Steve's workbench build

[Inspector]

You gents aren't a fan of barrel nuts eh?

Pete

 

[Steve Maskery]

Barrel nuts are fine, but I don't think I've ever seen one as big as M12 (1/2" to you, I think )
That doesn't men they don't exist, and I don't think I've ever actually looked for one, either.

 

[Inspector]

Yes I have actually and as I have a metal lathe and milling machine I could make them too if I really really wanted to. But I don't. :wink:

Almost the first ones I found. Get a load of the ones in the second picture. https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/ ... 72e4cQiFOx

Closer to you but not cheap. https://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-b ... 2-ax364429

Pete

 

[Orraloon]

For others doing a bench with knockdown frame it can be done with normal nuts and bolts to save some money. I was going to make my own barrel nuts but came up with this instead.

 

[Doug B]

The bolt isn’t stainless Steve but is plated as it’s designed for humid areas, After drilling the hole in the leg I apply araldite to the inside of the hole before screwing the bolt in.
The first bed I did like this was for my son when he out grew his cot & he’s nearly 18 & the joint s still going strong even if just thinking about how that time has flown is making me feel old & weak :shock: :lol:

 

[MikeG.]

Running the risk yet again of coming across as an old fogey, a pegged mortise and tenon joint is a knock-down joint if no glue is applied. And of course it resists twisting better than any other solution.

 

[deema]

I’m with Mike, another ‘old fogey’ a Tusk Tenon would be a great solution for resisting racking and be knock down.

 

[Steve Maskery]

Each to his own, gentlemen, each to his own.

 

[deema]

To go with the iron mongrey, rather than dominos a couple of home made dowels drilled with the stretcher bolted in place with give you a really strong alternative and since you can make the dowels c1/3 the thickness of the stretches and any length provide I believe a more ridged solution than dominos.

I’d wedge the dowels on the legs

 

[Doug B]

Each to his own, gentlemen, each to his own.

Exactly, any joint only has to be up to the job in hand, my bench is dominoed & has withstood every thing I’ve thrown at it over the last 10 years of regular use & without doubt will last me out.

Meant to say thanks Steve for passing my number on to Charlie, I think he’s happy with the work I’ve done for him

 

[colinc]

On the subject of barrel nuts, Benchcrafted sell a set of four 1/2” x 8-1/2” bolts and barrel nuts for $35 but haven’t seen them retailed in Europe. They do sell a full set of nuts, bolts etc for their bench design here: https://www.classichandtools.com/acatal ... l#SID=1825. Not cheap but saves messing around. I made my own barrel nuts by drilling and tapping some 25mm ms bar. The hardest bit was drilling the hole on the centre line. I achieved that by boring a short length of bar in the lathe then used that as a guide by clamping it over the barrel nut blank in the drill press.

Colin

 

[Steve Maskery]

The next step is to cut the other half of the joint in the leg assemblies.

then drill a load of dog holes in the rail

Ready to go, a good, strong, 3-point joint.

Then bolt it all together

I thought I'd taken a photo of me screwing the top down from below, but I am mistaken. I'll try to fake one tomorrow.

 

[Steve Maskery]

I made the apron a few weeks ago, but if I had not, I would not bother, as this is rock solid without it. But I have it so I may as well use it. An apron adds massively to the anti-wracking properties of the bench. So I clamped it all in place and marked where the housing are to go.

Then they are roughed out with a router and jig and finished with a chisel.

Then the rearmost row of dog-holes is glued to the apron, being careful to ensure that the dog-holes line up properly with the front section of the top.

Then trim the apron to length and cut off the corners. It is traditional and is one less corner on which to bash my thigh

Finally the apron is counterbored for plugs and then screwed to the legs

It's beginning to look a bit like a bench.

 

[Doug B]

Looks excellent Steve & certainly substantial =D>

 

[Steve Maskery]

Time to fit the vice. It's not an old vice, I bought it new about 20 years ago. My previous one was my granddad's Parkinson, but it was not in good condition.

The vice needs blocking out a bit, so I glued a block of wood to the underside of the bench. Note the cut-out so as not to block one of the dog-holes.

With the bench on ts back I screwed the casting in from the front then used coachscrews from below.

Then the rear jaw can be screwed into place. It can easily be replaced if it gets worn or damaged, or I can swap it out for a specialist jaw very easily.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I put counterbored coach screws down through the top for mine, but otherwise it's exactly the same.
If I screw anything (bench wise) together now I put two or three washers under the heads - if it ever moves or needs to be moved, the washers can be removed allowing another bite when they're done up again. My existing bench started it's life with three on the brackets holding down the top and is down to none - it seems to work.

 

[Steve Maskery]

My vice is deeper than the thickness of my bench, so I blocked up that area. The cutout is so that I keep the dog-hole clear.

With the bench on its back (which nearly crippled me, TBH) I screwed the vice to the bench top, countersunk screws through the front of the casting and coachscrews up from below.

Then the wooden jaws.

 

[Steve Maskery]

Next, it's the sliding deadman. I've never had a sliding deadman and supporting large panels has always been a pain. I made fixed deadman a while ago and that was a great improvement on the motley collection of blocks and toolboxes I made do with in the past.

The deadman has a tongue at the top which fits in the groove on the underside of the bench top. The bottom edge rides on a rail attached to the top of the front stretcher. There has to be enough clearance to be able to lift it up and out, so I want that bottom rail to be as shallow as it can, whilst still securing the deadman. So I made it with sides cut at a 30° angle. My TS tilts to the right, which makes a bevel rip tricky. I'd need a sacrificial fence and even then there is the risk of the triangular offrip getting trapped in a triangular tunnel of fence, table and tilted blade. It's an accident waiting to happen. So it's better to move the fence to the left. But that means that my guard does not have the support that is normally offered by the shoe on my fence, so I have another shoe that clamps in the mitre slot which then supports the arm again.

So I made a bevel rip, flipped the board over and ripped it again, then, with the saw back in its usual configuration, ripped that edge off to give me a shallow triangular rail. All of which I forgot to photograph.

The matching bird's mouth on the bottom end of the deadman was cut in a similar way, 30° tilt but with a crosscut fence. Again the fence gets in the way, so used my stand-alone guard this time.

I cleaned out the bottom of the V with a fine saw and chisel until there was a good match between the two.

I marked the position of the tongue directly from the groove, which is visible at the tail-vice end.

And planed a piece of wood so that it was the right thickness to fit the groove with a sensible amount of clearance.

Then it was back to the TS and the UTTJ.

 

[Steve Maskery]

I developed the Ultimate Tablesaw Tenon Jig a decade ago and I know that when I die, I will have left behind something good for mankind. This one really needs remaking now, two years in a barn did not do it any favours, but apart from using better material, there is nothing about it mechanically that I shall change. It is perfect and the best in the world (until you come up with a better one).

So, using that spacer, I cut the tongue on the top end of the board. And forgot to photograph it. But it looks very much like this photograph from when I made the short rails:

The shoulders were cut using the crosscut fence as before

.

I glued and clamped the runner in place

and while that was going off it was over to the drill press to drill some 20mm holes

It was quite difficult to get the board in, although it was a nice fit once it was in, so I eased the top of the tongue, which sorted that out nicely.

So the bench currently looks like this:

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Copying mine again? :lol:

Mine has a Spur type upright in it to take a shelf bracket.