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A handy collapsible workbench made from formply and DAR Pine, and painted with black enamel paint.
The project
The amazing folding workbench for small workshops. A surprisingly easy project that is a great solution for small work spaces where a static workbench is not suitable as it takes up too much room.
Every D.I.Y. enthusiast needs a workbench and now there isn’t an excuse not to have one, especially if you are like me and only have a single-car garage.
Tools and materials
Materials used in the project:
- 1 x 17mm Black Specrite Formply 2400mm x 1200mm
- 3 x 2.4m 90mm x 42mm DAR Pine. Generally blemish/knot free, looks better and easily painted.
- 4 x 150mm strap hinges
- 8 x 70mm butt hinges. I used polished silver hinges but these black ones would look pretty cool.
- Cabin hook
- Quick grip mini bar clamp
- 4 x 75mm castors with brakes
- Undercoat
- Acrylic gloss black enamel paint
- Selleys wood glue
- Screws
- Sandpaper
- Spakfilla.
Tools used in the project:
Steps
Step 1
Cut the pieces and assemble the two end frames. It's pretty important to get these exactly the same as they need to fold neatly in together.
Step 2
Patch all the holes and imperfections with Spakfilla. Apply an undercoat and then follow that up with two coats of gloss black enamel.
Step 3
Cut the pieces of Formply for the folding arms. A great way to get these nice and straight is to clamp a straight edge to the formply and run your saw up against it. Of course, if you have a table saw you can always use that. Once the pieces have been cut it's time to assemble and connect to the two end frames.
Step 4
Give the folding arms a test. As you can tell from my facial expressions l was pretty surprised by how well it all folded together.
Step 5
With the frame now complete it's time to cut the formply for the top. I've added some thickness to the edge of the bench top by screwing a strip of formply to the underside of the bench top.
Step 6
With a router or even some sandpaper, chamfer the edges of the benchtop to get rid of the sharp edge.
Step 7
Make up the stabiliser blocks for the folding arms. These prevent the arms from folding in and keep the arms straight.
Step 8
Attach the wheels to the underside of the end frames. One word of advice is to offset the wheels. As you can see in the photo, l originally didn't do that causing the wheels to occasionally clash when when wheeling it away which was a little annoying. I have since offset the wheels and it now works a lot better.
Step 9
As you can see it folds up to a very slim and tidy 180mm which is small enough to even store inside a cupboard when not in use.
Step 10
Here is the finished product.
It works really well and is surprisingly easy to make. A lot of us have very limited workspaces so it's perfect for that. It's also a good thing to have if you are ever entertaining and need an extra table.
Bunnings also seems to have a plentiful supply of the black formply which is also good. I love the look of the stuff and it's mostly straight which is a bonus.
Here's an easy to follow step-by-step video tutorial I made.
More inspiration for your workbench project
Workshop member pats6182 also made a folding workbench which gives more room in the garage.
Community member usedbloom built this compact mobile workbench on castors after being inspired by other Workshop community members.
Check out our Top 10 most popular workbench projects and our Top 10 most popular garage and shed projects for more creative ideas posted by Workshop community members.
