That's great, it can double as a bomb shelter if things go sideways. 
Completed Workbench
- Thread starter SugarJ
- Start date
I have a pile of receipts on my bench that I will total up when I'm done. It'll be close to $500 in total. The lumber was around $100, the birch plywood and mdf another $209. Castors, vise, screws, knobs and paint & varathane.
That is about what I was expecting. I recently considered doing something similar, but a bit shallower in depth. In the end I stumbled on this from CT for $540 (got about $60 back in CT money as well), so I hit the easy button. If I had more time available I would have built though.
General PDP Template
www.canadiantire.ca
Still need to organize my garage/tool boxes/shelves now that it is together though.
I have the exact same Mastercraft bench, you can see it in the back of a couple of the pictures. It's missing the vise and dog-holes for clamping that this one will have when it's done, and the Made by Me brand I will put on it. 
I'm not building it to save money. It's a fun project for me and something I look forward to giving to my son.
I'm not building it to save money. It's a fun project for me and something I look forward to giving to my son.
Haha! I can’t believe you have the exact one. Hopefully it has treated you well…looks decent. I am actually contemplating if I will drill to mount my vice or not.I have the exact same Mastercraft bench, you can see it in the back of a couple of the pictures. It's missing the vise and dog-holes for clamping that this one will have when it's done, and the Made by Me brand I will put on it.
I am all for the make it yourself path, but I am pretty low on available time right now.
It's been excellent. I bought it on sale about 5 years ago, it was about $450 plus tax then. The finish on the top scratches fairly easily, but for a rolling bench it's been great. I plan to sand the top at some point and put a clear epoxy finish on it. I'm in the process of 3D printing some Gridfinity bases and boxes to control my fastener chaos in the bottom drawers. I have 2 of the matching standing cabinets, they are good kit as well.
I got some more sessions in this week. First off I rounded the corners on the top using my printed radius jig, some double sided tape and a trim router.
I followed this with a bit change to a 1/8" round-over bit and did the top and bottom edges of the top. Then I glued & nailed the drawer boxes to the bottom sliders.
Then this weekend I got a lot more done. I hit the drawer fronts with a 1/4" round-over.
And then I made and mounted the chops for the vise.
This was followed by a bunch of sanding, touching up the drawer fronts and the exposed edges of the vice chops. While I had everything off the top of the bench, I laid out the dog hole locations.
And then I got the drawer fronts drilled and painted. This picture is after one coat, they look a lot better after the 2nd coat.
So the next steps are to mount the drawer fronts, drill the dog holes, then sand and seal the top. Oh, and cut the shelves that go over the top drawers. I'm hoping 2 more sessions in the garage to get this complete, 3 at the outside. It's taking up a good chunk of my available space.
I followed this with a bit change to a 1/8" round-over bit and did the top and bottom edges of the top. Then I glued & nailed the drawer boxes to the bottom sliders.
Then this weekend I got a lot more done. I hit the drawer fronts with a 1/4" round-over.
And then I made and mounted the chops for the vise.
This was followed by a bunch of sanding, touching up the drawer fronts and the exposed edges of the vice chops. While I had everything off the top of the bench, I laid out the dog hole locations.
And then I got the drawer fronts drilled and painted. This picture is after one coat, they look a lot better after the 2nd coat.
So the next steps are to mount the drawer fronts, drill the dog holes, then sand and seal the top. Oh, and cut the shelves that go over the top drawers. I'm hoping 2 more sessions in the garage to get this complete, 3 at the outside. It's taking up a good chunk of my available space.
I missed updating this.
Someone asked me why I have so many cordless drill/screwdrivers on my bench at some point. So from left to right, countersink bit, impact to fasten drawer front, drill to put handle hole in, screwdriver to attach handle. No bit changes made this process a lot quicker for 9 drawers.
Dog hole layout all drilled and countersunk. I bought a cheap reamer off Amazon that worked surprisingly well.
Cam clamps work! So then there was more fun sanding and finishing. Well, not really fun. A couple coats of oil-based Varathane, a couple weeks waiting for the smell to die down then I delivered it and did final assembly in my son's basement yesterday. I took the casters and vise off before I put the finish coats on to make it lighter and less likely to damage something as it went down the stairs.
All in all a fun project. Total cost was just under $500 including wood, plywood, mdf, fasteners, vise, paint and varathane. There's about 30 hours of my time in it, which is obviously priceless.
He was very appreciative once it was downstairs and assembled. Not so much getting it down the stairs. It's about 150 lbs as it sits, which means it won't move easily when you are working on it with the casters up.
Someone asked me why I have so many cordless drill/screwdrivers on my bench at some point. So from left to right, countersink bit, impact to fasten drawer front, drill to put handle hole in, screwdriver to attach handle. No bit changes made this process a lot quicker for 9 drawers.
Dog hole layout all drilled and countersunk. I bought a cheap reamer off Amazon that worked surprisingly well.
Cam clamps work! So then there was more fun sanding and finishing. Well, not really fun. A couple coats of oil-based Varathane, a couple weeks waiting for the smell to die down then I delivered it and did final assembly in my son's basement yesterday. I took the casters and vise off before I put the finish coats on to make it lighter and less likely to damage something as it went down the stairs.
All in all a fun project. Total cost was just under $500 including wood, plywood, mdf, fasteners, vise, paint and varathane. There's about 30 hours of my time in it, which is obviously priceless.
He was very appreciative once it was downstairs and assembled. Not so much getting it down the stairs. It's about 150 lbs as it sits, which means it won't move easily when you are working on it with the casters up.
Dogholes or T-track of some sort is something I regret not adding to the CNC table. Been just screwing stuff into the spoil board but that isn't going to work moving forward on some of the stuff I have planned.
Use your CNC to cut the holes or track into the spoil board. Mine has enough Z travel to go through it. If you are doing T-track bury it below the surface so you can still surface your spoil board.
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