A Fisher Celebrity build project
Between other projects and bitter cold weather, I haven’t gotten anything done on the plane for a while. With one project essentially finished and the workbench finally cleared of it, I took the opportunity to fit the entire bench top. It looks like I’ll need to shorten the supports on the left end to get the left side extension level… I’ll need the chop saw for that.
On Thursday I picked up the particle board and plywood and Stu helped me — er, that is to say, Stu cut the sheets up for the top and shelf of the new bench. He’s got a massive SawStop table saw, and he’s a virtuoso using it. It seems to be a challenge for me to rip a 2×4 in half on a table saw; he can zip a 4×8 sheet of 3/4 particle board through that thing like it was a sheet of paper. I try not to use his saw, because even though I’ve never in my life hit the blade of a running saw with a finger, sure as hell I’d trigger his SawStop and add the ignominy of replacing a blade and cartridge to my list of accomplishments. I have, however, found that when I do use his saw things go a lot easier. My old table saw was a challenge to use — for most of the time I owned it the fence wasn’t parallel to the blade, and once I got that fixed the blade was dull. It was actually halfway decent in the end, for smaller pieces. Once I got it finally set up and a brand new carbide blade on it, some asswipe stole it… so now I get to buy new, some day when I have a place to put one. But I digress.
The tops are two layers of 3/4″ particle board, glued and stapled together. The lower shelf is 1/2 plywood, mainly because I had to buy some anyway for another project. The shelf is in three sections, so I’ll need to join them with some scraps of particle board or something. I plan to build some sort of storage to slide in on top of that shelf.
My casters and levelers also arrived Thursday afternoon, so on Friday I went over and installed those. I also cut the plywood for the lower shelf to fit, cut some corner blocks to keep the top square, and made the diagonal supports for the two extensions. Those are lengths of 2×4, notched on the lower end and with a double 45 cut on the upper end, that will brace between the lower shelf support and the top of the extension on either side.
The last thing to be done before final assembly is to flatten the top. As the bench was built with dimensional lumber on top of a workbench with a carpeted top, it’s “more or less” flat but the 2x4s aren’t perfect by any means. In a perfect world I’d have used a 6 foot jointer and a thickness plane to turn them into perfect boards before building, but I didn’t have access to a jointer. I know for sure one of the long edges of the table frame has a hump in it, and I want the top to be FLAT. I’ll evaluate how much needs to be done to make that a reality and see how I’ll make that happen.
I guess I missed a chance to make this Episode IV for a catchier title. Ah, well.
Today I bought some 2x4s, did some measuring and cutting, gluing, screwing, clamping, and ended up with a new work table mostly built. I’ll try and finish it up tomorrow. The main section is 60″ long by 36″ wide (that’s roughly 152 x 91 cm for you metric folks). Each end has a 30″ folding extension, so you can have a 5′, 7.5′, or 10′ total length depending on your needs. For most of the airplane build I’ll likely have it fully extended, but it will be nice to be able to shorten it when needed.
I used the basic EAA 1000 work table plan, with a few changes. The width is increased, of course, from 24 to 36 inches. The folding extensions are another departure. I also lowered the shelf to about 4.5″ from the bottom of the legs rather than the original 8.5″. In hindsight, I kind of wish I’d made it even lower, but it’s fine. Tomorrow I’ll be adding some corner blocking to keep it perfectly square and solid. I still need to install the top (two layers of particle board) and the supports for the extensions. Those will be simple lengths of 2×4, with one end notched and the other cut to fit into the extension, Stu has a similar setup on the work table I have been using at his shop, and it’s absolutely rock steady and completely flat.
I thought long and hard about how to put retractable casters on this bench. I’ve seen a lot of different ways to do it. I had another work table, 3′ x 8′ with a setup on it that worked, but was a little more involved than I wanted. I’ve seen a few more designs on Youtube, several of which look kind of fidgety – making custom steel latches, etc. Anyway, in the process of working that out I managed to forget to re-add 1.5″ to the legs that I’d subtracted for one of the designs. Then I came up with what I think is an absolutely brilliant method, and I think it would work really well… on any workbench that does NOT have folding extensions that will block access to the end of the bench. In the immortal words of Homer Simpson…
So, I have ordered some retracting casters from Amazon that will be here tomorrow, and will cut some blocks of 2×4 for the bottom of the legs. No biggie. Perfection is the enemy of completion.
I think it’s very likely that I’ll build some sort of cabinet, shelving, and/or drawers under the top. I can only imagine how handy it would be to have all of the woodworking tools, clamps, glue, and so on right there at hand, and storage to keep it well organized and clean. That will wait until I have the bench at home and set up in the garage; that way I can cut the wood and do the assembly there. I can think of a long list of items that I will want to always have within easy reach, and more importantly have a place to put it within easy reach so I don’t end up with tools and supplies scattered everywhere.
Of course the very first thing the new bench will be used for is finishing the rebuild of the “gossip bench”. The veneer for that should arrive later this week.