workbench as a base for a go-bar deck

[Paul Allopenna]

Hi everyone,

This my first post and it's a rather naive question. I just built a Stewmac go-bar deck and realized that it's not going to work for me for a variety of reasons: my shop has an extremely slanted ceiling, and I have an extremely bad back, to name two. It occurred to me that I could use my workbench as the base of the deck and disassemble the deck after each use, but I'm not sure what the best method of threading the deck supports in the bench would be (sorry for the grammar). The holes that I would drill would not go all the way through the bench top so I would want some type of threaded gizmo to embed in the bench, but I don't know what that threaded gizmo should be. Thanks in advance!

Paul Allopenna

[John Parchem]

There is an a lot of force that will be trying to pull what ever inserts you use out of the bench. Why not go all the way through the bench? I suppose you can epoxy the right size nut in the bench. Also, you can probably find the right sized threaded insert.

[Paul Allopenna]

Thanks! The only reason that I don't want to drill through the top is that my bench top is actually a maple top that I put on top of an existing bench I inherited. The bench proper has a well in the middle and a couple of vises at either end and it seems likely that drilling through might get complicated.

[Herman]

Hi Paul,

In your case I would use some Rampa insert nuts. Like this:



Maybe you can get them in a 1/2" internal thread. If you take long ones, I think it will hold the structure.
Good luck
Herman

[peter havriluk]

I don't understand something.

I made a perfectly functional go-bar array from two slabs of plywood, a bunch of threaded rod and wing nuts, t-nuts, and washers. Whole thing is self-contained and just sits on top of my workbench when I use it, or sits in a corner when I'm not using it. I can even knock it down for storage if I wanted to not budget space for it all assembled. If I wanted it more rigid, I'd run the threaded rods inside some PVC conduit.

I can't imagine the effort and nuisance of assembling a go-bar deck using a workbench as a base and altering the workbench as well.

Please don't create a solution looking for a problem.

[Kenny Wiebusch]

I'm with Peter. I don't know what the Stew Mac one looks like but mine comes right apart. I use it for braces and gluing on the top and back. I use lengths of 1 x 3/16 pine trim from Lowes or Home Depot as bars. To me they handle easier and have less pressure than fiberglass rods.

[Carl Dickinson]

I don't know how much shop space you have, Paul, but I've got my homemade go-bar deck mounted on a Harbor Freight tool base on wheels. Since it's about 40" high to the bottom platform and quite a lot higher that my work benches, I use it a lot because I don't have to bend over to do lots of things besides gluing. See the picture of my messy shop. Sorry, tried 4 times to get the picture upright. Couldn't figure out how to straighten it out.

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