Work Bench Build

This is a basic work bench I came up with many years ago. I’ve built several of these over the years, the first one being back in 2004.  It’s a pretty sturdy bench and made to resemble a kitchen cabinet that has a recessed kick plate.  The one show here was built as a reloading bench and has removable inserts for various reloading tool.

 

The basic dimensions of a single bench is 8′ long, 2 feet wide, and 36 inches high.

The frame of the bench requires (7) 2×4’s and (3) 2×3’s. This plan shows all the required cuts for the frame pieces and the minimal waste (in grey).

The bench top requires (1) 4′ x 8′ sheet of 3/4″ plywood and the base and side pieces are cut from a 4’x 8′ piece of 1/2″ plywood.

Here are the basic dimensions and lay out for the frame.

Once all of the pieces have been cut to size the fun part can start.

The first step I did was to assemble the bottom base frame out of the cut 2 x 3’s making sure to evenly space the boards as I went.

Then I made sure everything was square.

After that the 1/2″ ply bottom shelf board was screwed in place.

The top frame of the bench is assembled they same way and I use the same measure measurements to make sure the boards all line up with the ones in the bottom base.

Next the boards for the front frame are screwed together.

Then I draw a line about an  1 1/2″ back from the front. (this will be for the kick plate overhang.)

The rear frame boards were then screwed in place.

These uprights were just toe screwed in, which I first pre-drilled holes for.

After that the front frame was screwed into place along the line I drew before.

Here you can see the kick plate overhang that this forms.

The next step is to screw on the bench top frame.  This was also toe screwed in from the below because this way it would be easy to disassemble when I eventually moved.

After that the side plates where then nailed on.

The main bench frame is now complete and ready for the bench top to be installed.

I use a two layer bench top which comes out to about 1.5 inches thick when completed. This piece is screwed in from the top into the frame and the cutouts shown in this piece are for the removable tool sliders I use.

The second layer of the bench top was then attached by screwing it in from the bottom so the finished bench top is smooth.

Here you can see how the cut outs in the two layers form the hold downs for the tool sliders.

A scrap piece of wood was screwed in from the bottom to cover the holes.

The sliders are made from two pieces of the same plywood.

I have a bunch of them made that various tools are bolted to and quickly be changed when needed. This frees up precious bench top space when the tools are not needed.

Trim was then nailed to the front of the bench and sliders.

Next a few coats of paint really finish things off.

I had a bunch of drawers from a previous bench build so drawer sliders were added next.

Here the drawers have been installed.

Normally I would screw the whole bench right to the wall to make it really sturdy but this bench is temporary so I added a quick back to it.

I also added a few other 2×4’s as uprights.

These 2×4’s allowed me to add a peg board back over the bench top.

Here the finished bench is all setup from reloading.

In another life… my first bench was completely finished with doors and drawers along the entire bench.

This is a 12′ version built in two sections.

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