The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Down Range Cafe => Topic started by: Big Frank on January 17, 2025, 01:36:31 AM
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My basement has a duplex outlet in the middle of all 4 walls, and nothing closer than those to my workbench. For years and years I've been using a 50' extension cord with a triple tap adaptor like the one in the first pic on it. I used cable ties to help keep it attached even if it snags on something when I drag it across my driveway. Thursday I pulled the nails out of the end of my workbench where I had 4 handsaws and a bench brush hanging. I put 2 screws in and put this extra power strip I had in their place. I drove the screws in until it was a snug fit, then pounded 3 roofing nails in the top edge of the bench. The heads stick out just far enough over the edge of the power strip to keep it from lifting up. I wish I would have thought of this 30+ years ago.
Now I have 7 outlets waist high next to my vise on the right front corner of the bench (left side of picture). And I don't have to keep picking the cord off the ground to plug my tools in and unplug them. There are sliding doors over each outlet to keep dirt and grime out when they aren't in use. I pulled the cord to the back of the bench and wound it around the diagonal brace, and secured it with 2 cable ties. Now I can use the other 50' extension cord with the triple tap for other things, and keep this extension cord plugged in all the time if I don't need it for anything else. And I don't use all 100' of cord very often. It doesn't matter how wet the basement gets because both ends of the cord are high and dry. And the power strip has a button to turn it off when I'm not using it. I have a Cable Cuff on the excess cord that's rolled up next to the outlet.
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The top of my workbench is a hollow-core closet door from the mobile home I lived in before I bought my house. The frame is 2x4 boards that were the frame of one of the couches I had back then. I was trying to bend 2 pieces of steel plate in the vise last year and when my 2# ball peen hammer wouldn't do the job, I tried smacking it around with a 12# sledge hammer. The top of the bench broke and caved in and the vise broke in half. Inside the base was a part the 2 screws go into, to lock and unlock it so you can swivel it around. That's what broke. My vise is somewhat similar to the one in this picture. It has 2 pairs of jaws, one flat and one for holding pipes, plus more jaws on the very bottom, and the whole thing spins 360 degrees on its horizontal axis. I'm going to bolt it directly to the bench without the swivel part of the base. I thought about making a piece to go inside the base to thread the 2 screws in, maybe from those pieces of steel plate, so I could still have it facing the front, side, or corner of the bench, or any other direction. But It's just going to be facing the front.
I already had a 12"x12" piece of 3/4" thick plywood attached to the underside of the bench top in that corner. Today I looked around for scraps of wood to reinforce the top. I had 1 2x4 about 25 1/2" long, so I cut it into thirds. I squirted Goop into the biggest dents and holes in the bench top, then brushed all the Elmer's glue I had to cover an 8+" square in the corner. I brushed glue on the edges of the 2x4s where they butted against one another and screwed them down with 3" drywall screws. I brushed glue that seeped out the sides on top of the 2x4s and screwed a 3/16" scrap of plywood on top to level out the surface. I did that without cutting the plywood to fit or square it up. I had a triangle shaped piece of good 5/16" plywood big enough to cut a 6" square out of. I beveled the edges and corners with my sander, brushed some Goop on the back of it and screwed it down on the other scrap of plywood. The part of the vise I'm able to reuse is 5 1/2" in diameter, an inch less than the swivel base. That part, seen in the third pic is going in the recycle bin when I'm sure I won't be using it for anything.
I painted the whole mess and will drill 2 holes through the whole stack and bench top, including the 3/4" plywood on the bottom. I'll have to buy a couple of 1/2" bolts 6" long to bolt it all together through the holes where the T-handles to tighten the swivel base used to be (yellow arrow in picture). I'll have to buy hex nuts, flat washers, and lock washers to secure it. After that I need to sweep the floor and slide the bench back to where it was before I started hammering on those steel plates. And clean out my tool boxes, fill them with the tools that are piled on the bench or still lying on the floor where they fell, brush off the bench and slap a little more paint on it, before I can put my tool boxes and trays back on the bench. Then when I have everything back as close to normal as it's going to get, I'll finally be ready to start working on my guns again.
I have plans for a new workbench from Norm Abram of The New Yankee Workshop, but I might wait and see if I'll be moving or not. Hopefully my inheritance will be enough to get me out of this ghetto city. Williams Cheese Factory Outlet in Linwood is only 60 miles north of here. If I lived around there instead of here, I'd be a lot happier. And when I went up north to ride my ATV with my friends, I'd be already be halfway there. If I end up moving, I'd rather not have to haul a big, heavy workbench around.
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Ghetto city...must be run by dims....
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Ghetto city...must be run by dims....
Yep. And rust belt dims are among the worst.
I found two 1/2" lock washers in the tub o' washers, so I don't have to buy those to bolt down my vise. And there are four 3 5/8" washers with a 3/8" hole I need to drill out, so all need to buy is 2 bolts. Without the use of my vise I was able to dry fit most of my flattop AR parts tonight. The pics show how wide the old free float tube is compared to the 15" UTG PRO Super Slim Free Float M-LOK Handguard. The new lo-pro gas block will be inside it. The old Weaver, not Picatinny, Eagle Arms flattop upper is going bye-bye, and an Athlon cantilever mount is replacing the Nikon P-Series 2-Piece Scope Mount Picatinny-Style With integral Rings. The Vortex cantilever mount I bought puts the scope about 2" farther ahead, which wouldn't allow me to mount back up sights. The Vortex Vanquish scope with Dead-Hold BDC (MOA) Reticle is an upgrade from the old Nichols scope.
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Good Work. I got a rolling 5.5' workbench w/ drawers. Every year I move it out of the way and clean under/around it. Since my basement room is unfinished I ran my own outlet to the wall about 5' high above the bench. Then I attached strips to the back and to the both ends of the bench. The one in the back is for things permanently powered up, like swing arm lamps. I do real messy stuff in the garage, but do most of my gun and electronics stuff on this bench.
Got a high end vise and wow, what a difference!
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Thanks, Alf. I went to Homeboy Depot and bought 7" long 1/2" bolts instead of 6" like I planned on. When I got home, I took a 4"x8" piece of steel plate that was bent like ___/---- a couple of inches from each end, and whanged away at it in my driveway with the sledgehammer. Every time I hit it, "WHANG!" and it flipped over and bounced around, until it was kind of straight when I quit. I drilled two 1/2" holes through it 4" apart, and made a blood sacrifice to the bench gods to bring me prosperity and good fortune. :( What really happened was the steel plate I was trying to hold one-handed caught on the drill bit and spun around several different times. It nicked the top of my middle finger once, but my fingernail kept it from going too deep. It took several minutes and different size bits to drill the holes. After I drilled the holes and wallowed them out a little bit I drilled holes through the bench. I used a 9/16" spade bit to allow for just a hair of error. It went through all the boards and everything in seconds. The center point is a screw that draws it into the wood, and It has a sharp cutting tooth on both corners. I have a whole set of these and they're easily 10 times better that the old kind of spade bits.
I put the bolts though a pair of flat washers and through the vise, then lowered it over the holes in the bench until the bolts were seated. When I went to put the steel plate on the bottom it wouldn't go on because one end was hitting the 2x4 leg in the corner. I cut off an inch or less with my angle grinder and a thin cutting wheel. Then I put it over the bolts, added a thick flat "washer" on one side and 2 regular flat washers on the other, followed by lock washers, and the nuts I bought today. I couldn't keep a socket on the nuts very long because the bolts were sticking out so far. So I held the nuts with my large adjustable wrench and turned the bolts with a 1/2" ratchet wrench with a 3/4" socket. After awhile I had to swap out the ratchet wrench for a 15" breaker bar and kept tightening it down. When I was done I put some pieces of cardboard around the bottom of the vise to mask it off, and spray painted it. Tomorrow after the paint is dry I'll get some pics.
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Here is mine
Ignore all the crap on the shelf.
https://ibb.co/0yN6nd6
(https://i.ibb.co/KxZf53f/ef8f56f8-7f9e-4a89-9b7b-cad1ae4fa938.jpg) (https://ibb.co/0yN6nd6)
https://ibb.co/DMvnPpb
(https://i.ibb.co/5jSVXF9/20240527-104418.jpg) (https://ibb.co/DMvnPpb)
https://ibb.co/F6NjT2p
https://ibb.co/Hg4s1JY
(https://i.ibb.co/p2G9Fcq/7cf4a0d0-c20d-4348-b0b5-22e26fba15bf.jpg) (https://ibb.co/F6NjT2p)
(https://i.ibb.co/Svy8WL0/f593b047-f30f-4307-b074-30eeb5eb3faa.jpg) (https://ibb.co/Hg4s1JY)
https://a.co/d/3nnbLtu
They have a few sizes for the wheels. Just before warned when you drop it it does crash pretty hard on the last one. I also had to renforce the back side
It's a 3x8 solid core fire door that is about 100# and 2 sheets of 5/8" ply. ( I had left over. If I was to do it again I would use 3/4)
Edit, yes it was sagging in that pic.. I have since fixed that with a plywood beam. I also did have about 500# on that shelf lol.
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NIIICE!! Those are exactly the type of wheels I was thinking a workbench should have. Roll it around then drop it on the feet, solid, instead of having wheels trying to swivel around on you.
I was already sneezing really bad from a sinus infection or cold or something. But at 2 am I put on a mask, dragged my bench as far as I could toward the wall where there are lots of cardboard boxes waiting to be broken down. I swept the floor really well then dragged the bench over to within a fraction on an inch of the furnace. My eyes were so full of dirt I wish I could have soaked them in a glass of water while I slept. I used a LOT of artificial tears trying to clean them out. My bench only has one diagonal brace on it so I might add another one tonight. I have some boards from cherry furniture I brought in from the trash and took apart. I can slap one on with a few screws at each end after I cut some angles on the ends. The shelf in the middle is particle board, and I'm thinking about finally painting it to seal some of the dirt and oil out. But I need to get everything off the top and shelf and sweep them off. I've been thinking about throwing everything in boxes to get it out of the way. Then when I sweep out my toolboxes I can sort it all out again. I may as well wait to take some pics. without a fustecluck of tools and dirt on it. There's lots of crap from grinding mixed in with everything. With the longer bolts I bought, I can add one of those cherry boards to the bottom of the bench, along with the steel plate.
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Here's my vise, bolted down without the swivel base that broke off. I normally use it with the jaws parallel to the front edge of the bench, and didn't even have to think about which way I wanted it facing. Here's a pic of the vise and the power strip, a closeup of the vise, top view, and bottom view of the steel plate and hardware. I don't normally paint the moving shaft or shank, whatever it's called, but I did the other day. Then I sprayed WD-40 on it and wiped most of the paint off. I thought having paint on it might cause it to bind, but it opens and closes super slick and easy. The jaws are normally sanded bare but I painted them too. I'll sand them down sometime, maybe after the paint gets scratched up.
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And here's my workbench, warts and all, laid bare for everyone to see. First is the top, left to right, then the shelf, left to right. There was a big pile of glue and stuff under the vise and I chipped a piece off with a putty knife. I'll probably fill some of the holes on the top with plastic wood and sand it down. I may even do the same with the shelf. And I'll slap a quick coat of paint on the top, and most likely the shelf too. I still haven't put a second cross brace on it. It's a wonder the bench is still standing after 30+ years of hell I put it through.
P.S. There are several nails pounded into the left side, right at the top. A pair of bar clamps hang on the first 2 nails and some C-clamps hang on the others.
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A cheap piece of hardboard makes a great Sacrificial layer and by that I mean you replace it when you find one that has a broken edge at the box stores for cheap. A couple layers if citrus wax also works wonders. A can is about 13 at the orange box and can be left too your grand kids. Also great for protecting cast iron tops on machinery.
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In the center picture of the top of my bench, you can see a hole on the far left where I accidentally put a hammer through it years ago. It broke out a big piece on the other side, leaving nothing besides the thin top and some cardboard strips that went between the front and back of the door. I stuck a scrap of wood in from underneath, actually 2 thinner pieces of scrap I nailed together several years ago. It was about the size of a 2x4 6" long, or somewhere there about. The screws I ran through the top of the bench kept pulling through but I got a few in the edge where there's a 2x2 inside it. I covered up the mess on top with plastic wood and filled some other holes in the top and shelf. I may not have enough plastic wood left for the project I bought it for. After I rough sand it and slop some paint around I'll post more pics. When I have excess paint run on the basement floor I don't usually wipe it up. If I wait a few days I can pop it up with a putty knife, and it's even cleaner than it would be if I wiped it off with paper towel.
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Where that spinning steel plate cut my finger, it was swollen, and shiny red behind the scabbed over part. I finally decided to clean it up earlier tonight/last night. I used my razor sharp Outdoor Edge knife to whittle the scab off, then scrubbed my finger with rubbing alcohol and a triple size cotton ball. I don't buy regular cotton balls anymore, just the triple size. After I scrubbed it a few times with new cotton balls, I used a round toothpick to scrape the dried blood out of the crack between the skin and nail. It's still sensitive to touch because of how deep the wound is, but it looks a lot better and feels better too. It's still swollen and shiny looking but less red. It should heal up just fine. About the only time I need antibiotics is if I have an ear infection. My body fights off all other bacteria on its own. Viruses are a whole different matter.
I sanded down the top and shelf of the workbench a little while ago. I made myself a little seat to sit on when I sanded the shelf. When the second quarter-sheet of 80 grit on my palm sander didn't look like it was doing anything, I called it -- Good Enough. Some of the plastic wood wasn't fully cured because I put down one layer where I probably should have put two, letting it dry in between. Good Enough For Government Work. Then I got a rag, which was half of an old bath towel, soaked it completely and wrung it out, then wiped down the top and shelf on the bench. I just finished up around 4:30 am. I went to bed several hours ago, but was back up an hour later, so I got some work done. My lower back is kind of stabby and I ran out of muscle relaxers months ago. If my back feels better, and I feel okay in general, I may have the bench painted before the weekend is over. But probably not. It doesn't take long to paint the way I slather it on, but the shelf will need a second coat since it's raw particleboard.
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I made myself a margarita and sat down to watch TV. After 20 minutes or so, I thought my time would be better spent painting. I didn't see my paint stirrer lying around, but I found a long pointed pin with a 90 degree bend on the other end. I think it's from an old post jack. I chucked it in the drill and let 'er tip. The pin was bent and splashed a little paint out of the can but stirred it up well enough. I painted the top then the shelf, then the top and the shelf again. Two coats on each and I'm done. The last time I painted my workbench I got some paint on the vise and painted all the way around the bottom. Today I painted a lot higher up on the vise, but stayed close to the base. The semi-gloss paint is a match for the off-white (beige?) power-strip. Sometime after the paint dries I'll get some pics. Next will be scraping drips off the floor, moving the bench and sweeping under it again, then putting things back where they belong. That might take a few days.
I normally keep my 2 tool boxes with the trays out on the bench as shown in the illustration. I used to keep the toolboxes open all the time, then started closing them to keep them from filling up with "dirt". I had a big pile of dirt on the bench a couple days ago and most of it was sparks mixed with abrasive. I tried using a big magnet to separate all of the small hardware from the dirt and it all stuck to the magnet. I had to pick through the dirt before I dumped it in a wastebasket. I got some small drill bits and several small washers out of it. Most of the washers are the same size as backers for 1/8" POP rivets, but only half as thick. I don't remember if they're for #6 or #8 machine screws but will have to put them back in the right drawer of the hardware storage organizer. The last time I had the drawer on the bench I accidentally dumped it.
I have a dual 4' fluorescent light fixture hanging between the floor joists right above the bench. It's plugged into a light socket. The other 3 light sockets have 100 watt bulbs in the middle of each corner of the basement.
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Thanks to a long piece of telephone cable I wound around my radio antenna and the cold water supply line last May, I'm able to get more than one station in my basement. I keep the radio turned on but unplugged, then plug it in when I want to hear it. It's tuned to a classic rock station now. The tuning has been kind of fussy for close to a half century, and the volume crackles when I adjust it. By unplugging it instead of turning it off I avoid some hassle, especially that of turning the wrong knob to turn it off and on. None of the conductors in the cable are actually attached to the pipe or the car antenna I put on my radio several years ago when the telescoping antenna broke. There's some type of radio-frequency induction or something going on where the signal passes between the pipes in the house, the coils of wire, and the radio antenna. I don't know what the phenomenon is called, but it works. I don't think it should work without current flowing through the cable, but it does. I can't explain why. I have a hanging bracket I made from a coat hanger that will fit over the edge of any door in my house. The radio stays balanced on the hanger and I can remove it by turning it and the radio at angles and unscrewing it, like solving one of those 3D puzzles made of wire.
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Here's what my workbench looks like as of 10 minutes ago. Pics of the top, left, center, right, and shelf, left, center, right. It's nice not having holes in the top big enough for things to fall through, or inside of the top. I had a hole to the left of the vise that went halfway through the hollow top. I squirted a bunch of caulking and some spray foam in it a couple of months ago. Now it's leveled off with plastic wood and sealed with paint, and the big hole all the way through the top on the left side is gone almost without a trace. If you look at the front edge of the top in the left pic, just right of center you can see where 1 big screw and 2 smaller screws hold the wooden block inside. The big hole was in front of the right hand screw and it vanished almost magically. The top has a strip of 1/4" paneling on the back to keep stuff from falling off where it's hard to reach. I need to clean some paint splatter off the vise, then I think I'm done, except for sweeping up again and putting everything away. The vise jaws are about elbow high now. That's about as good as it gets. It's easier than working crotch high on the bench all the time.
My flood light doesn't have an on/off switch so I bought a switch it plugs into, and that switch stays with it at all times. You can see it plugged into the power strip. I already had some cable ties holding it together and just added some more and cut the excess of the ends. The thicker cable ties probably make it 4 times more secure and the switch should stay attached the rest of my life.