Wobbly workbench

[Eben Fourie]

I am building some smaller rough workbenches for my bench tools, based on these plans:

http://www.hammerzone.com/archives/workshop/bench/below20xl.html (http://www.hammerzone.com/archives/workshop/bench/below20xl.html) (if posting this link is not ok, pls let me know and I will remove it)

Did some before in lengths on 1200mm and 1600mm (depth 600mm), these are much narrower (350 & 450mm), as I intend mounting individual bench tools, and then storing several smaller tables against a wall in my workshop to free up some space.

On the larger tables, the stability as far as wobbling is concerned was not a problem, but with the smaller tables I seem to have made some uneven legs :o

What is the best way of deciding which leg (or legs) to trim on a four-leg table that wobbles ? I am concerned that once I start trimming the legs, the table may end up significantly shorted than intended :D

[Stephen Tashiro]

Turn the table upside down. Shim it so that the line across the top of one pair of legs is level. Put a level across the other pair of legs and see what must be done to make that line level as far as lengthening or shortening one of the legs. Unless you are perfectionist you only need the lines between the two pairs of legs to be parallel for the table not to wobble on a flat floor.

I prefer to put pads of some sort on the ends of legs. The pad on the short leg can be shimmed with washers. If you start cutting legs to make them shorter you can get into a comedy of errors.

[Eben Fourie]

Thanks Stephen, makes sense, will try it tonight.

[Greg Hines, MD]

The way that many use is to put your table right side up on a known flat surface, like your tablesaw. Shim the legs, and level out the top. Get out your dividers, and see which leg is highest off the table surface. Scribe that depth on the remaining legs and you should have created a level plane for them to sit on. Trim the excess, and you should be good to go.

Having said that, what I did for my bench was invest in 4 1" bolts, and nuts, from the local farm supply house. I bored a hole in the 4x4 legs, and chopped out a hexagonal mortise for the nut. I then threaded the bolts into the legs. This allows me an adjustment feature for uneven surfaces. I move my bench around a lot, including out onto my driveway, and it is handy to be able to make it solid no matter where it sits.

Doc

[Wilbur Pan]

You could cut some thin wedges out of scrap wood, and use those under the legs to stabilize and level the top. You'll be surprised as to how well that works.