Mobile Flip-Top Workbench

[Music] so three years ago i built this really cool mobile flip top workbench it was shared by wen tools it was featured on the family handyman and i posted a few videos on youtube years ago uh just to share it out with them nothing really came of it and within the last few months it got a lot of attention and with that there were some questions about how the ins and the outs of the bench worked unfortunately i did not record a build video when i made the bench initially i did take a lot of pictures however so with this i want to explain how the current bench operates go through some of the pictures that i do have and explain the rest using 3d renders of how the ins and outs of the bench work all right with all that said let's get started first i want to go over some of the features that i needed this bench to have when i was designing it [Music] when designing this bench there were six key features that i wanted the bench to have first off i needed the bench to be mobile but only sometimes where be storing is not a very functional space so i need to be able to move it out into the open easily during use and then able to move it back so i park my car in the garage in the winter once placed i want it to be sturdy and not shift or move on me which can happen on casters even when they're locked a mobile bench is not a new concept by any means but to my knowledge the way that i chose to do it was second i wanted to have multiple tools built into the workbench that i could use quickly when needed and tucked away when not in use this would not only be a huge space saver but also make the tools quicker to access and more stable once in place again a flip top is not a unique feature to a workbench however the way i chose to do it was and i'll explain that reasoning later on in the video i needed plenty of storage in this bench all of the tools have accessories that go with them most of them i don't use very often and a few of them don't stay in place well when the tool is stored upside down so i needed a place to store them i also wanted this bench to be used as an assembly table the one drawback to where i made the flip top function which surrounds the entire bench is that it doesn't allow for any overhang for clamping so i needed to find another way to clamp a project securely during assembly i wanted to have some sort of paper stored in the workbench to make it easy to protect the top of the bench during glue ups and finishing this was a quick easy solution that kept it clean and convenient to ensure that i would actually use it finally the bench needed to be just below the height of my table saw so i could use it for an outfeed table my wife was also getting sick of having to hold sheets of plywood as they came off the back of the table saw so this made her happy as well so let's start off by talking about why i made this bench and why it might be beneficial to you when you go to design your next bench as well like a lot of people i use my garage as my shop so space is obviously a big deal to me as is mobility and because the place that i store my tools is not where i plan to use them i needed to have certain features in them so i can move them around i do live in the northern part of the us so i have to be able to park my vehicles in the garage come winter i have a two car garage but mine's a little different than most a lot of two-car garages tend to range from the large end being around 24 by 24 giving you just over 300 square feet of functional floor space with the cars pulled in to the small one being closer to 20 by 20 with only about 128 square feet which is going to give you very little storage space mine's a little bit different because it's actually right around 19 by 22 meaning i have next to no space on the sides however i have this extra space in the back that's an extra seven by nine which gives me just over 200 square feet that extra space is extremely important from a storage aspect because i can store almost nothing on the sides in order to allow the car doors to fully open so i had to get really creative when we bought the house i plan on this space being my main work area i built a workbench back there and loved it however it didn't take long for me to realize that the space wasn't very functional with any larger project i found myself cutting things down and assembling things on the floor out in the main part of the garage which defeated the entire purpose of even having a workbench that space is great for storage but it wasn't big enough to be a functional work area so i spent months saving to buy all the tools and planning this thing out researching and figuring out how i wanted to make it mobile how i wanted the flip top to work and other features i wanted to include with it so once i had the final approval on a layout from one of my furry friends it was time to get started on this thing [Music] so [Music] [Music] one of the main questions i get is about how the lift mechanism works in the bench it's actually a really simple concept so let's go over how and why it works and then i'll go over how to make it when you pull this lever it rotates three cams secured to a steel pipe running the length of the bench when these rotate they drop six casters onto the ground which then forces the bench up into the air the secret to the cam is an offset hole as you can see here if you have a wheel with a hole placed in the exact center the distance at the bottom never changes as the wheel rotates therefore this could spin forever and not do anything now let's drop the hole a half inch off center and you can see that you now have a full inch difference between the top and the bottom because of this as the cam spins the distance between the steel pipe and the board increases which is why it forces the board down so then why does the bench lift when this happens the steel pipe is mounted in three cross beams within the bench only two of which are pictured here then as the casters are lowered and forced into the ground they eventually have nowhere else to go so all that force then pushes the steel pipe up which then forces the entire bench to raise up off the ground there are quite a few reasons i designed it this way over other systems that i had seen first it would always allow the bench to be on its frame other than when i needed to move it this made the bench sturdier and less likely to move on me when in use second i didn't want to have to walk around and lock six casters one at a time not only is this system faster it's also more sturdy than locking casters would be third i didn't want any kind of large mechanism that stuck out or that took up more floor space that i could trip over i've seen others that use a lever you pull down which sticks out pretty far and also takes up a ton of space in the bottom of the bench and i didn't want to lose that room and finally it turns out the setup is still really strong as my bench weighs over a half ton coming in a little over a thousand pounds on its own when you include all the wood and the tools that are on it that's not even including whatever's in the drawers or sitting on top when it's being moved and regardless of whether i have the tools up or down if i have things on top of it it still raises lowers and moves very smoothly here is a picture of the original cam used made out of pine it was one and a half inches thick and four inches in diameter this picture you can see where the bolt went through to attach to the pipe unfortunately after adding the planer in the jointer the two heaviest tools when i went to move it the far cam split and it even bent the bolt holding it on the downside of designing something like this is that i had no clue if it would work until i actually tried it so in order to make this work i was gonna have to make the cam stronger i ran to the store and bought some one by six oak boards trimmed them down to five inches square then glued two boards together when i did this i rotated the boards 90 degrees this made sure the grain was running in opposite directions so that it wouldn't be able to split as easily after that i ordered a four inch steel pipe online i trimmed that down and used that to encase the wooden cam this way even if the wood wanted to split it had nowhere to go because of the pipe being there or at least this was my thought process behind it and so far so good this also helped ensure the cam stayed perfectly round and would rotate easier if you would like to do something similar here's how you would assemble the cam and attach it to the pipe first glue the two pieces of wood together rotating the second board 90 degrees for strength cut it down into a four inch circle and drill the whole half inch off center to accept the steel pipe the further you offset the hole the higher the bench will rise but the tougher it will be to do so with a forstner bit cut out a hole on each side to recess the nut and bolt into the cam next drill a hole for the bolt to go through make sure this is somewhat tight the less room this has to move inside the better as it will reduce any flex or wear on the bolt over time next drill a hole in the pipe for the bolt to go through all of the drilling up to this point should be done on a drill press if possible to ensure they are straight and lined up properly place a nut inside the bottom of the cam insert the bolt into the top of the cam then fastening it to the nut on the opposite side neither the bolt head nor the nut should be sticking out at this point slide the four and steel pipe over the cam next drill a small screw hole into the pipe then countersink it then attach a small screw to ensure the sleeve doesn't slide off during use over time make sure the screw is flush with the cam so it doesn't get caught i chose not to add any glue or adhesive to keep the sleeve in place in case i needed to remove it to work on the cam at some point down the road the second most common question i get is about how the flip top functions it's a little different than most as i had a lot of tools really close together so i had to get creative to make it work for this setup majority of other flip tops have a stationary pipe that the top spins in place to bring the tool up or even swap tools that there's two attached most of them lock or unlock with either a set of latches or quite a few i've seen use eye hooks that are tightened on the sides using hand screws at all four corners i didn't like these options because first i wouldn't have the space on the side to lock it as i would have multiple tools right up against each other and second i didn't want the hassle of having to unlock four knobs rotate the top and then tighten the four knobs back down the only real drawback to this flip top design is that it only swings 180 degrees because of the back support and because of this you would not be able to have a tool on the top in the bottom this design will only work if you want to have an empty top surface above and a tool mounted below so with that said here are the main reasons i chose to design mine the way that i did first off it's very secure people have asked how solid it is from the video that i previously posted a few years back the reason it's so stable is because it's supported in three spots so as long as the door is closed it has nowhere to go neither the front nor the back can move down because of the supports that are there and the bar in the middle adds for extra strength as well even when the tools were down i needed to make sure this was still secure so that when i moved the bench i didn't have any tools rocking around underneath second there's no extra pieces you set aside and there's no parts to remove temporarily that could get lost a lot of the other flip tops i've seen have either pins or bolts that lock it in place and i didn't like that concept i've also seen where you remove the top or the front out of the way and have to set it aside again i didn't want anything else lying around i wanted everything attached to make it as easy and clean as possible third it's a good look the doors keep the tools tucked away as i lean against the bench to work on it i'm not leaning through or hitting my knees on the tools underneath and i don't have to worry about any parts falling in there if i drop them and finally it's much faster most videos i've seen on a flip top take between 15 and 30 seconds to get the next tool set up and ready this one takes about a third of the time somewhere between 5 to 10 seconds because you don't have so many steps loosening and tightening four hand screws is replaced by opening and closing a door so just how fast is it [Music] that was shot at normal speed i wasn't even trying to rush and i actually got held up when switching hands on the door so it could even be faster than that next is a detailed view of how the flip top functions and how it's assembled this is the main base overall really simple just three pieces of plywood put together one thing to take note on is to make sure you put pocket holes at the top as this is how the top of the bench is actually attached later on on my bench i use an extra layer of three quarter inch plywood on the top here that isn't pictured and overall i realized isn't necessary looking back i could have just cut the base wall three quarter inch higher and save myself a ton of time these quarter inch plywood spacers are next as we need the overall thickness of this section to be one inch total to be just a little thicker than the bar we're going to use next will be the back support piece that is three quarter inch thick and will help lock the flip top in place i cut a slight bevel on the top and bottom of this piece to make it easier for the flip top to slide in and out it's important that the back support spans across not only the back but also over both sides as well so it doesn't sag or bend down over time from the way to the top next are the pieces that help contain the sliding function of the flip top notice the front does not come all the way to the front edge on this layer as that's where the front support on the door will rest it's important that the bottom spacers do come out however as that will help wedge the front door support in and keep the top from moving at all next i used a thin aluminum plate for the bar to rest on this will help eliminate wear on the wood and possibly eroding down over time it also allowed me to add a small amount of grease here before assembling so the bar slides even easier now let's move on to the top this will be the bottom piece and the tool amount to the underside of this through the mounting holes pictured this will obviously vary by tool next we'll add the steel pipe this is what the entire top will rotate on now we have another spacer layer with cutouts around where the tool will attach next will be a three quarter inch plywood layer that hugs tightly against the pipe on both sides to eliminate any rotation of the pipe i used gorilla glue as it swells up and fills up any gaps around the bar as i did not want this to move at all but i'm sure epoxy would work just as well next will be the top layer this is attached from the underside with screws once that is done you can lower the top into the base and slide it back the door can now be attached and as it closes it will lock the top in place here is a final view of how the flip top works the reason this is so sturdy again is because it's supported on three points as pictured here applying pressure to the front or back won't move because of the supports right or left won't move because of the bar in fact in three years i've never had any issue with any other tool shifting on me whatsoever it is very important that the front support rests on both sides of the base when in this position as it will help keep them from sagging over time this also holds true for the front trim piece if these two pieces are not resting on the sides it puts all the tension on the door hinges which wouldn't hold up and allows the chance for it to sag and move another important thing is that if you plan to have the tools as close together as i did side to side you need to add a chamfer to the doors the reason for this is so that the door can open far enough and the top support that's attached can get out of the way of the platform rotating with the tool this is also important to think about when picking out what hinges you want to use for the doors the next thing we're going to talk about is the storage within the bench itself there's nothing really unique about the drawers however i do wish i would have put a cover over the top drawer from the beginning when the tools slip upside down a lot of the sawdust can still fall out not only into the drawer but also then get into the drawer slides mixing in with the grease making them a lot harder to open over time this first section is kind of a free-for-all i wanted to leave it open in case i ever needed to work on the cams or casters so i didn't want to fill it with anything permanent in here i have my nail guns my clamps for the clamp track and my bench cookies for sanding the top drawer i use for my bandsaw accessories like my miter gauge my fence and any extra bandsaw blades i have the bottom drawer have the guards for the bench grinder unfortunately when designing the bench i wasn't smart enough to measure this tool with them already on there so i have to take them on and off each time under the sander i have extra sanding belts the table and a cleaning stick this small space was a tricky area to fill for now i'm using it for sandpaper storage but it's already overflowing on the other side i have the same thing and i have no clue what else to do with this space so if you have any ideas please leave them in the comments below for me these drawers i use for my jointer fence as well as any dust collection adapters and hoses that i use with the bench top tools i measured this one when the wooden cam was broken and not on the pipe unfortunately when you already order your drawer slides and have the drawers built and then realize that you end up with this monstrosity and finally this drawer holds all my different size sanding drums and discs along with the drill press vise and extra drill press table inserts next is the assembly table the one drawback to having the flip top surround the bench is there's no open gaps there's no overhangs for clamping so i had to find another solution to make this work this is where the craig track and device came in these clamps are great because they auto adjust to different thicknesses which makes it super easy to swap between pieces i need to work on these clamps are especially great when working with pocket holes and the top has plenty of room to assemble larger projects i had originally planned on using bench dogs at some point but with the craig track being at 90 degrees and the ability to clamp a board down and use the vise to surface or edge plane shorter boards if needed i haven't really had a reason to yet next is going to be the rosin and craft paper again nothing too extreme nothing too crazy however could save you some time and some hassle on your next project this paper storage is super simple the hardest part was finding a roll online that fit the dimensions that i needed i have craft paper currently shown but i would recommend rosin paper as it will stick less to projects during glue ups all i used to mount it was a steel rod going through the roll that inserts into these two boards on the outside i put an extra hole on each corner to make it easier to get out and there are magnets on the edge that keep the door closed finally on the inside face i put a washer on each side to make sure the paper doesn't rub on the side boards and that's it very simple but it can be really handy to have when you're doing glue ups or staining the last feature i wanted was for it to be an outfeed table i wasn't worried about miter slots as i don't use them that often and with both my table saw and my bench being mobile it would be a pain to line up so i didn't want to mess with that either i made my bench a quarter inch lower than the table saw because i use a 3 8 piece of hardboard over the top when i'm using it for an outfeed table i do this because it gives me a perfectly smooth surface even as careful as i was because there's so many cutouts on the top of the flip top there's still spots for a board to easily catch on this was the last thing i wanted because you're gonna get burn marks and increase your chance of kickback if the board has nowhere else to go coming off the table saw so that's it for the features of the bench the last thing i want to cover are five things i would do differently if i had to build the bench again first i would make it raise a little bit higher off the ground because my garage has a drain and the floor slopes a bit there's a couple of spots where it will bottom out i put the bottom trim pretty close to the ground as i didn't want anything to roll under it if i dropped it because then i'd have to move the bench just to retrieve whatever i dropped so either i would make the bench raise a little higher or i would just not put the trim quite so low second as awesome as the top looks being all one board and the wood grain lining up i honestly think i would make the top out of hardboard i know that at some point i'm gonna damage a section and when i replace it the grain won't match up and it's gonna drive me crazy it would have been a lot easier to cut out all the pieces for the top if i didn't have to worry about all of the wood grain matching up third i would have loved to have had integrated power in this bench because the tops only rotate 180 degrees it'd be possible to run the power cords through the steel pipe and plug it in underneath then you'd only have one master power cord coming out of the bench the reason i couldn't do this is because i would have had to space the tools out further as some of the pipes are right up against each other from the tools next to it to make this possible i would likely have to sacrifice the paper dispenser i know it was one of the features and now i'm trashing it but i think the convenience of having the tools always plugged in and not messing around with the overhead power or moving it from each tool outweigh the benefits of the paper dispenser fourth i wouldn't have wasted time edge framing the doors at the time i hated the look of exposed plywood edges and i especially didn't like the look of it when it was cut at an angle this is a workbench it's gonna get beat up it doesn't need to look like a fine piece of furniture it took a long time to do and a lot of wood to do it it honestly is a big waste of time and money and going back i wouldn't have bothered with it because it adds zero functionality and finally i would have measured all the tools with all of their accessories already attached before making the housing for them this includes the joiner the belt sander and the bench grinder this was an oversight on my part when i was designing the bench and trying to make everything fit for example something as simple as the acrylic shields for the bench grinder since i have to put them on and take them off each time i find myself just throwing on safety glasses instead and then wearing half the shavings on my shirt afterwards so that's it again i apologize that i didn't record an actual build video when making this three years ago but hopefully this gives you some ideas and a better understanding of how it functions so let me know your thoughts in the comments section below if you enjoyed what you saw and you learned something new go ahead and hit the like button if you'd like to see more content like this please subscribe it would really help me out i plan on having a few build videos over the next few months of other projects that i've done so be sure to let me know things you liked didn't like what else you'd want to see on this channel and if you have more questions about this bench itself i'll leave you with a slideshow of all the pictures i took during this build so in case you want to make a similar bench you can reference them as well so thank you again so much for watching we'll see you next time [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Rings Workshop

Views: 449,832

Keywords: workbench, flip top workbench, mobile workbench, wen tools, assembly table, ultimate workbench, small shop, garage shop, fliptop workbench, flip-top workbench, mobile flip top workbench, bandsaw, drill press, bench grinder, jointer, planer, belt sander, oscillating sander, small shop workbench, garage workbench, workbench features, rings, rings workshop, family handyman workbench, bench top tools, clamp track, woodworking, wood working

Id: c_Zipc9MGmo

Length: 25min 42sec (1542 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 19 2020