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mstens said:
I did ball bearing slides, and lots of small drawers.
<trick or treaters are killing my shop time tonight>
If I had to have drawers in my bench, I'd do as mike did. Shallow drawers are more suited to hand toolery if that's what you intend on keeping in them. Deeper drawers with trays are also an option, but probably not as convenient. I also second the notion of ball bearing glides.
The bench is really looking good with the top on it. I think I'd convert your old trestle to a sharpening station or maybe just another table for a DP or other benchtop tool.
Keep up the good work! You are making amazing progress.
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Crooked Tail said:
mpphoto: you said you already built the carcasses for your cabinets? What are you cabs going to be like? Drawers? Doors? Slides?
I don't have pics of the actual carcasses yet but here is the model. There are 3 cabs made of baltic birch ply. Everything is tongue and grooved together, glued and a few pockethole screws to hold it while the glue dried. Drawer at the top of each cab with ballbearing slides and large door underneath. This is going to have to hold a variety of things including tailed tools. The three cabs will be fastened to each other and the face frames will make it all look like one cabinet (I hope). I need storage space so I opted to make the cabs fill up the underside of the bench. There is a total of 3 to 4 inches of clearance on the benchtop so I won't be using traditional holdfasts. I'll be using a variety of Lee Valley goodies instead. The cabinets will sit on a plinth base 3" tall to allow me some toe clearance. Although I've designed the legs to be flush with the front of the bench I chose to recess the cabs for a little kneecap room.
I have 3 cabinets hanging above the bench exclusively for handtools. I'm just finishing up the third upper cabinet so pics will be coming soon. The bench will be backed into a corner (left) and I'm a lefty; thus the odd vise arrangement.
Michael
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Well, that's three votes already for ball bearing slides already. Do any of you guys have a link to show the kind of guides and where to get them?
Michael: That's a great looking model! A model / picture is worth a thousand words. I like the design of your cabinets. How are you going to do the back?
I'm leaning toward more drawers, though. I have mostly smallish things that need homes, like marking gauges, screw drivers, etc. Maybe a larger drawer or two for small planes like my 71 and 78, and a place to put the parts for them so I don't lose them.
Turning impaired.
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CT, I'm using
these full extension slides from LV. I've seen them at lots of places but since I get weekly LV deliveries...
The cabinets are closed in the back and the back of my bench will simply be one or two crossmembers connecting the "trestle" sides. When all the parts are assembled I hope to attach the bench frame to the cabinets to provide a lot of rigidity (or the most expensive pile of firewood on the east coast). I would have to agree that more drawers are better but I needed the cabinets to store larger items so I built overhead tool cabs for the bulk of my handtools. I had originally designed it with multiple rows of drawers and would have preferred that.
Michael
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Crooked Tail said:
Well, that's three votes already for ball bearing slides already. Do any of you guys have a link to show the kind of guides and where to get them?
Do an ebay search for GlideRite. Those are the slides I used on my bench. Those are the cheapest I have found. Watch the shipping rates. The buy it now shipping rates vary for the same items.
Kurt
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Hank Knight in SC said:
CT,
FWIW, Bob Z. and I are of a like mind. I built my bench cabinet with 2 banks of shallow drawers.
Hank, I see we agree on vise choices too... looks like a Record 53. Great looking bench, BTW!
CT, full extension ball bearing slides are the way to go if you can swing the added cost. You won't regret having them as they'll provide full access to your drawer interiors.
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I got my slides locally at a shop that caters to cabinetmakers (also where I buy some lumber). I think that the box of 10 pairs was $60.
mike
I ain't a Communist, necessarily, but I've been in the red all my life
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Thanks for all the feedback, everyone. I think I'm going to buy some slides from Lee Valley. My drawers are going to be fairly short, which means cheaper slides.
I've declared the main part of the bench finished, for better or for worse. I finished it with Watco Teak Oil. Unfortunately, it made the green / yellow color of the poplar stand out much more than I anticipated. Oh well. If it looks too bad, I can paint the base a more neutral color. I like the look of the werewolf's bench, but in my case, green wouldn't go with the color scheme.
The picture makes it look nicer than it is. You can see the uneven coloration in the top where I couldn't get it quite as smooth as the rest and/or have some tearout. At any rate, I got it pretty flat, using my new LV aluminum straight edge. I wish I would have bought one of those ealier!
Turning impaired.
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CT,
Very, very nice! A LOT more proportional and solid looking as well. I wouldn't worry about the green on the poplar.. the more daylight it gets the lighter it will become and eventually it'll turn a light brown to tan color. It probably won't even take a year.
