The Framers Forum

just arrived back from the shop, been installing our new workbench.

(well adding an extension to our exisiting one,)

but ironically it increases the total assembly area by around 70% because we no longer need to borrow some workbench space to house half the mount cutter!

some pictures..

the new Shell, still need an MDF top for it and to get all the mountboard and stuff back in - (7 new bays for Mountboard!)



the new shell with the old top on, to give you an idea of how much extra space we have!

grahame,
did u make the metal slots yourself or did they come flat pack style and you screw it all together??

When I set up I ordered my proteus bench and spent an afternoon trying to put it together with no success until we eventually discovered that we had too many long lengths and not enough short ones! Sawed a piece off a longer length and "hey presto"!


Is a sturdy piece of kit tho'!

fionnuala wrote:grahame,
did u make the metal slots yourself or did they come flat pack style and you screw it all together??

Flat Pack style, it is called a Keencut Proteus Bench,

http://www.lionpic.co.uk/index.php?sess ... uctid=3831

Make sure you leave enough room for the CMC!

I've just got fed up with storing mountboard flat in drawers and always wanting the one at the bottom of the pile so I've just ordered some of these:


http://www.lionpic.co.uk/index.php?mode ... uctid=5700

The CMC is going out front, if we had it through the back we wouldn't have a work bench or room for anyone to work there, which would defeat the purpose of having a work shop.

space is tight enough as it is,

even though we've gained a bit of floor space from our old "island" work bench, it isn't very useful -

we are getting rid of our 3m long art supplies unit this year, so we'll be able to move the CMC up closer to the workshop at Christmas time. at the moment it is living at the window!

heading back in tonight to restock the bench, and also to screw in the new MDF top - going to run for a week or so without a LINO covering, just have to be very careful what we do on top of it,

until the valiani is installed ( arriving tomorrow by courier) We will use the manual mountcutter by placing it on top of the unit. - instead of cantilever arms.

Beach towels might be a useful stopgap, Grahame.

will keep that in mind Áine,

have got some Lino, but it is too small, may be better than nothing

Need a bench

The flat pack style Proteus bench are a great space saving and storage unit provided you put them together correctly, they are best fixed to a wall, then a MDF worktop of a minimum 18mm or for maximum strength 25mm added via screwing from underneath.

You can if you wish add a vinyl top or even carpet tiles glued down.

The link below will show you a detailed drawing of the units and sizes and prices.

http://www.framersequipment.co.uk/keenc ... enches.htm

Want to make your own bench?

I have drawn a basic bench design below this will give you an ideal starting point. The bench you can easily construct with MDF and basic carpentry skills. If you work out your required measurements you can always get your local DIY store to cut everything to size then you just need a little time and patience to assemble the parts like a kit form unit.

For your mount cutting you will require a clean area, good lighting and a purpose built bench to suit the design of your mount cutter and store mountboard.

The bench needs to be long enough to hold your mount cutter depending on which size machine you have? i.e. 48inch or 60inch. It requires a recess in the top for you to fit the mount cutter baseboard in thus keeping the mountboard level with the top of the bench when cutting.

The bench top needs to be set at a working height approx 38inches, to stop back ache and large enough to support a full sheet of mountboard on top and store different colours and types of mountboard in sections
underneath.


If you are not sure of your workshop layout and you may wish to move your bench later? Or store mountboard horizontally, you could conceder this method.

8 x 4 foot chipboard built in layers with nine solid engineer’s bricks in between, three each end and three in the middle.
To stop the brick dust dip the brick in a bucket of watered down builders PVA glue and allow to dry before using

Once you have built up you layers nearly too working height, make a timber frame outside size 8 x 4 foot from 3 x 2 inch timber and attach a minimum 18mm MDF top.

This quick and easy method will leave you with plenty of mountboard storage and a very stable bench, which you can disassemble and reassemble very quickly transporting your mountboard onto each layer as you go.

MITREMAN