workbench design for quick build

[chip golden]

In two weekends, I'm building a buddy a workbench. He's coming from 150 miles away for a 3 day weekend, and we have to complete it in that time. He's not a woodworker. This is just a general work bench.

This is basically what it will look like:
workbench 01.jpg

The bench will be 8' x 3' with a 4" overhang on three sides. We will use 28" full extension ball bearing slides.

I need to complete this in three days. My workbench is of similar construction, and I've had a lot of trouble getting the drawers to slide smoothly. The problem is getting the vertical walls that support the drawers square and correctly spaced. I built mine with dados and rabbets, so the spacing is difficult to modify once built. I had to fine tune each drawer and it took a long time. How do I make this go together quickly and ensure I get it right the first time?

1) I was thinking about using pocket screws for the case construction. Maybe build the drawers first, install the slides, and then use the drawer+slides to position the next vertical wall. Once everything is working smoothly, secure the pocket screws. This idea seems to work for the first two rows of drawers, but the last row gets tricky.

2) Buy some drawer slides that compensate for some misalignment. Mine are pretty sensitive to misalignments. I had to get aligned to within 1/32" before they slid nicely. The drawer widths varied that much. Here are the slides I used on my bench.
http://cgi.ebay.com/28-Full-Ext-Soft...item53dbb885f8

3) I probably need to make sure the drawers are more uniform. I used rabbets at the front and dados at the back. Is there a better way to get consistency? I used a dado set on my Unisaw. Maybe a router bit set? I'll go to the building supply store instead of Lowes for plywood, maybe it's more consistent.

4) Change the way the case is constructed. How?

[Jamie Buxton]

Uh.. Your buddy does have a way to take that hunk of a bench home....?

How do I make this go together quickly and ensure I get it right the first time?

Look for flat plywood, so the walls are straight.

1) I was thinking about using pocket screws for the case construction. Maybe build the drawers first, install the slides, and then use the drawer+slides to position the next vertical wall. Once everything is working smoothly, secure the pocket screws. This idea seems to work for the first two rows of drawers, but the last row gets tricky.

No. Build the case first. The measure the rough openings carefully, and put shims on a wall until you get wall-to-wall spacings that are exactly the same (that 1/32" spec) for the whole height of one bank. Then build drawer boxes to fit that dimension.

3) I probably need to make sure the drawers are more uniform. I used rabbets at the front and dados at the back. Is there a better way to get consistency? I used a dado set on my Unisaw. Maybe a router bit set? I'll go to the building supply store instead of Lowes for plywood, maybe it's more consistent.

Are you talking plywood drawer boxes? If so, dadoes and glue should do the trick. You might also use screws through from the outside of the drawer. The glue is really what holds the boxes together. The screws are really clamps to draw the boxes together while the glue cures, so you don't need an army of clamps.

[Prashun Patel]

Let me ask a dumb question: why do you have to make all those drawers? Can you just make shelves with a couple doors? You'll save a bundle on drawer slides, and will greatly simplify yr construction.

[Brian Vaughn]

I'll add to Prashun's comment: Even if you needed that many drawers, why not skip the slides, and go with wood runners? Or for the even lazier solution, make shelves as Prashun suggested, and then drawers that slide into various shelf openings as needed. That way all this alignment issue is out the window. You have a hole, you have a drawer that fits in the hole, you're done!

[Ben Hatcher]

You can build the entire thing without making a single measurement. Make the drawers first batch cutting all similar parts. Attach the slides. Mark and cut a piece of plywood to match the outside dimentions of your drawer+slide assemblys. Place the template in the middle of the base, snug the dividers up to this piece and pocket screw them down. Then do the same for the two sides. You can easilly build this cabinet this way in 2 days with two people.

[chip golden]

Full extension drawers are way more useful than shelves. Its worth the expense for us. These drawers will have a lot of weight in them, so they need drawer slides.

So, there's two suggestions:
Jamie - build case first, build drawers to match (maybe 1/16" undersize), shim to fit
Ben - build drawers first, make template which includes slides, pocket screw the next vertical wall

Ben's plan is what I was originally thinking. Instead of a template, I was just going to use an assembled drawer/slide to set my spacing. I'm just not sure I can make everything well enough to work like that. Jamie's plan takes more time, but its quicker to correct mistakes. I guess I can combine the plans and build it with Ben's plan but leave a 1/16 spacing for shims. If everything works fine, just use a 1/16 shim everywhere which shouldn't add much time to the assembly process. If there are problems, I adjust the shims as needed.

[Greg Portland]

Definitely look into a torsion box design for the bench... you can get the entire bench (minus drawers) done within a day without the need for complex joinery. Here's an example:

http://americanwoodworker.com/blogs/...workbench.aspx