Over the Xmas holiday I plan on building a work bench and ? across the back of my garage (20 + ft).

Thought I would ask you guys to see what you have and or want in you garage. What works what doesn't.

What is a good height? Waist high? 30" deep? If you have plans send them on

I am thinking about having a 4' section with a sheetmetal top for doing clean work.

Cheers

To embarrased to show a picture of what I work on. I've restored 2 porsches from the ground up in the past 3 years and I use:

1. the floor
2. Lowes folding saw horses with 3/4" plywood running across it

Is that pathetic or what?

Jim

p.s. at least all my tools are in large Craftsman cabinets (conveniently in the basement!)

Don't be embarassed, as soon as I take anything off the floor, I can no longer find it.

I wish I had the space for a good workbench, but even if I did, I bet my tools would end up on the floor around the periphery of the car I was working on.

-Chris

Boeing closed a plant near me about 10 years ago and I able to pick up a 72" wide by 36"deep and 39" high bench. Boeing built motors on it . It has metal angle iron for frame and legs. They line 2X4's across the top on end so the top is 4" thick with a piece of laminate on it. the laminate makes it easy to spin things around on it and with the heavy construction I never worry about it collapsing on me. It is ugly but bullet proof. I have used it for tons of projects. Te only problem is that it weighs a ton when you move it.
I can take pictures of it tonight, if you are interested in building something like it.

I got my bench from grainger.

Top is butcherblock, 36" x 72" and 34" high with a powered hutch.

Kerry,
My dad used to make a workbench in his garages when I was a kid, so when I bought my house he and I put one in my garage.
They are very simple and VERY STRONG (oh and cheap).
You use 2x4s and 2x6s to triangulate the bench to the back wall of your garage. I'll see if I can find a pic or two and post it here.

one of 2 benches (sorry no real pictures right now) are built from aluminum extrusion, roughly the size of 2x4's....

my newest bench will be based on the frame and skins of this wafer edge grinding tool I am taking apart ($75k brand new or something silly like that)

all stainless outer, the framing is 1x1 stainless tubing

That's why you went into the clean room today

Here is a quick drawing.

pic

thats tiny!

it's 12 feet long by 34 inches deep!
but, the garage is tiny!

Sean, PBR nice

The bench is nice too How doe sthe gaps between the 2x4's effect working on bench?

Cheers

actually, there aren't any gaps, but I wanted to show the different boards quick & easily.
The bench is great, and I can jump up and down on it! Being triangulated you can store stuff
under it without any feet and legs holding up the front.

Not shown in those pics is the welding table addition. I drilled 4 holes and mounted a 40" x 30" piece of 1/4 steel so I can weld on it, too.
You can see, there's also an engine stand mounted on the front right.

Kerry I did something similar to Sean's drawing in my old townhouse. I used 3/4 in ply for the top.

the PO of our house built some half-assed version of those shelves, which we just tore out to make room for the teener. Most everything I use goes on a roll-around shelf now.

Just a mix and match of old cabinet shop stuff, but it keeps some of the Tulsa Teens running.

nuther

I don't have any pictures of the bench I built in the house we just sold, but I utilized two pieces of 4X8 MDF for the top of the work bench.

MDF is amazing stuff, i.e., cheap, looks nice and when you destroy it just turn it over. And no splinters!

When you work on greasy stuff, just cover that section of the bench with sheet metal, but don't forget to have a splash bent into the sheet metal.

I've been in the house for five months, so there's still plenty to do. The area in the back left will be a large welding table shortly.

Sean, I like the neons in your garage. I'm going to look into some.

Here is mine. 2x4 benches on three sides,no bench where the drivers door needs to open. I have to walk sideways down each side of the car. Building is 12 x 20 w/ a loft for spare parts.

My work benches aren't fancy but they work, garage is unfinished at this point so i haven't done anything fancy. Just 2x6s and plywood with some 2x4 supports to the wall.

First shot is my parts bench, I'm currently working on my 2.0L
My father in law works at a liquor store and has given me a bunch of wine boxes, they are screwed into the wall and make for great shelving for free.

solid wood doors make great bench tops.....

I got a few from a building remodel...something like 4'x8' in size.....so heavy I had to drag the darn things out of my truck into the garage....

sometimes the home repair places will have returned or damaged doors at a deep discount...don't be afraid to ask for even more of a discount

the other bench, no rolling toolbox, maybe for christmas

Hi Kerry,
I picked up a great wordworking bench at an auction a few weeks ago. It's an Ulmia about 7 1/2 ft long with 2 vices. German company I think went out of busniss for a while and now are back. It's way too crowded in my garage right now. 3 cars in a two car garage and not much space to work. My wife is temporarily using the bench as a serving table in our dinning room and I have to say it looks pretty good there. Not sure if I'll get it back. Your engine is in the garage, back worktable on the right. Good luck with the table and your six project.
Larry

crowded garage

These shots don't show it real well but I'm using a commercial hollow metal door for my work bench top. I think it is 20 ga. sheet metal. heavy as hell. Bolt my vice right to it.

better shot of crowded garage

Its a 3070 (3' x 7').

It was left over from a job I did.
Did I say "left over" I should have said I ordered an extra door when I bought the door package.

Larry is that a TVR Griffith in the back?? More details.
CCLINTOPGEAR

The cabinets on the back wall came out of a office breakroom I renovated.

Once a door is damaged they'll just about give it to ya.

tried that...just had a small crack in it....sales guy walked away...."somehow" the crack got much larger, still had to pay for it, but not much

Meant to add this. Home work area.
CCLINGLADIATOR

I'm a big fan of the stuff.
2 X 2 & 2X4 covered with MDF.

....but wait, that's just a little bench
This one is bout 24 feet long.....and covered with shi....stuff.

The TVR at the front of the garage is a 71 2500M. It's my son's car that we picked up a few years ago and are just about finished. It has a TR6 engine and trans and parts from the shelves of many British car companies. It's been a blast to work on and he'll probable track it this summer. Did almost a complete restoration. Nice to work on a car that doesn't rust. Lucas electrical parts presents a whole other challenge. Needed seats so we picked up 2 914 shells at Hershey a few years ago. Had to be narrow and they worked well.
Larry

Then there's a combo tablesaw/roll around work bench......humm it's covered with stuff too. I must be in "thrash mode".

Mine. Very messy.

16 feet wide
36 inches deep
44 inches high
1-1/8 inch ply top
2x6 frame
4x4 legs

44 inches may be a little taller than most, but I like my work where I can see it.

My shop is 24' x 30' at 14' tall. The area above the bench is a storage loft (24'x10'x6')

My workbench...er...entire garage layout sux! Well, it sure beats no garage at all and I'm thankful for the space regardless how chaotic it currently is. The PO was kinda a cheapskate on certain stuff (but not always or maybe that was the wife's doing).

I'd like to redo the whole thing but it's not really high on "the list" so I have plenty of time to figure out what would work. Thanks so far for the good ideas and pics above...

Not the present garage, but where I did 90% of my restoration.

It was rented attached the the 390 sq ft beach "house" I lived in at the time. shelves on the right that you see, and then there were 3 of those big Home Depot plastic shelves behind the camera. Work bench?!?! Nope. I had a crappy Ikea folding table that I setup in the alley and put away every night when done. It made me keep everything very well organized. ~4 years in here.

-Steve

Perfect time for this thread.
We're building a Teenie garage addition and I'm looking into benches and such right now.

Here are some picts of my $200 garage overhaul Built with leftover 2x4s and 4x4s. Added a couple sheets of plywood to make doors to cover the mess and some cheapie drawers to put small stuff into. Purchased one high grade hardwood plywood for the top that will take the abuse, (it has...)

Made the area where the door opens narrower so that it would be easier to get in and out of the cars.

Here is another mini counter that holds the ancient toolbox (it was old when i bought it used 25 years ago...
It also hides the seldom used lincoln arc welder. (works great as a cutting torch)

All too noisy oiless compressor otherwise doing a good job. We'll be building a noise reduction cabinet with leftover wood from the garage build.

I was thinking about getting the Sears garage wall system or the stanley Zag garage storage system. But I'm leaning toward spending the money on a new toolbox and building the rest out of wood.

Stanley Zag

Sears wall cabinet
They have a full system too...

I'm most concerned with getting a bunch of drawers somehow so I don't have to dig thru 1 foot deep drawers to find what I'm looking for. I will also have the storage shed that I can do some better storage design in there. (currently just a bunch of rubbermaid bins..)

So, does anyone have an idea where to get multiple drawers without spending a bundle? I'm leaning towards getting a new tool box for rollaround tools since I'll be taking the tools between the two garages from time to time. Then maybe use the old toolbox and buy another ancient toolbox to use for general storage.

This is what I would like to have...

Who wouldn't?


I'll be happy to someday get a garage.

I know it's a mess and it may be hard to see the benches, but....

Please excuse the mess.....

Pic1

Pic 2

Pic 3