2001 - Volume #25, Issue #3, Page #41

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"Quick And Cheap" Portable Shop Benches

"Quick And Cheap" Portable Shop Benches FARM SHOP Miscellaneous 25-3-41 When Mike Douglas, Harmony, Minnesota, needs an extra work table in his shop, he whips out his conduit bender. "I've made several conduit work benches," says the body shop owner. "I borrowed the idea from an old mechanics magazine and have modified it several ways. "They work on the principle of the old TV trays," he says. "You bend the conduit at right angles to make legs and a top of the right width. You need two pieces - one for each side. Then you drill holes through the legs and put a bolt through them to allow them to æscissor' together. A chain fastened to each leg either below or above the bolt keeps them from separating. Then all you need is a board or piece of plywood for a top. It only takes about 15 minutes to make a bench this way." Douglas says he keeps several 10-ft. lengths of 1-in. conduit around the shop just to make benches from. "You could use any size conduit," he notes, "depending on how much weight you want to put on the bench. I've actually set a car engine on top of one, so I know they'll hold just about anything." If you make several pairs the same size, you can set them up to make benches of any length, he says, noting that they make great portable tables for flea markets. When you no longer need the bench, you take off the top and fold the legs together. Then they can be stored along the shop wall or hung out of the way. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Mike Douglas, Route 3, Box 55, Harmony, Minn. 55939 (ph 507 886-3456; E-mail: lauramik@means.net).