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Building the system workshop

Disclaimer: the following plans and instructions are to be used at own

risk, do not use techniques or tools that you are not allowed/trained to
use or comfortable with, There are always several ways of achieving
your goal, These plans are for personal use, please do not distribute,
sell or share these with others,

copyright @benchworks2017
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Table of contents
Material list...........................................................................................................................................4
Workbench..................................................................................................................................4
Storage cabinet :..........................................................................................................................4
Tool cabinet :...............................................................................................................................5
Low Cabinet :..............................................................................................................................5
Plywood......................................................................................................................................5
MDF............................................................................................................................................5
Hardwood....................................................................................................................................5
Workbench............................................................................................................................................6
View of the inner side of the cabinets.........................................................................................7
View of the exterior face of the cabinet......................................................................................7
Detail of a groove........................................................................................................................7
Assembling the base....................................................................................................................8
Face frame...................................................................................................................................9
Worktop.....................................................................................................................................11
Front edge..................................................................................................................................11
Storage cabinet...................................................................................................................................15
Building the base.......................................................................................................................15
Top/bottom panel......................................................................................................................15
Side panels................................................................................................................................16
Middle panel.............................................................................................................................16
Assembling the cabinet.............................................................................................................17
Back panel.................................................................................................................................17
Final assembly...........................................................................................................................18
Tool cabinet........................................................................................................................................19
Bottom/top panel.......................................................................................................................19
Side panel..................................................................................................................................19
Middle shelf..............................................................................................................................20
Assembly...................................................................................................................................20
Back panel.................................................................................................................................21
Low cabinet........................................................................................................................................22
Top/bottom sheet.......................................................................................................................22
Side/middle panel......................................................................................................................22
Doors.........................................................................................................................................23
Base...........................................................................................................................................23
Assembly...................................................................................................................................23
Top.............................................................................................................................................24
Doors.........................................................................................................................................24
Final note...................................................................................................................................24
Drawers...............................................................................................................................................25
Workbench drawer deep............................................................................................................25
Workbench drawer shallow.......................................................................................................25
Cabinet drawer deep..................................................................................................................25
Cabinet drawer shallow.............................................................................................................25
Drawer construction..................................................................................................................26
Drawer side...............................................................................................................................26
Drawer front/back.....................................................................................................................27
Assembly...................................................................................................................................27
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Drawer slides.............................................................................................................................28
Systainer drawer........................................................................................................................29
Front..........................................................................................................................................29
Assembly...................................................................................................................................30
Drawer configuration................................................................................................................31
Workbench................................................................................................................................31
Storage cabinet..........................................................................................................................32
No systainers?...........................................................................................................................33
Doors..................................................................................................................................................34
Storage cabinet doors................................................................................................................34
Tool cabinet doors.....................................................................................................................34
Stiles..........................................................................................................................................34
Rails..........................................................................................................................................35
Assembly...................................................................................................................................35
Installation.................................................................................................................................35
32 mm system peg holes.....................................................................................................................36
Basics........................................................................................................................................36
Finishing.............................................................................................................................................39
Cut list................................................................................................................................................39
Panel Layout software........................................................................................................................39
Final note............................................................................................................................................39
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Material list

For ease of use I have given each material in the 3d model and drawings a specific color,
green for ½ inch (12,7mm) plywood, beige for ¾ inch (19mm) plywood, orange for
hardwood and brown for ¾ inchMDF

Workbench
Each workbench as pictured requires :
• 8 full extension 550 mm drawer slides,
30kg capacity
• 0,4 sheets of ¾ inch MDF
• 1,4 sheets of ¾ inch plywood
• 0,8 sheets of ½ inch plywood
• 1,61 ft2 of 22mm hardwood
• 3,44 ft2 of 38mm hardwood
• 2x 1800mm T-tracks

Storage cabinet
Each cabinet as pictured requires :
• 18 full extension 350mm drawer slides
• 3 pairs of euro cup hinges half overlay
• 3,2 sheets of ¾ inch plywood
• 1,1 sheets of ½ inch plywood
• 0,4 sheets of 1/8 inch perforated hardboard
• 14,4 ft2 of 22mm hardwood
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Tool cabinet :
Each tool cabinet as pictured requires :
• 0,43 sheets of ¾ inch plywood
• 0,3 sheets of ½ inch plywood
• 3 pairs of euro cup hinges half overlay
• 0,15 sheets of perforated hardboard
• one 654x308mm piece of 1/8 inch transparent
acrylic
• 4,84 ft2 of 22mm hardwood

Low Cabinet :
Each low cabinet as pictured requires :
• 1,16 sheets of ¾ inch plywood
• 0,54 ft2 of 22mm hardwood
• one 1200x375mm ¾ inch panel for the
worktop (mdf, melamine, etc...)
• 2 pairs of euro cup hinges full overlay

Plywood
To make these benches and cabinets I used poplar plywood, it is reasonably priced, light
in weight and color, and stable. But it is very soft and easily damaged, other types will do
as well or even MDF.

MDF
For the worktop I prefer MDF, it's hardness and density is comparable to hardwoods like
oak and beech, coupled with a high stablity it makes the ideal worktop material. The edges
however are fragile and need to be protected by hardwood (or softwood wich is less
durable) I used « MDF zero » which doesn't contain formaldehyde, I have pretty much
banned regular MDF from my workshop.

Hardwood
As solid wood I chose European beech, this is a very dense and resistant species and the
traditional species used for woodworking benches in Europe. I planed mine to thicknesses
of 22 and 38mm, if you don't have a thickness/planer you will be able to find in DIY stores
planed lumber of these thicknesses. In the USA 38mm makes 1 ½ inches.
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Workbench
The base is constructed out of ¾ inch
plywood. Assembled with dados and pocket
screws, these dados can be made with a
table saw equipped with a dado cutter or a
router. The pocket screws can be replaced
with regular screws if you don't have a pocket
screw system, simply insert them fom the
other side.

• A side panel 4x (800x560mm)

• B bottom panel 2x(560x435mm)
• C rails 8x(427x80mm)

• D shelf bottom 1x(800x560mm)

• E shelf back 1x(800x282mm)
• F rail 2x(792x80mm)
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View of the inner side of the cabinets

the rows of holes start at 96mm of the top and
bottom, 35mm from the front edge.
The groove below for the bottom panel is 4mm
deep and ¾ ich wide (same width as the panel
material)

This must be done on both inner faces of the

cabinet sides.

View of the exterior face of the cabinet

these horizontal and vertical grooves will house
the shelve and back panel in the workbench mid-
section. Only do these on the panels facing inward
(toward the workbench middle)

Detail of a groove
all grooves on this plan are to be made 4mm deep and of
the same width as the panel material (¾ inch in this case)
Ideally the panels must fit snugly, but a slight loose fit is
ok. The purpose of these grooves is to increase solidity
but also to make assembly easier and more accurate.
You may skip this step by removing 8mm of length of
each part that is supposed to slide in a groove on both
ends.
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Assembling the base

Start by assembling each cabinet, the bottom
panel is glued into the bottom groove.
The rails are screwed, with either regular screws
or pocket holes.
Clamp at least the bottom part untill the glue dries.

On the right you can see a

picture of a base cabinet being
clamped (back view, laying on
the side)

On the right the middle shelf

and back panel assembled and
clamped (note the pocket
holes)
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Face frame

The face frame is constructed out of

22mm thick hardwood, the function is to
add solidity and provide a surface on
which you will be able to attach the frontal
legs with peg holes.
• A faceframe stile 4x(58x800mm)
• B faceframe bottom rail
2x(58x427mm)
• C faceframe mid rail
1x(58x714mm)
Assemble the faceframe separately first with dominos, pegs, pocket holes or screws. Then
use the same method to attach the faceframe to the drawer cabinet.
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Assemble both drawer cabinets

with the middle section, for this I
used pocket holes. Regular
screws will work as well.

On the left the faceframe for the mid

section, I simply glued and nailed these
in place with a glue gun.

On the right a back view of the

assembled workbench base.
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Worktop
Start by screwing a ½ inch sheet
of plywood on top of the base,
flush with the front.
• A 1x(1800x600mm)
• B 1x(1800x140mm)

Part B only needs to be screwed

in place at the very end as the
last step.

Next screw parts C and B in

place. These are in ¾ inch
plywood and give the top a
torsion box effect and add the
necessary depth so that the rail
clamps can be inserted into the
worktop holes.
• C 3x(1764x68mm)
• D 2x(600x68mm)

Front edge

The front edge is made of 38mm hardwood,

the top edge has grooves for T-tracks and
the legs have holes for pegs and clamps
• A 1x(1800x100mm)
• B 4x(700x38)
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Side view of the top edge, the groove must be made to

dimension of the T-track so that it fits perfectly flush.
This can be done with a dado cutter, router or spindle
moulder.
The T-tracks I used are 17mm wide and 11mm high.

The legs are square 38x38mm, with holes

on the side and front, the holes on the side
serve for inserting clamps and the holes
on the front for inserting pegs.
These can be made round with a regular
drill, in that case I suggest at least 15mm
in diameter.
Or square with a hollow chisel mortiser
(14mm)
Or as I did, with a Domino XL with a 14mm
cutter. In that case it is best to make the
holes in the front horizontal so that the
pegs will hold better.
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Screw and glue these parts in place from

behind, make sure the top edge sticks out ¾
inch or the thickness of the worktop material.

And finally add the top, for this I used ¾ inch MDF (formaldehyde free) this must be
screwed in place from above in order to be replaced eventually when worn.
• F 1x(1800x600mm)

The holes in the top are 20mm in diameter

and spaced 96mm apart.

To drill these I used a homemade jig for the

router as seen below. The jig is 96mm wide
so that you can just make a pencil mark
along the edge which will help reposition
the jig.
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Drilling the holes in the jig, I

used a 30mm forstner bit to
make holes that will fit the
30mm guide bush of my router

Routing the 20mm holes,

make sure your cutter is
designed to make plunge cuts
(has sharp edges below)
Note that my jig was 192mm
wide (2x96mm) therfore it was
aligned on the center of the
previous row.

Also note that I still hadn't

attached the back edge so
that I could still use clamps on
both ends.

This finishes the workbench section, refer to the other sections for instructions that are
common to several of these projects.
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Storage cabinet
As with the workbench, the base is constructed out
of 18mm plywood, assembled with dados and
screws. The particular aspect involves the use of a
base beneith the cabinet. This makes the
construction easier and more sturdy.
• A cabinet side (2144x369mm)x4
• B Top/bottom panel (1357x369mm)x2
• C middle panel (435x369mm) x3
• D loose shelf (423x347mm) x6
• E base front/back (1357x96mm) x2
• F base sides (303x96mm) x4

Building the base

The base is simply screwed together, I used pocket
holes for a cleaner look.

Top/bottom panel
The top and bottom
panel are both
identical, it has 4
grooves to house the
vertical side panels,
and one groove along
the back side to
house the back
panel. The groove at
the back is ½ inch
wide and 4mm deep,
the others are ¾ ich wide.
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Side panels
Each cabinet has 4 vertical “side” panels, note that the panels on the exterior of the
cabinet do not need grooves or peg holes on both faces.
It has a ¾ inch wide groove in the middle for the middle panel, and a ½ inch groove at the
back for the back panel.
The peg hole pattern is identical to that of the
workbench and starts at 32mm from both top and
bottom ends.
Below you can see how I only drew the holes that
will be needed for the central drawers. The blank
spaces in the hole pattern will never be used in this
design so you can leave them out.

Middle panel
The middle panel has a ½ inch x4mm rabbet along the back end for the back panel.
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Assembling the cabinet

Start by connecting the
side panels with the top,
you can simply screw
these from behind the
grooves.

Then slide in the middle panels and apply

pressure with clamps.

Back panel
The back panel is made of ½ inch
plywood, inserted into the rebate at the
back and nailed/glued in place. This
element provides the necessary
strength to the whole cabinet.
• G back panel (992x435mm)x3
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Final assembly
Place the base in place and make sure it is level, level out if necessary and eventually
screw into the wall/floor.
Then place the cabinet on top and screw both together, check the level again and screw
the cabinet into the wall through the back panel.
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Tool cabinet
The tool cabinet is very similar in
construction to the storage cabinet.
• A top/bottom panel
(1204x160mm) x2
• B side panel (768x160mm) x4
• C side shelves (384x148mm) x4
• D middle shelf (372x160mm) x4

Bottom/top panel
As with the storage cabinet this has 4
grooves for the side panels and 1
groove along the back for the back panel, all are 4mm deep.(note that for the US version
18mm means ¾, and 12 mm means ½ inch)

Side panel
There are 4 vertical side panels, the middle of the cabinet has adjustable shelves and
requires peg holes on both faces, the
left and right sections have fixed
shelves and therefore require 18mm
wide grooves.
Every panel has a ½ inch wide groove
along the back, except on the two
outward faces.
As with all other elements with peg
holes, they start at 32mm from the top
and bottom edges, in this case
however that are at 35mm from the
front and back side.
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Middle shelf
These shelves are angled
approximately 20 degrees forward for a
better view. The grooves on the bottom
side latch on to the pegs in the cabinet
side.
These are drawn out of ¾ inch plywood
even though I made mine out of solid
beech.
The center of the front groove starts at
34,8mm from the front end, and the
back groove center at 28,7mm.
Make these about 6mm wide and 4mm
deep.

Assembly
Similar to the storage cabinet, start by screwing and gluing together the top/bottom and
side panels, then slide in the fixed shelves on the side sections.
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Back panel
The back panels are made of ½ inch plywood,
inserted into the back with glue and nailed.
• F back panel (768x384mm) x3
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Low cabinet
This cabinet has the same depth as the tall storage cabinets and can therefore be used
below a window. I made it 1201mm wide but you can adapt it to your situation.
• A top/bottom panel
(1201x369mm) x2
• B side/middle panel
(736x369mm) x3
• C door panel (760x596mm)x2
• D top spacers
(1201x60mm)x3
• E shelves (569x347mm)x2
• F base front/back
(1201x96mm)x2
• G base sides (303x96mm)x2

Top/bottom sheet
This cabinet has ¾ inch wide grooves on both ends and one in the middle. But no groove
along the back end. (note that in the US version the panel below is 1201mm long)

Side/middle panel
These panels have no grooves, only peg holes.
The holes start at 32mm from the top and bottom edge, and
are both at 35mm from the front and back edge.

The middle panel has peg holes on both sides

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Doors
The doors are made of ¾ inch plywood panels, the
only operation required is to drill cup holes for the
Euro hinges.
These 35mm holes must be drilled at 60mm from
the top and bottom edge, and 24mm from the side.
The depth depends on the type of hinge used.

Base
The construction of the base
is similar to that of the storage
cabinet, this part is simply
screwed together.
(note that in the US version
the base is 96mm tall)

Assembly
Screw together the side and top/bottom panels, then place the cabinet on top of the base
and screw the spacers on top of the cabinet. These help make the top thicker.
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Top
For the top I used a 18mm thick white
melamine panel, screwed in place
from below, the front edge is protected
by a hardwood edge, held in place
with ether dominos, screws or pocket
holes. The back has a 12mm plywood
edge.
• A worktop (1201x375mm) x1
• B front edge
(22x36x1201mm)x1
• C back edge (1201x60)x1

Doors
Install the full overlay cup hinges on the doors and screw the adapter plate into the first
peg holes of the side panels.

Final note
This cabinet doesn't have a back panel or reinforcement elements to stop side ways
pressure, it is designed to be attached to the tall and solid storage cabinet.

You can add a back panel or support elements like with the workbench cabinets if you plan
on using this a a stand alone cabinet.
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Drawers
The drawers ar made with ½ inch plywood bodies and a hardwood front.
In these plans there are 5 different drawers, two drawers for the workbench, two for the
storage cabinet and one for the systainers.

Workbench drawer deep

• A (520x120mm) x2
• B (390x120mm) x2
• C (508x390mm)x1
• D (420x156mm)x1
• You need between 0 and 2 per
workbench

Workbench drawer shallow

• A (520x90mm) x2
• B (390x90mm) x2
• C (508x390mm)x1
• D (420x114mm)x1
• you need between 0 and 2 per
workbench

Cabinet drawer deep

• A (350x120mm) x2
• B (390x120mm) x2
• C (338x390mm)x1
• D (441x156mm)x1
• You need 3 of these per cabinet

Cabinet drawer shallow

• A (350x90mm) x2
• B (390x90mm) x2
• C (338x390mm)x1
• D (420x114mm)x1
• You need 3 of these per cabinet
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Drawer construction
The drawers fit together with rebates, I did these on the table saw with a dado cutter, but
this can be done on a shaper, router table or even regular table saw.

Drawer side
The drawer side panel has a rebate all around the sides and bottom edge.
This rebate must be as wide as the panel material is thick, so that it fits flush.
The depth of the rebate must be so that 6mm of material is left on the other side. In case
of a ½ inch panel, this rebate must be 6,7mm deep in order to leave 6mm of material.
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Drawer front/back
The front and back panels only have a rebate on the bottom edge

Assembly
Assembly is much easier when done up side down, start by applying glue in all the
rebates. Then assemble the drawer
up side down and nail the parts
together.

Then attach the drawer front, on all

the drawer the front must stick out
10mm at the bottom, except for the
shallow workbench drawer where it
must be flush.
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Drawer slides
Mark a line along the bottom edge
of the drawer sides at 6mm off the
edge. That is the line on which the
drawer glides must be screwed.
Hold the slide against the drawer
and align the center of the holes
with the marked line, then screw
them in place.

In the cabinets attach the other half of the slides using special screws that fit into the 5mm
peg holes.
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These are Euro screws, they fit into the 5mm holes and
hardware (cup hinges and slides)
5x13mm is a common dimension but this will give problems
when you will try to attach drawers on both faces of the same
panel, as they are too long for that.
The 5x10mm version however will work.

Systainer drawer
The systainer drawer has a ¾ inch plywood bottom, ½ inch back and 22mm hardwood
front.
• A bottom (402x298)x1
• B front (420x60)x1
• C back (402x40)x1

The bottom has two wide recesses that can be

made with a dado blade or router, the bottom of
the systainer has 4 “feet” that fall into this
recess and lock it in place. It also allows you to
win a few mm in height.

Front
The front keeps the systainer in place and allows you to pull the drawer out.
Cutting out a grip opening is not necessary but it makes the drawers easier to open with T-
loc systainers.
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Assembly
Nails and glue should be sufficient to hold together these drawers as long as everything is
clamped together.
The drawer slides must be screwed into the center of the drawer bottom, about 9mm from
the edges.
Below you can see the homemade drawer vs the Festool made SYS-AZ drawer. The
advantage of the Festool drawer is that it is less tall thanks to it's thin plastic bottom. It is
impossible to make a wooden drawer as low, therefore the Festool drawers are more
efficient in space saving.
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Drawer configuration
You can use the supplied sketchup model to play around with the different drawers to
distribute your drawers and systainers in the most space efficient manner.
There is one version for the homemade drawers and another for the Festool SYS-AZ
drawers.
Below are some examples, but the possible combinations are much too vast to show.

Workbench
With SYS-AZ drawer in green

With homemade drawers in red

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Storage cabinet
With SYS-AZ drawers

With homemade drawers

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No systainers?
It is perfectly possible to use these plans if you have none/not enough systainers to fill all
the spaces.
The exact same drawers can be used to fill all the cabinets.
The drawing below gives you an idea of how all the spaces can be filled with regular
drawers.

The storage cabinet can contain 3 deep drawers and 5 shallow drawers without
modification.

The workbench cabinet can contain 2 deep drawers and 3 shallow drawers without
modification. (You can however adapt the drawer front to have an even 4mm gap between
drawers)
34

Doors
I used rail and stile doors made with 22mm thick hardwood for these cabinets so I could
insert peg boards or glass/acrylic sheets.
You can however replace these with simple ¾ inch thick plywood panels, much simpler to
make.
The door panels are either in 3mm thick acrylic or peg board.

Storage cabinet doors

• A door rail (361x80)x2

• B door stile (1020x50)x2
• C door panel (878x359)x1

Tool cabinet doors

• A door rail (310x80)x2

• B door stile (796x50)x2
• C door panel (654x308)x1

Stiles

The stiles have a groove along the inner face for the panels, this groove is 4mm wide and
10mm deep, this can be done on the
router table, table saw or shaper.
35

Rails
The rails have the same groove along the inner
face, but also a tenon on both ends.
This tenon must fit snugly into the groove of the
stiles.
This can be made on the router table, table
saw, shaper or even band saw.

Assembly
These doors are simply glued together with the panel in
place, in case of a peg board panel, this can be glued as
well. Clamp well until the glue is dry.
The acrylic/glass/pegboard panels will be closer to 1/8 inch
thick, but will fit into the 4mm groove without too much play.

Installation
These are designed to be installed with Euro cup hinges with
half overlay, this means that each door only covers half of the
cabinet side in order to leave enough room for the next door.
Make sure you use half overlay, usually these are full overlay
but those will not work with this design!

Drill 35mm holes at 22mm from the side, and 62mm from the top/bottom edge. Do this
only on the side that will have hinges, in the picture below, all corners have a drill mark.
36

32 mm system peg holes

These plans are made so that the panels that require peg holes have lengths in multiples
of 32mm, therefore they are fully compatible and optimally designed for the famous 32mm
system. This is a system designed to streamline production and hardware installation.

I used the LR32 system by Festool, but other methods are available. From homemade jigs
to other commercial jigs, therefore you do not always need to invest in a very expensive
system.
The method explained below is with the LR32 system but the results are the same as with
any other system.

Basics
On every panel that requires peg holes for drawer slide use, the first row of holes will
always start at 35mm from the front edge, and the second row will be 224mm further.
That way the drawer slides will fit perfectly, on panels where there are no drawer slides as
in the low cabinet or tool cabinet the hole rows can be at 35mm from both ends.
In my design I always start the first hole at 32mm from the top and bottom edge.
37

When using the LR32mm system, it means that the rail stop must be set with the “32” sign
facing upward.
On the image below you can see the rail stop in the bottom left corner with the 32 sign
facing upward, and the removable edge stop set on 35mm.

On the image below the back row of the workbench cabinet is being drilled, as the panels
are in multiples of 32mm, it doesn't matter if you set the rail stop on the top or bottom side,
it can also be used on all panels without adjustement.
38

Below you can see the sides of the storage cabinet being drilled, I connected two 1400mm
rails together to do it in one go, but this can be done in two steps by switching over the rail.
39

Finishing
For more durability it is always a good idea to apply some sort of finish on the exterior
elements, I chose to apply hardwax oil on all the hardwood elements and acrylic paint on
all the exposed plywood faces.
Looking back it was probably not necessary to apply the acrylic, but it will be easier to
clean. You can also use oil based paint but I didn't have the patience to wait 2 days
between each coat.
I also applied two coats of hard wax oil on the MDF work top, this makes it resistant to PVA
glue and doesn't deposit any traces of oil on the workpieces.

I chose to get my acrylic paint color mixed to match the Festool grey, below are the RAL
codes to match the Festool colors:
• grey RAL7035
• green RAL 6018
• dark blue RAL 5004

Cut list
Seeing the amount of different pieces of furniture, the possible combinations and
modifications, it is impossible to make 1 cutlist that works for everybody.

Therefore I took care in the sketchup model to name each part and give it the right
material, this way you can use one of the existing plugins for sketchup that will generate a
cutlist of what you wish to build. I peronally use this plugin from a French woodworking
magazine, it works very well but cannot be used with groups in sketchup. There are many
others out there, you can find them by searching “sketchup cut list plugin”

Panel Layout software

If you printed out a cutlist for your project, you will be able to calculate how many panels
you need and how to cut out each part in the most optimal manner by using a panel layout
software. A good free version is MaxCut V2, type in the dimensions of each part and how
many you need, and let the program work out the best way to lay them out to use as few
panels as possible. I use this program for each and every project.

Final note
I hope I made these plans as clear as possible and that you will enjoy the build as much as
I did, if however you have questions or problems then you can always ask me for help
here: timothy@benchworks.be
If you made one of the projects or a modification there off, then I would be thrilled to
receive pictures and share them on my website.
Thanks again for your support by purchasing these plans and have a fun build