Kid's Workbench

In preparation of making my own work bench, I made a smaller one for kids.  I used an old kitchen island wood top that I had acquired some  time ago.  The other wood and was gathered from scrap and trash from work.  The only cost that I had in the bench was hardware and labor, which was  not cheap.  It was a good practice and design check for my workbench I hope to make later this year.  Here are the highlights of the project:

• First of all this was designed around the height of my youngest.  It is a little taller than it should be for him.  He does think it is his now.  Kids are taller than I first thought.  My bench is going to be 35".  I am six feet (almost).  Half of 48" is 24".  Good thing I tested before assembly.  I added another 3" to it and made it a better height.
• Drawers are shallow for a reason.  I don't want a lot of stuff in them.  It is mainly for kids and storage of their tools.  I am hoping to put foam with cutouts for all the tools.  This is a project for another day.
• When making five piece side make sure the glides span the two verticals.  I did not check and had to set my glides back 3/4" so I could attach them.  Not impossible, just make the task more difficult.  
• The only drawer that was designed for a purpose was the paint drawer.  All other drawers were made with the same height drawers.  This may not have been the best idea as some tools don't fit as well.  My bench will have more specific drawers and design.
• I purchased a mobile base from Grizzly Tools.  I am pleased with the result.  It does roll smoothly and carries the weight.  my only complaint is that it does not work well with 3/4" board.  It says that it will work with 1/2-1 1/4 board but the screws for the 3/4" board drag on the floor every once in a while.  The 1/2" board works great.  Since I screwed the base also into the work bench frame I am not concerned about bowing of the base.
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  I also purchased t-track from Rockler and some of the accessories.  I put this around  the parameter of the bench to make a cheap set of vices.  I did not leave enough material below the track for the clamps to work well.  This is something that I will remedy with my bench.  

It is not the best work I have done but it does function.  My youngest is happy with it.  It is a good addition to the shop as I start working with more kids.  I enjoy the mobility of the bench and the storage it has.

Making Changes

 There are changes happening in the garage shop.  There are things that I have wanted to do in the past three homes that I have lived in.  I have wanted to add more electrical outlets in the garage.  I finally did it because I am hoping to stay in this place a little longer than the last one.  I upgraded the line to a 20amp breaker and added 2 more outlets.  I can now have my scroll saw and drill press always plugged in.  the third is for the extension cord that I use for the mobile equipment.  

The line was pretty simple.  It was on one wall in line with the electrical panel.  There was little damage to the dry wall.  I did have help because I do not like electricity and have never done work in the panel.  He did panel and wiring work and I watched for the most part.  

I did upgrade the line from a 15 amp to a 20 amp breaker.  This is largely because I was tipping the breaker when running the table saw and shop vac at the same time.  There is another reason that I will get to later (probably another post).  

I actually looked at some of my equipment specifications and they said I need a 25 amp breaker.  There is no such thing at the local box stores.  Ironically, some of my tools have a 16 amp startup draw and a 14 gauge plug. So I knew that a 20 amp line would be fine.  If I went to a 30 amp breaker, I would need new plugs on everything.

There is a thing called new work and old work fixtures.  That was a mind blowing experience.  New work is for all the stuff that drywall is not in place.  Old work makes it real easy to put the junction boxes in drywall.  

There are a lot of breakers out there.  Make sure to know which breaker to get.  It is actually pretty straight forward to replace the breaker.  That being said, I still don't ever want to do it.

I did help install the wiring in the outlets and attach the outlets in the wall.  When we first powered the line the circuit blew.  Why did it blow, I had the ground touching the hot wire when I put the wires in the the box.  One more reason I do not like working on electricity.