Workshop Benches! - Making them. What do you have/wish for?!

T.Farm.Brumby · Post by **T.Farm.Brumby** » Sat Mar 23, 2013 10:30 pm

60766244 wrote:Yes take photos! I'm keen to see everyone's organizational skills...

Just started a thread specifically for this

Keen as!

showthread.php?t=23405

60766244 · Post by **60766244** » Sun Mar 24, 2013 4:40 pm

Been sick as a dog all weekend so far so not a whole heap done.

Made a template of the drawers to hold the spanners, screwdrivers and sockets. As these draws might get removed from time to time. All other drawers will be wooden made from plywood.

After making the drawer template, I decided I hated it, and hammered it into bits again. (Took a lot of hammering.

) I guess it means my welding holds up to stress!

I'll hopefully have a new drawer template monday arvo.

60766244 · Post by **60766244** » Tue Mar 26, 2013 11:39 pm

Been meaning to post but just haven't been upto it.

Still fairly sick.

Woo.

Anyways, today I made a toolbox/drawer for the spanners.

It will be plywood Lined and I plan to make 4 more identical to this. 100% recycled steel.

60766244 · Post by **60766244** » Fri Mar 29, 2013 11:45 pm

Spent the day today doing some overwelds and more cleaning.

I also experimented with how I will setup my socket drawer.

My small, but effective set of hex and double hex sockets:

I plan to build two socket drawers so when I get impact sockets, I'll have somewhere for them too.

The socket holders are standard KinChrome ones with ball bearings made of heavy duty plastic ($5-$10) - much nicer than the sharp edged, spring steel type.

The blue straps they come standard with are 100mm too short for my drawer sets so I got inspired and went to Bunnings. They have exactly the right steel already galvanized for about $10 a length and the clips (tightly) just fit over it, which is perfect.

To hold the straps to the drawer I'm bolting them on, though there will be a solid base in the drawer.

I've been having trouble getting the stainless, hardened steel to weld strongly to the mild steel drawers as I need the bolts threaded in, but flush and flat on the underside. So I banged off, and re-welded several times to no avail.

The next idea was cut 'notches into the existing mild steel then weld into it to create a 'flush' X style bond into it. It didn't really work either...

Anyone have any ideas with welding in this fashion? All I have is an old beast of an Arc.

I might try again tomorrow with more welding learning, as I am a very base-level beginner.

Still deciding what to paint these things! - But that's still a long way off.

Silverbullet · Post by **Silverbullet** » Fri Mar 29, 2013 11:54 pm

You'll struggle to weld stainless bolts to mild steel with a stick welder and the high temperature will probably make it not stainless anymore

You may be able to braze or silver solder them on if you have the gas, flux and know-how. Or just get mild steel bolts.

60766244 · Post by **60766244** » Sat Mar 30, 2013 12:12 am

Silverbullet wrote:You'll struggle to weld stainless bolts to mild steel with a stick welder and the high temperature will probably make it not stainless anymore You may be able to braze or silver solder them on if you have the gas, flux and know-how. Or just get mild steel bolts.

Thanks for the prompt reply.

I'm not worried about the stainless effect, I just had 50 odd bolts of the suitable size that are stainless and they came to hand. I prefer to use things I have around if I can avoid purchasing them.

Do galv. coated bolts tend to be more mild than stainless bolts? I don't have any brazing gear and I want to be able to rely on this bond.

I tried turning up the welder a fair bit but it only splattered my welding rods all over the shop (lol, literally):rolleyes:. I might find some light gauge shiny steel rod and see if that might bond it if I crank up them amps?

Silverbullet · Post by **Silverbullet** » Sat Mar 30, 2013 12:29 am

I think galv bolts are usually just mild steel underneath or close to it. But they are zinc coated obviously so when you when you weld them they'll produce toxic smoke unless you sand it off first. That goes for welding any galvanized steel, the white smoke will give you a nasty headache

60766244 · Post by **60766244** » Sat Mar 30, 2013 12:53 am

Yeah because it's an Arc welder it struggles to weld anything coated at all.

Even tiny rust can ruin a weld where any gas welder could cut through the majority of it.

When I was welding re-bar I discovered this.

I might have to go back to Funnings and get some bolts to suit...

I really need to print off a photo of me with "DO NOT SERVE" written on it and give it to all bunnings stores within a 200km radius.

Just to ease the burden on my paycheck.

tony · Post by **tony** » Sat Mar 30, 2013 2:07 am

you can't weld stainless to mild, and you can't weld stainless anyway unless you have a gas type arc welder.
You can braze or silver solder as said above.
and there is stainless and stainless, I was disappointed with the strength and performance of the stainless screws I bought for attaching the cedar planks to my shed.
as for the old bed frames I mentioned, if you hit the local salvos or vinnies receivals depot they have hundreds of them out the back they can't use because they are bent, which doesn't matter to you as you will be cutting it down anyway, they will sell them for a dollar or 2 each, dirt cheap for the quality of steel. just don't try cutting it with an ordinary hack saw it just won't ,er, .....hack.....it (erf erf) will last about 3 minutes.
my 20 year old rods work perfectly.
if your newies are too thick try thinner ones but don't go real thin I find these are quite difficult to weld with .
however don't use the old Abel much now got a 130 amp gas/gasless, does most of what I want, although I am thinking of replacing it as I want to do some aluminium welding and mine won't do aly.
actually got 3 welders and oxy, the antique abel single phase a even more antique 3 phase pushbutton emf, and the gasless, all work great, the emf will go to near 300amps if I want but haven't used it for yonks.

Post by **Bantum** » Sat Mar 30, 2013 10:32 am

You could try using a counter sunk bolt + make sure that it has thread all the way ...

Hear's mine :

Note : I cut them up to bolt the frame together on the bench

60766244 · Post by **60766244** » Sat Mar 30, 2013 12:03 pm

tony wrote:you can't weld stainless to mild, and you can't weld stainless anyway unless you have a gas type arc welder.
You can braze or silver solder as said above.
and there is stainless and stainless, I was disappointed with the strength and performance of the stainless screws I bought for attaching the cedar planks to my shed.
as for the old bed frames I mentioned, if you hit the local salvos or vinnies receivals depot they have hundreds of them out the back they can't use because they are bent, which doesn't matter to you as you will be cutting it down anyway, they will sell them for a dollar or 2 each, dirt cheap for the quality of steel. just don't try cutting it with an ordinary hack saw it just won't ,er, .....hack.....it (erf erf) will last about 3 minutes.
my 20 year old rods work perfectly.
if your newies are too thick try thinner ones but don't go real thin I find these are quite difficult to weld with .
however don't use the old Abel much now got a 130 amp gas/gasless, does most of what I want, although I am thinking of replacing it as I want to do some aluminium welding and mine won't do aly.
actually got 3 welders and oxy, the antique abel single phase a even more antique 3 phase pushbutton emf, and the gasless, all work great, the emf will go to near 300amps if I want but haven't used it for yonks.

Thanks for the tip on Salvos.

If I need more steel I'll be going there it seems.
I found if difficult with the old rods, then changing to new because I was so used to the old, chipped, rusted, broken ones and how they reacted, that when I changed it was a shock to the system, because I learnt (self-taught) on them. The new rods work alright now I'd worked out their personality with the steel. I'd tell you what amps I'm using with them but I have no idea.

Either way I can weld mild to mild it seems.
On to stainless, I've definitely given up on welding it and am going to hit up Funnings today to sort out a solution. I've only welded stainless before successfully with the work welder - that has gas. Good fun learning all this!
Thanks for your input, much appreciated.

Bantum wrote:You could try using a counter sunk bolt + make sure that it has thread all the way ...
Hear's mine :

Note : I cut them up to bolt the frame together on the bench

I may have to look into countersinks. If I can avoid countersinking the steel I will because it's not that thick, and if I can find thin enough countersink heads, I'll need a new countersinking bit because my current one is the wrong size.

I'll let you all know when I've made some form of progress! Happy Saturday Everyone!

v81200 · Post by **v81200** » Sat Mar 30, 2013 12:14 pm

I want the tool chest at bunnings (its 3000x500 and 2000 tall)that has the inbuilt stereo cd player, speakers, work bench and about 20 draws all bearing slides and a cupboard one side AND A FRIDGE in stainless to but at the $2800 asking price it can wait

60766244 · Post by **60766244** » Sat Mar 30, 2013 3:40 pm

That's a solid sized, mega box. I can only imagine the difficulty that would ensue trying to move one full up.

Does it come full of tools?

Silverbullet · Post by **Silverbullet** » Sat Mar 30, 2013 3:41 pm

Work bench, CD player and a fridge!?!? What more could you want in your shed!

T.Farm.Brumby · Post by **T.Farm.Brumby** » Sat Mar 30, 2013 5:14 pm

v81200 wrote:I want the tool chest at bunnings (its 3000x500 and 2000 tall)that has the inbuilt stereo cd player, speakers, work bench and about 20 draws all bearing slides and a cupboard one side AND A FRIDGE in stainless to but at the $2800 asking price it can wait

60766244, I reckon you could make a big-ass modular version of your benches for this purpose and just chuck a little bar-fridge and Headunit with a set of HiFi speakers in it

EZ-PZ

60766244 · Post by **60766244** » Sat Mar 30, 2013 6:56 pm

T.Farm.Brumby wrote:60766244, I reckon you could make a big-ass modular version of your benches for this purpose and just chuck a little bar-fridge and Headunit with a set of HiFi speakers in it

EZ-PZ

I already have a bar fridge and sink in there, and I AM going to be building a stereo into one of the benches.

(Current stereo is sitting on the shelf)

Solid progress today.

Welded the final tops back on, drilled some more. Also made a second tool tray and got some suitable 1/4" countersink bolts to go into the first tray I made.

I then used some Polyurethane glue to stick down the wooden board to the steel frame so the bolting and painting can happen tomorrow.

Hopefully this means all my sockets will be dealt with soon, the next tray is for the assorted spanners I have floating around.

I welded numbers on the benches today too.

I have now noticed not all the benches are as 100% equally sized as I had hoped and can be as much as 2mm or 3mm out in some places. I might be able to make up this difference with the wood tops to ensure perfect levelness but otherwise I might shim the rubber bases these benches will be getting and make up the equality there.

Fun and games!

60766244 · Post by **60766244** » Sun Apr 14, 2013 9:26 pm

Looong time no post but today I went out to Roleystone and with the help of a friend with some sweet wood working tools today got some choice Jarrah planks thicknessed and cut to size.
Now to epoxy them to the benches tomorrow hopefully!

I've also been re-considering even bothering to add wheels to the base of these benches, with the frame on them they just stay still as I need them too or if I give them a nudge they slide around pretty happily...

If only the garage floor was completely level!