Summarily, recapping bench project part One:
A mere two weeks later, my first bench has pretty much disappeared behind the volume of boxes that have been returned to its shelves. It still has some bits left to be added but my attention had already been diverted at that point.
So this is my 47 Indian Chief Project, appropriately buried under a layer of boxes, as most projects get to be at one time or another. Although still in a bitsa stage, most of the parts needed to assemble and complete it are already on my shelves. The choke point is time, of course.
Back to the second bench project, what you see here are a couple of shots of the end frames. The rails for them are 2x4's, cut to length, jigged, squared, and clamped together, and bolted together using 5/16ths x 5.5 inch capscrews, c/w flats, locks, and nuts. Minus the wheels they stand about 28 inches tall. Add the wheels and their mounting plates and the height rises to just under 32 inches. The top plate brings the total height to right at 32.
Progress, the front stringer has been set in place, clamped, adjusted for square, and screwed down; same-same at the other end. The back stringer awaits its turn.
The bench substructure, together again. For the WTF does that mean that may have arisen, this is not the first version of this framework. This is actually version Two.
When the first iteration got assembled, I discovered that it was racked. The internal angles weren't square and the cross measurements showed almost a 1/2 inch of difference. Even when I used the long tube clamp to attempt to shift the stringers, while they moved, it wasn't enough and releasing the clamp let them go right back to unsquare again.
That bothered me to the point that I blew the stringers back off the end frames and took them all back out to the quarter deck and put them on the sawhorses. A 4.5 inch mini-grinder does not make the best of sander/finisher tools but, with a little perseverance, I managed to get the frame corners milled down to square and the stringers properly matched for length. Being able to cut them on the sawdeck would have saved some of the hassle but iits throat is not deep enough to execute a complete cut in one pass.
AS it sits in the above picture, all the internal angles are square, and the diagonal measurements are identical at 49and 3/16ths + inches. Close enough.
Back to being a useable work table again.
The dust hasn't even settled yet and it is already accumulating "stuff". I chose not to square the top plate to the substructure but instead shifted it to one side to move the framework back and over. What that does is to create a sort of bridge at one end that actually mates up to its counterpart on bench One. Between the two, I have around 5-6 feet of overall width which can accommodate long items without droop or sag.
A few of the cast of characters that came together to help with the measuring and assembly. Missing from the group shot are the sawdeck which, by virtue of size and weight is mostly exiled permanently to the shop/garage/cold storage/welding shop/???, and the 4.5 inch DeWalt mini-grinder, still set up with an 80 grit flap wheel for wood working!!!
😀
Finally, for the carnage lovers, a couple of "what happens" shots of what occurs when you over stress the bottom end on a vintage Harley Davidson mill. I believe the appropriate term here is "BOOM"!!😲
This pretty much concludes my adventures in bench building for the time being. Bench Two replaces the last plastic sawhorse based version that had previously supported a fair amount of m/c related components and tools.
For the curious who might wonder why I would employ cheap supports, we--ell, because they Were Cheap, which met my budget at the time, available, which satisfied my immediate need, and actually able to support a lot more weight that you might expect. The big downside to them is that they do deteriorate due to U-V exposure over time and aren't all that sturdy, meaning you have to set limits on how much weight you set on them or they can just fall flat when you least expect it; like at 3:15 in the morning, or while you are off at a run or swap meet, trolling for more "stuff"
Nick
