# Live Steam Workbench



## afinegan (Jan 2, 2008)

I am in the process of looking to buy or build a workbench to build live steam engines on. It will need an area for a mini lathe and a mini mill and also an area for general assembly (for the machining, I am guessing the bench has to be very level and sturdy!). I have the entire side wall of a 2 car garage to build on.

If you were to rebuild your shop what would to put in it. Remember I am starting from scratch, I have very little tools but lots of books (kozo).

If its possible, even an area to do silver soldiering (if a garage has enough ventilation for that).


Andrew

P.S. After I see some bench ideas then I can make a decision on what I can afford etc etc, or buy small sections of it.


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## xo18thfa (Jan 2, 2008)

Andy, go check out some wood working magazines for bench and shop set ups. They will have ideas on bench tops and cabinetry. You will quickly find you need as much storage space as work surface. You will need a lot of lights and power outlets too.

I made the lathe bench:










It's made from 3/4 particle board. The base has 2 box legs from particle board and 2 x 4 sandwiched together. The top is a double thickness of particle board, tops with industrial strength floor tile. The bench appears to be 4 legged, but it's only 3. The leg under the head stock leg has 2 pads in contact with the floor. The tailstock leg only 1. This makes positive 3 point contact with the floor and no chance of wobble. This bench is rock steady. In fact, this is an old picture, a 9 x 20 lathe sits on this bench now. 
The soldering bench is made from an old heavy steel cabinet I found at the junk yard. The top is made up from square tube and sheet steel. This is a new addition. For many years the top was a 16" x 16" concrete patio paver. 









Oh yea, don't forget a rack of some kind for metal storage. You will accumulate a lot of it.


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

I just bought and set up a workbench in my garage for holding my machine tools. I opted for this *Lyon workbench*. It's heavy-duty steel and designed to support a lot of weight.










To this I added a 36" x 96" x 1-1/2" laminated maple butcher block top. The top alone weighs 175 lbs, so it's not going to lift or twist easily under lathe torque, especially once it's lag screwed to the bench itself. I plan to mount my benchtop milling machine to one side and my SD400 Prazi 7.5 X 16 lathe to the other. This bench will form an "island" in front ot my other bench and cabinets that I built in to the garage 20 years ago.

It isn't as important that everything be perfectly level as it is to insure that the lathe bed and ways are not twisted. Close to level is close enough. However, if the bed and/or ways are twisted, you turn a taper instead of a true round.

Something like this may be overkill for your application depending upon the size of your machine tools. For my Sherline stuff I simply bought the modular workbench components from Orchard Supply. Though made from particle board, they are plenty stout enough for such small machine tools.


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## afinegan (Jan 2, 2008)

@import url(http://www.mylargescale.com/Provide...ad.ashx?type=style&file=SyntaxHighlighter.css);@import url(/providers/htmleditorproviders/cehtmleditorprovider/dnngeneral.css); I found a nice modular system made by 2x4 basics. You get the legs and the hardware and go get your own wood. Alot of people are using this solution for gun lathes (on the internet) and they state its very sturdy.
http://www.2x4basics.com/

I am going to buy 2 of these kits and a 6-pack of 2x4basics shelf links:
http://www.amazon.com/2x4basics-901...amp;sr=1-2

This should give me at max, 2 - 8' X 4' benches, and I can choose what type of wood I want the top of the bench to be. I can also brace the bench more if I need to.
Here are some pictures:



















I plan on making some room so I can pull a chair under it (without affecting the structure of the bench of course), so its comfortable.

My wife has an edu address (she works at the college - free amazon prime with edu email address), so we get free 2 day shipping :-D 


Shout out if you see anything wrong with this lol


Andrew 


Great, posting pictures are broke again. this web editor is the pits, I put in proper html and it reformats it wrongly, breaking it, then when I go to edit, the pictures show up perfectly, go figure (< img src="http://www.2x4basics.com/photos/131.jpg" > )


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

When you get around to your hard solder station, you should consider building an exhaust hood to go over it. 
I converted a spare bedroom into my shop, all my various work stations have hoods and all are connected to the main blower which vents outside. 
Even though oxy/acet is non toxic, the fumes from metal, fluxes and solder can be bad. So out it goes. 

John


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## afinegan (Jan 2, 2008)

I think first will be a drag it outside, soldier station, but eventually I might build one with a hood (preferably next to the open garage door side of the bench)


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## xo18thfa (Jan 2, 2008)

That 2 x 4 system looks to me like it would work fine. You'll need some cupboards on the wall. You'll need the storage space, trust me you'll need the storage space. The mini-lathe and mill need a bench that does not wobble. Firm, solid on the floor. 

You can solder in the garage. Leave the door open. If it gets windy, a little shield around the solder table.


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## Kovacjr (Jan 2, 2008)

I built a bench for building using 2x4 screwed to the wall and a 2x4 frame built off of that with 2 2x4 for front supports Spacing 16" on center. It is about 6' wide and is chair height. The top a 3/4" plywoof left over from the floor and topped with 3/4" MDF. My lathe is on a freestanding bench a little taller to suit working while standing. The Mill is freestanding bolted to the floor. I also have a double floor of 3/4" Ply under the mill.

I'll have to take some photos. I had some but cant find them.


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## RimfireJim (Mar 25, 2009)

I wouldn't make the benches 8'x4' - 4' deep is way too much to reach from one side. 3' is about the practical maximum, anything beyond that will just collect clutter. I like 24-30". The 36" height seems about right, but I'm only 5'8". My 6'2" son likes things a lot higher than me! 

The 2x4Basics system looks pretty slick. If it's not stable enough, all you need to do is add a shear panel between the top and the shelf to make a huge difference in stiffness. 

I like to use 1/4" thick smooth hardboard ("Masonite") for my work tops, overlaying it onto whatever provides the structure below. It's smooth, dense, and durable, yet doesn't damage cutting tools or parts. Give the hardboard a coat of polyurethane and it won't absorb oil. The only downside I can think of is that it is dark colored, so parts don't show up on it easily. You can buy white Melamine coated hardboard, which would look great when new, but I think it would look like crap after a while when it gets all nicked up, as the Melamine is not particularly durable.


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## Steve Shyvers (Jan 2, 2008)

Andrew, 

Attach the workbench to the wall so that it's rock solid when you are cutting metal in your vise or otherwise putting some muscle into something. Rule of thumb is to have your workpiece at about elbow height. My bench is 35.5" tall. I am 5'6", and it works right for me standing. I just can't do cutting, filing, forming metal while sitting down. Can't get the leverage or put my body into it. I mounted an inexpensive Sears 4" vise on the right front corner of my bench, and the jaws are at about elbow height. If you're left handed you might want the vise on the other end of the bench. The el cheapo small drill press is mounted on the bench, too, as it puts the chuck and table up at a good height for seeing what I'm doing. 

You might want a lower work surface for mounting the lathe and the mill. The lathe tool height should again be at about elbow height. My Taig is at that height and it's easy to see what I'm doing. My 8x14 lathe is just a few inches higher and I can't get as good a look at tool set ups or while turning. I want to be looking down at the work and can't with the 8x14 as high as it is. 

Don't get fancy planning a silver soldering hearth right away. Do that after you get some more experience. I do my soldering outdoors. Not because of fumes but because of the open flame just in case the torch accidently gets pointed at the wrong thing. My "hearth" is a pile of fire bricks that can be stacked up as necessary to make a work surface and walls to reflect the heat back to the work and to shield against drafts. It changes size and configuration according to the size of the work to be done. The bricks are stacked up on a piece of plywood on top of a $10 "work-mate" type work stand. It gets setup in a spot that's favorable for indirect lighting and the blocking any breeze. Admittedly it would be easier to do silver soldering indoors, but the garage is just too crowded for safe open flame work. Remember also to use fire bricks only, and not just regular clay building bricks, which explode when heated rapidly. 

Steve


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## afinegan (Jan 2, 2008)

Steve,
I was going to actually copy your Roundhouse billy coal fired locomotive project until Justin Koch talked me into the AML 0-6-0 for the baseline project, but I did take a good look at your setup (top picture in this link).
http://www.mylargescale.com/Communi...aspx#74530 - straight and to the point silver soldiering station

I will probably make one bench 8' X 3' (assemble bench) and the other 6' X 3' (mini-lathe,mini-mill, grinder bench-more rigid), All bolted to the wall for rigidness. The mini-lathe will probably have a steel plate under it to prevent the torque issues (some lathes come with this plate nowadays). This is in the future because I don't have these machines yet. This amount of space should keep me busy for a long while! (aside from finding away from keeping me cool in those hot south florida summers, probably one of those free standing portable air conditioners)

Thanks all for the great suggestions. I read a whole lot about lathe torquing (even leaning on a lathe can put it slightly out of wack). I am not going to get too obsessed but I will have my setup the best that I can get for what I can afford (story of my life lol)! I just know a lot of you guys already have setups and would know from practical knowledge on what to do and what not to do.


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## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

I will probably make one bench 8' X 3' 
Andrew, 
All interesting stuff - but don't forget that you may have to move it all to the next house some day. Be prepared, as they say. Make sure the legs will un-bolt, and make separate tables for different tools, so you can put the one you never use in the corner and forget it. 

Not sure why you need 8', unless you are going into 1 1/2" scale. I'm surviving on a 48" piece of kitchen counter, plus a 60" narrow bench for the machine tools.


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## steveciambrone (Jan 2, 2008)

Insulate your workshop, most garages in SOCAL are not insulated. Especially insulate the roof. It is a dirty messy job but if you do the work yourself the material is not expensive. It cut the temperature in my shop by 10-15 degrees in the summer. We have a dry heat but in your humid conditions A/C would be a must have. I spend so much time in the shop I thought I should make it as comfortable as possible. A/C and heat make it very comfortable. 

Steve


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## Steve Shyvers (Jan 2, 2008)

Andrew, 

The AML 0-6-0 sounds like a good candidate for a conversion project. Curious to see how you work out the front end smokebox details (blower, blast pipe, seals). 

Steve


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