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A workbench and its ideas
Jan. 8th, 2015 11:24 pmSo, my room is somewhat small, and rather frustrating due to the sloped ceilings, but also very cluttered.
This means that any projects I work on are either on my computer, or worked upon on my bed, which is very much not a desirable thing.
A somewhat more thorough examination of the furniture in my room yielded a kneehole-type writing desk, built by my grandfather to excellent standards of quality, but quite impractical for me to use as a workbench.
Also, due to age and current excellent condition, it's not something I'd ever consider modifying.
I was almost horrified when the clerk I was talking to at a local contractor supply store suggested I start with its table top and work from there... =0.o=
Fortunately, I've been watching numerous videos dealing with woodworking, and the variety of wood available is very wide, so ideas were starting to come together in my mind quite readily.
It was also a good idea that this first trip was merely a scouting trip, as I was nowhere near having a solid decision for the exact design, dimensions, and wood selection.
Since it's primarily going to be a workbench for doing electronics work on, pine is a good enough choice, especially as it won't be for hammering and other such heavy work.
I'd also like to have some interesting electrical work on it, including two desk lamps, one on each side, with LED bulbs in them for focused light, two pairs of switched outlets, one on each side, so I can leave my soldering iron plugged in, but turned off, a strip of diffused LED lights under a strip of wood on the top of the bench's back.
I did pick up a book on electrical wiring to help when the time comes, as well as had a good long look at the various outlets, switches, etc, that are currently available, so I have a pretty good idea of how I want things when I finally get that far.
Fortunately, I'm not planning on anything terribly difficult, but I'm still feeling rather tentative about the whole thing, which is probably a good sign.
Actual dimensions will depend on several factors, including how high I want the benchtop, how much extra space I can squeeze out of the other furniture, how wide and/or tall each piece of wood will be, and stuff like that.
This means that any projects I work on are either on my computer, or worked upon on my bed, which is very much not a desirable thing.
A somewhat more thorough examination of the furniture in my room yielded a kneehole-type writing desk, built by my grandfather to excellent standards of quality, but quite impractical for me to use as a workbench.
Also, due to age and current excellent condition, it's not something I'd ever consider modifying.
I was almost horrified when the clerk I was talking to at a local contractor supply store suggested I start with its table top and work from there... =0.o=
Fortunately, I've been watching numerous videos dealing with woodworking, and the variety of wood available is very wide, so ideas were starting to come together in my mind quite readily.
It was also a good idea that this first trip was merely a scouting trip, as I was nowhere near having a solid decision for the exact design, dimensions, and wood selection.
Since it's primarily going to be a workbench for doing electronics work on, pine is a good enough choice, especially as it won't be for hammering and other such heavy work.
I'd also like to have some interesting electrical work on it, including two desk lamps, one on each side, with LED bulbs in them for focused light, two pairs of switched outlets, one on each side, so I can leave my soldering iron plugged in, but turned off, a strip of diffused LED lights under a strip of wood on the top of the bench's back.
I did pick up a book on electrical wiring to help when the time comes, as well as had a good long look at the various outlets, switches, etc, that are currently available, so I have a pretty good idea of how I want things when I finally get that far.
Fortunately, I'm not planning on anything terribly difficult, but I'm still feeling rather tentative about the whole thing, which is probably a good sign.
Actual dimensions will depend on several factors, including how high I want the benchtop, how much extra space I can squeeze out of the other furniture, how wide and/or tall each piece of wood will be, and stuff like that.
