onocoffee
Member
Thought I'd follow up now that the workbench mods have been mostly completed. The only detail left is to add chops to the cast iron vise, and a sliding deadman that I've had to rethink the approach with the depth of the MFT/3 Rails.
The bench started off in 1998 when I made it out of 2x4, 4x4 and 3/4" ply from Home Depot. Two summers ago, I re-leveled the top, bored a bunch of dog holes and installed some t-track and miter track in anticipation of a planned router lift.
I took the advice, bit the bullet, unloaded the bench and turned it over to properly mount the vise. I replaced the original casters with new double-locking casters, which should give me good holding ability. I know some suggested lifting feet but I'm really not a fan of those. I can live with a slight amount of drag during hand planing in lieu of ease of mobility the rest of the time.
Wanted to add MFT functionality and ordered a couple of MFT/3 rails and mounted them to the sides. Since I had never used an MFT table before, I really wasn't aware of how the rail hinge works and had thought it would mount to the other end. Now, it's very close to the vise, but it seems to work. Also the 4' depth of the table is a bit inconvenient to raising and lowering the rail. On the parallel side, I had installed a dovetrack track panel made from white oak last year and updated it with centered dog holes (20mm), and then routed a channel on the side of the plywood top to mount a t-track. This was needed to mount a 3D printed rail support because it wasn't tall enough when mounted in the dovetail tracks.
Built open cabinets to mount under the worktop. Because of the MFT grid, I wanted to leave the cabinets open top and bottom so that debris, sawdust etc could readily fall to the floor in those places that would be difficult to clean if the cabinets had tops and bottoms. The three section was sized with 148mm spacing while the double cabinet has 427mm spacing. The three section was originally designed to fit SYS-PRO RAILS but since they didn't slide out to access the contents, I switched to 14" sliders which clear the worktop.
For me, that was an essential requirement. I wanted accessibility without having to pull the Systainer, set it somewhere and then access the contents. I positioned my most used tools in the three comp: ETS EC 150/3, ETS 150/5, RO150 FQ and the DF500. The other side has the TS 55 FEQ and TS 55 EQ. The ends have hanging clamp storage and S 76 clamp storage, as well as the CT 22.
Most of you know that those of CTs are ticking time bombs when it comes to their plastic shells. The wheel popped off this one a couple months ago, so I decided to stick it under the bench and mount the CT ASA Boom Arm to the workbench. It seems to have good reach and should work pretty well. Was thinking about mounting the MIDI and the CT-VA-20 instead but I kinda like it being mobile.
Like I said, just a couple more items to tidy up but the major mods are done. Thanks for your thoughts and advice in the various threads. I appreciate it!
The bench started off in 1998 when I made it out of 2x4, 4x4 and 3/4" ply from Home Depot. Two summers ago, I re-leveled the top, bored a bunch of dog holes and installed some t-track and miter track in anticipation of a planned router lift.
I took the advice, bit the bullet, unloaded the bench and turned it over to properly mount the vise. I replaced the original casters with new double-locking casters, which should give me good holding ability. I know some suggested lifting feet but I'm really not a fan of those. I can live with a slight amount of drag during hand planing in lieu of ease of mobility the rest of the time.
Wanted to add MFT functionality and ordered a couple of MFT/3 rails and mounted them to the sides. Since I had never used an MFT table before, I really wasn't aware of how the rail hinge works and had thought it would mount to the other end. Now, it's very close to the vise, but it seems to work. Also the 4' depth of the table is a bit inconvenient to raising and lowering the rail. On the parallel side, I had installed a dovetrack track panel made from white oak last year and updated it with centered dog holes (20mm), and then routed a channel on the side of the plywood top to mount a t-track. This was needed to mount a 3D printed rail support because it wasn't tall enough when mounted in the dovetail tracks.
Built open cabinets to mount under the worktop. Because of the MFT grid, I wanted to leave the cabinets open top and bottom so that debris, sawdust etc could readily fall to the floor in those places that would be difficult to clean if the cabinets had tops and bottoms. The three section was sized with 148mm spacing while the double cabinet has 427mm spacing. The three section was originally designed to fit SYS-PRO RAILS but since they didn't slide out to access the contents, I switched to 14" sliders which clear the worktop.
For me, that was an essential requirement. I wanted accessibility without having to pull the Systainer, set it somewhere and then access the contents. I positioned my most used tools in the three comp: ETS EC 150/3, ETS 150/5, RO150 FQ and the DF500. The other side has the TS 55 FEQ and TS 55 EQ. The ends have hanging clamp storage and S 76 clamp storage, as well as the CT 22.
Most of you know that those of CTs are ticking time bombs when it comes to their plastic shells. The wheel popped off this one a couple months ago, so I decided to stick it under the bench and mount the CT ASA Boom Arm to the workbench. It seems to have good reach and should work pretty well. Was thinking about mounting the MIDI and the CT-VA-20 instead but I kinda like it being mobile.
Like I said, just a couple more items to tidy up but the major mods are done. Thanks for your thoughts and advice in the various threads. I appreciate it!
