One of the major issues I've got is space, I've no lack of it but need to set up a dedicated place to make life easier. For example I use a back lean to for my tool station bits and bobs, the upstairs studio room has heaps of scratch materials and I use a portable work tray for soldering when I'm kit making, not to mention my unbuilt rolling stock kits and scenic stuff which is located in various other storage places around the house . So I need to focus where my bench work will be from now on and so this is what this thread will be about, in effect I'm doing what BR did in the 1960's when they closed down outlying goods depots to concentrate business at one central point. I've got quite a lot of tools used in scratch making anyway and buying a Proxxon TBM220 pillar drill with some other Proxxon stuff has heralded the need for a permanent and fixed work point for all my bench projects, plus I want to keep all my kit together in one place. So I've got a nice dry brick outbuilding with power and lighting already installed which I use in my business and a few years ago I build a nice sturdy bench under a window in there so this will be the start point in reorganizing my model making space. Anyway the TBM220 came yesterday and today I fitted the combination table, some more stuff like chuck and dividing head yet to arrive but here are a couple of pictures. Note the supply of Yorkshire Tea also. Both pillar drill and Yorkshire Tea are key assets for any work bench as you will appreciate.
cheers Pete, I've just been in the workshop doing a tidy up...well this is the workshop used for the business stuff and I've cleaned the bench top down and given it a coat of primer, this weekend I'm going to take down a partition repaint the bench and ad some Eurocell edging. I figured if the bench top was painted white then I could see tiny pieces more easily if they went wandering off and the Eurocell edging would prevent small components from disappearing for ever. I want to install a low level overhead strip light as well and a curtain rail or roller blind .. no seriously don't laugh because in front of the bench is a six foot long window and I would like to keep my wares out of sight Don't forget people sometimes wander in off the lane to take a sneeky at the bus so I do need to be careful.
Quite right. Thats why I dont have any windows in my shed. prying eyes etc. gets a bit whiffy when his nibs has been on a curry the night before a visit though. Geesh
So this is the new work bench where everything will be made from now on, the bench measures 3' 6" deep and 8' long, I've just primered the hardboard top covering, next I'm going to redec the whole of this area this weekend and fix in a blind. The sheets of interlock boarding in front of the bench are to make a new boot floor on the bus which can be seen parked outside in the yard.
Nice idea with the edging, I'm forever losing things onto the floor that get dropped and then roll off the bench. How high a lip are you going to do with it? I'd never heard of eurocell edging before, so I just looked it up, seems to be a uPVC replacement of window parts that don't need painting. Probably great over there, don't give it too long in the Aussie Sun though, probably why I haven't seen the stuff over here. Cheers Tony
I saw on a woodworking program (may have been the New Yankee Workshop), where they put a top surface of hardboard, with a hard wood edging (rounded off for safety). The hardboard was not fixed, so could be replaced easily once worn / damaged. Paul
Hi Dr Tony, I fitted a couple of dormer windows in UPVc earlier this year and also plastic clad the sides and front surround in plastic, these profiles lengths are made by a company called Eurocell, they have a plastic external coating but the bulk of the form is made from very durable expanded foam. I'll post up a picture or two showing what I mean... but first have to put my phone on charge a bit. cheers for now York Paul
Under my hardboard top layer there is a sheet of 10mm moisture resistant ply screwed to a 2" x 4" frame. The bit of the bench surface I want really smooth and flat will be covered with a cleanable lamination and the other bits which will have the vice and polishing wheel will be fixed to what is there now. I did have loose hardboard topping before but it did tend to trap dust and stuff underneath which was a pain.
Hi Dr Tony, Ah I didn't know you didn't have UPVc in Oz, here is the link to their external cladding system, offcuts of which I'm proposing to use as bench edges. https://www.eurocell.co.uk/news/understanding-roofline-and-why-it-matters The height of the lip edge will be about 3/4 inch tall, here are a couple of pics I took earlier, when ready I'll mitre a corner profile and glue the pieces down with Cetek CT1 adhesive.
I think a white work surface will help locate those tiny pieces which seem to have a death wish to become lost.
So with all kit building stopped at the moment I've spent the last couple of days making the new bench space in the outbuilding... well actually it was once a garage but has long since been used as a workshop studio and more latterly part has turned over to being a stores for my business. Anyway it was out with the clutter, undertake a reasonable repaint to the door and window both sides see how the space could develop in therms of accommodating SWMBO's creative intentions as well, in fairness she enjoys the "making process" and doing stuff like making tree's and small caricature figures to no particular scale is where she is at. Now fate strikes in strange ways because suddenly this happened... ... the pane had had a chip in it from a long time ago but a slight gust of wind blowing the window open was all it took to cause the glass to fracture. Obviously you can imagine my shear delight at not wanting to replace the pane particularly as the light is curved at the top edge in a shallow arc, so a cunning plan was hatched by SWMBO who saw an opportunity to develop her end of the room into something more practically useful.... More about that in minute.
Now the setting up the bench has been a bit of an experiment in finding the best working position and location of tools and equipment, first job was to set the Eurocell cladding off cuts in position at the end of the bench as the place for my "safe bits" area which has become an inset "sunken" surface for my work tray, I've also put my flat stone slab here and the Proxxon vice adheres well to the Eurocell surface. I wanted a vice that I could move around as needed considering all I will be doing is working on light section materials.
Next along the bench is a small place where I can put the etches flat down when I need to identify which pieces to snip, to the left hand side is a length of aluminium angle which does a twofold job, firstly it acts as a barrier to stop all those tiny pieces from wandering and secondly it has an internal and an external angle to check bends and folds against. On the right hand side is a raised block of wood which my rivet embosser will be fixed to and behind is my long reach mag lamp. The width of this space is wide enough to place etches down, it is easier to find the etch parts against a nice white surface.