Your Workbench

[tomkat-13]

I find that there never seems to be enough workbench area. Any ideas or secrets out there?

What items are a must & what items can you get along without?

[GMTRacing]

horizontal space is a precious commodity. we all end up working on a max 12 x 12 surface. J.R.

[Anonymous]

Mine is a recycled computer desk. Lots of overhead storage, plus bins on the walls above the desk and next to it. 2 folding desk lamps, one with a magnifier and presto, instant workbench!

Best part though is a 12x18 piece of tempered glass. When  building a kit it gives me a place to put the instructions that is safe from most paint and glue spills, cleans up with a razorblade, plus its a great flat assembly surface too!

[Railphotog]

[selector]

I find that there never seems to be enough workbench area. Any ideas or secrets out there?

What items are a must & what items can you get along without?

Wow, so neat and orderly.  At least you have that going for you.  Mine on the other hand...

[lvanhen]

You seem to have it mostly covered!!  Only things I didn't see are tweezers (I have a dozen or so different ones)  KD coupler pliers, and of course - the Dremel with accessories!!  Great organization!!

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

Here's my work area.  My work bench is two office type folding tables. I have home made cabinets and shelves to keep my stuff in or on.

Once I was a complete mess-aholic.  I reformed.  It save ions of time keeping stuff where it belongs.

The cabinets to the right of the tables have tools, trains, parts, and paints. The large cabinets to the left side have mostly buildings and building kits. The also have materials for scratch building. 

The shelves include MR, books and other reference items.  The other group of shelves is my model railroad museum. The black hulk high on the top shelf is the remains of a steam locomotive built my grandfather around 1925.  There is a scratch build O guage engine built by my dad in the 1940's.  My dad traveled to Japan when I was young and brought me some Tenshodo stuff.  The oldest is a NYC Hudson he gave to me 51 years ago.

 

[tangerine-jack]

I used to have gazillion things on my workbench, everything but space to build something!  I've found out that I only need enough supplies to fit into a 12x16x8" Tupperware container.  I have an x-acto knife with spare blades, straight edge razor blades, mini files, metal ruler, assorted sandpaper (including my new favorite drywall sanding sponge) and a Dremel tool kit with attachments.  All of it fits nicely in the container and I can take it anywhere I go.

I store all my paints and glue in a smaller box, 10x10x4", also portable.  I found that I tend to only use certain colors, perhaps 10 or 12 favorites, and I never keep a paint bottle that is less than half full.  I have an internal mix airbrush (badger) and external mix (Paasche) with compressor that stays at the work table.  If I need heavier artillery, I will go to my garage and use my machine tools, but I seldom need to do that.

It has taken me perhaps 25 years to come to the conclusion that I never used much to build a model with, so there is no need to keep a lot of things lying around creating clutter.  I have several good hobby and craft stores nearby if I need to purchase additional items for a certain project.  I have found this minimalist approach to work very well for me, I travel a lot and I can bring nearly my entire workshop with me wherever I go.   I've built a lot of things at the Holiday Inn.......

[loathar]

Heartland-WOW! I'm jealous! I'm stuck with a 2.5'x5' folding table and some shoe boxes. What I really hate is when the weather gets bad I have to put what I need in a box and bring it inside to work. And then take it back out. And then bring it back in....ect.ect.ect.

[Mike Sisk]

Timely post… I’m just getting started on a new workbench and looking for ideas.



-Mike

[mononguy63]

Garry -

Good golly, your space looks more like a lab than a workbench! Spacious, well-lit, plenty of storage, well-organized.

I couldn't function under such conditions...

Jim

[MisterBeasley]

Jack - that looks like my wife's "Vitamins and Dietary Supplements" container.  Y'know, the small one she takes with her when she's only going away for the weekend.

[DaveInTheHat]

[tangerine-jack]

Jack - that looks like my wife's "Vitamins and Dietary Supplements" container.  Y'know, the small one she takes with her when she's only going away for the weekend.

 

Ah!  I'm busted! 

 I envy some of these workspaces!  But truth told, I'm a lot happier now with my light and mobile tool kit.  Only goes to show that each of us can enjoy this wonderful hobby in whatever way we see fit.  Keep up the good work guys!

[tangerine-jack]

Timely post… I’m just getting started on a new workbench and looking for ideas.



-Mike

 

You got a great workspace there!  You need a picture of a train right in front of you for motivation, and proper lighting!  Perhaps an overhead flourescent and an incadessent spot light on a boom arm would suffice.  You're looking good so far!  I seldom use more space than that to build anything. 

[Mike Sisk]

You got a great workspace there!  You need a picture of a train right in front of you for motivation, and proper lighting!  Perhaps an overhead flourescent and an incadessent spot light on a boom arm would suffice.  You're looking good so far!  I seldom use more space than that to build anything. 

Thanks -- it’s a start, but I need a good way to organize the usual hobby tools in this small space without taking up all the desk space. Like another post mentioned, it seems you eventually end up with about a square foot of working space — that’s certainly been my experience and something I’m trying to avoid this time around.

There’s a lot of light in this room — my early-stage-construction layout is right behind me as you can see in this picture and it’s well lit with 500+ watts of daylight-balanced fluorescent:



I think all I’ll need is the typical swing arm lamp. And my plan for the wall in front of the work bench is for a wall-mounted glass display case up high for my excess motive-power collection.

I’ve been thinking about getting one of those machinist toolboxes but I’m not sure — in previous workbenches I worked out of fishing tackle boxes and sometimes it was a hassle to go through all the drawers looking for a certain tool I saw somewhere but couldn't remember exactly where I put it. Plus, those toolboxes take up a lot of room.

It seems a lot of folks here use various methods to keep the tools in plain sight which would probably work well for me. I might start out with tools stuffed into a bunch of coffee cups and go from there.

[Anonymous]

My workbench is a 6 foot by 6 foot corner with a 5 foot table on one side and a set of shelves on the other. The only useable surface area is about 1 square foot at this time. =)

It's organized somewhat at this time but room work is on-going.

[beegle55]

My workbench is whatever fold up table is open for stacking my junk on. I have most stuff that I don't use daily or need organized on a aluminum book shelf and in a (5?) drawer filing cabinet. The filing cabinet will only work for HO and smaller scales, or else you might find a couple of pieces of rolling stock and a loco or two in the drawers. Just my

 -beegle55

[vsmith]

This is a few years old. Looks even worse today. SOmetimes I cant even see the tabletop.

[beegle55]

There is a table top in that picture?

[lvanhen]

TOMCAT 13, GARRY/HEARTLAND, DAVE IN THE HAT, & FRISCO,

YOU'RE SICK SICK SICK!!!!  HOW CAN ANYONE BE THAT NEAT!!!!!   I WISH I WERE!!! 

[vsmith]

There is a table top in that picture?

 

Its under their somewhere

[DaveInTheHat]

The longer I work on one project the more messed up my work area gets. It's not always neet. I do like having a neet area and a place for everything. Knowing where everything goes keeps me from throwing tools in the trash when I clean up. I put a lot of thought into my workbench. I kept the tools I use the most closest to me so I don't have to keep standing up to get everything. Almost everything that I built my workbench out of was free, found or trash.

[Mike Sisk]

Well, it's been a few weeks, but I think I can call this “Workbench version 1.0” — now it's time to get building stuff…

[PASMITH]

The longer I work on one project the more messed up my work area gets. It's not always neet. I do like having a neet area and a place for everything. Knowing where everything goes keeps me from throwing tools in the trash when I clean up. I put a lot of thought into my workbench. I kept the tools I use the most closest to me so I don't have to keep standing up to get everything. Almost everything that I built my workbench out of was free, found or trash.

Someone ( I think it was Jack Work) once said that no matter how much room or storage space you have, a project always ends with the minimum workable space available which is usually less than 24 X 18 inches.

Peter Smith, Memphis

[Sturgeon-Phish]

Here is a shot of my work space.  It is a cut down door on two file cabinets.

This is the test unit

And here is the test track

Jim

[Anonymous]

Many years ago I went to a store that sold new and used office furniture. I bought an old wooden oak office desk, it was 3 ft by 5 ft. The desk was going t o be stripped down and refinished. It was still painted gray with a gray linoleum type material glued to the top of the desk. I got the desk for $25. I stripped it down and refinished it myself. I put a formica top on the desk. This desk is about 95 years old.

The drawer storage is nice, and the pull outs shelves are real handy. I have 2 swing arm lights on the desk. There are several storage type parts cabinets and a big tool box with sliding drawers for the small tools to be kept in.

Every time we move (5 times) I have brought this desk along.

[dragenrider]

The Cedar Branch & Western RR's maintenance HQ is a little cluttered, but functional.  However, the shop foreman has been heard to mutter on more than one occasion, "Now, where did I put it this time?"  The shop is fully equipped with a test track, tool assortments, various stored parts and pieces, and quick access to the main line for test runs of locos and equipment.

An old computer desk with a hutch serves the need well.

[Anonymous]

This thread reminds of me another one I saw in the Glock Forum dubbed 'Show us your reloading bench'.  There we saw people have a science lab for reloading and I only got a reloaderer mounted on a kitchen bench trolly.

Once again, you guys are so lucky that have dedicated space for a work bench even if it's just a recycled desk.  I have taken over so much space at home already for my new 8X5 layout in N so I can't possibly ask for more space.  So I only get to work on my stuff on our coffee table which gives you backache even just after 30 min.  I guess we need to move I suppose but then again, only just halfway through my new layout!  LOL

[tatans]

T Jack: I believe you have the ideal work bench, good on you, I managed to get a lot of my crap in an old tin chocolate box, some of those benches look like work benches at the Boeing plant ! ! How could you possibly use that much stuff????  could you be the guys with 400 kits stored away? or 250 locomotives stashed away in boxes under the bench???  One bench looks like an industrial manufacturing plant for train stuff(nevermind the cost of it all)