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Tip: Retractable Gear Work Benches

This seems like a lot of trouble unless you move you work table often. Personally, I move mine maybe once or twice a year. When I do, I simply set one end on a creeper and move it by the other end.
 
Ya But Mel

Mel said:
This seems like a lot of trouble unless you move you work table often. Personally, I move mine maybe once or twice a year. When I do, I simply set one end on a creeper and move it by the other end.
Click to expand...

Heck of an idea. I wish I had though of it first. I have to be able to move mine around so I can put my truck back in the garage / A/C factory at the end of the day. It gets COLD here in Maine.:D
 
Dang!
I'm doin' that to all my work benches this weekend! It will make cleaning up my shop way easier. Also for moving airplanes around and re-aranging the hangar for different projects.
 
Workbench

When I set up my shop to build my 7A I took my old workbench and added heavy castering wheels to each leg. So it is always moveable. I have found a lot of situations where I want to move the bench away from the wall. Either so that I can work with someone - each of us on one side of the bench - as when I riveted my fuel tanks with my friend John Kean. Or when I simply need a larger platform - as when I recently glued up some rather large (48"x62") window frames.

The wheels are fine for those situations, but when you want a stable platform - as when you take a hacksaw to something in your vice - you do NOT want a wobbly or even slightly movable table. So, for "normal" operations, the table is anchored to a lag-bolt in the wall at both ends, through a small piece of angle iron bolted to the bench with a big wing nut. Very stable. Like the simplicity of the RVs, my bench ?landing gear? is fixed, and does not have the complexity of the ?retractable? version. :)
 
I move my benches around continuously. I have two movable benches and 1 fixed table. I move those benches at least once a week.

As mentioned earlier, it's nice to pull it out in to an open area and be able to walk around your work. Also nice to have someone standing on the opposite side of the table if they want to give you a hand.

Mine are currently on locking casters and since mine are built already, they'll stay that way until I'm finished. But I couldn't imagine have benches without wheels at this point. :)
 
That is really slick, but I think there is a easier way to accomplish the same goal.

I have several of the same workbench, and just screwed some heavy duty harbor freight wheels to the vertical face of the legs, so that the wheel itself is just off the floor with the bench level on its feet. To move the bench, I just lift the other end about 3-4" and it moves like a wheelbarrow. When I drop it back to level, the wheels no longer touch the floor and it stays. Took maybe 2 minutes to attach the wheel with drywall screws.

I'll take pictures if anyone is interested, but I think it's simple enough to understand
 
flyeyes said:
That is really slick, but I think there is a easier way to accomplish the same goal.

I have several of the same workbench, and just screwed some heavy duty harbor freight wheels to the vertical face of the legs, so that the wheel itself is just off the floor with the bench level on its feet. To move the bench, I just lift the other end about 3-4" and it moves like a wheelbarrow. When I drop it back to level, the wheels no longer touch the floor and it stays. Took maybe 2 minutes to attach the wheel with drywall screws.

I'll take pictures if anyone is interested, but I think it's simple enough to understand
Click to expand...

Great idea, James. While the EAA idea is slick, it's a LOT more complicated than your idea. The only difference that I can see (other than simplicity) is that you'd likely have to clear off the top of your bench before moving so that stuff doesn't slide off when you tilt it. With the EAA solution, each end needs to be lifted only slightly. Not a big deal, IMO.
 
flyeyes said:
... and just screwed some heavy duty harbor freight wheels to the vertical face of the legs, so that the wheel itself is just off the floor with the bench level on its feet. To move the bench, I just lift the other end about 3-4" and it moves like a wheelbarrow....
Click to expand...

I made the same and works perfectly!
 
If you're going to do that, it's worth doing it on both ends with swiveling casters all around. That way you can get it into smaller spaces and moving it is significantly easier.

I've got a heavy, loaded table that I need to move that only has swiveling casters at one end. The other has fixed casters. That'll be a real pain.

David
 
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