with a mallet holdfasts for example do. But that means drilling all the way through the 4-1/2" top.

So far I have drilled holes about 50mm deep and was hoping to use the clamps I had for the MFT style table like these.

however, these require a locking screw from underneath, fine on an MFT, but apart from the screw not being long enough, too much of a faff.

Given its a split top Roubo, then I can clamp with an F-clamp in most areas, and just use the holes for dogs, and if I really do need a hold down, I could use something like the Veritas surface clamp which expands in the hole with a wedge base. Expensive but I probably only need a couple, can use them on the MFT table and the sliding deadman and I won't need to drill every hole through the table.

My Birthday is coming up so I may put one on my birthday list.

I guess if do go the blind hole route then a bit of a chamfer may be OK, especially if I use some of the Parf super dogs which I have for the MFT, these have a ring that sits in the chamfer, but these can be taken off.

I think I will do as you say and just give it a light sand for now, I can always chamfer later if I'm getting any breakout.

Cheers
Andy

 

[Orraloon]

I would drill all the way through otherwise keeping those holes clear of dust and shavings will be a royal pain in @$$. Have dog 2 holes on top of the vice chop that can't be through holes and they keep filling up. Every other time I go to use dogs in them they need scooping out. I would go insane if all the holes in the bench were like that.
Regards
John

 

[Farmer Giles]

I got a really good day in today. First I cut the sliding dead-man to size and cut the V in the base on the table saw.

Looks OK, I had cut the ledge in the top earlier and it fits in the groove nicely.

Then rough out the shape on the bandsaw

I took most of the waste in the bends away with the posh new Liogier rasps I bought then dragged out the bobbin sander I bought ages ago and used once. I wasn't that impressed with it before, I now know why. The table is buckled in the middle, it's diecast, no signs of impact but something has caused it unless it was cast that way. I shall look at it later. It is the front moving half of the table that is bent so used the fixed half. This reminds me why I usually buy old tools, buy once, buy right.

However it did a decent enough job from the flat side. I roughed out the vice chop the same way and finished it on the bobbin sander.

Looks OK, just needs trimming to height.

So trimmed it to length on the table saw and cut the 45 bevel, well so far

I cut the the rest with a Japanese pull saw then used the tail vice on the bench to hold it while I planed the bevel flat.

Then drilled the sliding dead-man

I assembled it all, next job sanding and finishing.

Cheers
Andy

 

[Farmer Giles]

I sanded and oiled it over the weekend, turned out nice but that Douglas Fir has turned out to have a bit of a Trump permatan It should mellow a bit with exposure to light.

You can see that the top is patchy, that is caused by light, I was surprised how deep it was so decided not to sand it off as it should blend in when the light gets to it, you can see where the plans were sat for a year after I glued the tops up. There is a block in the vice as I had just glued some leather, suede side out, on the chop, just the chop not the bench. If any glue squeezed out it would end up on the block not the bench.

The chop came out well, I'm pleased with it, you can spin the handle with a finger or spin it.

Next job is to make the tool/plane stop section that fits between the tops out of this plank.

I planed up one edge this evening and cut it to width and set up the bandsaw to resaw it down to size the coming weekend. I thought that clamp would get in the way when planing but it didn't, I was going to use a peg and clamp it from behind to the deadman but no need, at least on this plank.

Cheers
Andy

 

[Bm101]

Great stuff Andy. That is one serious bench! :shock: =D> =D> =D>

 

[Farmer Giles]

Great stuff Andy. That is one serious bench! :shock: =D> =D> =D>

Thanks, I am quite chuffed with it Given I'm relatively new to woodwork beyond studwork and a bit of ply joinery, I avoided the complex bits like dovetailed bench ends and decorative through tenons. The difficult bit was the sheer size, moving the bench tops about the workshop made me grunt a bit. But I think sometimes simple looks better than flash, however I'm looking forward to getting my teeth into something more technical. I made loads of mistakes and learned a lot, especially how to recover from ****-ups

I just need to get the kitchen finished before I can get stuck into some furniture, but there's a face frame and drawers to make so it's not all plywood box making.

But I haven't quite finished the bench yet, I started resawing the walnut at the weekend for the tool tray/planing stop. Top tip, to avoid getting the plank stuck on the bandsaw when the phone rings, don't just turn the bandsaw off, remove the plank from the blade first :roll: :lol:

Cheers
Andy

 

[thetyreman]

that doug fir is stunning as well, much nicer than pine imo, really nice bench =D>

 

[Farmer Giles]

that doug fir is stunning as well, much nicer than pine imo, really nice bench =D>

Thank you I've just read your bench thread, lovely bench and very nicely done. How is it ageing?

Cheers
Andy

 

[thetyreman]

that doug fir is stunning as well, much nicer than pine imo, really nice bench =D>

Thank you I've just read your bench thread, lovely bench and very nicely done. How is it ageing?

Cheers
Andy

thanks andy, it's ageing very well, there's a few dents in it though, and I've added an apron drawer, shelves and other drawers in one end of it. I'm not really the careful type with benches, there's some wear at the edges of the vice jaws where it meets the top from sawing but it doesn't bother me much, it actually makes it easier to saw once it wares away, I also added a couple of holes for holdfasts which I don't use often but they're handy when you need them.