Portable workbench
#15
Dude, you got a workbench on your ceiling, cool..........
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#16
Cool little bench. Is that hold-down, set at 45*, really effective?
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#17
Adnick, the bench is about 4 ft long and 20 inches wide.

ez, The hold fast is brand new to me but it seems to work fine. I'll explain a bit more.

Upside down or not, thanks for your comments. A few more details about the bench. It ended up being too short upon initial completion to work comfortably so I decided to add the trestle feet to bring it up a couple inches. They actually added a benefit that I didn't foresee. The little bit of the foot that sticks out past the leg is a great place to put your foot to brace the whole bench. A big problem with this small, relatively light bench is that it shimmys around as you work, so having just that little bit to put your foot on makes a big difference. I'm also considering screwing a sheet of ply/osb to the feet and having it big enough that the user stands on it while working. This would really solve any problem of it creeping while planing.

At this point most of the holes in the top and sides are for dowels that either support a board for edge planing or to hold the planing stops. They are all 3/4. The holdfast is also 3/4 and while it does fit in the holes, its a tight squeeze. Because of the tight fit it doesn't work quite right, you really have to wack at it to get it to hold and release. Here's my question: With the top being made of a pretty soft pine, do I drill the holes a little bigger or wait for the holdfast to do it for me? Every time I wack it down it's compressing the wood and making the hole a little bigger (at least at the top and bottom in an hour glass shape). will this enlarging of the holes go on indefinitely or is there a point where the wood is compressed as much as its going to get? I put a 7/8 inch hole in my thick maple bench and it worked fine there but I'm afraid if I put that size hole in the pine it will soon be 15/16 or even bigger. At that point the angle between the pad and the straight arm of the holdfast will be out of whack and omg i'm probably just overthinking this since its new to me. HELP
How do you know you're learning anything if you don't screw up once in awhile?

My blog: http://birdsandboards.blogspot.com/
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#18
ms--Open the hold-down holes up, a bit, and saturate with WEST epoxy to harden them.

Regarding the bench stability, I have (2) 60-lb lead pigs + some other weight stored on my small ww bench to stabilize it. That makes all the difference in the world.

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