I am overhauling my shop this winter and putting everything on locking
casters. I'd like to have the table saw, router table, workbench, and
auxiliary tables at the same height so I can use them all for sheet
goods support. My bench is about 3 inches higher than the table saw
right now. Any suggestions as to 'perfect' height you like for the
saw/bench? Any concerns for table saw being a bit higher than the
standard stand height?
Thanks,
Rob
Rob,
Franck Klaus (FWW contributor) used to recommend a bench height that was the
same as the distance from the floor to your wrists when you are standing
straight and have your arms tight to your sides and your palms outstreached
parallel with the floor. This is the optimum height for power strokes with
a plane. However, you might want a higher bench if you do more detailed
work. There is an article in the current FWW Tools and Shops magazine that
talks about bench height.
Another thing to consider is, as you say, using the bench double duty as a
large sheet goods support. First, purchase a 50cm roller that you mount to
an MDF base. You select the bench height so that the roller, when clamped to
the bench, is at the same height as the saw table (i.e. bench height +
roller height = saw table height). When you want to rip sheet goods or long
boards, fasten the roller to the bench with a clamp and position the bench
behind the saw. The roller acts as an outfeed support for the work.
"rob" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> IAny concerns for table saw being a bit higher than the
> standard stand height?
>
> Thanks,
> Rob
Best way to get the height of a workbench right for you is to stick your
thumbs in your pants pockets and put your palms flat. Have someone measure
up from the floor to the bottom of your hand and that should be the height
of the benchtop. It'll position all your benchtop work down and in front of
you and give you a good position to use a plane and other hand/power tools.
"Jerry Gilreath" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:dt4Ab.33216$_M.140644@attbi_s54...
> Well, I'm sure others will agree with me, there is no *perfect* height. If
> I'm "vertically challenged" I couldn't be comfortable working on Michael
> Jordan's workbench. Or vice-versa. Whatever is a comfortable height for
you
> would be *perfect* for you, not necessarily true for your neighbor. Like
> another thread some where hereabouts, a perfect temperature for me is 80
> degrees f., not so true for my son in law. His is about 65. So, as with
> snowflakes, no 2 people are exactly alike. The only thing is, I would
> definitely make the bench on the outfeed side of the table saw the same
> height as the saw with a routed groove to match the miter slot so it can
be
> used as support for long ripped pieces. Hope this helps, JMHO.
>
>
> --
> This space for rent.
> Jerry© The Phoneman®
> "rob" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > I am overhauling my shop this winter and putting everything on locking
> > casters. I'd like to have the table saw, router table, workbench, and
> > auxiliary tables at the same height so I can use them all for sheet
> > goods support. My bench is about 3 inches higher than the table saw
> > right now. Any suggestions as to 'perfect' height you like for the
> > saw/bench? Any concerns for table saw being a bit higher than the
> > standard stand height?
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Rob
>
>
Fri, Dec 5, 2003, 3:35pm [email protected] (Harvey=A0Levin) claims:
Best way to get the height of a workbench right for you is to stick your
thumbs in your pants pockets and put your palms flat. Have someone
measure up from the floor to the bottom of your hand and that should be
the height of the benchtop. <snip>
Than that would mean my mother is buying my pants, and she expects
me to wear them up somewhere near my armpits.
In other words, I'm much more comfortable with a work surface
higher than your method would propose.
JOAT
I love cats, but I can never eat a whole one.
- John Wamsley
Life just ain't life without good music. - JOAT
Web Page Update 4 Dec 2003.
Some tunes I like.
http://community-2.webtv.net/Jakofalltrades/SOMETUNESILIKE/
T. wrote:
> In other words, I'm much more comfortable with a work surface
> higher than your method would propose.
I was thinking the same, actually. Too much snow on the ground to go out in
my skivvies and test it, but I'd say my workbench is six inches to a foot
taller than that method would suggest, and it's a good, comfortable height.
I wish my table saw were that height, and I've been thinking about jacking
it up a bit.
--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan <[email protected]>
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/
Sat, Dec 6, 2003, 12:35am [email protected] (Silvan) says:
<snip> I wish my table saw were that height, and I've been thinking
about jacking it up a bit.
I originally had my saw way high, made the stand too tall. But
took about 8" out of the top, and it's about right now. And, still,
maybe 8", or more, higher than the thumb/pocket method.
Router table and scrollsaw waaay lower than that. But I sit to use
both of those. But, if they were set to work standing, they'd both be
high, according to the thumb/pocket method. But, both very comfortable
for me to use.
My bench drill press is higher yet, and still comfortable for me.
The wood lathe now, that's a tad lower, but still, I think, some
inches over what would be considered "standard" for my height - 5'7" -
but still comfortable.
The bandsaw is too high. The old one wore out, and I put the new
one in its place. But the new one's table is several inchs higher than
the old one, making it a bit awkward to use. Still haven't figured out
a reasonable way of lowering it, as it's mounted on a shelf, directly
abive the router table, which is mounted on the next shelf down. If I
lower it enough, that will interfere with using the router table. Don't
know where I can move it, and still have good access to it. A puzzle,
for now.
JOAT
Where the choice is between only violence and cowardice, I would advise
violence.
- Mohandas Gandh
Life just ain't life without good music. - JOAT
Web Page Update 6 Dec 2003.
Some tunes I like.
http://community-2.webtv.net/Jakofalltrades/SOMETUNESILIKE/
Silvan <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
Consider this idea. http://members.cox.net/jfrantz/shopweb/flip_stand.htm
>
> What I need is something like a sewing table where the machine flips
> underneath when not in use. Except instead of working like that, I have
> the router table on one side, and the belt sander on the other. Just flip
> the one I need to use up.
On Sat, 06 Dec 2003 15:49:22 -0500, Silvan
<[email protected]> wrote:
>What I need is something like a sewing table where the machine flips
>underneath when not in use. Except instead of working like that, I have
>the router table on one side, and the belt sander on the other. Just flip
>the one I need to use up.
Every woodworking magazine in North America seems to publish plans for
these types of tables on a regular basis. Usually, they are designed
for devices that are mounted to the top of the table, as the table
itself isn't more than 1.5-2" thick..
A three-way table, with a triangular box insert, would house a router
table
Barry
T. wrote:
> lower it enough, that will interfere with using the router table. Don't
> know where I can move it, and still have good access to it. A puzzle,
> for now.
Sounds like me trying to figure out just exactly where I'm going to put my
lathe when I get it. It's time to start thinking vertically maybe. Build
it into a shelf anchored to the roof (it's a low roof, and starts sloping
only 4' off the ground) and build a big, wide riser block to stand on while
I turn. Maybe. Dunno.
What I need is something like a sewing table where the machine flips
underneath when not in use. Except instead of working like that, I have
the router table on one side, and the belt sander on the other. Just flip
the one I need to use up.
Except even at that, I still ain't got no place to put the damn thing.
Sigh.
--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan <[email protected]>
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/
Sat, Dec 6, 2003, 3:49pm [email protected] (Silvan) says:
<snip> router table on one side, and the belt sander on the other.
<snip>
Pretty sure it was Sears, used to sell something along those lines,
except it held three tools. Not fantastically hard to make something
like that. I posted something on that type of thing awhile back. Not
sure, I think it was pictures.
Think it was Popular Mechanics had an article on making a work
station. Tools used octagon bases, which fit into an octagon hollow
(that's all I could think of), and I believe were held in places with
bolts and wingnuts. Swap any amount of tools that way, sander, router,
etc.
You've got a bigger shop than me, and I've got a 37" between
centers lathe. Should be no prob for a mini. Plus the kid takes up
about the first 2-3 feet at the doors. So, I wind up with about 8X9
usuble feet. Beats nothing.
Read a piece, someewhere, about a guy making a sewing maching type
thing for a lathe in a workbench. Worked just fine. Had the workbench,
for when he wasn't using the lathe. Hell, a mini, you can just take
that into the house.
JOAT
Where the choice is between only violence and cowardice, I would advise
violence.
- Mohandas Gandhi
Life just ain't life without good music. - JOAT
Web Page Update 6 Dec 2003.
Some tunes I like.
http://community-2.webtv.net/Jakofalltrades/SOMETUNESILIKE/
T. wrote:
> (that's all I could think of), and I believe were held in places with
> bolts and wingnuts. Swap any amount of tools that way, sander, router,
> etc.
I'm thinking of a leave it in place kind of thing, so the stand becomes its
own storage for the machine I'm not using. I really don't have anywhere to
stick stuff out of the way, even if I just had one stand and swapped things
on and off of it.
OTOH, if I really built a rotating gizmo, I'd have to have enough clearance
for it to work, so it's probably moot no matter what.
> You've got a bigger shop than me, and I've got a 37" between
> centers lathe. Should be no prob for a mini.
Its footprint is about 1' x 3' IIRC, even though it's only 14" between
centers. That's a big hunk of space. I may have the measurements wrong
here and now, but I measured it when it came in, and then played around in
the shop. I have some real thinking to do.
It's not so much the space taken up by the other machines, but the space
they need around them to be useful. The horizontal bandsaw has to be 3'
from the wall, for example, because that's how long my extended stop rod
is, and I cut material to that length from time to time. That bit of
awkwardness right there takes a big chunk out of my usable space. I have a
scrap box over in that corner.
Maybe turn the saw around, put it near the door, and let the rod poke out.
Put a thumb screw on it instead of the Allen set screw. But then I'd have
a big, expensive piece of cast iron on the side of the shop most likely to
get wet in a horizontal rain. The doors don't seal well, and can't really
be remedied any better than they already have been.
> about the first 2-3 feet at the doors. So, I wind up with about 8X9
> usuble feet. Beats nothing.
Anything is better than nothing. :)
> Read a piece, someewhere, about a guy making a sewing maching type
> thing for a lathe in a workbench. Worked just fine. Had the workbench,
I was thinking about that too, but after my workbench makeover, that would
be much harder to do now. I really use my workbench a lot now. It eats by
far more space than anything else in my shop, but it's worth every square
foot. Good for planing, good for chiseling, good for hand sawing, good for
holding long boards while I cut them to rough length, and good for clamping
glue-ups. I love not having to dick around with all those pipe clamps
anymore, and I love not having to rig up some impromptu saw horses to go do
the rough length cutting out in the yard.
> for when he wasn't using the lathe. Hell, a mini, you can just take
> that into the house.
Yeah, I can't help looking at my gigantic 3' x 5' oak desk and thinking how
great it would be to use that as an assembly table. The lathe would sit on
it just fine.
If I could *really* control dust, I could move my shop out here. It's
basically my room, and I waste most of it. There's a chair in the corner
no one has ever sat in. A chair for my dog. An odd nook full of odd sets
of drawers to hold SWMBO's craft stuff. Built in bookshelves all along one
wall.
Up until this year, we've kept most of the space behind me open to put the
tree out here, but this year I prevailed upon SWMBO to stop doing that.
Now that our road terminates in a 30' high concrete wall, nobody ever
drives by to see the thing anyway.
I have a closet full of model railroad stuff for the layout I never built,
and I have it in the back of my head to build a layout out here now that
the space is liberated, but that would be so expensive. If I build it,
I'll want DCC, and I'll have to put decoders in all my locomotives. I'll
want to upgrade all my rolling stock to the new #58 couplers. I'll want
tons of really nice scenery. I really can't afford to do it right, and I
don't want to do it half assed, so I'd be just as well off to wait until
one of the kids moves out, and then I get me a train room.
So how about that. What if I put the shop out here in the den? Dust is the
thing. I would need *excellent* dust control for every tool.
Otherwise, it might be ideal. I wouldn't miss that damn chair, and nobody
says you can't have pictures and stuff on the wall of a shop. I'd have
sunlight, air conditioning, central heat plus a supplemental gas heater, a
nice wide sliding glass door. Really close to the panel, and I could do
any additional wiring as ceiling drop-downs *very* easily.
So why does the idea of putting my shop out here in the den, with my nice
blue indoor/outdoor carpet feel like something that would make SWMBO want
to cut my penis off?
I think somehow she would prefer for me to build a bigger building some day,
and keep my shop detached from the house.
But maybe I'll think about this anyway. Workbench along the back side of
the chimney. Big ass desk as an assembly table, after I swipe all the
usless crap off of it. It really is just a junk collector. Bunch of
rocks, some Star Wars Lego kits, a binding machine, and a big stack of
papers I need to look at one day.
Get rid of the chair. DP goes there. Put the filing cabinet under the
desk, since I never sit at it anyway, and don't need the leg hole. Put the
lathe in that hole, right beside the freezer. Table saw in the middle of
the room. Metal-cutting bandsaw out near the door.
Hell yeah, this would work! Noise is not a big problem because this room
used to be a car port. There's a lot of insulation between here and the
living room. I could stuff some into that weird hole...
Oh, if only SWMBO wouldn't want to cut my penis off.
--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan <[email protected]>
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/
Sun, Dec 7, 2003, 2:08am [email protected] (Silvan) who
obviously doesn't talk to his wife enough:
<snip> (oops, maybe that was not a very fitting word - LMAO) Oh, if only
SWMBO wouldn't want to cut my penis off.
You might want to discuss this with her, and get her thoughts on
the matter.
Just make sure all the knives in your house are sharp, I understand
it hurts less that way.
We used to call that procedure a Thai haircut. This was long
before wasername Bobbit tried it. Lady in Bangkok, tired of her husband
messing around, cut it clean off, while he was sleeping. Then she put
it in a paper bag, and took the bus to northern Thailand. That hit the
papers big time, and not long after that there was a whole rash of Thai
haircuts. Including one or two that used a dull knife. Don't ever
listen to any idiot who tells you all Oriental women are meek and mild.
I guess one answer is plastic, not paper, and make sure she doesn't
have bus fare. LMAO
JOAT
Where the choice is between only violence and cowardice, I would advise
violence.
- Mohandas Gandhi
Life just ain't life without good music. - JOAT
Web Page Update 6 Dec 2003.
Some tunes I like.
http://community-2.webtv.net/Jakofalltrades/SOMETUNESILIKE/
T. wrote:
> obviously doesn't talk to his wife enough:
Heh... She's always sleeping.
> You might want to discuss this with her, and get her thoughts on
> the matter.
I fear for Mr. Willy though. Lorena is her hero. Dare I even to suggest
such a thing? It might go over better if I told her I was cheating on
her... It might go over better if I *were* cheating on her. I have a
feeling this suggestion will not be well-received.
> We used to call that procedure a Thai haircut. This was long
> haircuts. Including one or two that used a dull knife. Don't ever
> listen to any idiot who tells you all Oriental women are meek and mild.
I'll try to remember that! Ouch!
> I guess one answer is plastic, not paper, and make sure she doesn't
> have bus fare. LMAO
Or titanium underwear. Maybe I should get a chastity belt for myself. :)
--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan <[email protected]>
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/
Sun, Dec 7, 2003, 12:49pm [email protected] (Silvan)
claims:
<snip> Maybe I should get a chastity belt for myself. :)
Google.
JOAT
Where the choice is between only violence and cowardice, I would advise
violence.
- Mohandas Gandhi
Life just ain't life without good music. - JOAT
Web Page Update 6 Dec 2003.
Some tunes I like.
http://community-2.webtv.net/Jakofalltrades/SOMETUNESILIKE/
Well, I'm sure others will agree with me, there is no *perfect* height. If
I'm "vertically challenged" I couldn't be comfortable working on Michael
Jordan's workbench. Or vice-versa. Whatever is a comfortable height for you
would be *perfect* for you, not necessarily true for your neighbor. Like
another thread some where hereabouts, a perfect temperature for me is 80
degrees f., not so true for my son in law. His is about 65. So, as with
snowflakes, no 2 people are exactly alike. The only thing is, I would
definitely make the bench on the outfeed side of the table saw the same
height as the saw with a routed groove to match the miter slot so it can be
used as support for long ripped pieces. Hope this helps, JMHO.
--
This space for rent.
Jerry© The Phoneman®
"rob" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I am overhauling my shop this winter and putting everything on locking
> casters. I'd like to have the table saw, router table, workbench, and
> auxiliary tables at the same height so I can use them all for sheet
> goods support. My bench is about 3 inches higher than the table saw
> right now. Any suggestions as to 'perfect' height you like for the
> saw/bench? Any concerns for table saw being a bit higher than the
> standard stand height?
>
> Thanks,
> Rob
Rob,
Fine Woodworking Magazine had an article recently (maybe the current
issue) about ergonomics in the workshop. It's the issue with a guy
finishing a workbench on the front. Very informative article which
explains why you need to work at different heights for different
tasks.
DonkeyHody
Even an old blind hog finds an acorn every now and then.
[email protected] (rob) wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> I am overhauling my shop this winter and putting everything on locking
> casters. I'd like to have the table saw, router table, workbench, and
> auxiliary tables at the same height so I can use them all for sheet
> goods support. My bench is about 3 inches higher than the table saw
> right now. Any suggestions as to 'perfect' height you like for the
> saw/bench? Any concerns for table saw being a bit higher than the
> standard stand height?
>
> Thanks,
> Rob
On 5 Dec 2003 05:46:11 -0800, [email protected] (rob) wrote:
> Any suggestions as to 'perfect' height you like for the
>saw/bench?
How tall are you?
Barry