I’ll be following this. I have the same project in mind and I’m looking for ideas.

Awesome! ive changed my mind 3 times already. If i wasn’t using this for an outfeed table too, i would have had a open space above the carcase but below the top to store tablesaw sleds. However by making all the storage undeneath I’m cleaning up my walls and now i can hang my sleds.

Funny thing. I didn’t even consider this (my project) to be storage also. So there you go. You’ve already improved my design substantially.

Awesome. Yeah I drove down to woodcraft today and spent 2 hours there. I looked into vise’s im leaning towards a end vise on the right side and a woodworker quick release vise on the left side. The end vise is 60 dollars however the woodworkers quick release is a 7 wide jaw 150 dollars. Both from woodcraft. Now I saw the same woodworkers vise at Grizzly. Com but shop fox for 89 dollars. I also would like to install Kreg trac for holding down face frames during assembly. Now I did find out that the Kreg accessories only fit Kreg tracs. Tried to slide them into incra and the woodcraft trac, no dice. Asked and the sales guy said yep only kerg accessories fit kerg trac. Frustrating because kreg has you by the acorns. A 4 ft trac was 61 dollars 2 ft half of that. Just letting you know look at many others benches and try to take the best from them and add what your going to use and then add what you might need in 6 months.

I plan on building a new bench so I’m not sure how far I want to go with this outfeed/assembly bench project. I’m still considering a lot of competing ideas. Once it goes in, it’s hard to change so I want to get it right. One of the constraints is to maximize floor space. I can tell you right now mine won’t be nearly as large as yours. I’m looking forward to see the whole thing set up. Please keep the blogs rolling.

Brian i will. i know my bench is much bigger than others but i figured im using it as to tables and i might as well get the most out of it. Since my shop is 20 × 20 ft i am tired of building on top of the table saw. Now ill have space to assemble and still use the table saw.

Hehe… Sounds pretty luxurious to me. My shop is 10 × 20. :-) And my table saw serves double duty too.

Im on a hold till I can figure out what happened to my last critical dimension for the carcase’s. Im totally puzzled. I seriously quadruple checked all my dimensions. Checked for square took my dimensions and made my last carcase. And you’d think it would fit. Aaaaa no. Checked that box out right dimensions and square. Now I even pulled out a machinist square everthing is square. Im taking a breather so I can clear my mind and im going to clean up an area and what I am going to do is level the bench as if it were done what I want to see if im getting deflection in the total length because everthing is square where I check but when the last cabinet goes in im showing 1/8" of vertical out of plumb next to the face of my 36" cabinet at the face edge. I hope im not confusing you. However what im trying to say is if the center is sagging the ends will tip in at the highest point of your end dimension still leaving other things square. That means a few more supports underneath before I go any further. So ill be getting back to you guys when I figure out what happened. A little knot in the log. Lol

Is there room for a tortion box either above or below the boxes? (preferably both, but I know that’s asking a lot).

If I understand correctly, the top of your cabinets won’t be flat when put together. You’re putting a heavy bench top on the cabinets. Why worry about it? It can be an inch out of level. Just shim the bench top.

You should see my bench which I plan to replace. I made it before I knew anything about anything. I saw something in the family handyman about a butcher block bench. I took a bunch of 2×4s that I salvaged from renovating and glued and screwed them together. No jointing, no special care except cutting off the rounded edge on one side of the boards. It’sa little warped and I set it on top of a bookcase that I reinforced and tied to the wall. I have an inch of shims on one side (partly to level it up off a pitched floor, partly because it’s warped). No one can see the shims without careful inspection and this sucker is not going anywhere until I decide to dismantle it.

The point is, don’t sweat 1/8 out of plumb for this job. It’s shop furniture and the only thing that really matters is the bench top. The rest of it (storage) is gravy.

I hear what you’re saying. I did find 1/16" of defection over 6’ so im good There but I think im going to flip it over and add another 1 3/8" to each main beam. Why just of the shear weight of the top coming down and I want that weight to go to the feet. Not stay in the cabinets. I did get the last cabinet in after leveling it out and rechecking everything. Its one of them things that you have no answer for. No my cabinets are all flush across the top. Once again buy laying a full sheet across the top of the cabinets any weight will be distributed evenly Accross and down. Plus it helps in the wood expense of the top. Take that money and buy the vise. Lol

One thing I did with my existing bench was add reinforcing 2×4 legs. They’re outside the bookcase the top sits on so between that and tying it to the wall you can literally pound it with a sledgehammer and it won’t move, shake, bounce or anything. It may not be much of a woodworker’s bench but it is definitely a sturdy shop bench. I think with a little planning, I can achieve the same sturdiness, plus useful storage plus a useful woodworking bench top. Most benches I’ve seen with storage are a bench first, with heavy legs and storage is added after. That’s the concept: bring the load to the floor directly.