Your dream workbench

[BWoodworker]

As I am setting up a space in my shop to add some engraving equipment I plan on turning the "temporary"(no comments on how many years temporary is) outfeed table for my tablesaw into a fold away engraving and light metal work area. A top will fold down and still allow the saw to function but I can lift it up and hopefully with a minimum of effort be able to engrave and do some basic metal work. Keeping the wood shavings and the metal separate.


Which brings us to the discussion of benches. I know what goes into a good woodworking bench but having little(almost zero) experience with engraving..... I have looked at comercial jewlers benches(these look kinda frail) and some of the bench discussions here.... but I feel like I am lacking in experience to say what are must have and what are nice to have and what people put up with becuase they are stuck with it.


If you were to have someone custom make you a workbench what features would you want?

Anay standard rules of thumb on height or other must have workbench features?

Favorite bench accessories?

Lighting? electrical? compressed air? Dust or fume extraction?

Drawers trays?

Resources?

A separate pedastal or the engraving vise bench mounted.


Thank you all again. I am sure it wont be perfect the fist time but I would like to be in the ballpark.

Ps I have included more what I am used to in a bench and the space that new bench will be going.(subject to there not being some tragic flaw in my plan)

Please forgive the mess.

 

[Mike576]

Buy a roll top desk, it’s fantastic for an engraving setup especially if you can get a roll top made for a desktop computer. This will make it so the top area is tall enough for your microscope to be tucked away and closed in. Would be perfect in a woodworking shop because everything will stay nice and clean! Even a shorter roll top would work though, I can take my microscope off them turn the post to the side and still close it up. I attached it to a thick maple table to support my vise holding fixture however this is not needed if you have a vise holding stand like a grs satellite table. Only reason I have the bench mount is because I could more easily make that with the tools I have. I didn’t feel like shelling out the bucks for a pro level setup. What I made is super solid and adjustable height and that’s the main

As for electrical I run everything off a 20 amp circuit and a power strip. Power needed is very minimal for engraving setups.
For a compressor I use a 26 gallon kobalt oil free compressor. I prefer a large air compressor vs a small quiet one. I charge mine up once or maybe 2 times a day and it’s a quick charge up.

the most useful purchase you will make is a good microscope and pneumatic hand piece and sharpening jigs. Everything else can wait! But some nice things to have are a power hone (or a drill press and lapping mandrels), a high speed rotary hand piece, iPad stand to hold your iPad right in front of your scope at eye level (if you go the iPad route). Also nice to have a good set of jeweler files and small sanding blocks. Oh and buy some reference books! There’s a few posts here on the best ones but my favorite is drawing and understanding of scroll designs, and Firmo and Francesca Fracassi: Master Engravers for bulino work.
Best of luck to you

 

[Chujybear]

Adjustable height (at least) for the part of your bench that supports your ball.
solid. I have frequent occasion to give something a whack. It’s nice if that doesn’t reverberate through the whole benchtop.
storage. You can’t have too much storage. But look at the height that drawers need to be. It won’t serve you to have a deep drawer full of gravers. I would like to have a vertical storage drawer for my hammers.
I have an on off on switch so that I can switch between two flexshafts on the same foot pedal.

 

[monk]

my "dream" workbench turned into a nightmare about 30 years ago. it's a mess, a jumble of crap that i refuse to discard, and a haven for stuff i cant even remember what it's for !! good news, tho-- if one were to clean up the mess, i'd never be able to function.
there's so very many options from which to choose. for me it was just build an oversized bench and "grow into it" altho i do more than just engraving, so it works for me.

 

[BWoodworker]

I would like to have a vertical storage drawer for my hammers.

Interesting do you have a link or a photo of what you mean? Since I will make the bench I can make whatever I like.

I have an on off on switch so that I can switch between two flexshafts on the same foot pedal

air or electric? How do you set that up? what kind of flexshaft do you prefer?

I can take my microscope off th

How do you store your microscope?

Does anyone know if there are quick disconnects for the microscope posts or is that something I will have to engineer?

a high speed rotary hand piece,

I have a dremel and a milwaukee cordless rotary tool but I am sure I will need something more refined as I get further along.




Thank you everyone for your time and great recommendations

 

[Mike576]

Luckily my microscope fits in the deep side drawer or I can leave it off to the side of my desk top of clean enough. I mostly do this when I have a bit of work to do on my lathe, buffer, etc. for a quick disconnect my Olympus scope came with one built in, also you could turn something down on a lathe just a made and female post and socket with a thumb screw coming in from the side to keep things set in place.

for the rotary hand piece I mean high speed like 300k rpm and above. Grs, Steve Lindsay and NSK make extremely high speed tools which use 1/16 FG style burrs. They are nice for background removal, really speeds up the process.

 

[T.G.III]

From this



To this


Because of days like this

 

[mdengraver]

Deleted

 

[BWoodworker]

Inexpensive roll top desk Etsy.

I will have to pass on buying a digital immage of a roll top desk....

Even though it's got some nice patarae bits on the legs.

you could turn something down on a lathe

Yeah a metal lathe is on the list actually too.... but engraver first. My wood lathe has been pressed into service occasionally but not ideal.

Thanks for the rest of the thoughts.

 

[Chujybear]

Interesting do you have a link or a photo of what you mean? Since I will make the bench I can make whatever I like.

I will take a picture. I’m in the north carving wood right now. But if I get back home I will take some pictures, and try to find this thread again

air or electric? How do you set that up? what kind of flexshaft do you prefer?

one is a foredoom flex shaft. The other is an emesco belt driven dentist drill…. I prefer the emesco…tho I just busted a belt

How do you store your microscope?

My microscope is always in place.. tho I can swing it away.. it is on a shelf, rather than on my bench so no movement gets transferred to scope.

Does anyone know if there are quick disconnects for the microscope posts or is that something I will have to engineer?

Sort of. I can remove the scope or the scope and cross post by releasing a thumb screw

I have a dremel and a milwaukee cordless rotary tool but I am sure I will need something more refined as I get further along.

that’ll do. But you will probably want something with finer controls in time. And something a little torquier for drilling. But I travel with a dremel and don’t feel the work suffers

Thank you everyone for your time and great recommendations

 

[DaveAtWeirs]

I'm in the process of re-doing my home set-up and my main parts are:

Lindsay graver - It's just works. No box, no plugging in to a wall, less air use, no need to balance anything. It just does what it does and does it well.

Lindsay sharpening set - The four grits of diamond stones and some of the diamond polishing paper stuff. For jewellery I almost exclusively use 123 degree, and 96 degree regular and high angle. The flat and knife one is handy to have too. The templates are fairly cheap all things considered, especially the amount of use you get out of em.

Microscope - I have a meji 5 at home but the Leica in work as spoiled me rotten so I want a new one

Vice - I've got a GRS low profile vice with the attachment set. great for small stuff and big stuff alike.

GRS universal positioning vise - This is more for jewelry engraving but in general it's great for holding weird shaped things

Turntable and adjustable stand - I got the GRS ones but any type will do, just has to be solid, adjustable in height and with no wobble/side to side on the turntable. Anything that wont fit in your vice can sit on the turntable with a sandbag.

Table with small curve cut out of it - You want the curve to be clear around your vice but easy to reach so you can pop tools up there when you're working on something. think slightly over desk height. You want to be able to easily see whats on it but also up out of the way a little bit. also, depending on the work you're doing, you need it strong enough and weighty enough to hold an:

Adjustable microscope arm - One that looks like an arm and can reach out further than the table. At some point you WILL get something that's too tall or wide to fit under the table so being able to pull your scope out away from the table with minimal hassle will stand to you (pun unintended).

Two compressors - First, get a silent one. Don't think 'compressors cant be that loud why do I even need a silent one'. Youre wrong. Silent ones arent silent, its just that regular ones are so god damn loud that in comparison they're silent. Holy god they're loud. Just get a silent one, but having said that, keep an eye out for a deal for a cheap non-silent one with a big tank. Hook em up together and use the tank of the non silent one to hold air compressed by the silent one. And it's a backup for -WHEN- your silent one breaks mid job (lol, can you tell this happened recently and work hadn't listen to me about getting a backup?).

Tool drawers - I got two of those mechanics drawers sets. One with regular drawers and one with the low profile drawer. It's far too much space to be honest but I'm sure I'll end up filling them with bits and bobs.

Rotary handpiece - The precision ones with the pedal, and that you can reverse with a switch. Great for shaping gravers, low level polishing, background removals, etc.

Jewelers pendant drill - This is for the heavy duty stuff. A bit less smooth but its got more torque and lasts longer with heavy use. They're indestructible.

Power hone - These things are a life saver. I put off getting one for years and after using one for a bit I'd absolutely get one to use at home. Even if you are allowed access to one to rough out your blanks then do that. Saves so much time and effort.

Lights - yea you need a ring light, obviously, but if you're going all out, get yourself some lights on those goose neck thingies. Ideally you want em to be able to change to warm, neutral and cool light (ikea have em). Put warm light on one side pointing in, and the cold on the other pointing in. This makes it easier to work on really shiny things plus it looks great for cameras if you're taking photos or doing videos.


of and if you're in a small room get some of those foam thingys to put on your walls to reduce sound/echo