Hi,
I need an ingenious design (ok, at least something that’ll work) for a workbench that’s quickly and easily height-adjustable. I’ve been planning to build a traditional style bench with thick maple top, and trestle legs. Then I saw an adjustable bench for sale at the woodworking show (the one with steel legs that adjust up/down with a ratcheting mechanism). That got me thinking- it sure would be nice to be able to adjust the height of the benchtop by maybe 15 inches or so, but that bench is priced higher than what I’m willing to pay, and has a drawback I don’t like… to adjust the height, you must raise/lower each end of the bench; if there are two people available, each can adjust an end at the same time. But if I’m alone, as I usually am, I’d have to raise/lower one end of the bench, then the other. What I don’t like is, when you adjust one end more than just a few inches, the bench top is now at an angle until you adjust the other end, and if there’s anything on the benchtop, it’ll go sliding off. I don’t want to have to clear off the top every time I adjust it, so I’m looking for ideas on how to design the raising/lowering mechanism which are quick, easy to use, and relatively uncomplicated. Preferably, the adjustment would be made from one location, and would raise/lower the top while keeping it level (eg, like a scissors jack mechanism?).
Ok, open the floodgates …..
Replies
Dazz,
So maybe you should adjust yourself...make a box or two to stand on....
BG,
I've been told to stay off the soapbox, but I guess that design satisfies the specs I gave !
Thanks.
Great Wooodworkers response.
Thanks for the chuckle.
I also am interested in getting or building such a bench. It is so appropriate to woodworking that I am surprised that there isn't something suitaboe out there already. I work on cabinets and prefer to get the cabinet at the right height for comfortable working. That would mean at least 15 inches of travel, ideally more.
John
John,
You might be interested in the adjustable bench I've seen at the shows .. it's called the Noden Adjust-A-Bench. You can buy the adjustable legs with or without the benchtop. http://www.geocities.com/adjustabench/
Most planers use 4 jack screws connected by a chain and driven by a common handle. Take the same idea and incorporate it into telescopic legs for the bench. ACME threaded vice hardware for twin screw tail vises may be adaptable. Maybe even substituting a reversing gearmotor for a handle would be possible.John O'Connell - JKO Handcrafted Woodworking
Life is tough. It's tougher if you're stupid - John Wayne
http://www.ergonomix.com/
There's several companies that sell these type of adjusters. You could try using threaded rod and bicycle chain with a crank for an adjustable leg arrangement.
For what it's worth,I run E Coast sales for a contract office furniture manufacturer that specializes in height adjustable tables. (bakermanufacturing.com) We make several types but they would probably be prohibitively expensive for home shop use.You can buy our products through any Herman Miller dealer.I have several of our samples in my home shop that are being used as an out feed table,router table as well as one that has a 3" thick x 66" long traditional workbench top on it.Your idea is a great one though.I can go on for a while with the applications we can find.Our adjustable height ranges go from as low as 22" up to 45".They adjust by crank,counterbalance and electrically. Send me an email and I may have a way for you to get one or two,but we are definitely not in the home ww business.
Mike Agee
Dazz, Hydraulics is your answer. Use hollow squared telescoping legs ,the interior legs of which are through drilled for pins and the outer legs drilled at one (Convenient) height
Bottom Center of table contains one hydraulic bumper jack with foot pedal extended . Should have 8-10" throw Can be rigged with a gearmotor and cam to replace manual operation.
Stein.
Edited 1/20/2004 4:17:08 PM ET by steinmetz
Stein,
This suggestion is along the lines of what I envisioned. Just not sure where I'll come up with a foot-operated hydraulic jack with long enough throw. But I do like the idea. Thanks.
Dazz, Those hydraulic pipe bending tools have long throwsand foot pedals I think they call them portopower
I used one once to bend some damage on my old Crown Vic. harbor freight may have what you want/ If the maximum 'through' is not enough, you can cantilever it with a 'scissor's action' adaptation. Stein.
Stein,
I took a quick look at Harbor Freight's site- didn't find the pipe bender yet, but I did find some long ram hydraulic jacks that could work. Maybe even better, they sell several trailer jacks (for 25 bucks or less) that might do just fine. They're screw action with a crank handle (http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Category.taf?CategoryID=718&pricetype= ).....interesting. Hmmm, replace that handle with a geared down, reversible motor ????
dazz, plus two dpdt limit switches Stein
I once built a lawn sprinkler water control. Used a small gear motor meshed to a globe valve via a matching gear attached to the valve stem. Attached to a 'Breadboard' and used two dpdt microswitches to serve as limit switches. A remote wired push button was my control. Stein.
Stein,
I took a look for gearmotors on ebay.... I don't know much about them, never used one. There were a bunch of them for sale there; many dc, but a number of ac too. I would want 110 vac. Unfortunately, I have no idea what kind of torque would be required, and a lot of those motors looked fairly small. Don't know what they were originally used for. Prices seemed quite reasonable though. Saw some with torque specs like 70 inch/lbs, which sounds light-duty to me. I imagine my benchtop will probably weigh in the vicinity of 150 lbs or so, plus whatever items might be on it at any given time. Whaddaya think?
Hey guys, just had an idea. Those big jack stands under semi trailers are pretty cheap, are linked in pairs, and have a two speed gear box usually. You could link two pairs with a motor and chain, and presto, or crank 4 by hand easily. Oh yea, there are a bunch of different lengths.
On the hydralic idea, you might run into a sycronization issue if you use more then one cylinder. Farm equipment that has syncronnized cylinders, usually works fine for a while, then... Most multi cylinder equipment has the cylinders mechanically linked, so they have to move in sync.
Steve
I recall an adjustable bench in FWW a few years back. A guy out west maybe in San Francisco made one. Think he made it for a client. Maybe someone else can remember.
I know this is not a option but when I used to build Insul-Wall panels we did so in a old car garage. We built the bench over a old car lift. The bench was 8' by 16' and could be adjust to just about any height we needed. I worked great and made clean up a snap. We would lift the bench about 7' off the floor and walk underneath and sweep it out.
With that idea in mind I looked at building a leg system that would slide up and down and be very ridge when raised up. The idea was to use two bottle jacks that both connected to a master pump. That way when you pump the handle both jacks would go up or down.
Scott C. Frankland
Scott's WOODWORKING Website
"He who has the most tools may not win the race of life but he will sure make his wife look like a good catch when she goes to move on."
Well I knew it was in FWW some where. Check issue #131 on the back cover
" This bench cranks ".
I'll check that out, if I have that issue of FWW. Thanks.
DJK -
I found issue 131 of FWW. I had forgotten about the adjustable bench shown on the back cover. I'm not sure I'd be happy with that design though- something about having the benchtop perched up on just those 4 threaded rods bothers me. Although I suppose when the top is up that high, I probably wouldn't be doing any heavy duty work on it, so maybe it would be ok. But I'd rather have the supporting posts be something more substantial. But thanks for bringing it to my attention, I'd like to consider all ideas.
You might be interested in this:
http://www.dynalift.com/dyna-lift.html
Ken
One of the objectives for a woodworking bench is to be sufficiently "hard" that mallet strikes when chiseling will not be absorbed by the bench. Some of these approaches may be less desirable if you are doing a lot of chiseling.
If the lowest bench height is for more "physical" activies such as planing and chiseling, and the upper height for less physical, you might consider pairs of plywood panels with offsetting slots so that they can form an upright X. With a pair of these X's and a piece of plywood you would have a higher surface. When not in use the slotted plywood panels take up little space hanging on the wall. I have a pair about 15" high when I want a low assembly surface. Think I first learned of these in J. Tolpin's book on workshops.
Don,
Yet another interesting solution. Thanx!
threaded rod and sprockets with a crank is really the way to go here. the table will be easily able to adjust at any hieght/ you could use your cordless drill to adjust it. and there wont be any bleed down as you may find is the problem with the hydraulics ( especially bottle jacks).
dazz,
I agree with BG. I recently made two storage boxes 27"w x19" d x 71/2" h that slide under my bench and hold seldom used tools and equipment. I can stack them to make a 15" height platform or just pull them out and elevate myself 7 1/2" Very handy and inexpensive.
Check out this.Hope it helps. Mike Agee
Dazz,
Did you ever come up with a plan for your adjustable bench? If not, you may be interested in the "assembly table" in the April/May issue of Woodcraft Magazine. It is based on an automobile scissor jack and adjusts from 24" to 36". It looks fairly sturdy but I don't know if it would hold up to heavy duty workbench duty.
George
You don't stop laughing because you grow old. You grow old because you stop laughing. - Michael Pritchard
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