Want to get serious about DIY? Then you're going
to need a workbench. And I'm going to show you
how you can build one. The first thing we need
to do is pre-cut our legs. Now, a great height for a
bench is 900 millimeters. Now, on my table, I've got
a 50-millimeter-thick top, so I've already pre-cut
our table leg to 850. Now, I'm using
3-by-2 rails, which are going to be top and bottom. These are 75 by 50,
and these are going to be rebated in to our leg. So at the top it's
going to be flush, and I'm just going to mark
around that and square across the top. That there will get
rebated out, and I'm just going to continue exactly
the same down the other side. Now, on the bottom, I'm
coming up 100 millimeters to the bottom of my rail. So let's put a square
mark across there. And using our rail
thickness, now, I've given myself about a
millimeter clearance, so that fits me nice and snug. Once again, we're going to
go the thickness of our rail. So let's just square that down,
so it's clear exactly what we're chopping out. Now we just need
to return this rail all the way around our leg. To rebate the legs out, I'm just
going to use the circular saw. And I'm just going to
adjust the blade up, so the blade is right
on our rebate line. [SAWING] OK, we've cut out all our fins. Next thing we need to do is
take a nice, sharp chisel-- really important, that. And then just going
on our mark, let's just gently give ourselves a
couple of millimeters down. And let's just repeat
that the whole way around. Now all we do now is snap
these out with our chisel. [TAPPING LIGHTLY] Now it's time to cut
your rails to length, and cut the ends on a 45. Righty-o. I've cut out my legs, and
I've rebated them all out, ready for our rails. Now, my 3-by-2 rail,
here, I've decided to make my bench
1.7 meters long, so I've cut a
mitre on either end to 1.7, long point
to long point. Now, these just slot
straight into our rebates. Now, I'm just going to
fix those using my screws. From the inside of
my leg, I'm going to come in 22 millimeters. Right. Square that down. And then I'm going to
come up 15 millimeters and come down 15 millimeters. Time to pre-drill our holes. [DRILLING] Now all we've got to do
is just screw that in. [DRILLING IN SCREWS] Just repeat the process
for all the other legs. [DRILLING IN SCREWS] OK, I've got my two sides up. Now, I've just
pre-cut all my ends. Now, I've decided to make
mine 700 millimeters wide. So our 3-by-2, here, long point
to long point, 700 millimeters. That just sits in there,
nice and tidy, like that. For our screw holes,
I'm going to come in 22 millimeters from the end
and just draw a line down there and just go to the
center of our 3-by-2. What we're going to need next
is some midrail supports. So I'm going to need one
straight across the guts, here, and another one
down on the bottom and between our two rails. So let's just measure
in between our two rails and chop it on your saw. So just pre-drill a 5-millimeter
hole and put your screws in. Now, if you're
working alone, it's quite handy to have a
clamp, block of timber, that will support your rail. OK, I've laid all my
bottom boards out. Now, what I need to
decide now is the length of our two last boards. So I've got 170
millimeters left on there, and I know that my leg
is 90 mils wide, there, so I'm going to add 90 plus 170. That gives me 260. So I'm going to cut
a board to 130-- half the 260. That'll give me a nice,
even board on either side. Righto, I've cut my
last two boards at 130. And I've chopped out, using
my hand saw, 90 by 90. That's the width of my leg. So we can just slip
these in on either end. I've pre-drilled the holes 25
millimeters in from the end of the board and 35 millimeters
in from the side of the board. Start at one end, and work
your way to the other. [DRILLING IN SCREWS] For my top of my workbench,
I want that nice and solid. So I've decided to
use these 300 by 50. Now, my base is 1.7 meters long. I've decided to
cut my top at 1.8. That's going to give me
50 millimeters overhang on both ends. Next thing I want to do is use
one of these handy little sash clamps, just to ensure that we
get our bench nice and tight. And gently do that up. And let's just make sure
that we are 50 mils. Righto. She's looking tickety-boo. What I've got to do now is clamp
these boards down to our rail and fix that up from underneath. I'm using a
100-millimeter-long TEK screws. For our middle board, I've
come in 50 millimeters from each end. I'm going to throw
those screws in. Now, for our outer boards, I'm
coming in 50 millimeters also. But, because I can't get
another screw close to that leg, I'm going to come around the
outside, here, and put one more screw on each side there. [DRILLING IN SCREWS] Make sure you get four
evenly spaced screws along the outside rails and
two in the middle support rail. So there we have it, a nice,
solid workbench-- easy as.
