In the cramped conditions of a city apartment, finding space for a bulky workbench is practically impossible. But mine, when folded, takes up very little room. What’s more, it is light enough to transport in summer to a garden plot and continue working outdoors.
The workbench consists of two separate parts: a removable worktop board and a folding base table.
WORKTOP BOARD. For making its platform, a board measuring 1700x190x35 mm was used. A slide measuring 350×90 mm is connected to it by means of longitudinal grooves formed by applied strips (tenons) of hardwood.
Cross vise.
For adjustable stops, through sockets measuring 30×30 mm were cut out: eight sockets in the platform at a pitch of 173 mm, and three in the slide at a pitch of 85 mm, which allows workpieces of various lengths to be set up. Each adjustable stop is a wooden bar of square cross-section; on one face a cutout is made and a length of L-shaped steel section 1 mm thick is fastened with two screws. The upper flange of the section has a comb-like serration for holding the workpiece, while the lower flange serves as a stop that keeps the stop from falling out of the socket.
1 — longitudinal vise; 2 — cross vise; 3 — adjustable stop (2 pcs.); 4 — platform; 5 — slide; 6 — tenons (beech).
The worktop board is fitted with cross and longitudinal (on the slide) vises. Ordinary light-alloy woodworking vises sold in hardware stores were used.
For mating with the base table, two strips with cutouts are screwed to the underside of the worktop board; they prevent it from shifting in the horizontal plane. Provision can also be made to lock the board against vertical displacement, for example with a tie bolt.
FOLDING BASE TABLE. It consists of a horizontal board, two frame-type uprights, and detachable braces. The base is assembled in the following sequence. A strip and a crosspiece bar are laid parallel to each other on any horizontal surface. The base board is screwed to them; three divider strips are placed on its top face, their ends tied by a strip of the same cross-section. From below, a lining of 3-mm plywood is nailed to them (flush with the board), forming a tray or trough of the workbench divided into two parts. Wooden blocks are attached to the middle and right divider strips; they prevent the laid-on worktop board from shifting.
1 — base board (pine 170×25, L1600); 2 — brace (2 pcs.); 3 — strip (380x45x20, 2 pcs.); 4 — crosspiece (380x45x35, 2 pcs.); 5 — upright (2 pcs.); 6 — hinges (4 pcs.); 7 — lining (plywood s3); 8 — divider (3 pcs.); 9 — block (2 pcs.).
Trapezoidal uprights are mounted on door hinges. Because the strips and crosspieces are fastened to the uprights and the base board not in pairs, the legs do not interfere with each other when folding. In the working position they incline from the vertical by about 12°.
Table height is chosen individually, depending on the owner’s height.
In the working position the workbench occupies an area of 2.0×0.63 m. With the worktop board removed, small vises can be mounted on the table for light metalwork, fretsawing, wood carving, soldering, gluing, and the like.
A few words about weight. The worktop board weighs about 8 kg, the table — 15 kg. When set on the ground, the workbench uprights must be fitted with feet having wooden or metal spikes.
“Modelist-Konstruktor” No. 11-12’98, L. MIKHAILOV
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