Laminated plywood workbench base

with influence from Fine Woodworking #181 and Bob C

One of the aims of this bench is to be massive when assembled but able to be knocked down and moved by one person. This is looking good, the heaviest pieces are the ends at 12.5 kg and at this point it is about 50 kg (US 110 lbs) when I get a permanent top for it and cupboards under loaded with tools, I expect it will reach 150 kg

With too few clamps an average temp of 29C and humidity about 80% plus and having to squat on the floor to use a circular saw to rip the ply. The bench base took about 9 days to make.

I looked at various ways to make the mortices for the tenons and found that cling-film made the perfect covering for the spacer blocks

Studding (US all-thread?) is unobtainable without a lot of effort (and a 120 km drive), so I made do with 200 mm carriage bolts (10 Baht each). As the bolt heads would have too small a bearing surface in wood and would just pull through when tightened. I got some 38 mm wide steel strip, drilled a hole a little oversize for the shank, then used a big hammer to partly seat the square under the head to prevent the bolt spinning when tightened.

This meant that the bolts had to be captive. So as the horizontals were laminated from 5 strips of 20 mm ply I could cut into two of them to shape the hole. this was left open at one side to allow the bolt to be pushed home. The cutouts were designed to be slightly oversized to avoid binding, this has also meant that the workbench horizontals can float a little so the location of the bolt holes in the end pieces is not critical. I am thinking of using unglued dominos as locating pins to make assembly easier

The end pieces have 8 mm screwed inserts to allow feet to adjust for uneven floors

the bottom horizontals have a slimmer 5th section (size governed by the spare cutoff I had) this for the moment is used for a shelf but will be used to locate locked-in lockable cupboards, they will be removable if the ends are unbolted but not just lift out. I am not sure yet if they will be full hight, a reason to make them a little under full hight would be for wood dust removal.

Future work
Foot pads to go under the metal levelling screw feet



Costs so far
20 mm ply sheets 2 @ 730 Baht
200 mm carriage bolts 8 @10 Baht
steel strips 8 @ 5 Baht
20 mm MDF 1 @ 630 Baht
screwed inserts 4 @ 105 Yen
screwed feet 4 @ 150 Yen
Polyurethane 250 ml 250 Baht

2775 Baht
$81.64
£40.82
¥9,572


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1 EUR =46 Baht
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