Homer Faucett
05-22-2017, 11:12 AM
My buddy recently got into woodworking, and bought some Kreg benches. He wanted to have a collapsible and portable workbench for his new garage. So, I looked around to see if I could figure out a way to make an MFT style workbench with the holes he wanted for the gaggle of Kreg clamps he decided he needed. I have seen a few theory posts here on how to do this. Many utilize someone making a base for your router on a CNC machine with pins to fit in a standard peg board to register for consistency and squareness. So, I figured I'd try to do it by hand. How hard could it be, huh?
Well, after messing up 2 bases, we figured it out the third try. It was scrap mdf and plywood, so we were just out our time. We found some 1/4" spacers at lowes for the pins. Of course, they were too big for the peg board, so we chucked them up in a drill and used sandpaper to turn them down to size. a slight taper made them easier to fit into the pegboard and to drive into the base tightly with a hammer. We made a 4x4 grid using a 3/4" bit. Once the first few holes were plunged, we started using bench dogs to keep the alignment going. 180 holes later, we had a nice grid of holes!
I've decided its a pretty slick setup, and I think I'll make a few 36" x 48" tops like this from plywood to fit over some Workmates or something similar. his 33"x72" top is just too unwieldy for me...but he's just using it for a garage shop setup. And I don't want to shell out the cash for a Kreg bench. I already have a full shop, and those things are too heavy for mobile work, IMHO.
Anyway, I'm not sure if I described it in great enough detail, but I have attached a few pics for fun.
360655360656360657
Well, after messing up 2 bases, we figured it out the third try. It was scrap mdf and plywood, so we were just out our time. We found some 1/4" spacers at lowes for the pins. Of course, they were too big for the peg board, so we chucked them up in a drill and used sandpaper to turn them down to size. a slight taper made them easier to fit into the pegboard and to drive into the base tightly with a hammer. We made a 4x4 grid using a 3/4" bit. Once the first few holes were plunged, we started using bench dogs to keep the alignment going. 180 holes later, we had a nice grid of holes!
I've decided its a pretty slick setup, and I think I'll make a few 36" x 48" tops like this from plywood to fit over some Workmates or something similar. his 33"x72" top is just too unwieldy for me...but he's just using it for a garage shop setup. And I don't want to shell out the cash for a Kreg bench. I already have a full shop, and those things are too heavy for mobile work, IMHO.
Anyway, I'm not sure if I described it in great enough detail, but I have attached a few pics for fun.
360655360656360657