Help! My workbench isn't level!?
 

Ok I built my workbench 10 years ago when we built the house. It is 2 x 4 and particle board construction and I added center support to keep it from sagging over time. Well I have been putting together a magnetic board to build on and finished gluing the sheet metal on a piece of melamine covered particle board. I flipped the board over and the turned out ok. Then I got the level out to make sure the Gorilla glue didn't cause swelling on the sheet metal. MY TABLE IS SAGGING!!! I had about a 3/32 - 1/6 inch gap in the middle of the table. ACHH! Well I jacked up the center support and added one heavy round washer less than 1/16" in thickness under the support. Then put some free weights on each corner, hoping over time this will cause the sag to be eliminated. Included are a few pictures. If anyone has a better way to fix my dilemma I would love to hear it.

RE: Help! My workbench isn't level!?
 

This probably isn't the recomendation you want to hear, but I would skin the particle board off the frame and then put down two layers of 3/4" plywood, exterior grade. Then on top of that add a 1/4" sheet of oak faced ply, 3/8 would be better, 1/2" would be really good. This will give you a stout work top that shouldn't sag. Particle board needs to be supported every 12" or less and even then with moisture from a humid area, it will sag.

Use a small amount of carpenters glue, around the edges, and a couple crosses down the center. Screw through the two 3/4" ply pieces into the frame. About every 8" or so and make sure you counter sink the screws. Set down you 1/4" ply top (some guys recomend 1/4 hard board here, but I like the oak ply). Just use some glue here and don't use to much, you don't want the moisture from the glue warping anything. Edges and some crosses to keep the center down tight A nice finish is to cap the edges now with 1x2 oak, sand it down flush with the top and then three or four coats of covering suitable for hard wood floors. It takes a week or so for the stuff to really hardden up, but you end up with a surface that will last for ever. NOW level the bench again. Should be your last time.

Don

RE: Help! My workbench isn't level!?
 

I figured replacing the top is what I will eventually have to do; however I am considering something much stouter than plywood. Probably a hard maple top. The plywood would eventually succumb to the same forces the particle board does. The top framework of the workbench under the particle board was not shown in the photo; however it is 2 x 4 lumber all cut to accurate dimensions. The problem was that the center support post was not the same exact length and the end legs. (I must not have caught it at the time when I built it in a hurry) The whole frame sagged in the middle, not just the plywood; therefore I have to raise the center section to hopefully get the center level with the rest of the table. Overtime this should level out the frame. The other option I am facing is putting this bench on the other side of the room use for small projects and a surface for band saw, power miter saw and drill press, and then build a whole new bench with a hard maple top. All wood will succumb to gravity eventually unless supported correctly; which in this case I did not do well in the middle. Thanks for the thought put plywood top instead of particle board won’t work, and why use oak. Oak is an open grain wood that readily gathers all the particles on the workbench. Yes it looks good but for a bench top open grain is not preferred. Birch or maple would be best.

RE: Help! My workbench isn't level!?
 

If you have room for it you can pick up a hollow core door pretty cheap. Especially if you ask for one that is cosmetically damaged, Lowe's or Home Depot will usually let a damaged one go for a couple of dollars. Even regular doors are only $10-$20 and are quite affordable. This make great building boards, and I built my magnetic board on top of one.

Ken

RE: Help! My workbench isn't level!?
 

waross, another thing to consider is plate glass.
It's hard to believe how things can sag.
My Dad built a desk/reloading bench for me in the early '70s'
The top was two pieces of 3/4" marine grade ply laminated together.
There were two uprights at each end of the desk...one all drawers the other was cabinet like.
The span between these two uprights couln't have been much more than 3 feet...I should go measure.
Anyway, when I moved it in 1987 for the first time the ply top had sagged!
My Dad and I couldn't believe it.
There was never any weight left on it...
JLK

RE: Help! My workbench isn't level!?
 

Some years back, I was working in Poughkeepsie Ny and right next to our location, they were tearing down a bowling alley. They were almost giving away sections of the lanes. What a work bench top that would have made. What I'm getting ready to do is use some stone tops from a dental lab. There are two pieces are 23"x36"x1.5" and a corner piece that is about 36x36 with two corners cut off to 23" on the remaining face. There were two pieces, another 23x36 cut out for a sink and another corner cut out for a centrifucal casting machine. I guess I'll just scrap these two pieces now. I'm going to mount the three pieces on a steel frame with adjustable feet for leveling. I'll probably use rolled cork for a build surface. Now to find the real estate in my garage to put it.

Don

PS you are right about the oak colecting dirt. If you use enough layers of shelac on it, you can solve this, but the maple or even birch gives a better finish.

Don
DOn

RE: Help! My workbench isn't level!?
 

I think your fix looks just fine.

But then, I'm the one everybody talks about at family reunions

RE: Help! My workbench isn't level!?
 

Surely any bench made from solid timber will shrink or move in some way due to the changes in humidty. This is why books on engineering usually say precision lathes should be on metal stands. One exception to this is books by T. D. Walshaw (Tubal Cain ) who used a very solid wooden bench from very well seasoned ( = old ) timber for his own lathes. He also mentioned a bench made from reinforced concrete ( cast in situ ) to make the ultimate stable bench for a lathe used in an optical lab.

Second hand timber that has been indoors for years in a similar climate is likely to be more useful for building a bench than anything you buy new. All the books say you should keep timber for a few years in the environment it is to be used before beginning construction of an important job.
I would expect a bench made from high quality ply to be more stable than solid maple. Unless you have maple that has been in the same indoor climate for some years and have the skill to plane it and laminate it into a dead flat bench top, choose ply.
I would also consider making the horizontal parts of the bench from laminated ply - instead of softwood 2 x4 ‘s I would prefer to laminate 2 layers of ¾ ply to make a one and a half x 6 beam if I could afford it. I suppose the legs could also be made of laminated ply, but metal legs might be better. Consider whether the top should be rigidly screwed down to the frame or fixed using the brackets or blocks which allow for movement in the timber. ( Look underneath quality old furniture like tables )

In ‘ The Workbench Book ‘ by Scott Landis ( Taunton Press ) there are details of a ‘ torsion box ‘ bench top made from ‘ high density fiberboard skins over core strips of medium density fiberboard on 7 and a half inch centers . voids between the strips filled with Verticel resin coated paper honeycomb’
The illustration shows a sort of egg box construction with perhaps 7 inch square grid and skinned both sides, it looks about a 3 inch thick bench top. You should also read another part of this book about the problems making solid maple bench tops and what happened when the Santa Anna winds came!

Finally consider the floor that the bench stands on and whether a bench that sags a sixteenth is better than one that warps and is not noticed!

RE: Help! My workbench isn't level!?
 

Are you trying to say that MDF will sag unless supported every 12". Nonsense! I worked in a lumber yard for 8 years and we stored it outside in an open warehouse. I never saw a piece sag if it was supported in the middle. I have the same problem he is having with your plywood idea. It doesn't mater how many layers you put together plywood will sag. I'm using 3/4" 4' x 8' MDF and just putting it over my sagging table with shims in the middle plus putting a support from the floor to the middle of the table. I'm sure it will work just fine. Where did you get you statistics on MDF sagging and how it needs to be supported?

Gibbs

RE: Help! My workbench isn't level!?
 

4X8 Solid core door blank+ 2 folding metal saw horses. Has worked for 18 years and because most of my planes are very large it is very easy to take to the field with me and set up in anout 30 sec. I don't have all the room I would like for a dedicated shop so I have to make do with what I can. This works well and I can fold up the saw horse's and put door blank up against wall when not working so that I can get all that stupid lawn equipment in the garage.

Can I get some support for banning lawn equipment from garages? Man Law??

RE: Help! My workbench isn't level!?
 

Provided the corner braces aren't glued, backing out the screws may accelerate your "over time" re-leveling method.