Thread: Fold down smallish work bench

Fabricate one to suit your needs

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.

Originally Posted by pop058

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

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

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

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.

Originally Posted by 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.

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

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

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.

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

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

20230603_085057.jpg

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.