12-02-2016, 06:34 PM
I second the use of carriage bolts on the legs.
A simple way to build the bench is to make a 2x4 frame - to your desired dimensions. Depending on length, possible add a support or two from front to back (front and back are the wide side). Cut four 4x4s for legs to your desired height, don't forget to take the caster height into consideration. Drill and carriage bolt the legs to the inside 4 corners of the frame. Add a couple of deck screws or lag bolts to the second side for stability. Make another frame like you did for the top and mount it about a foot or so from the bottom end of the legs. It gives you stability and a shelf at the same time. The shelf doesn't need to be carriage bolted, you can use deck screws for it if you want.
You more than likely did all of that upside down - legs sticking up - so flip it over. Get a piece of 3/4" plywood cut at least the size of the top of your frame. You can have some hangover if you want. Add another sheet for your shelf.
Now you're probably wondering why I didn't have you attach the casters yet. I just finished building something similar. It's a bench with 4 drawers on one side, 3 on the other, open spaces on the bottom for heavy stuff and a mini wood lathe attached to a fold up shelf on one side. It was a pain in the backside with that thing moving around that I flipped it back over and removed them till I was ready for it to be moved around that freely. Oh, the cabinet also has a plywood benchtop - 36" x 36", the height is 48" with casters.
That said, now flip it over and add the casters. At this point you can also put something on the top of the plywood for a different surface. Mine has 5mm thick rubber on the top. So I guess that makes the height 4' + 5mm :)
A simple way to build the bench is to make a 2x4 frame - to your desired dimensions. Depending on length, possible add a support or two from front to back (front and back are the wide side). Cut four 4x4s for legs to your desired height, don't forget to take the caster height into consideration. Drill and carriage bolt the legs to the inside 4 corners of the frame. Add a couple of deck screws or lag bolts to the second side for stability. Make another frame like you did for the top and mount it about a foot or so from the bottom end of the legs. It gives you stability and a shelf at the same time. The shelf doesn't need to be carriage bolted, you can use deck screws for it if you want.
You more than likely did all of that upside down - legs sticking up - so flip it over. Get a piece of 3/4" plywood cut at least the size of the top of your frame. You can have some hangover if you want. Add another sheet for your shelf.
Now you're probably wondering why I didn't have you attach the casters yet. I just finished building something similar. It's a bench with 4 drawers on one side, 3 on the other, open spaces on the bottom for heavy stuff and a mini wood lathe attached to a fold up shelf on one side. It was a pain in the backside with that thing moving around that I flipped it back over and removed them till I was ready for it to be moved around that freely. Oh, the cabinet also has a plywood benchtop - 36" x 36", the height is 48" with casters.
That said, now flip it over and add the casters. At this point you can also put something on the top of the plywood for a different surface. Mine has 5mm thick rubber on the top. So I guess that makes the height 4' + 5mm :)
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