sweet...
Adjustable Bench Update
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.
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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@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.
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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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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