How to make A Workbench | DIY WOODWORKING

over the years I managed to work without a dedicated workbench whether it's been a photo workbench or using my tools that whatever flat surface I had that's what I've been doing like all these years I've been creating content today I want to make a little change to the shop and I'm gonna create a really simple quick and functional workbench that I think that's gonna just completely solve my issue for now and maybe later I'll build another one but for now I think this is something that's gonna get me up and running while I'm on my quest to make it my shop a little more efficient so if you're new here I'm Glen welcome to DIY creators and let's do it [Music] the majority of this workbench is made from 2x4 construction lumber but with that in mind these things aren't completely straight and gotta understand that we're just gonna have to work around that with the stop block on a miter saw fence set to the preferred length I can quickly repeat these cuts and drastically improve my efficiency with the legs cut to size now I'll move my focus over the cut and the frame for the workbench after thinking this through I decided to use pocket hole joinery because I can hide the screws and it's a fast way to create strong construction joints now just because I'm using a pocket hole jig here doesn't mean that this is the only way to accomplish the same thing you can use exposed screws or you can use dowels or any other method maybe you want to use brackets that's completely possible when I'm drilling a lot of pocket holes I tend to walk around and Mark the wood so I know which side to drill on that way I don't get confused and drill holes on opposite sides and that way you have a quick visual reminder if you've used pocket hole screws before you know one of the things that happen often is when you're trying to drive a screw in the boards or plywood tends to shift so if you have a Craig clamp like I do here this is one of the best ways to hold the boards down as you drive in your screws you can also use regular wood clamps for this as well as I'm building the frame I secure the two sides on first then I took a measurement between the two frames then place a mark at the center I also mark the center of the wood as well so I can just line up the two lines clamp it down and add two screws I repeated the same thing on the opposite and then I went on to chicken the squaring of the entire frame to make sure everything is aligned and it's perfectly squared to confirm the squareness of this frame you'll want to measure diagonally in X form and you should have the same measurements going in both directions the frame looks good so I'll shift my focus over to building the legs knowing myself I can get zoned out pretty quick when I'm doing something repetitive and with that in mind I only have the parts next to me that I need to drill otherwise I have seven of the eight boards drilled well only four is required there are indoor rated screws for 2 by 4 PI K hole projects however I'm using the blue outdoor rated pocket hole screws and that's because I bought a pretty big box of them so let's just say I'm not running out anytime soon my garage floor is a flat surface but not a level surface and with that in mind I don't really want to rely on that so I'm going to use a speed square as the stuff that I can use under each leg as I attached them to the workbench top [Music] with the workbench still upside down I'm gonna build a frame on the inside of the legs this will be perfect because I can store tools I want in a shop but I don't want to build a separate shop cart for you could use inner screws to secure these parts but only thing that's important is that the screw heads are below the surface and with the frame now done I'll add a stretcher spanning the middle of the bottom frame to add additional support now I'll show you in a few seconds but the bottom of each leg has too much exposure of the end grain so I need to add a solid surface so I can secure the casters to the workbench as I was saying there's too many variation of end grain here so I don't want the wheels to eventually break out so adding a piece of plywood like this will improve the mounting surface once I glue that down and secure it in place I feel strongly about this I'll repeat this a few more times and then I'll install the casters [Music] now that I have a solid surface the next thing is to install the casters before cutting the plywood for the top one thing I did was measured a bit wider than it needed to be this way I can send the top down to the workbench in case one of the 2x4 have a slight bow on it I've had this drill for quite some time now I've been meaning to put it to work so today we're gonna do just that and see how cool this is I'm super excited about it if you ever do any kind of dry walling or sub flooring or decks this drill is definitely worth a look and to put that in perspective I was able to install this entire sheet of plywood driving in all the screws in less than a minute I do not want to see any screws going through the top so I'm gonna use screws and corner brackets from beneath I install the bracket slightly below the top of the frame this way I have a gap between the bracket and a plywood top I did this so I can have the plywood pinned to the frame now a plus side to using a bracket is I can remove the top and replace it at any point now I'll add the top and circle it just to make sure everything fits nicely and it's all centered up on the workbench next I'll use some clamps to hold the top down as I secure the collar brackets now if you want to save a few bucks and not use the brackets you could use pocket hole screws you can also glue it but I like having the option being able to remove the top at will leaving tools on a workbench is gonna be a common theme so what I want to do is create a tool holder under the workbench so when I need to clear off the top I could just quickly throw them on that this was one of the ideas I was not willing to part ways with in this workbench because I just know how crucial it is to be able to throw tools in a location just to clear off a work top the sides are essential making sure nothing go flying off as I carefully throw things on it using nails alone may not be strong enough so I use wood glue and it nails just help hold things together what a glue setup you can assemble this out of pocket hole screws dowels or even exposed screws to install the tool holders I'm gonna use a few pieces of 2x4 to hold this in place while I screw everything together I added one screw in each corner of the front and I can get away with probably adding one screw in a very center of this tool holder but I'm gonna add a few two-by-four support above that and that's gonna give me peace of mind I made this quick stop block that extend beyond the router fence I needed to write a slot in a 2x4 for the teeth track without going all the way through [Music] this is quite difficult if you can't see where your mark is so this is what I mean I was able to use this stop to run right up to that line that I previously barked I feel pretty good about where I'm at right now so I'll just go ahead and run everything through the router and finish this up so my next task is to screw up the round end to the line the T tracks are not what you would call cheap so I'm gonna cut a stick in half and use it for these two legs I used a scrap piece of t-track to mark the area that I'm gonna cut out for the T track now with that area being marked out I'm gonna use a pole saw to cut this area out and I'll start by cutting near the line and then I'll make a couple relief cuts in the middle [Music] I thought about using the router for this but I felt better doing this by hand now that I have the slot cut for the T track and fit it it's time to put it all together now I do want to hide the screws so I'm gonna drive those right into the track and hope to avoid any contact with wherever the finish holes are gonna be to install the t tracks the first 2x4 I secured was fairly straight this one had a bit of a warp to it so I needed some assistant from the clamps to hold that as I Drive in the screws so now I'm going to cut a teacher I can half and place that in the legs and finally let's secure to teach right by driving in a few screws [Music] all right so as I'm wrapping this up a really quick thing came to mind and the original idea for this is just to use a few hold on clamps and some other Craig clamps that I can use to pin things to this and you know use it as some sort of makes your vise but another idea came to mind and what I want to do is just take a piece of hard wood or you can probably double up on some plywood or something like that and then we want to do is match those up to the T track here drill a few holes in it and now we can use this as a makeshift Moxon vise now due to the width of this and depending on how big of material you're clamping you may see a bit of a cupping going on here which is to be expected with that now the grip here in my opinion is pretty strong so you should be able to get by doing a lot of things with this so I added this piece of aluminum angle here so I can quickly store my drill and also hang my tape measure here which may also be a permanent spot for a tape measure one of them I also did this on both out of the workbench so I don't have to remember which side of the workbench this aluminum angle is and I have the same functionality I also thought off the corners so I can make sure this is as safe as possible [Music] you may have seen me add a blade to the workbench in a tips and tricks video so I can easily cut sandpaper so I also added on this bench as well but I put this one a little lower and I may have to bend down to get to it but it's fine and out of the way all right guys so I'm super excited about this and I'm gonna give you a quick rundown on this workbench so that you can decide if this is something you want to build for yourself or not for now the workbench is done I'll paint it and do whatever I need to do to make it blend better into space but I can't make my mind up on what I want just yet so for now we're just gonna do a quick review of the workbench that you guys take it in and see if this is something that's necessary for you or your shop the bench is built from two-by-four lumber with plywood on the top and also plywood on a lower shelf below on top of that you also have storage underneath the workmate so you can just throw some loose tools on top of it while you're working or when you're completely done working on the side of that you also have an aluminum storage so you can hang your tape measures tools nail guns whatever it is that you just want to quickly hang and quickly be able to grab it's gonna be right there on that side but you also have the overextended lip on the workbench that allow you to be able to use clamps to just camp things down right on top of the workbench so that's pretty nice as well on top of that you got wheels these things roll along with so you can just push this around the entire shop there's loads of storage underneath the workbench so I can store all my tools that I really want to have in a shop but just don't want to create a dedicated workbench as I said before and finally there's the tea tracks on one side that allowed me to lock any piece of material down that I need to here so if I want to put on edge banding or you can sand a piece down like I can do it right on this side I can also use clamps to be able to just lock things there as well or use the hold down clamps and you know if you don't have a dedicated vise this is just be a substitute to that and just allow you to maximize your work man hope you guys enjoy this video that's pretty much it for right now and I'm going to get you guys on the next one and until then be sure to LIKE comment subscribe to the channel if you ain't already and be sure to ring the bell so that you get notified when I post the next video and that's it for now

Channel: DIY Creators

Views: 1,314,409

Rating: 4.9644165 out of 5

Keywords: DIY, DIY Creators, how to build a workbench, diy workbench, do it yourself, mobile workbench, ultimate workbench, multifunction workbench, diy workbench on wheels, diy workbench pallet, tool storage, how to make a workbench, assembly table, all in one workbench, diy workbench 2x4, diy workbench table, woodworking workbench, woodworking workbench build, woodworking workshop, woodworking workbench designs, DIY WOODWORKING

Id: _ravTLhvBhw

Length: 16min 24sec (984 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 23 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/GalegoBaiano]

A comment on YouTube bears repeating here: the Where I'm At graphic in the top right corner is a great addition, and I wish ANYBODY else did it. I also find your projects/videos to be some of the best, "I think I can rig that up" type content on YouTube. You never use extraordinarily expensive tools, you explain the methodology for including certain design elements, and in some of them, I have heard you say that something would be a nice feature, but it likely won't get used. Like the sandpaper ripper near the bottom.

[u/Cirenondrog]

My fav DIY content creator on youtube! Solid work bro! Appreciate you!

[u/tilhow2reddit]

Things I like (and will totally steal):

• The T-track in the legs.

• The undermount shelf to hold tools that inevitably clutter the top of the bench

• The Sandpaper cutter

• The aluminum lips to hang drills/tape measures/stuff from

Things I don't like:

• That it's too damned hot in South Houston to get out in the garage and modify my bench right now.

[u/amateur_swanson]

My next project is to build a proper workbench, so I will definitely be taking some ideas from this! And you definitely stunted on us a bit with that jump on top of the bench lol.

Also, thanks for doing what you do. I just got into woodworking due to some quarantine boredom, and you're one of the creators I look up to who can build some really awesome things without needing a $2000 cabinet saw and stuff like that.

[u/thewrongcandy]

The standing jump at the end what a flex

[u/UndeadBBQ]

Do the wheel brakes work good enough to keep the table still while you use something like a hacksaw (or other high sideways force tools) on it? Or was that just not part of the consideration?

When I built my workbench I decided to go for stability instead of mobility because I couldn't find wheels that kept the whole thing steady while I applied sideways force to a piece.

[u/JoNightshade]

This is the first time I've seen any of your videos and I hit subscribe within 2 minutes. I love that you just use basic tools - half the time when I watch videos I'm like "Well, I don't have that, so what's a good workaround...?" This was so simple and straightforward and I feel like I could walk into the shop and do it right now. Which I might. I need a workbench! Thanks!!!

[u/fresnourban]

No animal crossing references ?

[u/moodpecker]

Glenn, I love your channel! I don't have much more constructive commentary than that... thanks for all the awesome content and constant inspiration.

PS., Your DIY face clamp attachment video is easily in the top five most brilliant solutions I've seen on YouTube