hey guys,

i'm preparing an area in my garage to put my rod wrapper. i'm preparing to build a table to sit it on and for a general work area. here's my question to you seasoned vets- how tall should i make the work area? i mean is most of your work done standing up or sitting down?

thanks,

brandon

My work tables are standing height - I have an elevated stool I can use if I want to sit down. I feel this gives me the best of both worlds.

But this is really a matter of personal preference.

.................

well tom, that's kind of what i expected. i own and work in a machine shop where i stand up all day and that's what i'm used to. i like working on stuff while standing but i didn't want to go ahead and build a table at standing level and then realize after i start working on my rod that i need to be sitting due to the nature of the work. your idea sounds best---standing level with a tall stool.

thanks,

brandon

Mine is sitting height - see the rod bench thread below. I like to sit - some like to stand - whatever works for you

Mine is right in between sitting and standing height with a medium height stool as I stand for decorative wraps and sit for just about everything else.

My suggestion would be build it tall first, you can always cut it shorter if needed.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/14/2008 10:32AM by Sean Cheaney.

Mine is like Seans medium height 34" to the top, with a stool

Most of my assembly work is done standing up. Most of my wrapping work is done sitting down. I have two benches of different heights. If I were limited to just one, I'd make it a standing height bench and then use a high stool as mentioned for those times when I sit.

My tables ar 760mm (30") and I use a gas lift office style chair on castors. Very comfortable for those long sessions.

Just don't make them so tall that you can't reach your rod!!! (Help I've fallen and can't reach my beer.) LOL

lol @ tim

All my benches (2 fixed to the walls and 2 roll-arounds) are 44" high x 34" deep. What I did is "find" old kitchen cabinets (standard at 34" high) and build sets of wide/deep drawers on them then built the top out of chipboard which I covered with Pergo knock-off snap-fit flooring (without 'grain' embossed on it). This gives me, like Tom the option of standing or sitting on a stool to work. I opted for the wide/deep drawers because it gives me a significant amount of extra storage and I made the tops wider /deeper so that I had room behind the lathes - and I could mount drying racks on the wall and keep them from overhanging the work area. I'm glad that I put in thought and "design time" before I cut the first piece of lumber and didn't skimp to squeeze something "just O.K". into the available space. What I find is that 90+% of the time I'm better off standing because I'm going elsewhere in the shop for pieces/parts/threads/epoxies/glues and because I'm simply more comfortable standing. Another benefit of "standing room" is that up to 4 people can work in the shop simultaneously (if they are careful and considerate). I think that the photos of my shop (during / after reconstruction) may still be on the photo pages. Through layout (even drawing chalk marks on the floor in advance I was able to put in a very wide variety of equipment into a smallish area (three wrapping lathes, bench top drill press, bench top woodworking lathe, small metal lathe, bench grinder, combination belt/disc sander, bench top band saw four independently controlled motorized dryers) and still have space for lots of blanks and parts. Overall the best thing I did was to incorporate the roll-arounds because I was able to bench mount the bandsaw, metal lathe, wood lathe, drill press, grinder and belt/disc sander on opposing sides. Overhead storage for rod blanks also helped tremendously (couple of 4" x 2' long lenghts of PVC pipe fastened to the floor joists allows me to store over 100 blanks neatly - and out from underfoot or falling over in a heap.