Work Area Or Bench

[cardawg]

Hey Guys,I was wondering if you would mind posting some Pic's of your work bench or work area,I'm new at this at I like looking at the Picks to get ideas of the general layouts and get differant ideas about things I have not thought of or came across yet.Thanks in advance

[BobP]

Dawg, I remember there was a similar post awhile back and it received responses including pics of work benches. Try the Search feature to find it.

[mark poulson]

My pig stye...errr... work area is in my gallery, on page 4, I think.

I haven't figured out how to post pictures here in the forum yet, so the gallery is the best I can do.

[BobP]

Sorry, I searched and came up with squat. Work bench organization depends on the amount of power equipment you use and that usually depends on how fast you need to make them. I've seen pics of shops with multiple saws, multiple drill presses with custom jigs lined up. Professional paint spray booths with power air filtration, etc. In other words, a small scale assembly line designed to produce a uniform batch of crankbaits quickly without changing setups. Then there's the hobby builders like me I have an 8 ft. carpenter's bench in the garage half filled with fishing and garage junk. I pull my saw off a shelf and sit it on the bench to cut out blanks, grab a hand held polisher/sander and step outside to sand blanks to width, sit in a lawn chair with a Dremel rotary tool to drill holes or round over and shape blanks, plug my airbrush into the compressor sitting under the bench, and paint. My work area looks just like Joe Blow's garage workbench - and it is. But it's fine to build 100-150 crankbait a year in small batches of 3-6. No hurry, it's a fun hobby.

[Ric670]

my pen...

[RayburnGuy]

If you get right down to it a workbench is a fairly personal thing. Not all builders or painters are going to do things the same way and will probably use different tools and setups to accomplish the same tasks. I would think one of the first considerations would be how much space are you going to be able to dedicate for your work area. This will help determine the size of your workbench and how it is built. Whether or not you want shelves, drawers, peg boards or whatever else you think is best for you and your style of doing things. Another thing to consider is what tools and supplies you will be using most often. These are the things that need to be within arms reach and readily accessible without having to constantly get up and retrieve them from another area. If your going to paint baits you will also need to figure out what type of clear coat you'll be using and how your going to apply it. Some applications call for a rotating drying wheel to keep the clear coat evenly applied until it sets up. If your going to be dipping your lures then you will need a place to hang the lures so excess clear coat can drip off the rear of the bait onto a piece of newspaper or cardboard so clean up is not a hassle. If you have enough room then try to figure a way for expansion of your work area. I can assure you that you will eventually end up with enough stuff to fill an area twice as big as what you think you need now. Good luck and post pics of what you come up with.

Ben

[fatfingers]

Rayburn is right...the answer depends on what you build and how you build and so on.

I might be able to offer a few tips though:

1. Consider having several work benches...one where you paint, another where you carve, and a third where you do things like insert the lips and screw eyes, apply the epoxy finish, etc.
2. You cannot have too many lights in your work areas. On my "finishing" bench, where I apply epoxy, insert diving lips and screws, I have four lights. Its like Yankee stadium when I fire them up, but I'll tell you what, if I fail to use even one of them I notice the difference. Light is your friend. Light is good.
3. Like Rayburn said, try to keep everything within arms reach of your painting bench and your finishing bench. Your carving/woodworking bench should have no trip hazards in the work area.
4. Keep eye, ear and lung protection (respirator) in use and maintained AT ALL TIMES. SPEND THE MONEY AND BUY THE STUFF NOW!. This is a hobby full of potentially dangerous, abrasive, toxic, nauseating things, including chemicals, dust, and finger-eating power tools. Use proper ventilation. Maintain your power tools: replace worn out parts and use sharp blades, bits, etc. Safety first at all times

[mark poulson]

Rayburn is right...the answer depends on what you build and how you build and so on.

I might be able to offer a few tips though:

1. Consider having several work benches...one where you paint, another where you carve, and a third where you do things like insert the lips and screw eyes, apply the epoxy finish, etc.
2. You cannot have too many lights in your work areas. On my "finishing" bench, where I apply epoxy, insert diving lips and screws, I have four lights. Its like Yankee stadium when I fire them up, but I'll tell you what, if I fail to use even one of them I notice the difference. Light is your friend. Light is good.
3. Like Rayburn said, try to keep everything within arms reach of your painting bench and your finishing bench. Your carving/woodworking bench should have no trip hazards in the work area.
4. Keep eye, ear and lung protection (respirator) in use and maintained AT ALL TIMES. SPEND THE MONEY AND BUY THE STUFF NOW!. This is a hobby full of potentially dangerous, abrasive, toxic, nauseating things, including chemicals, dust, and finger-eating power tools. Use proper ventilation. Maintain your power tools: replace worn out parts and use sharp blades, bits, etc. Safety first at all times

Amen!