Fold down smallish work bench

[Lionelgee]

Hello All,

Has anyone come across a good design for a small fold down workbench that could be fixed to the inside of a shipping container? Or a small fold down workbench that could easily be adapted for use in a shipping container?

'Small', as in approximately 1000 mm long by 500 mm wide.

Now that the summer here in sunny Queensland is over ... I have been spending weekends in a shipping container working on various motors. With this increased usage I am missing having a bench that things like spanner rolls can be spread out on or steel boxes with different hex impact sockets. I have a Bunnings plastic fold-up table that I put outside. It works okay. The fold-up Bunnings table takes up way too much room inside the shipping container. However, every time I want to get a tool it means stepping in and out of the container. The main disadvantage of the outside table is that instead of being able to just close and lock the doors - it means everything on the table has to be retrieved and temporarily stored and locked away. Then all unpacked again outside when I return.

I am starting to think a fold down bench might be a very useful thing to have. The good part about a fold down bench is once the work is over the bench can be folded up and access to the rest of the shipping container is not blocked.

I have found a couple of examples on youtube after typing in fold down bench shipping container or just fold down bench. I cannot say that I have been overly inspired by some of the designs I have seen so far. I will keep looking though. The more common materials seem to be a ply top and pine frames and legs. To reduce this bulkiness steel hollow section framing and legs would be okay.

Some designs have the legs attached to the bench and fold out to stabilise the bench. Others have the bench-top hinged to the wall. While the leg frames are stored against a wall. When they are needed, the legs are swung out away from the wall put into position. The bench-top is lowed down to sit on top of the legs.

So ... please share your experience with smallish 1000 mm long by 500 mm wide fold down benches... thank you.

Kind regards
Lionel

[pop058]

Fabricate one to suit your needs

[rovers4]

I'm down in southern Tassie and I have something similar to what you want.

A wall mounted steel box approx 850 wide by 500 high, about 120mm deep. Open at front, fitted with a few shelves. A drop down steel front that is hinged at the outer corners with the hinges preventing the front from dropping past 90 degrees, i.e. level.
The inside surface of the front is coated to provide a work surface. All commercially made but I have yet to find any branding. A deep brown finish.

Sorry, but at present some sixty or so km away from it. So no photos.

I would be loathe to put more than a kilo or two load on the opened lid/bench.

When it goes into use I'll fit it with a couple of light chains that would allow ten kilos.

So from that, get yourself a suitable shallow tray box, or make one, fit a shelf or two, a drop down lid with chains and you are done.

For your work I suggest 250mm deep, 900mm wide by 750mm high, with a fitted internal top brace to take the load and transfer it to the wall. Pin through the sides into this brace. A rail underneath too. A form ply front.

Good luck.

[Lionelgee]

Fabricate one to suit your needs

Hello Paul,

Thank you for the reply Paul. I intend to fabricate one that will hopefully suit my needs. I am currently casting the net to identify different designs after not being quite happy with the ones shown on YouTube. Attempting to establish the pros and cons of different designs and even combining the best features of some to add to the final product. Scouting the field to be able to track something down. What was it that someone said to me earlier this week ... "Time spent on reconnaissance is seldom wasted!"

One idea I am toying with is to adapt whatever design I settle for to include an offset from the wall. This will allow a peg or shadow board to be fixed against the container wall. This means that the vertical space is not wasted. At the same time the design still has the flexibility of the fold down bench top.

Kind regards
Lionel

[Lionelgee]

Hello All,

A quick postscript to my earlier email ... the saying that I was told earlier this week by a work colleague 'Time spent in reconnaissance is seldom wasted' was originally attributed to Field Marshall Erwin Rommel ... Accessed 2nd July 2023 from, Engineer Reconnaissance within a Mechanised Squadron in 2030 | The Cove (https://cove.army.gov.au/article/engineer-reconnaissance-within-mechanised-squadron-2030)

Well, that is about it for me today. I have another session in the shipping container planned for tomorrow and possibly Sunday. More opportunity to figure out areas that need to be kept clear for easy access - or no go storage areas. Subsequently - areas while I am working on an engine that could be better utilised as a temporary workspace. If something sticks out from the wall this far ... am I going to be constantly shoulder-charging or tripping over things lower to the floor when I walk around the engine or try to get access to the back of the container.... ????

Mixing reconnaissance with applied practice. The best way to plan.

Kind regards
Lionel

[Don 130]

Lionel, do you remember a drop leaf table? Make one like that. it would fold away almost completely flat. Use bolts and nuts instead of screws for the hinges. Make sure there's clearance for the hinges to fold.

Don.

[Lionelgee]

Lionel, do you remember a drop leaf table? Make one like that. it would fold away almost completely flat. Use bolts and nuts instead of screws for the hinges. Make sure there's clearance for the hinges to fold.

Don.

Hello Don,

A drop leaf table... wow that goes back! I can feel a vague stirring of memory. I will need to explore it more tomorrow. Thank you for your suggestion.

Kind regards
Lionel

[Lionelgee]

Hello Rovers 4,

Thank you for posting your idea about the box shaped option with a fold down door. I am making a power tool charging station and shelves in my shed. I got the idea from King's Fine Woodworking on youtube who has a clip called 08 - How to Build a Cordless Drill Shelf and Charging Station to hang on french cleats Accessed 28th May 2023 08 - How to Build a Cordless Drill Shelf and Charging Station to hang on french cleats - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwhVa3_Ja2U)

I am going to adapt part of the design to include a heavy shelf to put a couple of N70 batteries on. I will still use the bulk of the King's design for the cordless tools battery charging. I was also thinking using a similar idea to the one you described. Have one shelf area featuring a drop down front so it could provide some temporary bench space. Either using some chains to hold it or something like a pair of drop-down pivot arms - like in the photograph - accessed from, Drop Down Pivot Arm - Indaux | Nover Online Store (https://www.nover.com.au/drop-down-pivot-arm-indaux).

My only concern is how far up the N70 battery charging shelf area to enclose with the drop-down door. Being enclosed could restrict airflow. Whether or not even with sealed N70s a good airflow should be maintained while charging - including trickle or maintenance charging. I suppose I could just make sure that only part of the N70 shelf is covered by the drop-down door. This shelf would be at standard kitchen bench height to allow ease of access while lifting heavy batteries. I could locate the N70 shelf either higher or lower - it would make lifting the batteries more difficult though. Just for a bit of extra security I will make the N70 shelf out of form ply because it has a resistant coating. All the rest of the unit will be 17 mm structural ply.

Instead of just using off-cuts of ply to secure the N70 shelf I will get some angle iron from the scrap metal dealer and use cup-head bolts secure the angle iron to the sides and back of the unit. I am going to build the rest of the unit over the next couple of days. I will come back to the N70 shelf and the possible drop-down door in a couple of weeks time. More time to ponder about the arrangement and features of the N70 shelf.

I am also following King's basic CAD drawing tutorials for Sketch-up. Either I missed a video or they skipped it - however I have not found where they set up the feature for a ply sheet. I did find it described on another person's youtube channel though. Anyway - it is a task for tomorrow and I will sign off for the night.

Thank you Rovers 4 for posting!


Kind regards
Lionel

[AK83]

Hi Lionel.
Planter hooks are handy for 'storing' cordless tools ...

185616

I have a lot of them, most hanging from the wall, but these hang in 'mid air' over the workbench.
Obviously need to be a certain height to avoid head banging situation, but very handy to have them 'right there'!

Very cheap, batteries are either on the charger or stored on the shelves on the right ... or on the tool.

The ones shown are cheap-ish at Bunnings, IIRC about 1-2 bucks or so. Found in the garden section where they have hanging planter doodads.

For some stuff, like the large AEG line trimmer, or rolls of extension leads and air hoses, larger squared off end basket hooks are also available, cost about mid $2 range too.

[Lionelgee]

Hi Lionel.
Planter hooks are handy for 'storing' cordless tools ...

185616

I have a lot of them, most hanging from the wall, but these hang in 'mid air' over the workbench.
Obviously need to be a certain height to avoid head banging situation, but very handy to have them 'right there'!

Very cheap, batteries are either on the charger or stored on the shelves on the right ... or on the tool.

The ones shown are cheap-ish at Bunnings, IIRC about 1-2 bucks or so. Found in the garden section where they have hanging planter doodads.

For some stuff, like the large AEG line trimmer, or rolls of extension leads and air hoses, larger squared off end basket hooks are also available, cost about mid $2 range too.


Hello Arthur,

Thank you for the tip about the plant hangers. I know that Ryobi are a popular brand and that they are readily available from Bunnings. It is just that I have the exact same selection of tools in my shed that in your photograph.

Kind regards
Lionel

[AK83]

The shelf they hang off is just a strip of 50x50 angle set between the wall battens and a couple of boards laid on top. Initially I had the idea to use some MDF or pine or malamine strips(off cuts and leftovers) and screw pieces up under the angle strip to slot the tools(without batteries) into, still hanging upside down. The hook idea was just temporary. But I really use the tools with batteries, and so the main tools used(impact driver and drill) pretty much always have the batteries connected, so the timber(ish) strip idea fell so far beside the wayside, it's not even an option any more. I like the freestyle hanging method, as the tool is always there battery in place and ready to go.

Yeah, I'm overall happy with the Ryobi stuff, not the No1 in many instances, but not a priority for me .. price, price and price are!
All my Ryobis are pretty much nearing 10yo status now, my first drill was more than and I killed it massively trying to drill out a slot .. for too long. That it lasted as long as it did was good, I hacked it with some D2 parts to hold it together again once I broke it neck, and it lasted a while, but by the same token it really was time to update the old banger with a more powerful update(brushless type) .. maybe back in '19 now.

I have a couple of newer(maybe 4-5 year old) batteries when I built my shed, but most of the batteries are well over 10year old and still chugging along fine(for my use).

[Lionelgee]

G'day Arthur,

My first Ryobi was the angle grinder. I thought it would be a good test to see how long the battery life was - also how fast and strong the tool was. I was surprised how well it went overall. So the initial purchase was followed up by some more of the grinder's stable mates coming onto the scene. One of the purchases was Series Land Rover related too. I could not reach a very - very rusted on nut and bolt with the angle grinder. So, a reciprocating saw was required. It did a good job too.

The Ryobi's are just a handy tool to grab and they do an okay job of completing their allocated tasks.

Kind regards
Lionel

[workingonit]

...small fold down workbench that could easily be adapted for use in a shipping container? 'Small', as in approximately 1000 mm long by 500 mm wide...Lionel

Modify the top of a collapsible ironing board? Plenty of height adjustment. Would envisage 4 raised sides so stuff don't roll off. If working outside, and not overloaded, then easy to picky up whole kit and caboodle into the container and out again the next day. Put 4 wheels on it and when collapsed slide it under the car to hold your tools. My guess, 'dime a dozen' at the dump shop.

...I bear no responsibility for the outcomes of your attempts to make my dreams reality [biggrin]