# Adjustable Bench Update



## tomp913 (Mar 7, 2014)

I was cleaning up my "Pictures" folders and came across these of the completed workbench - at least until I get another idea, maybe a different top? Easy enough to do as it's just screwed on from the bottom.

I made a cabinet to go in the opening on both sides of the lower section. The depth of the drawers was limited by the distance back to the scissor jack, but it gives me 6 drawers deep enough to hold all the little odds and ends that collect around the bench - tapes, pencils, utility knives, drill bits, etc. and has turned out to be very handy. Of course, it would be better if the bench was bigger but that's all the space I have.

The cabinet boxes and drawer fronts are Sande plywood from HD, the drawer parts are 1/2" luan plywood. I did go ahead and glue 3/16" oak strips on the edges of the drawers to protects them from dings and me from splinters.


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

sweet...


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## old55 (Aug 11, 2013)

Very nice job, thanks.


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## Shop guy (Nov 22, 2012)

Nice


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

Great job and idea, always can use more storage.
Herb


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

Good design and build there Tom . That's going to come in very handy


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## Roy Drake (Feb 10, 2014)

Well thought out and nicely built.


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

Tom, on the cabinet that holds the drawers , do you use glue to , or just pocket hole screws ?
I have to start using pocket holes more often . Normally I dado in a rabbet joint , but I'm liking the pocket holes every bit as much, and it's less work with less things to go wrong


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## tomp913 (Mar 7, 2014)

@RainMan 2.0

Rick,

I pretty much always use glue as well as the pocket screws but that's just me. For single small to medium cabinets, I think it's way quicker and easier, particularly if you're working by yourself. If I was making a bunch of cabinets, say a complete kitchen, I'd probably go with dadoes - once you have the parts cut out, it's way quicker to get set up and do all the rabbets and dadoes at one time.

I watch videos of people using pocket screws and just holding the two pieces by hand while they drive the screws but that doesn't work for me, the part always move - and in the direction of the screws. What I wind up doing is clamping a stop to the one part, butting the other up to it and driving the screws - this assures that the part is in the correct location and doesn't move. See the photos below for examples where I'm doing this; in the first photo, you can see the block clamped to the cabinet side and being used to locate the stretcher, and the glue squeezing out of the side of the joint. As much as I work like that, you'd think that I'd put a stop on the block to make it easier to line up.

One thing I found, and everyone is different, but I feel more comfortable setting the clutch on my driver relatively low and use a slow speed to drive the screws - this to prevent spinning them in the plywood. I then take a couple of minutes to double check the screws, hand tightening with a screwdriver if necessary - you can see the screwdriver in the last photo, although I've switched over to the Kobalt ratcheting driver sold by Lowes as it fits my hand better - but most of the screws are fine using the driver as you can tell by feel when the screw is tight.

There are probably still occasions where I might still go with rabbets and dadoes, depending on the application, but the assembly gets a little trickier if the cabinet is large - and you're working by yourself. When it was the two of us, most of the cabinets were dadoed and stapled - end faces got a decorative panel (door) applied or were just clamped, but that took time waiting for the glue to dry and used up clamps. And I find that using my cutting grid as an assembly "table" works well as that gives room to get the clamps on the assembly.


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

Thanks for the post Tom . I like your idea of clamping a piece of wood to hold things in place when your putting the screws in . I'm finding that I have overtightened a few , so now I start with a drill , but finish with a screw driver . Gives me a better feel , but I'm sure seasoned pocket hole pros would scoff at my idea lol.

I assumed you used glue , but couldn't see any excess . I'm not to good with the glue ups yet


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## Knothead47 (Feb 10, 2010)

Nice! Never have too much storage. I learned to back up a piece when using pocket screws..the hard way. Thanks for sharing the story and photos.


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## MT Stringer (Aug 15, 2012)

Good idea on the block as a back up. I have done that more than once myself. Yeah, don't believe those videos. I think there may be some creative editing going on there.

Well, you got my attention. I went out and looked at my router table. I think I can do the same thing, maybe just on one side. With everything cramped up, I can't get to the other side anyway. Even one drawer would be helpful to hold the crank, hex key, Kreg insert wrench, collet wrenches, and a few other things. Thanks for giving me something else to do! :grin:


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## tomp913 (Mar 7, 2014)

RainMan 2.0 said:


> Thanks for the post Tom . I like your idea of clamping a piece of wood to hold things in place when your putting the screws in . I'm finding that I have overtightened a few , so now I start with a drill , but finish with a screw driver . Gives me a better feel , but I'm sure seasoned pocket hole pros would scoff at my idea lol.
> 
> I assumed you used glue , but couldn't see any excess . I'm not to good with the glue ups yet


One plus to using the stop block is that the part being joined can be set in place and located by the stop block so it doesn't spread glue all over the place.

I have (still) one of the original aluminum Kreg jigs, demonstrated by the inventor at the annual Woodworking Show here in Baltimore 25+ years ago and still going strong. Upgraded to one of the blue plastic ones a couple of years ago as it gave me the option to use on different thicknesses of wood. Thought it was one of the greatest inventions around at the time as we were still making face frames with dowels and clamping them up.

I use a corded drill-driver which seems to have a little more inertia than the battery ones so it's easy to spin the screw if you get heavy handed on the trigger - I'd have to look but think the clutch setting is around 10; with a soft trigger, you can feel the screw stop as it seats, sometimes before the clutch slips.


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## tomp913 (Mar 7, 2014)

MT Stringer said:


> Good idea on the block as a back up. I have done that more than once myself. Yeah, don't believe those videos. I think there may be some creative editing going on there.
> 
> Well, you got my attention. I went out and looked at my router table. I think I can do the same thing, maybe just on one side. With everything cramped up, I can't get to the other side anyway. Even one drawer would be helpful to hold the crank, hex key, Kreg insert wrench, collet wrenches, and a few other things. Thanks for giving me something else to do! :grin:


As I "stole" your design, I had a little time to look at the options, but always planned to put drawers underneath - as has been said, you can never have enough storage. I actually set up the stringers for the scissor jacks so they would provide support for the cabinets - they go across the frame rather than fore-and-aft like yours so they provide a platform for the cabinets. I went with the three shallow drawers on each side because the plan was to use them to keep all the little odds and ends handy to the work area. The legs overhang the 2x4 frame so I had to shorten the cabinet to suit and put spacer blocks on either side.


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