Though admittedly a very small one...
Up til last weekend, I had only one table in my small apartment -- the dining room table I bought when I moved here 12 years ago. It's taken up by my computer stuff, so I really have no place to work. Per Bart's suggestion, I looked at a few affordable workbench/vice models like the one he emailed me about a couple of weeks ago. Or these from Costco.
One common complaint about these was that the rotating vice handles/gears were plastic and often broke during shipping. So I tried to find one locally, only to learn that most places don't want to take up valuable shelf/floor space and only have them available online. After a few days looking, I did find a cheaper no-name model locally. It's not as nice as the B&D model, but it was also less than $20. Since I'm not going to be doing any heavy work, I figured that would be a good model to learn on....
Click here to see the rest of the lengthy story.
And I learned an assembly lesson while putting that together: don't blindly assume that all screws and nuts should fasten tight. I got annoyed playing around with their disposable assembly tools and got out my ratchet set to tighten down a big nut and screw. Only after a minute or two of efficient tightening did it dawn on me to wonder why the nut hadn't held tight yet and was still moving readily: the screw and nut were the support of a hinge from the table part of the bench to the leg! So for the assembly to fold for storage, the nut couldn't be made immobile. I had dented the leg a little in my overzealousness, but it's really just a cosmetic problem.
On Friday, I went to Home Depot to get the wood for the work surface. I must have picked the wrong day. I walked around for 20 minutes or so looking at the options and searching for a worker to help me. Finally, seeing no one, I found an electronic "Push here for assistance" box which summoned a worker, who was busy helping someone else. After another 15 minutes or so of waiting, he came back to tell me the guy who could actually help me would come shortly.
This entailed more waiting, after which the wood supplies manager came to talk to me, visibly impatient and stressed. Having to metaphorically hand hold a newbie who barely knows the difference between a screw and a hammer, didn't improve his tension. I told him what I was thinking about and the work surface dimensions of 50" x 30" I'd decided on. He got a pained look on his face, shook his head a little, and stared up and to the side in thought. I continued explaining but he still seemed unhappy, so I asked what the problem was. The problem was that 24"x48" was the closest he had to my size. After that, I'd have to work with the next precut size of 48"x96" and cut it down to size. But his saw to do that was broken at the moment, although it might be fixed the following day.
I also asked about cleats and he showed me something suitable that came in 8' sections. I asked about having that cut, since I only needed 4' at most, but he said that the thickness was below the minimum of what they would cut with their saws. After extracting some advice on screws and how many to use, I let the palpably distressed man tend to the many other matters on his mind.
Since I've done exactly no woodworking since middle school shop class, I decided to get sufficient, but cheap materials to learn on. So I got the 8' cleats and a 48"x24" surface.
Saturday, I cut the cleats, marked the measurements out on the surface where to attach the cleat and screws, and drilled pilot holes in the surface. I had went out from the late afternoon until after dark and I didn't want to run drills, etc. after 11 pm.
Sunday, I fastened the cleat up in the vice and started driving the screws in. I learned a couple of things. First, I should have clamped the cleat to the worksurface at the ends. The screws went flush in the middle, but at the ends went partway into the cleat and then pushed it away from the surface. Second, I should have drilled wider/deeper pilot holes (although I was using wood screws that claimed I shouldn't have to use pilot holes at all) and/or used a lubricant. In my inexperience, I wound up having to strip the screws to get them all the way down. Actually, even on the highest torque setting, the cordless drill would usually just barely get them down to the surface; I'd have to use my body weight and a manual screw driver to tighten them down flat.
This left me with the 4 or so screws at the ends that had pushed the cleat away a fraction of an inch while going in. I tried using a hammer to solve this on my balcony, but after a few hits, I was making a lot of noise for my neighbors and I was leery of doing damage to the material of the balcony floor -- I'm on the 2nd floor, so I didn't want the underside to crack from the stress. So in the evening, I took the table out to an abandoned commercial parking lot and beat it mercilessly for a few minutes to get the cleat and screw heads flush with the surface.
I probably should have used countersinked the holes a little, but that didn't occur to me until after the screws were in. When I started, I naively assumed the drill would tighten the screws partially into the surface on its own.
Anyway it's not pretty, but it should be functional for light work. I can always build something more rugged in the future better and more efficiently should I need it.
Close it back up.
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