Morning all.

Following on from my painting thread, and with the painting 2/3rds finished, thoughts are turning to my next work bench.

I already have this 3m long fixed job which will be getting a 2mm steel top once finished. It will also have cupboards either side of the central opening:



But I also want a mobile version for either bigger/longer things or anything that would benefit from 360 degree access. It may also be my main welding bench as I have a 10mm thick ally top for it since I have a big plate of it kicking about from my old bench which I'm giving to a mate.

I have an idea about how to make it mobile/immobile using 250 kgs rated push-pull clamps. Each corner will have a castor and a clamp so that with the clamps up it rolls, but with the clamps down it'll lift up by a few mm to lock the whole thing in place. I'm unsure if the frame should be wood or steel yet as I don't want cupboards under the top, just a full width/length shelf with maybe a shallow drawer or two directly under the top plate. I also have a vague idea about fitting a power socket or two and having a short extension cable to allow me to plug it in, but I'm not sure if that's a good idea or a stupid one!

The other thing I'm thinking of doing is mounting my current vice, a Record 75 on one corner and having a matching vice on the opposite corner. This should allow me to work on just about anything I can think of whilst still ensuring the bench is used enough so that I don't just end up using it a big shelf. The vices would go in the grey boxes as shown on my work of art.




Does all this seem like a good idea, or just massive overkill? I know I tend to over think ideas and complicate them unnecessarily, but equally I only want to build this thing once! Any hints, tips or just general derision welcome.

A vice mounted on a mobile bench does not sound good, will be inclined to wobble as you cut.

Mount a vice over one of the legs on your fixed bench. If right handed, on the left, if left handed, on the right.

This is my mobile build table:

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It's an old hospital bed, bought for 15euros and has working electric up and down.

Ah, but that's the entire point of the table, that it'll be rock solid. It's not designed to be used as a build table the way one would be for a chassis for a 7 for example, but for general use as a work bench. Hence the idea about the clamps jacking it off the castors when is use.

My built in bench will also have a vice for anything that fits on there. But I can envisage times when things won't and having them would be useful. I suppose I could always wait until I've built the bench and see just how stable I can make it.

Managed to find this on Ebay. This is the sort of general idea I had in mind:




[Edited on 12/9/13 by DIY Si]