Eric’s Blog

Tonight I was able to finish (well mostly) my basic mobile workbench. The glue is drying on the top, then it will need attached to the frame and I’ll put on the casters and clean it up a bit.

I modified the designs a bit from the plans I got on the inter webs. I made the bench a bit taller and I used MDF instead of the plywood. I don’t know that I’d ever use MDF in a project again, it makes one heckuva mess. Even with the air filter running at full blast there was a thin layer of dust on everything in the garage. Even the filter and the ones on my respirator were colored orange.

I felt a little odd with all the safety gear on, but safety first as they say. You only get one set of eyes and lungs after all. And I didn’t want the hearing pirate sneaking up on me.

I’m not great at making these things. There was a lot of measuring, remeasuring, cutting, testing the fit, recutting, and swearing involved. 😂 Sometimes it’s nice to follow directions, and sometimes it’s nice to figure things out and solve problems. That’s partly why I enjoy making things in the garage.

Doing this taught me a lot. I had some issues with the circular saw; I found out that the laser on it doesn’t show where it is going to cut. The notch on the slide plate of the saw doesn’t show where the kerf is going to be either. I had to line up my cuts, the watch the blade and see where it was cutting while doing it. I did get a straight edge clamp for large boards so I don’t have to free hand the circular saw. That was handy and I learned I have to add 1.5” to whatever I want to cut so the blade winds up where I want it to be.

That’s about it for now. I was happy to get to (mostly) finish this project tonight. I couldn’t have done it if it weren’t for my lovely bride, Adrianne, supporting me and letting me have the time to finish up. Now, hopefully I can get some stuff off the floor of the garage and work on some other projects.