Took the long weekend to work on a couple of workbench accessories/attachments to my newly built workbench:
- What I'm calling "the panel lift" attachment
- 6 20mm dogs with stainless steel inserts which are easily removed with a magnet
The panel lift will probably go down as one of the best $200 I've spent in a long, LONG time. It is of my own design/construction made entirely of 15-series extrusion. It takes less than 1 minute to attach to my bench and it allows me to "flip" a full sheet onto the bench for rip/crosscuts with minimal effort and ZERO damage to the panel. It removes just as quickly and is small enough, I can store with my sheet goods or hang it on the wall if I decide to go that route. Seriously, I cannot believe how robust the design is and how easy it is to slide a sheet on (and even off) the bench.
Here is a picture with the accessory attached. The workbench is a beast and even when the panel is loaded, it doesn't move a mm.
Here is the sheet loaded. I designed it to be canted by 5-degrees, so the panel will just sit there. Rubber feet keep the panel from sliding off or being damaged.
Then, with VERY little effort, just grab the bottom of the panel, rotate it up and push the sheet onto the bench. The "panel flip" accessory, when extended, is about 1/16" lower than the bench top so it slides easily and doesn't damage the bottom in any way. This sheet of quarter sawn white oak is very expensive, so managing panels without damaging them was a major design consideration.
Here is a closeup of it stowed away, ready to attach whenever I need it.
I'm not a big "dog hole" user myself. Several years ago I had a Paulk inspired workbench and I personally just hated the Swiss cheese configuration. A workbench is quite personal, so others may like it, but I don't. However there are occasions I need a couple dogs for some accessories or clamping. So I drilled out 6 of them and utilize Benchdogs UK stainless steel plugs when they're not in use.
Here is an example of a Harvey clamp (love these things, strong and super fast to clamp/unclamp) along with a Kreg Automaxx clamp, which I use 95% of the time.
Here is a set of fence dogs that hold a piece of extrusion that allows me to crosscut any length/size of ply. I don't crosscut very often, but when I do, this comes in super handy. I use it along with my Dashboard bracket. I do have an attachable extension to catch the offcut but it's not shown (same for when I rip cut).