My workbench rocks…literally
Welcome! / Forums / General Woodworking Discussions / Projects / My workbench rocks…literally
- This topic has 9 replies, 7 voices, and was last updated 5 years, 2 months ago by Brian A.
-
AuthorPosts
-
I got my workbench bolted up n top glued to aapron. It rocks/wobbles quit a bit. I thought it may be the floor its on so i tried it in three other locations/different floors still the same rocking. Trying my best to measure the leg frames they are square, housing dados tight, flat and equal depth. My thinking is i didnt get enough twist out of the aprons?
Is it too late to do anything now the top is glued and how should i go about fixing the rocking/wobbling?
Any suggestion/help is much appreciated.
Many thanks in advance
Adam2 November 2018 at 8:25 pm #552993Shims. My garage floor is not at all level. In fact, NO floor is level. Just find the location for your bench and glue some shims under the lacking feets and you’ll be fine.
Curiously, did you spin the bench in a full circle to test for wobble? I did and my bench sat like a rock in one position and turning it 20 degrees it wobbles. In fact many areas I had wobble and a few I did not. I guarantee you will not have any detriments in your bench if it is shimmed. Enjoy your bench!
Attached are a couple pics. One leg with 1/8 inch ply and another a double stack. Bench is absolutely rock solid still 2 1/2 years later and will be 50 years from now . Don’t let this little wobble discourage you.- This reply was modified 5 years, 5 months ago by Kurt Schultz.
- This reply was modified 5 years, 5 months ago by Kurt Schultz.
- This reply was modified 5 years, 5 months ago by Kurt Schultz.
Attachments:
You must be logged in to view attached files.Is it rocking as a single unit? Or some joints are weak and wracking? If its the former the bench may be too narrow and top heavy like mine. Based on some good advice I got here, adding some weight to the bottom (sand bags, a shelf loaded with heavy stuff etc.) would help. Mine was wobbly for multiple reasons — too narrow and carpeted floor. After removing the carpet and adding a sandbag to the bottom very stable now.
But that assumes all joints are rock solid with no local movements. If not, the general approach would be to add corner braces to the legs and/or ensure the wedges in the aprons are tight and seated.
Thank you for the replies. The wedged housing dados are all tight, there is no wracking or movement/play in any of the joints the bench rocks as a whole unit and is sized to pauls cutting list.
My thinking was ill have to shim the legs. I will be the first to admit i am no cabinet maker just merely an amateur but i tried to be meticulous in all aspects so to have this rocking/wobble/twist is disheartening. My clamping of the apron laminations resulted in so much twist, i planed for days to atempt to remove it. I fear it compounded me to an unstable twitsted bench.2 November 2018 at 9:15 pm #553001It would be helpful to understand your visualization of twist in your bench. My bet it is negligible.
To put things in perspective, attached are 3 shims under the main supporting beam of my house. And guess what? My house is still solid.Attachments:
You must be logged in to view attached files.I just use wedges carefully placed, no reason why that won’t work if it’s the floor.
The best way to cut the legs to final length is have it upside down and measure down from the apron, as long as you are certain the top is dead flat and the bottom of the aprons are absolutely parallel to the dead flat top, I did it with my bench upside down on a pair of sawhorses (my first ever project)
best of luck with your bench and I hope you resolve it, let us know how it goes,
regards,
Ben.
3 November 2018 at 9:54 pm #553009Same here- wedges. There is a dip in the concrete slab of my garage right where one leg of my bench sits. I stuck a tenon cheek offcut under it and have been off to the races ever since.
Thank you all for the replies, i think i will go with the wedge option and put it down to experience. I still think its my inaccuracies rather than the floor or maybe a combination of both.
I read an article by Chris Schwarz where he uses a wedge backed by sandpaper, will stop the rocking and help prevent the bench sliding anywhere. Seems the best solution so will give it a try today.Thanks again.
Adam15 November 2018 at 3:51 pm #553263I must confess I didn’t pay enough attention to the underside of the bench-top.
So when screwing the bench-top to the leg-frames, the all structure was slightly twisted because the bench-top is more rigid then the other parts of the workbench. I released one of the screw; put a shim between the leg-frame and the bench-top and tightened again the said screw. My workbench doesn’t rock anymore.Before gluing the front apron to the bench-top, one must ensure that the underside of the bench-top has no twist in it (at least the two areas which will sit on top of the leg-frames).
This happened to my first bench which was a ‘torsion box’ that had a base made with threaded rod instead of mortices. The top was a thick slab of poplar that was twisted by about 1.5″ along its length, so when I attached it to the base it twisted the whole bench.
Solution was as above: Shims under the feet, and then when I realized about the twist, I detached the top and shimmed in between the legs and the top (then I started remaking the top with laminated pine to replace the slab).
I have a bunch of heavy duty adjustable feet (~3/8″ bolts, steel anchors, and hard plastic feet). I’m thinking of adding those to allow re-leveling the bench when moving it around on the uneven floor. I have some concerns about durability and whether the feet may be too malleable due to the steel bolts on which they rest.
-
AuthorPosts
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.