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Plans N O W

w w w. p l a n s n o w. c o m

FOLD-DOWN WORKBENCH

This workbench has it all a space-saving,


fold-down top, easy-access tool rack, and plenty
of storage in a wall-mounted cabinet.

From ShopNotes Magazine page 1 of 15 2004 August Home Publishing


All rights reserved One copy for personal use. Other copies prohibited.
{ Space-Saving Design. The top of the
workbench folds down against the base
to save space when youre not using it.

From ShopNotes Magazine page 2 of 15 2004 August Home Publishing


All rights reserved One copy for personal use. Other copies prohibited.
Build the Folding Bench

{ Front Vise. For


more information on
installing the front
vise, building the
face block, and
drilling the bench
dog holes, turn
to page 6.

I started on the workbench by making Make the Top The top (A) Base Once the top is complete,
the top. Why the top? A couple reasons. shown above is made from strips of the next step is to build the base. You
First, the overall dimensions determine solid wood pretty typical for a heavy- can see in Figure 1 that the base has
the final size of the base. And second, duty workbench. To learn how I made thick, solid legs supporting the front
you can set the top on a couple saw- this top, refer to page 11. Or you can edge of the benchtop.
horses and use it to complete the rest make a simpler version, like the box on Whats different is that these legs
of the workbench. page 4 shows. swing in towards the back of the base
allowing you to fold the top down. A
FIGURE
1 pair of side panels and stretchers at
the back of the base support both the
legs and the benchtop.
Make the Side Panels
To provide solid support for
the back of the benchtop, the
side panels (B) are made by
gluing up two layers of 3/4"
plywood and then adding solid
wood edging (C).
The next thing to do is drill
a counterbore in each side
panel to provide a pivot point
for the top. The counterbores
accept flange bearings that
a. b. c. prevent wear and tear on the
side panels as you pivot the
top up and down.
The key to locating the holes is to
measure the thickness of your
benchtop. With that measurement in
hand, you use Figures 1a and 1c to
locate the holes. Note: This positions

From ShopNotes Magazine page 3 of 15 2004 August Home Publishing


All rights reserved One copy for personal use. Other copies prohibited.
the top so that its 1/4" above the side
panels in the raised position and flush
2 a.
with the front edge of the panels when
its folded down.
Add the Stretchers To connect
the side panels and provide a way to
attach the legs of the workbench to
the wall, I added a pair of stretchers
(D), as in Figure 1. The stretchers
are simply screwed in place. (Dont
use any glue here. Youll need to take
one side panel off later so you can
install the top.)
To prevent the side panels from
flexing, I added the corner braces (E)
shown in Figures 1 and 1c. Here
again, the braces are only screwed to
the side panels.
Build the Leg Assemblies b.
With the back complete, the next step
is to build the leg and rail assemblies.
The legs (F) are glued up from two attached to the stretchers with hinges. Now you can attach the leg assem-
pieces with a leveler installed at the But before you do that, youll need to blies. I found that the easiest way to do
bottom (Figure 1b). Then the rails mount the side panels and stretchers this was to clamp the two assemblies
(G) are cut to size and glued into to the wall. This is just a matter of together with spacers in between
dadoes and rabbets cut in the legs, as screwing the stretchers to the wall them. Then you can clamp this
in Figure 1. studs so theyre level from side to side. assembly to the stretchers, as illus-
Final Assembly To allow the (I positioned the top of the side panels trated in Figures 2 and 2a. Finally,
legs to swing in and out, theyre 353/4" above the floor.) screw the hinges in place.

Make an Alternate Top

Gluing up solid wood strips to make a heavy-duty benchtop


isnt the only option for the fold-down workbench. The
photo at right shows an alternate top thats made from
plywood panels covered with hardboard.
Built-Up Layers In the drawing above you can see
there are four layers. The bottom three layers are pieces layers together, I trimmed the top to final size (21" x 563/4").
of 3/4" plywood. Adding a final layer of 1/4" tempered hard- Since the edges of sheet goods arent all that tough, I cov-
board provides a smooth, durable surface. ered them with strips of Douglas fir.
To make the top, I started by cutting each layer slightly At this point, completing the installation of the top is iden-
oversized (1") in length and width. Then after gluing all the tical to the laminated benchtop.

From ShopNotes Magazine page 4 of 15 2004 August Home Publishing


All rights reserved One copy for personal use. Other copies prohibited.
Installing the Top
a.
With the base attached to the wall,
youre ready to install the top. And
3
regardless of which top you use, the
process is identical.
Add the Pivot Pins The first
step is to install the pivot pins that
allow you to fold the top up or down.
As you can see in Figure 3,
each pivot pin is a b.
5/ "-dia. steel rod
8
that rests in a
stopped groove cut
in the lower surface of the
top. Each rod sticks out past the
end of the bench and fits into the
flange bearings installed in the side
panel, as shown in Figure 3a.
{ Pivot Pin. To cut the grooves I used a straight
A steel rod bit in a hand-held router, as in Figure swing out the legs and set the top in spacers are sized to fill the gap
trapped in a groove 3b. Then I squared up the ends of the place. This makes it easier to slide the between the top of the legs and the
by a metal plate grooves with a chisel. ends of the pivot pins in place and benchtop, as in Figure 4a.
acts as the pivot pin A hacksaw makes quick work of then reattach the side panel to com- Just be sure to locate the spacers so
for folding the top cutting the rods to length so about plete the installation. the legs are square to the base when
up and down. 3/ " sticks out past the ends of the Final Details There are a couple theyre resting in the dadoes.
4
grooves. Finally, to trap the rod in things left to do to complete the instal- Stop All thats left at this point is
place, theres a 1/8"-thick steel plate lation of the top. The first is to add a to glue a pair of stops to each side
screwed to the bottom face. (I picked couple spacers (H) to the bottom of panel, as illustrated in Figure 5. These
up both the rod and steel plate at a the benchtop (Figure 4). stops (I) keep the top perfectly ver-
local home center.) These spacers serve two purposes. tical when the top is in the stored posi-
Install the Top At this point, First, they trap the legs and hold them tion (Figure 5a and lower photo).
youre ready to ask a friend to help in place after you swing the legs into Add a Vise Finally, if youd like
you install the top. Start by removing position. And second, to level the top to add a face vise to your bench, check
one side panel from the base. Next, when its in the raised position, the out the article on page 6. The vise,
along with a face block and a few holes
4 5 in the top, provides a variety of
clamping options.

a. a.

Streamlined Storage. With the


top folded down, the workbench
takes up very little space.

From ShopNotes Magazine page 5 of 15 2004 August Home Publishing


All rights reserved One copy for personal use. Other copies prohibited.
Add a Bench Vise
To add more clamping capability to a work- clamp a workpiece to the top of the workbench.
bench, you can add a cast iron vise. You can Install the Vise Installing a vise isnt
see the one I added to the heavy-duty work- difficult. In most cases, its just a matter of
bench in the photo at right. bolting it in place, like you see in the drawing
A face vise works great for clamping a work- and details below. But there are a couple things
piece between the jaws. But for even more to keep in mind as you do this.
options, you might want to think about drilling First, youll need to make sure that the guide
a set of dog holes in the top. rods on the bottom of the vise dont interfere
The dog holes allow you to use a set of bench with the legs of the bench. And then, for the vise
dog accessories, with or without the vise, to I used, I added a face block (J), as in the drawing,
detail a, and detail c.
Drill the Dog Holes With { Leather Faces.
the vise in place, lay out and drill Once the bench
the holes for the bench dogs, like vise is installed, you
you see in details a and b. Just be can add leather to
sure the holes dont interfere with the inside faces of
any of the vise parts underneath the vise and bench
the bench. Finally, rout a small to protect and more
chamfer at the top of each hole to securely clamp your
make it easy to insert the bench workpiece in place.
dogs (detail c).

a.

b.

c.

From ShopNotes Magazine page 6 of 15 2004 August Home Publishing


All rights reserved One copy for personal use. Other copies prohibited.
Add a Tool Rack

One of the big problems in a work- or when youre folding the legs in allows the tool rack to slip down
shop is keeping your tools organized for storage. between the side panels of the base
and within easy reach especially Make the Frame Theres really and fill the gap along the back edge
around a workbench. But I solved that not much to the tool rack. It starts out of the workbench.
problem by making the wall-mounted as a solid-wood frame made from Once you have the top rail (K),
tool rack shown above. Douglas fir. But as you can see in bottom rail (L), and end stiles (M) cut
Besides providing a convenient Figure 6, there are some things to to size, theres a little joinery to take
storage spot for tools, theres a handy keep in mind. care of. First, the stiles need a rabbet
feature built into the rack a spring- For starters, the top and bottom of at one end to accept the top rail.
loaded stop. The stop holds the the frame arent identical. The bottom Then on the top and bottom rails,
benchtop up while you swing the is slightly wider and shorter than the youll need to cut some dadoes. Here,
legs of the workbench out to set it up, top. Once the frame is put together, it the top rail has two dadoes to accept

6 a.

b.

c.
From ShopNotes Magazine page 7 of 15 2004 August Home Publishing
All rights reserved One copy for personal use. Other copies prohibited.
a.

a pair of center stiles (N), while the


bottom rail has a single, wide dado.
7
The wider dado not only accepts the
center stiles, but it also provides room
for the end of the flip stop thats added
later. b.
Cut the Panel Grooves Once
youve completed the dadoes and rab-
bets, all thats left is to cut a groove
near the front edge of all the pieces
(see margin detail on page 7) to accept
the panels.
Frame Assembly With the
groove complete, youre ready to
assemble the frame (Figures 6, 6b, you can be sure theres enough mate- All thats left to do is add the
and 6c). As you can see in Figure 6, rial to screw magnetic strips in place benchtop stop (S). To learn more about
theres a pegboard panel (O) you can (like I did) or mount custom tool how to make the stop and how it
use to store a variety of tools with stan- holders. works, see the box below.
dard pegboard hooks. Finally, youll need to glue a small Although the tool rack keeps a lot of
But the other panel (P) is just a solid filler strip (R) in the groove between your often-used tools in easy reach,
piece of hardboard. After assembling the dadoes in the top, as in Figure 6a. you can add even more storage by
the frame, I glued a filler panel (Q) to This filler allows you to screw the adding the wall cabinet featured on
the back of the hardboard. This way, hinge for the flip stop in place. the next page.

Benchtop Stop
Trying to reach under the workbench
to swing the legs out for use (or in for
storage) is tough when youre also
trying to hold up the top of the work- a.
bench. To make this easier, I added a
benchtop stop (see photo).
The stop is sized to fit the opening
b.
in the wall rack. I attached it with a
loose-pin hinge. This way, I could install
each half of the hinge separately and
then slip the pin in place.
A counterbore drilled in the back of
the stop houses a spring (detail a) to
provide hands-free operation. As you
swing the benchtop up from its stored c.
position (detail b), the back presses
the stop in (detail c) until it pops back
out. At this point, let the top down so the
stop holds it in place (detail d), then
swing out the legs.
When you want to fold the top
down, let the stop hold the top in
place as you swing the legs against
the stretchers. Once thats done, all
d.
you have to do to lower the top is
lift it slightly so you can press the
stop past the back edge of the top.
Then just lower the top.

From ShopNotes Magazine page 8 of 15 2004 August Home Publishing


All rights reserved One copy for personal use. Other copies prohibited.
Add Cabinets

The workbench and tool rack will go deep. But thats more than deep Cut the Case Joiner y After
a long way toward making your enough to store power tools and sup- cutting the plywood to size you can
woodworking more productive. But plies. Plus, it makes finding items a turn your attention to the joinery that
I still needed a place to store power snap since theyre not as likely to be holds the case together. In most case
tools and other items I didnt use hidden behind something else. work, I like to use tongue and dado
quite as often. So I built the wall cab- As you see illustrated in Figure 8, joints. Theyre quick to make and in
inet shown above. the case consists of a top and bottom most cases, plenty strong.
Build the Case To match the (T), along with a pair of sides (U) and But in this cabinet, I knew Id be
a. low profile of the workbench in the
stored position, the cabinet is only 10"
dividers (V). All these parts are made
from 3/4" plywood.
storing heavy power tools both
inside and on top. So I modified the
joint just a bit to create a little extra
FIGURE
8 strength. If you look at Figures 8a and
8c, you can see what I did.
The tongues on the top and bottom
are identical. But instead of cutting a
single, narrow dado at the ends of
the cabinet sides, I cut a full-size
rabbet at the top and dado at the
bottom. Once that was complete, I
cut the narrower dadoes in each joint
to accept the tongues on the top and
bottom.
To hold the dividers in place, youll
need to cut matching dadoes in both
the top and bottom of the case, as illus-
trated in Figure 8b. And rabbets along
the back edge of the top, bottom, and
sides accept the back.
Just be sure you check out Figure
8d first. The rabbet along the top and
bottom edges is wider than the one in
the sides. This extra width provides
more gluing and nailing surface when
attaching the back.
Assembly All thats left to do
b. c. d. before gluing up the case is to drill

From ShopNotes Magazine page 9 of 15 2004 August Home Publishing


All rights reserved One copy for personal use. Other copies prohibited.
FIGURE
holes in the sides and dividers for
the pins that support the shelves.
9
Finally, cut the 1/4" hardboard back
(W) to size, then glue and nail it in
place during assembly to keep the
cabinet square.
Shelves & Cleats While the
glue was drying, I took a little time to
cut the 3/4" plywood shelves (X, Y) to
size and add some edging (Z, AA) to
the front. Be sure to note that the
center shelf (and edging) is shorter
than the side shelves.
As I mentioned before, I was plan- c.
ning on storing power tools and other
heavy items in the cabinet. To ensure
b.
the thin back was up to the task, I a.
added some hanging cleats to the
inside. You can see in Figure 9 that
these cleats (BB) are just 3/4" plywood
glued to the back in the two outside opening between the rack and the
compartments. bottom of the cabinet with a filler strip
Face Frame & Filler Now (EE), as in Figures 9 and 9b.
youre ready to add the face frame. enclose some of the compartments,
This is just a matter of cutting each MAKING THE DOORS you can add a couple doors like the
face frame rail and stile (CC, DD) to At this point, the cabinet is ready to ones shown in Figure 10.
size and gluing it in place. use as is. Just hang it on the wall I started on the doors by cutting
Because the sides of the cabinet (Figure 9c) and load it up with all your the rails (FF) and stiles (GG) to final
rest on the wall rack, I filled in the tools and supplies. But if you want to size. (Be sure to account for the stub
tenons that will be cut on the ends of
10 the rails.) And for clearance, I allowed
for a 1/16" gap all around the edges of
the doors and face frame, as you can
see in Figure 10a.
The next step is to cut grooves
along the inside edges of the stiles
and rails (Figure 10c). The groove is
sized to accept the 1/4" hardboard door
panel (HH). Then tongues are cut on
the ends of the rails to match.
The doors are mounted to the cab-
inet with a pair of hinges. Instead of
cutting matching mortises in both the
doors and cabinets, I cut a single mor-
tise in the door, as in Figure 10a.
a. An easy way to do this is on the
table saw with a dado blade. Be sure
to cut the mortises deep enough to
maintain the 1/16" gap between the
door and the cabinet frame pieces.
All thats left to do to complete the
installation is to screw a handle to each
door and add a magnetic catch to keep
the door closed. You can see where
b. c. these pieces of hardware are located
in Figures 10 and 10b.

From ShopNotes Magazine page 10 of 15 2004 August Home Publishing


All rights reserved One copy for personal use. Other copies prohibited.
Build a Laminated Top

I ve always been impressed by a


solid-wood, laminated benchtop. It
makes a strong, sturdy worksurface
get to gluing up the entire top, youll
be surprised at how easy it was to
create a benchtop thats solid, good-
benchtop made from it will hold up to
years of use. And compared to most
woods, its fairly inexpensive. I was
and the top often looks as good as the looking, and as flat as can be. able to cut all the strips I needed out
furniture built on it. of three, 12-foot-long 2x10s I bought
Making a benchtop, like the one in CUTTING THE STRIPS from a local home center.
the photo above, seems like a simple The first step in building a laminated Now theres a little more to this
process you cut up a bunch of strips benchtop is choosing the material for than just picking any board and rip-
and then glue them up to form a solid the strips. What youre looking for ping a few strips from it. For starters,
slab. And in practice, thats just about here is a hard, durable wood. Just youll want to be a little choosy when
how it goes. about any hard wood will do. But since selecting your stock.
But there are a few tips and tech- youre going to use quite a bit of mate- As with any lumber, what youre
niques you can use to break the rial, cost can be a factor. looking for is straight boards with as
process up into smaller, more man- For the benchtop, I chose Douglas few knots and defects as possible. So
ageable steps. And by the time you fir. Its hard and durable, so a be sure to take the time to find the
best pieces you can.
FIGURE
1 Once you have the lumber home,
you can crosscut the material into six-
foot lengths. This way, youll have a
little extra length to allow for any end
checks, imperfections, or planer snipe
that might show up later.
With the lumber cut to rough
length, youre ready to rip the pieces
to width. Since I was looking for a top
about 21/2" thick, I ripped my strips
around 2 3/4" wide, as in Figure 1a.
b. This gave me enough extra material
to joint the edges flat and square, and
then plane the edges smooth.
a. Once the strips are ripped to width,
youll be turning them on edge to glue
them up. Besides a more stable top,
the exposed edge grain provides a
couple side benefits a tougher sur-
face and a great-looking benchtop (see
photo).

From ShopNotes Magazine page 11 of 15 2004 August Home Publishing


All rights reserved One copy for personal use. Other copies prohibited.
FIGURE

MAKE A DRY RUN 2


After cutting all the strips to size, the
next step is to make a dry run by
clamping up the strips without glue.
Why a dry run? Its the best way to
discover any problems you might run
into before you have glue all over and its
too late to do anything about it.
Since I was assembling the
benchtop on sawhorses, I took some
time to make sure they were in the
same plane by sighting across the a.
tops. Doing this avoids introducing
any twist in the top.
Now dry clamp four of the strips
b.
together to form a slab. Why not the
entire set of strips? Simple. By cre-
ating a narrow slab, you can easily
joint one of the faces flat and smooth.
Then you can run the slab through
the planer to flatten it. is dry, you can flatten one face,
Note: Take the time to position the like you see in Figure 1b, and then during the final glue-up, I used
straightest (and best-looking) pieces run the slabs through your planer hardboard splines that fit into slots
on the outside of each slab. to flatten the opposite face. in the edges of each slab (Figure
2b).
GLUE IT UP FINAL ASSEMBLY A router with a slot-cutting bit
With a dry run under your belt, youre At this point, you should have four makes quick work of cutting the slots
ready to glue up the slabs that will perfectly flat slabs about 6" wide. (Figure 2a). Just be sure to stop each
make up the benchtop. (Mine were about 5 3/4".) slot far enough in from the ends of the
After applying the glue and adding The next step is to glue all the slabs slab so they wont show when you cut
the clamps, make any adjustments together to form the benchtop. But the top to final size (59 3/4").
necessary so the tops of the strips theres a catch. After the glue-up, the Note: You may need to add an
are as flush as possible. Doing this top will be too wide to use a jointer or extra strip to ensure the top is at
now means youll have less jointing planer to clean it up. So to ensure that least 24" wide.
and planing to do later. When the glue each slab stays perfectly aligned
CUTTING TO SIZE
3 b.
With this procedure, I had very little
cleanup to do. After a little scraping
and sanding, the top was ready to be
cut to final size.
The tricky part is that the top is too
big to cut on the table saw. So instead,
I used my circular saw and a straight-
edge, as shown in Figure 3.
But a circular saw wont cut all the
way through the top. So first I cut as far
a. as possible through one face, as in
Figure 3. Then I flipped the top over
and cut through the rest of the top,
leaving just a little waste (Figure 3a).
Finally, a hand-held router and a flush
trim bit make quick work of removing
the final waste, as in Figure 3b.

From ShopNotes Magazine page 12 of 15 2004 August Home Publishing


All rights reserved One copy for personal use. Other copies prohibited.
Cutting Diagram: Fold-Down Workbench

From ShopNotes Magazine page 13 of 15 2004 August Home Publishing


All rights reserved One copy for personal use. Other copies prohibited.
Cutting Diagram: Fold-Down Workbench

From ShopNotes Magazine page 14 of 15 2004 August Home Publishing


All rights reserved One copy for personal use. Other copies prohibited.
Materials
Workbench Wall Cabinet
A Top (1) 21/2 x 24 - 59 3/4 T Top/Bottom (2) 91/4 x 621/2 - 3/4 Ply.
B Side Panels (2) 91/4 x 187/8 - 11/2 Ply. U Sides (2) 91/4 x 20 - 3/4 Ply.
C Edging 3/ x 11/ - 96 Rgh.
4 2 V Dividers (2) 9 x 181/4 - 3/4 Ply.
D Stretchers (2) 11/2 x 31/2 - 60 W Back (1) 183/4 x 62 - 1/4 Hdbd.
E Corner Braces (4) 11/2 x 4 - 10 X Side Shelves (2) 8 x 203/8 - 3/4 Ply.
F Legs (2) 3 x 3 - 311/2 Y Center Shelf (1) 8 x 187/8 - 3/4 Ply.
G Rails (4) 11/2 x 31/2 - 17 3/4 Z Side Edging (2) 3 /4 x 3/4 - 203/8
H Spacers (2) 3/ Rgh. x 3 - 5
4 AA Center Edging (1) 3 /4 x 3/4 - 187/8
I Stops (2) 1 x 11/2 - 2 Rgh. BB Cleats (2) 31/2 x 201/2 - 3/4 Ply.
J Face Block (1) 3 x 41/2 - 10 CC Frame Rails (6) 3/4 x 11/2 - 19
DD Frame Stiles (4) 3/4 x 11/2 - 20
Tool Rack EE Filler Strip (1) 11/2 x 3/4 - 62
K Top Rail (1) 11/2 x 11/2 - 61 FF Door Rails (4) 3/ x 21/ - 143/
4 2 8
L Bottom Rail (1) 11/2 x 31/2 - 60 GG Door Stiles (4) 3/ x 21/ - 167/
4 2 8
M End Stiles (2) 11/2 x 11/2 - 20 HH Door Panels (2) 123/8 x 143/8 - 1/4 Hdbd.
N Center Stiles (2) 11/2 x 11/2 - 19
O Pegboard Panel (1) 18 x 28 - 1/4 Pgbd.
P Hardboard Panel (1) 18 x 28 - 1/4 Hdbd.
Q Filler Panel (1) 17 x 27 - 3/4 Ply.
R Filler Strip (1) 1/ x 1/ - 3
4 2
S Benchtop Stop (1) 11/2 x 27/8 - 181/8

Hardware
(2) 5/8" I.D. x 3/4" O.D. Flange Bearings (2) Magnetic Catches & Strike Plates (w/screws)
(2) 3/8" T-Nuts (12) 1/ " Shelf Pins
4
(2) 3/8" Leg Levelers (1) Vise & Handle w/mounting hardware (Opt.)
(12) #8 x 31/2" Fh Woodscrews (2) Magnetic Tool Bars w/screws (Opt.)
(8) #8 x 21/2" Fh Woodscrews
(54) #8 x 11/4" Fh Woodscrews Note: Hardware list does not include hardware for mounting
(8) #8 x 3" Fh Woodscrews workbench, tool rack, or cabinet to wall.
(2 Pr.) 3" x 2" Butt Hinges
(2) 1/8" x 2" - 17" Steel Plate
(2) 5/8" x 173/4" Steel Rod
(1) 7/16" x 17/8" Spring
(1) 3" x 2" Loose Pin Hinge
(2) 31/2" Sash Pulls (w/screws)
(2 Pr.) 2" x 15/8" Hinges w/screws

From ShopNotes Magazine page 15 of 15 2004 August Home Publishing


All rights reserved One copy for personal use. Other copies prohibited.

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