Here is my humble shed. I was living in a 2 bedroom flat with just a courtyard before this. Man that place sucked for working on bikes or cars as I had no where to leave stuff if I didn't finish the job. Moved to my new place about 6 months ago and slowly getting things together. Enough room for me (thinking about changing to a different layout) and it even has a pit! Anyone in Adelaide around my area is free to use it I kinda have crap everywhere atm as I don't get a lot of time to spend actually working on the shed itself. So it's kinda slap-dash atm, hopefully get settled properly soon. On a side note, Sony's 'pan shot' on the Xperia z1 is probably the most broken piece of programming ever. 'Photo failed, please pan slower' /pans slower 'Photo failed, please pan faster' me- FFFFUUUUUUUUU
Workbench stage 4 Benchtop ....tongue and groove flooring ..... Bunnings $42 ...... cut to size Bunnings $0..... trailer home Bunnings courtesy trailer $0 Thanx for coming
Beer and Scotch are a given from previous post. No, what I meant was certain products we use on our bikes can react adversely with the timber=buckling and so on. Just wondered if there was and coating you can apply to your benches to overcome this as they look awesome.
If you wanted to, you could put that heavy vinyl stuff over the top of it. Like industrial floor vinyl etc...
Heres my take on using the flooring as a bench top..... Firstly to me a bench is there to put **** on at a convenient height .....to be able to find something u mislaid cuz in the end it will 'be on the bench'....... to work on smaller and fiddly things ...like carbs! ...instead of the ground or something unsuitable for longer work times ..... like the dining table! and I don't have to lean down so much ....especially when having a cold one or 10! Its also there to hold up the vice ,bench grinder, ultrasonic cleaner, my lunch , yada yada yada As far as anything involving chemicals , cleaning , belting something with a big hammer etc ...that's what the concrete outside is for. As for the piece of wood itself ...... its cheap (see previous post) its in one piece its f****** heavy so its not going anywhere in a hurry it has some sort of coating on the upside ...... some say waterproof , some say water resistant , some say not at all .... thing is its made for house floors etc .... it cant be crap...... and Im not living on it ...just leaning on it occasionally. I also purposely left the' yellow tongue' along the front as a buffer for when Grasshopper is getting his bike out of the shed and hits my bench ..... breaks his bike instead of my bench. And in the end if it rots , warps , breaks or gets eaten by monster rats ..... Ill just pull it off and replace it.
Well said Grey. My work bench is made from old packing cases and has been preserved with years of oil dribbling onto it. Still good.
This is a quote from Classic Motorcycle Mechanics magazine (an English one) by columnist Steve Cooper about our bike sheds. "With life's stresses, the pressure of the 9-5, the state of the nation, inane TV programmes or, whisper in hushed tones, a tiff with the significant other are all set aside with some time in the shed tinkering with bikes. This is a relief from the daily worries and the hours just fly by and your lost in the grease encrusted nirvana that is your private domain. It is almost unbelievable how satisfying it is to do the most simplest of jobs. Working at your own pace, in your own time and dancing to no one else's tune has to be one of the most rewarding experiences. In all honesty, there is little better than sussing out a bikes problem for yourself, the feeling of self worth is a huge moral boost and justifies all the effort expended. If just you in your shed sussed out that oil leak, rebuilt those forks, tuned those carbs or trued that wheel, take pride in what you've learnt. There is nothing wrong with quality shed time." Amen.
After seeing some awesome work benches on here, I was inspired to make my own! I'm on a budget so I used some wood I found in the backyard and also got some nice chipboard as a bench top from bunnings for free. If you are ever in need of bits of wood for framing or cheap chipboard or mdf, check out your local bunnings and ask for cover sheets in the trade section. I work at at bunnings and we throw away wood and materials on a daily basis, so get on it! They use it to to take the force of the straps which would otherwise damage gyprock etc on pallets, there is always heaps around. Also check out the poor mans carb sync tool haha