Noden Adjust-A-Bench Anyone Using one?

[richard poitras]

Noden Adjust-A-Bench Anyone Using one?

I see Adjust-A-Bench is having a sale and I am considering taking the wood bench top off of a base that I made a few years back (not the best of bases and putting it on one of these). Does anyone have one of these benches or have used one? If so what are your thoughts and would you buy it again? Are there any drawbacks? Basically do you like it with comments?

Thanks Richard

[Jim Falsetti]

Richard,

The Adjust-a-Bench prototype and a current version were displayed at the spring Northeast Woodworkers Association show (as were several other workbenches). My thoughts are this would be really useful in my relatively small workspace, so I bought the legs, casters, and rails. Have not yet completed the top.

The Connecticut Valley School of Woodworking has one and they advised the bench is excellent.

In searching the various woodworking forums, I did not find any posts from dissatisfied owners, nor were there any posts that identified drawbacks.

Jim

[Norman Hitt]

Jim Becker has one and had a write up on it one time.

[Mark Carlson]

I put a Festool MFT top on one. I use it as an assembly table and for glue ups so I'm constantly raising and lowering it. Very heavy duty and really saves my back. I bought the legs and casters. With the casters it move easily and can be quickly locked in place. I made my own rails and bought some threaded rod. It was pricey but I'd buy it again.

~mark

[Chris Padilla]

How pathetic is this: I bought one like 5-6 years ago. It is all still in the box! I'm still "gettin' 'round toit".... :)

[Paul Wunder]

Richard,

I have the the Adjusta Bench with the wide casters for three years now. Very solid. I put a 30" x 60" top on it from Woodcraft and made my own rails. Because of its design you are very limited in adding drawers or shelves underneath, although some have done it. The real questions are: Do I really need to use multiple heights in my work. If so, the bench will serve its purpose. Do I need to roll the bench around my shop? If yes, then spend the $130 on the casters.

Paul

[whit richardson]

How pathetic is this: I bought one like 5-6 years ago. It is all still in the box! I'm still "gettin' 'round toit".... :)

Sound like eBay time!

[Gary Hodgin]

I've had one for about 6 or 7 years. Bought it from Geoff at a ww show. I bought the casters with the bench and a Sjorberg top from woodcraft. The bench would be great anywhere but especially in a confined space like I have. As mentioned above, there are limitations as to what you can put below it. Here are some examples of what some have done with theirs.

http://www.adjustabench.com/gallery.asp

[Paul Wunder]

Gary,

Thanks for posting the gallery link. Got a few ideas for my Adjusta bench

Paul

[ed vitanovec]

I've had mine for nearly 2 years, I bought the leg set only. I used my own maple bench top and made the castor support and leg brace. This is built what looks to be 11 ga steel and powder coated, the quality is great and comes in handy to raise the top to different heights. I would recommend the leg set.

Regards!
Ed

[Curt Harms]

One of a precious few good things to come out of Trenton, N.J.

[whit richardson]

One of a precious few good things to come out of Trenton, N.J.

Like the bridge painted saying goes "Trenton makes and the World Takes!" never could really get that one...

[Larry Edgerton]

Not sure really what an adjust-a bench is, but when I was doing cabinets full time I had three assembly benches at different heights that rolled under each other, each longer than the one below. It was a major back saver. So....

The idea is a good one, and thats all I have to say on that......

Life is like a box of Chocolates

Larry

[Jim Becker]

Yes, and I love it. I've been to Goeff's shop, too, and this bench was designed by someone who does incredible woodworking craftsmanship...he designed the bench system to support that activity.

Two weeks ago, I had the chance to visit Sam Blasco down in Smithville TX. He's added a second Noden Adjust-A-Bench to his shop...and Sam doesn't put things in that are not absolutely functional.

[richard poitras]

Well it looks like all positive marks.:) I am looking at the legs set with the 28’’ wheel package. My bench top is 30’’ by 65’’ with two quick release vies one in front and one on the other end. I put in a phone call to Geoffrey today and an e-mail yesterday but have not heard back. :eek: For those of you that have the bench have you made a cabinet for the lower part or a shelf or just left it open? If so any pictures? I have looked on the web site at some of the cabinet designs but still not sure what I like best for under neath.

Thanks for all the input.
Richard

[Mark Carlson]

My MFT adjust a bench. Its kinda buried at the moment. The angle iron that comes with the casters makes a nice shelf. I just layed 2x4 across, and put the planer and compressor on top. At the moment its at its maximum height. I don't usually store wood across the rails but I'm kinda tight on space at the moment.

~mark

[Curt Harms]

Like the bridge painted saying goes "Trenton makes and the World Takes!" never could really get that one... At one time there was a lot of manufacturing along the Delaware river. That time is long past. Now, as far as I can tell, the primary products out of Trenton are pushers, hookers, petty criminals and crooked politicians. (Oh wait, I'm being redundant here ;)) The Route 1 corridor east of Trenton is another matter, lots of drug companies e.g. Pfizer, Merck et. al. Technology companies spring up due to the proximity of Princeton and Rutgers. Computer Associates recently built a new facility north of Trenton. But Trenton proper? Typical northeastern inner city.

[Don L Johnson]

For what it is worth, there is a competing product, but it is a self build project that can adjust up and down with the use of a hand crank or a drill.

[richard poitras]

For what it is worth, there is a competing product, but it is a self build project that can adjust up and down with the use of a hand crank or a drill.

And that product is?

Richard

[richard poitras]

I just talked with Geoffrey at AAB and the sale is on till the end of July. :)

[Paul Wunder]

Richard,

If you want to maximize your storage options, consider choosing the one rail option. It is additional cost ($100?) but the one rail would be in the center rather than one on each side.

[Paul Wunder]

The other adjustable bench is the Jack Bench (jackbench.com), which is really a set of plans to buy in order to build your own. Cool execution and he has a nice video of his bench in operation. It goes up and down like the Noden but uses auto jacks as the mechanism rather than two steel sides. You use a power drill to turn the jack which is built within a skirt.

Paul

[Don L Johnson]

The web site for the Jack Bench is: http://www.jack-bench.com/workbench%20plans%20-%20workbench%20videos.htm

I'm about 80% complete with the bench 194556support/structure, but haven't started the top as of yet. I'm pretty excited about getting it finished. Here's a picture of my build thus far:

194555 Don't mean to hijack, but I also went through the decision process, as I have a bad back and need to work at different heights. From my prospective, I'd rather have a drill do my adjusting for me.

[richard poitras]

Don, hove much do you have invested or how much will the completed bench cost less the top and vices? Hardware, plans, wood and so on?
Thanks Richard

[johnny means]

I've been trying to come up with an adjustable bench design for a while now and that Jack Bench seems like it might work for me. The thing that most appeals to me is that it can be adjusted while fully loaded. Many times a large work piece requires multiple working heights and all the lift and lock type designs out there pretty much require that the table be cleared for adjustment. Also, the use of a jack allows for fine tuning the height which wood be great for working with machines or other work surfaces.

[Alan Schaffter]

I don't have one, but have seen them at WW shows. The Adjusta-bench is well made, but it isn't cheap. The most expensive parts of any WW bench are the top and vises. If you go with top dollar stuff like Bench Crafted vises, the cost can be considerable when you add expensive legs. But, if you want/need an adjustable bench, don't mind the cost, and don't want to spend the time building one yourself, Adjusta-bench is the way to go. American Woodworker did a review of it a few years ago.

For me the cost was way too much, plus I like challenges, so I designed and built my own adjustable bench. I spent less on the entire bench than it would have cost me for the Adjusta-bench leg system alone. It adjusts in 1" increments, is very stable, and works great. It is made mostly from hardwood and uses inexpensive home center hardware for the mechanism. I was going to offer the plans for sale but never got around to smoothing up the SketchUp drawings. Here is a link to a video tour (http://videos.americanwoodworker.com/video/Adjustable-Height-Woodworking-B) that shows how it adjusts.

SketchUp drawing of the adjustable trestle base, minus the hardware:

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/data/1463/medium/Base_qtr_view.jpg

Bench low:

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/data/1463/medium/IMG_2931.jpg

Bench high:

http://www.ncwoodworker.net/pp/data/1463/medium/IMG_2934.jpg

[Don L Johnson]

Richard,

That is hard to say; I've used a lot of plywood scraps around the shop to make the many torsion box pieces. As an example, I recently purchased a planer from Grizzly and used all of the crate as "innards" to build up the internal pieces of the torsion box ribs and some of the outside "skins". I have purchased a total of 5 sheets of 3/4 and 1/2 plywood, so that's about $125. I've also upgraded the scissor jacks (the original Jack Bench used two used scissor jacks from a junk yard (car parts yard) for about $10 each; I purchased two, more robust jacks from Northern Tool, so have about $110 in those. I had a bunch of oak wood from a project about 10 years ago that I never built, so I will laminate that to have a bench top. So, in my case, without the cost of the vise, I should get by with spending less than $400. If I remember correctly, I didn't want to pay the over $1,000 for the Ajusta Bench. In regards to the Jack Bench, Charlie (the inventor) is currently testing other jacks to see what is the best fit; that's where I got the idea of using Northern Tool's jacks and I also picked up some cheap casters there as well. One final word...I used plywood, even though it takes more wood glue and prep time, becasue of its stability. When finished with all of the assemblies as noted in my build pictures above, everything was flat with no twists, which is criticle. Hope this helps.

[Alan Schaffter]

One final word...I used plywood, even though it takes more wood glue and prep time, because of its stability. When finished with all of the assemblies as noted in my build pictures above, everything was flat with no twists, which is critical. Hope this helps.

Don, I don't know if it would be more expensive, depends on whether you could find scraps, but did you consider using a Microlam beam instead of ply? It is thicker and already glued up with good adhesive under pressure. The folks of PWW built a bench from Microlam for one of their editors last year. I don't know if they used it for the entire frame or just the top.

[Don L Johnson]

Alan,

I didn't know anything about Microlam, so did not consider it. Would using that product make for a lighter bench? Mines going to be pretty heavy, but that's a good thing from my perspective. I did have a fair amount of odd pieces of ply, so that was a good fit. I'm using Titebond Extended for the glue ups so I have enough time to mess around.

[Alan Schaffter]

From what I remember in PWW it was no lighter than a solid maple bench, but was stable and cheap ($139 for the top). They called it a Gloubo, a play on words of the Roubo bench that is so popular now. They made it from LVL (laminated veneer lumber, same-same as Microlam) for Megan Fitzpatrick on their staff and it could be knocked down. It appeared in the November 2009 issue #179 of PWW (http://www.popularwoodworking.com/articleindex/lvl-workbench) and also in the PWW online editor blogs (http://www.popularwoodworking.com/woodworking-blogs/editors-blog/report-lvl-workbench-after-almost-2-years-of-use).

When it comes to WW benches, heavier is better. My adjustable bench relies on weight to firmly lock everything together and to keep it stable.

[Charlie Kocourek]

Richard,

The heart of the Jack Bench design is the adjustable height base with a built in mobile base. One jack is used to adjust the top up and down and the other picks the bench up onto the mobile base. The base requires 3 sheets of plywood and about 45 board feet of lumber. I really like what Don has done using plywood in place of the solid wood inside the torsion boxes. A bonus to that is that plywood is less expensive per board foot than solid wood.

As Don mentioned, I am in the process of testing various different scissors jacks. I recommend a jack from a Chevy truck for the upper jack and until just now I recommended one from a Honda Civic for the mobile base. These run $10-$15 each at salvage yards. I am changing my recommendation on the jack for the mobile base to a motorcycle lift jack. This is a definite improvement for that application, but they go for $89. In addition to the jacks, the base requires 4-3" casters, 4-3/4" pipe clamps, and some miscellaneous hardware.

You can attach almost any bench top to the mobile base. The bench top in the plans will require about 45 board feet of lumber.

I am always willing to answer questions or to help others with their bench projects, so let me know if you would like any other information on the Jack Bench.

Thanks!
Charlie Kocourek

[richard poitras]

Allen, that’s a nice looking bench you made and designed. The robust design looks like it helps in stability. Thanks for posting.
Charlie I appreciate you giving a little more insight about your bench as well and its design. I am still on the fence in regards to what I am doing for a new bench. I know I could save buy building from the ground up but time is always a big factor in my shop.
I will keep all things in my mind as I determine my needs, time and budget.


Thanks Richard

[Jim Becker]

For those of you that have the bench have you made a cabinet for the lower part or a shelf or just left it open?

I just have a simple shelf under mine for now. I may build a cabinet in the future. BTW, I originally bought mine with the mobility kit, but ended up preferring not to use it...I kept whacking my ankles on the angles, as it were, and rarely move my bench, anyway. I made a pair of more conventional "bench feet" for mine and have been very happy with the product.

[Peter Stahl]

Richard,

That is hard to say; I've used a lot of plywood scraps around the shop to make the many torsion box pieces. As an example, I recently purchased a planer from Grizzly and used all of the crate as "innards" to build up the internal pieces of the torsion box ribs and some of the outside "skins". I have purchased a total of 5 sheets of 3/4 and 1/2 plywood, so that's about $125. I've also upgraded the scissor jacks (the original Jack Bench used two used scissor jacks from a junk yard (car parts yard) for about $10 each; I purchased two, more robust jacks from Northern Tool, so have about $110 in those. I had a bunch of oak wood from a project about 10 years ago that I never built, so I will laminate that to have a bench top. So, in my case, without the cost of the vise, I should get by with spending less than $400. If I remember correctly, I didn't want to pay the over $1,000 for the Ajusta Bench. In regards to the Jack Bench, Charlie (the inventor) is currently testing other jacks to see what is the best fit; that's where I got the idea of using Northern Tool's jacks and I also picked up some cheap casters there as well. One final word...I used plywood, even though it takes more wood glue and prep time, becasue of its stability. When finished with all of the assemblies as noted in my build pictures above, everything was flat with no twists, which is criticle. Hope this helps.

Don,

Your bench looks great so far, can't wait to see it finished. Could you tell me which jacks you bought from Northern. Will this bench be easy to get apart if you move?

[Mike Henderson]

I've thought a lot about an adjustable bench where the adjustment is done with a jack, and have a question about the use of one jack to adjust it. A single jack would have to be placed in the middle in order to somewhat balance the load. Once you adjust it, it seems that you'd have to lock the adjustment mechanism in some way to keep the top from rocking (because of the single jack point). Do these jack adjustable benches require you to lock the bench after doing the adjustment?

Or are they stable enough for use on the jack?

I've never seen one of the commercial products to see how they do it.

Mike

[Alan Schaffter]

Mike, I wondered the same thing. There must be a little flex or play in the typical screw or hydraulic scissor jack so the position of the top, especially at the ends, must change some. I think there would be significant lateral movement as well. I guess the better ones are more stable. I don't know if you can tell from my earlier bench photos, but when the pawls engage the leg ratchets, the angled pawl arms also draw the legs which have mating "V" surfaces, together and make it incredibly stable. The more weight the tighter they are drawn together.

I thought about adding a jack to my bench just to raise it, and use my ratcheting leg mechanism to support the weight once it is at the desired height. I don't change the height of my bench all that often, so I decided to forgo the jack. When it gets to the point I can't lift 1/2 of the bench top up a few inches to adjust it, it will probably be time to hang up my shop apron.

[richard poitras]

I've thought a lot about an adjustable bench where the adjustment is done with a jack, and have a question about the use of one jack to adjust it. A single jack would have to be placed in the middle in order to somewhat balance the load. Once you adjust it, it seems that you'd have to lock the adjustment mechanism in some way to keep the top from rocking (because of the single jack point). Do these jack adjustable benches require you to lock the bench after doing the adjustment?

Or are they stable enough for use on the jack?

I've never seen one of the commercial products to see how they do it.

Mike

Mike I looked at the video on the jack bench and once you raise or lower the bench with the jacks you then lock it down with the built in bar clamps to secure it from moving or racking from what I can tell.
Richard

[Doug Shepard]

Richard
I've got a Noden bench
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?83328-Bench-Update
Not sure how far from me you are but if you want to check out the Noden hardware close up, drop me a PM or email sometime.

[Peter Stahl]

Mike, I wondered the same thing. There must be a little flex or play in the typical screw or hydraulic scissor jack so the position of the top, especially at the ends, must change some. I think there would be significant lateral movement as well. I guess the better ones are more stable. I don't know if you can tell from my earlier bench photos, but when the pawls engage the leg ratchets, the angled pawl arms also draw the legs which have mating "V" surfaces, together and make it incredibly stable. The more weight the tighter they are drawn together.

I thought about adding a jack to my bench just to raise it, and use my ratcheting leg mechanism to support the weight once it is at the desired height. I don't change the height of my bench all that often, so I decided to forgo the jack. When it gets to the point I can't lift 1/2 of the bench top up a few inches to adjust it, it will probably be time to hang up my shop apron.

Ask the inventor Charlie Kocourek, he posted in this thread. Click on his name and go to his web site, he has a real nice video.

[Mike Henderson]

Mike, I wondered the same thing. There must be a little flex or play in the typical screw or hydraulic scissor jack so the position of the top, especially at the ends, must change some. I think there would be significant lateral movement as well. I guess the better ones are more stable. I don't know if you can tell from my earlier bench photos, but when the pawls engage the leg ratchets, the angled pawl arms also draw the legs which have mating "V" surfaces, together and make it incredibly stable. The more weight the tighter they are drawn together.

I thought about adding a jack to my bench just to raise it, and use my ratcheting leg mechanism to support the weight once it is at the desired height. I don't change the height of my bench all that often, so I decided to forgo the jack. When it gets to the point I can't lift 1/2 of the bench top up a few inches to adjust it, it will probably be time to hang up my shop apron.
I looked at your video and I understand how your bench works. It's a good design. When I build mine, I will probably use some of your ideas. Thanks for posting that.

I didn't understand how the jack assisted benches work.

Mike

[Don L Johnson]

Peter,

I purchased the Torin Scissor Jack, 2 ton, 20" lift, that will be used to lift up the bench top; the one I got to lift up the base so the whole bench can be mobile is the Torin Jacks Lift Table - 1,100 lb capacity model #TRE4101. In regards to tear down, it can be broken down into several pieces. The bench top is separate, the upper legs assembly, two separate lower legs, and then the four bar clamp spacer assemblies, upper shelf and lower shelf assemblies. I don't think Charlie mentioned, but there really is a lot of ease in making the benchtop larger, smaller, wider, longer...you get the picture. Hope this helps.

[Will Blick]

Charlie, brilliant design, great web site....
I own two Noden benches, they work very well, but had I seen Charlies design, I would have opted for his plans instead...
mainly for two reasons....
Noden Benches are often on Casters, you must lock each wheel for stability.... time consuming and not very stable....
Noden benches are not very solid vs. a bench like Charlies...
oh, and the obvious one, I have wrenched my back lifting my Noden bench to move it down.....
I always wanted a power drill option for up/down and wheel raising.... but was too lazy to design and conceive the task, was just too busy...
your plans with all the bugs worked out is a steal for $30... kudos to a job well done.....

[Peter Stahl]

Peter,

I purchased the Torin Scissor Jack, 2 ton, 20" lift, that will be used to lift up the bench top; the one I got to lift up the base so the whole bench can be mobile is the Torin Jacks Lift Table - 1,100 lb capacity model #TRE4101. In regards to tear down, it can be broken down into several pieces. The bench top is separate, the upper legs assembly, two separate lower legs, and then the four bar clamp spacer assemblies, upper shelf and lower shelf assemblies. I don't think Charlie mentioned, but there really is a lot of ease in making the benchtop larger, smaller, wider, longer...you get the picture. Hope this helps.

Thanks for info Don.

[Charlie Kocourek]

Charlie, brilliant design, great web site....
I own two Noden benches, they work very well, but had I seen Charlies design, I would have opted for his plans instead...
mainly for two reasons....
Noden Benches are often on Casters, you must lock each wheel for stability.... time consuming and not very stable....
Noden benches are not very solid vs. a bench like Charlies...
oh, and the obvious one, I have wrenched my back lifting my Noden bench to move it down.....
I always wanted a power drill option for up/down and wheel raising.... but was too lazy to design and conceive the task, was just too busy...
your plans with all the bugs worked out is a steal for $30... kudos to a job well done.....

Thanks for the compliment, Will! I had many criteria when I designed my bench. It had to be:

A "Real" woodworking workbench (bench dogs, lots of verisitility, etc)
At least 12" of height adjustment. With the right jack there is 14" of adjustment.
EASY to operate. I reasoned that I might not adjust it unless I could do it quickly and easily. Since I knew it would be heavy I wanted some mechanical advantage to adjust it.
Solid. NO rocking, moving, bouncing, etc.
Mobile. Again, this had to be easy.
Access from underneath for hold downs.
Good toe clearance.
I had it for a year before I realized I could operate it with a drill. Truthfully, it works so well with a crank handle that I rarely use a drill.

[Charlie Kocourek]

I don't have one, but have seen them at WW shows. The Adjusta-bench is well made, but it isn't cheap. The most expensive parts of any WW bench are the top and vises. If you go with top dollar stuff like Bench Crafted vises, the cost can be considerable when you add expensive legs. But, if you want/need an adjustable bench, don't mind the cost, and don't want to spend the time building one yourself, Adjusta-bench is the way to go. American Woodworker did a review of it a few years ago.

For me the cost was way too much, plus I like challenges, so I designed and built my own adjustable bench. I spent less on the entire bench than it would have cost me for the Adjusta-bench leg system alone. It adjusts in 1" increments, is very stable, and works great. It is made mostly from hardwood and uses inexpensive home center hardware for the mechanism. I was going to offer the plans for sale but never got around to smoothing up the SketchUp drawings. Here is a link to a video tour (http://videos.americanwoodworker.com/video/Adjustable-Height-Woodworking-B) that shows how it adjusts.

Alan, I saw your article in American Woodworker when it came out. Congratulations on that! I hadn't seen your video until now, and I have to say that I am very impressed with your craftsmanship. I especially like the way you installed the twin screw vise; very clever!

[Will Blick]

Charlie, I could not add any criteria to your list....
The Noden has pretty good range, can't recall.... I use it less often than I should, because, its heavy, and I really have to want to change the height....so I here ya on that issue....

stability is the issue with the Noden, not heavy enough, and it really needs something more than wheel brakes to keep it still while planing.... I have thought about adding some long bolts to lift it off the ground, but never got around to it....

[Gary Hodgin]

[FONT=Times New Roman]Well it looks like all positive marks.:) I am looking at the legs set with the 28’’ wheel package. My bench top is 30’’ by 65’’ with two quick release vies one in front and one on the other end. I put in a phone call to Geoffrey today and an e-mail yesterday but have not heard back. :eek: For those of you that have the bench have you made a cabinet for the lower part or a shelf or just left it open? If so any pictures? I have looked on the web site at some of the cabinet designs but still not sure what I like best for under neath.

Richard,
I have a simple shelf (2 pieces of plywood) run across my rails. They're attached to the rails with double sided tape. I did that so the plywood wouldn't extend beyond the rails and get in my way. It's worked so far. I may put a cabinet in sometime but it's not a priority. I would like to do something that would add a little more weight, but I don't want to interfere with the height adjustment. I adjust the height a lot, especially from hand planing to hand sawing.

[John Kaye]

My choice of the Noden was based on time costs as well as material costs. Also my floor is irregular and I wanted to make sure the bench would be stable before and after it was moved. I did have the opportunity to try two benches. both were sturdy at low and high levels for planing through routing (I don't do carving). I do like Charlie's bench but wasn't sure about traversing rough floors and leveling - plus the assembly work. Alan Shaffter's bench looks great as well (I'll probably build his table).
My 3' x 6' bench top is split with a trow down the center that can hold invertable boxes and a PRL2 with router (I'm working on a fence that is secured by 3/4" round dog holes, but no miter slot). At first I thought raising, lowering, and moving the bench was a pain. But once I got used to the finding the working heights it became easier. Another thing is that I don't work with one piece at a time but do one task at a time for all included pieces. Whenever I raise the top it's done only a few clicks at a time. Walking back and forth doesn't bother me but I haven't needed full height.
I found out that I could drill holes in the ends as long as that did not interfere with raising and lowering. Things I want to do are a chest underneath as well as a sliding board with dog holes,a la Ruobo to hold bulkier pieces.
My estimate is that you can't go wrong with the Noden. The space under the top is usable for storage and I think its design makes servicing easier (especially with my split top).

[Alan Schaffter]

Alan Shaffter's bench looks great as well (I'll probably build his table).

Thanks John.

If your really meant you may build my (assembly) table someday, rather than my WW bench, I suggest you use the trestle legs from the bench rather than individual legs used on the assembly table unless you add the braces, especially if your floor is a bit uneven or you want to make it mobile. The version of the legs I built for the bench just seems to work better with mating "V" legs instead of dovetails and it would be easier to add wheels or levelers to the bench's thumbnail feet.

Its been over a year since I designed and built the adjustable WW bench and I still love it! The only negative is the ratchet release pedals- they work, but are not up to my standards. One of these days I need to revisit that design.

[John Kaye]

Hi Alan,

I like your assembly table concept. Thank you for the tip re: the legs. I'm probably about 6 months away timewise if my wife doesn't add too many do's (of course she's a honey). I have two helpers (9 and 11 year old grandchildren) and the younger wants to be a carpenter when he grows up (at least this week). The assembly table is their size and can be "built" by them. I've been showing them how to use hand tools (planes and saws) as well as sanders. Anyway, this is something that they can mostly build themselves and recognize that you need to have all kinds of equipment that lets you do the job the right way.

[Evan Patton]

I realize this is a pretty old thread, but I just ordered my Noden legs and casters and am working on a bench design. For those of you that have used the adjust a bench for a few years, what would you do differently with your bench design and construction?

[Alan Schaffter]

I realize this is a pretty old thread, but I just ordered my Noden legs and casters and am working on a bench design. For those of you that have used the adjust a bench for a few years, what would you do differently with your bench design and construction?

If you are talking generally, not specifically the Noden, I wouldn't change a thing on mine except finish the release pedal- still using the awkward prototype.

[Evan Patton]

Thanks. Looking forward to getting started.

[Jim Neeley]

I have one and the one thing I would do differently (assuming this was my second bench) would be to build a tool storage cabinet for between the uprights, designed to incorporate the all-thread. This is an idea that's been in my head for several years but I've been hesitant to attach it since my top is about 350# including vises and the one time I turned it over (part of replacing my twin screw end vise with a Benchcrafted wagon), flipping it back was *all* my son and I could do. Add another 100# or so of cabinet between the legs and it'd definitely be a job for 4 or more people.

Just my $0.02.. YMMV.

Jim

[Evan Patton]

Jim,
Thanks. Definitely planning on a cabinet of some sort, as well as an extended skirt (Roubo style) for a holdfast. Just got the legs and casters unpacked today. Still need to get the wood (next weekend I hope). I downloaded the American Woodworker plans as a starting point http://americanwoodworker.com/blogs/shop/archive/2012/08/02/ws-adjustable-workbench.aspx. Oh, and I'm planning on reusing an old Record 52 1/2 face vise as well as incorporating a Benchcrafted wagon vise.

After checking out the hardware I'm thinking about making a split top with 4" thick edges, but 2' center section to reduce weight and make easier to use as a clamping surface.


Evan

[Mark Carlson]

I built a cabinet with 4 drawers. The threaded rod on the bottom uses the top hole on the mobility kit and is under the cabinet. The threaded rods on the top go through the cabinet just under the top and dont interfere with the drawers. The top is a festool mft. I laminated the top. Now I can write on it and scrape the glue off easily. I love being able to adjust the height depending on what I'm doing. Huge back saver. The cabinet makes the bench really sturdy and solid.

Something you cant see in the picture is there's a 2x4 box base under the cabinet that sits on the angle iron. The cabinet sits on that.

284276

[Evan Patton]

Great cabinet! I have an MFT but need something heavy for hand work, thus the 4" thick top with Benchcrafted hardware.

[Chris Padilla]

Alan,

Do you have a new link for the video tour by chance?

[Bill McNiel]

Mark,
Putting the MFT top on it looks like a really good idea. I have been planning to make;
(1) a cart that I can use to transport heavy slabs around the shop
(2) a mobile assembly table
(3) a MFT table for cross cutting with the Track saw

Don't really have room for all three so the concept of combining the functions has been germinating for a while.

[Jason White]

I have one and love it. Worth every penny!!



Noden Adjust-A-Bench Anyone Using one?

I see Adjust-A-Bench is having a sale and I am considering taking the wood bench top off of a base that I made a few years back (not the best of bases and putting it on one of these). Does anyone have one of these benches or have used one? If so what are your thoughts and would you buy it again? Are there any drawbacks? Basically do you like it with comments?

Thanks Richard

[Jim Becker]

No changes other than the one I did originally...abandon the casters. I rarely move the bench and they are definitely "ankle knockers"...

[Evan Patton]

Jim,
Thanks. I wish I'd ordered the narrower base/wheels as I want mobility. My wheels are 22" apart and my top was planned to be 24", so ankle knocking is a definite possibility. Do you think it would help to increase the width of the top to reduce interference? Would I be better off enclosing the casters (or at least the angle iron) to make contact less painful?

Evan

[Jim Becker]

Evan, I don't remember the particulars of the casters that Geoff provides...it was many years ago that I acquired my bench from him. But wider is more stable, so don't be sorry you went that way. The "feet" on my bench are about 28" long and my top is 30" wide. I don't know if you can encase the casters without interfering with the raise/lower/lock mechanism....again, it's been a long time since I have seen them.

[Evan Patton]

Jim,
Thanks. Now that I have all the hardware in house I think I can figure something out. I still may pull the wheels off or come up with another solution--we'll see. Looking forward to finally getting started on it in the next couple weeks.

Evan