Beginner: Workbench with drawer storage

[yhprum]

I built this from Bunnings lumber.
New Workbench | LumberJocks Woodworking Forum

just finishing up adding ten drawers at this time.
On the right set of drawers I made the drawer sliders using inspiration for John Heisz (Ibuildit) on YouTube



IMG_1416.jpg

[rthorntn]

Thanks, I picked some of this up, what would be the best way to cut it and also should I just plonk it on top of the bench or affix it on some way, both of the sheets I got have a very slight bow in them but that may just correct itself if it's laid down flat.

This is 4.8mm and what we used to have on bench tops. Its a lot tougher than MDF.

Just a moment...

[GraemeCook]

think about a S/H solid house door, even 2 screwed/bolted together for a thick bench top.

I used a "temporary" bench top like that for over 20 years. Obviously worked surprisingly well.

Initially, I just rested the "door bench" on a pair of Workmates. Then I made a pair of tall saw horses.

[GraemeCook]

Hi Richard

It may be easier to do as Kuffy and I did, which is to fit a case with drawers below the bench, rather than build the drawers directly onto the frame of the bench.

Really good advice from Derek and Kuffy. Much easier to build the drawers as a separate cabinet, and they can always then be moved to the next work bench. Work benches are always a work-in-progress.

However, I do suggest that you do use full extension drawer runners so that you will have full visual access to the back of every drawer. Derek's look great, but full extension is more functional - sorry D.

[GraemeCook]

... I already have 10 pairs of drawer slides in the "spares bin", so I was thinking eight 125mm high drawers in two columns, with the bottom two drawers 250mm high ...

My drawers range in depth from 50 to 300 mm.

300 mm: I have nothing in the drawers that requires this depth. A circular saw is 220 mm high, so "just in case" perhaps a single drawer 250 mm deep would suffice, for me.

50 mm: These are ideal for most small tools - chisels, spanners, pliers, hammers. etc, for measuring and drawing instruments, and for small components such as screws, knobs, hinges, etc. Shallow depth makes things easy to find. I have three drawers this depth; want at least double that many.

Other depths: Not a lot of my stuff requires drawers deeper than 100 mm. So more shallower drawers and fewer deep one.

Recommendation: Suggest that you think very carefully about what you are going to put in the drawers and custom plan the depths accordingly.

Example: I put a Makita router in a bottom drawer because it was very heavy, and put the bits with the router. Really dumb idea because you cannot find router bits in a drawer 300 mm deep.