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for the past few projects I have been
working off a 2x6 workbench just laid
over some sawhorses and while it does
work it's a little bit frustrating not
having a lot of surface area to work off
of so this week I took the time and
threw together a very quick but strong
assembly table slash workbench stay
tuned and I'll show you how I did it the
body of the workbench is built
completely from three sheets of plywood
and if you're interested in building
your own and I do have a set of plans
that includes a full material list and
cut list for you I started off by using
my tracks all to break down the sheets
of plywood into more manageable size
pieces of course utilizing the cut list
that I put together for the build then I
used the table saw to rip all of the
pieces down to the final dimensions I
started off by assembling the legs of
the workbench utilizing my super jaws to
hold it in place
while I was putting them together and
just about everything on the workbench
is glued and screwed together since this
is an indoor project I stuck with pipe
on original wood glue after getting the
legs built I then glued and screwed the
side panels into place this will not
only connect the two legs together but
it'll also enclose the sides giving me a
small amount of area to use a storage it
was my goal when building this workbench
not only give myself a large usable work
surface but also a place to store items
that I most frequently used while
building so the workbench will serve as
a way to store these items until I have
more time to deck out the walls of my
shop to store these items after getting
all of the bottom shelf supporting
stretchers into place I cut down a sheet
of plywood to make up the bottom shelf
and set it into place while I'm setting
that into place I want to say a big
thank you to you peer bond plywood for
sponsoring this project and supporting
what I do here bond is a hardwood
plywood that is sold at your local Home
Depot so it's readily available the best
part is is that it's very high quality
plywood but at competitive prices
so if you have a project coming up where
you'd like to use a little bit higher of
grade of plywood then definitely check
out peer bond at your local Home Depot
it's made right here in the US and they
use it for Melda highest three solution
in their manufacturing so it's even a
little bit more environmental friendly
at this point the bottom shelf is just
test fitted into place and you can see
when I stand on it that it has a little
bit of bow and give to it this is
completely taken out whenever I glue and
screw it into place after getting that
bottom shelf attached I moved up and
repeated the process for attaching the
stretchers that will support the top oh
and here you can see as I walk across it
just how much flex gluing and screwing
it down took out when I was modeling
this and Sketch up I was really thinking
that it was gonna have some rot to it
because of a long span distance however
I was shocked at just how sturdy and
unmoving it felt and the biggest
contributor to the stability is the fact
that I glued all the joints the top is
made from a full sheet of plywood which
will give me plenty of surface area to
work on the only thing on this workbench
I didn't glue is the top and that is so
I can replace it easily in the future
whenever it gets a little bit too
destroyed I went in straight from the
top and used a countersink bit to make
sure that the screw heads wouldn't be
proud of the table and get in my way
when sliding things across the top from
start to finish this only took me six
hours to build and that is with filming
slowing me down so if you're needing a
workbench then definitely don't put it
off as it's a very simple project to
complete
now I could have very well stopped here
I had the top four working on the bottom
for storing stuff on but I decided to
take a little bit more time and build a
few out ons to make it a little bit more
functional a few projects back when I
was building those outer Ron Duck chairs
I was making a mental note of all of the
things that I would have liked to have a
storage solution for readily at hand and
one of the biggest things was hardware
storage so my first out on was to cut a
few french cleats so that I could
utilize some of these hardware storage
bins that I made years ago these have
just been tucked away in the box since I
moved out of my shop in Fort Worth and
it felt great to unbox them and finally
put them to use again I'm attaching the
French cleats directly to the side of
the workbench and I already know that
tons of you will comment that these will
fill up with sawdust being out in the
open and yes much like everything else
in the wood shop they will get dusty
however I've had these bins exposed on a
rolling caddy in my previous shop and
for me the amount of sawdust that gets
inside them isn't bothersome enough to
override the convenience of having them
readily available so I still move
forward with the decision of placing
them directly out in the open on my
workbench and on that note if you'd like
to make your own bins and I do have a
free set of plans on all three sizes
that I felt before in the past
moving on to drill storage I wanted
someplace to store my drills that wasn't
all the way across the shop and I
thought about storing them under the
overhang however if a drill has a bit in
it and that won't be possible so instead
I cut in two notches directly into the
tabletop getting the idea from my
current drill holder over on my French
cleat system it was my original plan to
drill a few of these in every corner of
the top however I think I'll start with
these two and see if one I actually end
up using it and two if I even like it
something else on my workbench wishlist
what's a place to store speed squares
it's so frustrating always looking
around for where I left my speed square
so I decided to make some very simple
holders on every single corner of my
workbench
always have one within an arm's reach
these are simple holders made from
half-inch plywood better is hatch
together in an L formation and then
touch to the underside of every single
corner improve to actually work I'm
gonna try to get into the system of
using it and then immediately putting it
right back we'll see if that works
continuing with hardware storage I made
a few simple screw box holders I've made
a few of these before and I can't stress
how handy they are to have all of your
boxes of screws in one location it's
definitely worth the amount of time it
takes to make one of these holders it's
a great project to utilize some of the
scraps laying around and of course you
can attach it just about anywhere
moving on to pencil and fit storage I
didn't make anything for this one
because Rockler already has a great
solution for this called shot blocks
it's a very lightweight organizer that
you can hang on a wall pegboard or even
set directly on top of your workbench I
utilized the front bins for your bits
and Tunsil sharpeners and then the top
compartment for a pencil or even longer
bit storage next up I made a few mallet
holders even though I only have one
mallet I made two holders and place them
on opposite legs so that no matter which
side of the workbench I'm working on I
have a holder that I could throw it into
going to the other side of the workbench
I started off by drilling some holes for
some tape storage i routed through my
scrap bin and found some half inch
dowels so I drilled some half inch holes
and then stuck them directly in place
simple enough the large area on this
side was dedicated to storing my quick
clamps I cut a small blog to hold some
PVC off of the workbench just enough so
that I could slip on a spring clamp and
straddle that PVC you can see I use
pocket holes in order to secure these
two blocks to the workbench itself and
mine does droop a little bit because of
the weight of the spring clamps but the
next time I go to the store I'm going to
pick up some off red to slip into the
PVC and this will take out that little
bit of droop that the weight of the of
the clamps creates for my quick clamps I
stuck with simple and drilled a hole all
the way through the workbench so that I
can insert a dowel and have something to
hang these clamps off of I made sure to
keep the length of this dowel just
under the length of the overhang of the
workbench so that my leg wouldn't catch
it house I'm walking around the
workbench in my last shop I made a bench
cookie dispenser and I could have sworn
I threw it into a box however I couldn't
find it so I simply made another one
I grabbed some three inch PVC and cut it
to the height of the amount of bench
cookies that I have I used one of the
bench cookies to mark its height on the
PVC pipe so that I can cut in a slot at
the bottom this will give me a grab
point I can reach my hand in and pull
one out I cut a three inch circle from
some scrap wood then use type on thick
and quick to glue the wood to the PVC
and create a shelf at the bottom
utilizing my superjaws to clamp it while
that glue is setting up and then a
countersink and a few screws to attach
it to my actual workbench lid and you
can see it works by pulling out a bench
cookie at the bottom and then throwing
it back onto the top whenever I'm done
with it with that I think the size of
the workbench are as decked out as I can
get them I am NOT a fan of having
drawers in a shop however I'm also not a
fan of wasted space which is what all of
this space at the bottom of the
workbench is without drawers so next I
put my attention into making a railing
system so I could start building and
attaching drawers I'm going with a
wooden railing system and over sliders
because sliders are expensive and with
this being shop furniture plywood rails
is just fine with me I first tried to
attach the bottom rails with the dust
setting as is however it was just
absolutely silly to try it this way
so I emptied off the workbench and
instead flipped it over on its side so
that I could have easier access to the
bottom after getting it on its side I
glued and screwed and all of the rails
that I made for it before moving on to
making the drawers themselves the
drawers are made from half-inch plywood
and it took an additional two sheets in
order to make all of them since there is
so many I kept my drawer construction
very simple and easy as I don't plan to
really utilize and overload these
drawers I don't like things being out of
sight because when they're out of mind
but if there are a few things that even
I think go good and drawers such a shop
rags or fun
Rush's there might be another thing or
two I'll have to think about it but of
course I know a lot of people are huge
fans of drawers so base your drawer
construction method off of what you're
actually going to be using the drawers
for after building the drawers
themselves I attached a wooden rail to
both of its sides then before throwing
it in I used a little bit of pace wax on
the entire wooden railing system so that
everything will move nice and smoothly
last out on for function is to attach
four quick-release
casters these are some awesome casters
that Rockler puts out made specifically
for attaching the work benches that you
need to be stationary the majority of
the time but you still want to have the
ability to make them mobile quickly just
by stepping on all forward the levers
it'll very easily lift up the work bench
making it mobile and allowing me to move
it wherever I need it the only other
thing that I did to my workbench was put
a coat of oil on the top to protect it a
little bit from stain or glue or
anything else that I'm doing now keep in
mind that you can take all of the
storage solutions that I'm putting on
this workbench and move them to your
walls make them bigger make them smaller
so I hope you've been able to take away
a few nuggets from this video to help
organize your own shop I have let do
link to all of the products that I've
used down in the description and also a
link to the plans if you'd like to build
your own workbench big thank you to rock
there for supporting what I do and pure
bond I hope that you enjoyed this video
and I will see you next time