Quick heavy duty workbench

This is a good way of whipping together a very durable and heavy workbench very quickly with
almost no tools. Everything but assembly is done for you at homedepot or lowes with the exception cutting the notches for the lower shelf. The assembly is pretty modular so it can also be modified to fit longer table tops, or change the leg lengths and height. The only negative aspect of building a workbench this way is that the components are fairly expensive. Total cost for the project is around $200.

Step 1 Materials

You will need:
8 pieces of 6" long 1 1/4" pipe
4 pieces of 24" long 1 1/4" pipe
1 piece of 36" long 1 1/4" pipe
8 flange connectors
6 T-connector
1 sheet of 3/4" plywood cut twice:
 - cut 2' from the length to make a 2'x4' piece and a 4'x6' piece
 - cut the remainder lengthwise to make 2 2'x6' pieces

screwdriver
* saw & screw gun recommended

I chose to use 1 1/4" black gas pipe to make it heavy duty without being total overkill. It would have been much cheaper & quicker to go with 1" pipe since more of the parts are available pre-cut. Either way you'll need to buy more pipe than you really need from their 10' pipes: 10 = 4 legs & 2' scrap or 3 legs, 1 center part, & 1' of scrap. Maybe you'll get lucky & find the extra foot or so in their cutoff bin.The main table top really only requires 1 piece of 2'x6' plywood, but doubling that up makes it much sturdier and the scrap from that sheet can be made into a lower shelf.

Comments

[karossii]

If you wanted the tabletop to be exceptionally heavyweight or thick, you could cut it into four 2'x4' sections, and have a 2.5" thick (3/4" isn't quite 3/4" thick, much like 1" thick wood is closer to 3/4") top. It would have almost no overhang, and thus eliminate the need to be cautious of heavy loads to one end.