Derek Harling writes:
>
>
> Having just fitted out my third workshop in 5 years I've been following
> this correspondence with interest.
> What I don't understand is why people want "heavy duty" benches so they
> can roll engines around on them. It is much cheaper and far far far far
> far better to put the extra money inan engine stand. Mine cost $29 way
> back (now about $39) and even this el cheapo still performs perfectly
> (of course I'm not rebuilding engines every week.)
If I were working on car engines or heavy bike engines I'd agree with you.
As it is, the bike engines I work on are light enough that I can
hoist them up to the workbench myself. I use the top of a large
Rubbermaid container as a work space. They're about 1.5'x2.5', which
is big enough for a bike engine. Upturned, the lip can contain
spills of any fluids remaining in the motor.
For non-engine operations, I spread old newspapers- provides a clean
absorbent surface. My old place had an 8' workbench I build with a
hunk of 1" plywood that was laft in a house I used to rent, 4x4 legs
and 2x4 braces. I left it in the last house I sold since the new house
has built-in benches.
> Also why do people want 16' long benches - unless they have several
> people in the shop (and working) at the same time. You just don't need
> that amount of space to WORK at. If you are like me (doubt it, though)
> you'll just end up using the surplus space for storage - and shelves do
> that much better.
I find that I often wind up with an engine (or two) disassembled on the
bench, and wanting to do something messy at the same time. Messy things
like cutting metal, grinding on something held in the vice, etc.
I like to keep this activity away from open engines- even when they're
carefully covered there's a danger of getting shavings etc into the motor.
In my current garage I've assigned areas of the workbench and work
area to 'neat' and 'messy' activities- the vice is on the messy end of the
workbench, next to it is the bench grinder and drill press.
The workbench is 12' in an 'L' shape. If I had 16' I'd be happier.
When I build a dedicated shop I'll have much more work space, like
two 12' benches. I like having space to spread stuff out on, and I also
tend to accumulate stuff on the workbenches, so I think the answer is
more bench space.
> You don't have to agree with me, of course.
Of course. And you need to arrange your work area to suit what
you work on and how you work.
BTW, it might be of interest to many of you, there's a great book on
workspace issues: "How to set up your motrocycle workshop" by C. G. Masi
(Whitehorse Press, ISBN 1-884313-04-3).
It's got a lot of good info about lighting, figuring out how you work
and how to arrange things (work areas, power, air, etc. There's also a
number of examples (with neat architectural-type floorplan diagrams) of
shops, from simple 1-car-garage home shops to a small race shop.
--
Eric Murray Chief Security Scientist N*Able Technologies www.nabletech.com
(email: ericm at lne.com or nabletech.com) PGP keyid:E03F65E5
|