BXProject

[Vanny]

The work bench i had in the garage (which came from the farm) was rotten to hell and back. In fact it was when i pulled it off the bonfire pile, and i kind of hoped that if i poured enough oil and LHM over it that it might become more sturdy. It didn't! Not to mention it was very very low, and everyone knows that a precision work bench should be at a reasonable height.

So i threw it out and made a new one. Generous donation of some off cuts from my dad to make the top, by off cut, i mean 2x 1700x300x70!!!! that's some mean piece of wood and identical to the 22' lengths that hold up my dads garage roof! The cross members are all offcuts from a recent fence replacement (it was 14p more per post to have 2' spare and have to make an extra few cuts). The rest is B+Q's finest cheapo timber. I considered running them through a planer, realised the closest one i had access to was 100miles away and quickly gave up on that idea.

For the time being I'm going to give you the final article, then add the intermediary stages later.

So here it is, my new workbench, just 6 hours after completing the build;




I might add at this point that the deck was not screwed down, the tenons where all cut by hand and so a little wonky, and all the bolts used where spares from a flooring/construction job 4 years ago.

Total cost, £26, bargain!

PS next time I'll either borrow a wood workshop for the afternoon and do it properly, or make it out of steel, 3mm 2" box me thinks, maybe even galv it

[Bx Bandit]

very nice mate - you'd better get on and make something on it now!

[Philhod]

Sorry. I was just going to say nice but cluttered already, there's never enuff room, is there.

You should see the state of my place!! Everything is in piles and keeps getting moved about. I'm right in the middle of putting a wooden floor in my workshop. Presently I've got Gregzee round, helping ( ) me set level and bolt to position, all the support beams. It's 3/4's done now but has been a right bastard. The cement floor is about 60 years old,was laid at different times and levels, so packing under the beams has been interesting.
The flooring will be budget decking and the new bench from 3"x2". The bench top is to be from old planks and all I'll do is run over them with the disc grinder, top surface will be 650x1900 @ 1000 from the floor
and bolted right through the wall for stability.
That's needed cos the top will be drilled to take the lathe and miller (stored in garage). There is a steel bench at 90 degrees to the new one and set back a bit, this has the bench drill and off hand grinder bolted to it.
Will do sum pics when it's done.

[Way2go]

The cement floor is about 60 years old,was laid at different times and levels, so packing under the beams has been interesting.

Presumably if it's such a hotch-potch there's no DPC so once covered in floor bearers and flooring could be a recipe for it to sweat badly and rot to set in? Maybe you've already hatched a cunning plan to prevent this though?

[Philhod]

Err no. Well a bit.
The workshop was built by me without planning etc nearly 20 years ago. It was built in stages over the old shed which was collapsing. It's built from thermalite blocks which soak up water and then dry out again and is 5000 x 3000 outside and has a beamed roof structure felted, then marley tiles to finish.
It has 2 large double glazed windows, a proper door with mortice lock and is always dry inside.
The under beams dont actually touch the old floor (only by 1/2" in places) but are set up on stones and bricks which we have cemented to the floor. the ends are fastened to the blocks with a single 4" L bracket at each end and are tarred where they meet the wall. The decking is tannalised of course so no probs there. the 3x2 for the bench is some scant he had in, obviously off an order, with rounded edges and also Tannalised, the pieces were all 3000 long and at £1-95 each dead cheap.
From the outside the whole thing looks more like an extension, which really had me worried about a visit from the council at first. My main concern is fire coz I've dun all the wireing

[Way2go]

Sounds then if you arrange adequate underfloor ventilation then the worst points of no DPC may well be avoided. Also remember if you have the beams stood on bricks then these are hygrocopic and are best topped with slate to prevent damp "wicking" into your beams.

[Philhod]

Yeah, I had some old roofing felt (thin stuff) lying about so ripped some pieces to put atop the bricks.
I put some extra supports in as well, these are blocks of tannalised wood trimmed to fit where they go.
I've not put owt on these we'll see how the tannelising works

[Vanny]

slates for the win when it comes to stopping the damp, miles better than plastic and easy to come by in liverpool.

Got any pics phil?

[Bx Bandit]

.......... Presently I've got Gregzee round, helping ( ) me set level and bolt to position.......

Really? Wot he has spare time between shags?! What's he shaggin these day anyway?!

[Philhod]

Yeah. He's out of work again aint he!!

Long term Laura is the bird of choice at the moment... and has been for 8 months now, rather worryingly.

He is hoping to join the M/V level 2 course at college soon. They are full but you always get drop off's between now and the end of Nov and he will get 1st dibs when a place becomes vacant.

If he does start college and not work He may be selling the BX.

[Philhod]

Sorry I missed your request for pics Vanny. I'll take some with the phone tomorrow.

What I'll do with them then, I'm not altogether sure....

[Way2go]

If he does start college and not work He may be selling the BX.

They pay them more than the dole don't they whilst in training? He'll have to put the extra towards the BX rather than Beer & Football!

[Philhod]

Nah, As he's under 21 and living at home all he gets is £50 a week JSA. When he starts college he gets the same. They just call it something different

[Way2go]

Normally there is JSA + about £10 when they go into training which as you say is called something else. It also means they don't feature in the unemployed stats.
Do they use 21 as a break point? I thought everything was 18 now except insurance companies that still cling to 25!

[Vanny]

Insurance companies dont cling to 25, thats a myth. Mine didn't change one dot between 24 and 26

[Way2go]

Irrespective of what happened to you, 25 is still their Yardstick breakpoint. Perhaps you had the "benefit" of them not applying a rise in policy price or you didn't contact them to renegociate it after becoming 25.

[Vanny]

well strangely most of my mates are around that age and they have all found the same, 25 makes no difference, so erm no it's not an issolated incident. Oh and i called two days after my birthday, so pretty sure i checked on the threshold!

[Way2go]

Maybe it's because once you're paying higher money with a company, they are loathe to give you money off. Best to try a different company. I'll have a look on the web for an update later re the 25 thing as need to get off down the pub smartish now.

[Philhod]

Have taken some pics of the chaos, just have to sort out how to get them on here.

Gregzee doesn't get anything extra over his jsa payment when he starts college.

In fact, if he takes a job now then jacks it in when college starts, he gets nothing as he has put himself out of work.
How's that for assisting people to improve themselves.

[Way2go]

OK, back from the pub and on the web found that this 25 thing is not just British as here's a quote from an American too:

We’ve all heard that the twenty-five year old milestone is the biggest deal in auto insurance. On that day you magically become safer and actuaries have tables and statistics proving this fact, otherwise auto insurance companies wouldn’t be giving you a discount. I invite you to review two posts in which I detail my insurance prices a month before I turned 25 and the insurance prices a month after I turned 25. Essentially I concluded that you can expect somewhere in the realm of ten percent until I opened up my next Geico bill. My six month fee fell even more from $377.10 to $348.30 (7.6%) for a total fall of over 20%.

There's a lot of Brit stuff about the 25 point but I'll limit it to just one quote:

The reason car insurance for the under 25s is expensive is that this category is considered to be the highest risk category by insurance companies. Inexperienced drivers, driving for the first time and young male drivers are considered especially high risk and accident prone. If you are under 25 and are looking to purchase your first car, it may be a good move to talk to a car insurance company first and get some advice. Insurance is all about statistics and any car insurance company can tell you which cars are involved in the most accidents for under 25s. In fact, they should be able to give you a list of cars they consider 'safe', which would carry lower car insurance premiums. For your first car, you may have to consider a relatively boring car, so that you can afford car insurance coverage for it. An under 25 driver with a sports car is just asking for trouble!