I have to do a lot of work on equipment around the property: yard-care tool maintenance and repair, mesh repeaters, generators, GMRS radios and antennas, some car repairs, my Macbook Pro, networking gear, electrical wiring, wheelbarrows, window screen repair, laptop repair, phone repair, chicken doors, home monitoring systems… you get the picture. Yet I’ve never had a place to do it. I end up trying to do it on my desk, which has a laptop, three monitors, the usual endless piles of papers to deal with taxes and the “business” of keeping the compound running, and whatever tools and parts the latest projects require. It’s in a room that’s less than 100 square feet and also has to hold cables and computer parts and records and tools and printers and provide a walkway between the kitchen and the bedroom. It’s crowded! Finding a spot on the desk to put a device to repair often takes longer than the repair itself.
The garage lacked room for a workshop, but only because I like to keep Joulee the Free Salvage Tesla in it. When I was a kid, I had the same problem but made worse because when I did clear a workspace in the garage, my parents immediately piled their junk on my space. My space was always occupied with their junk (just for now!! my hands were full!! I was going to move it and Alice called!! I was waiting for your dad to get home and put it away!!) There was always an excuse.
I eventually solved the problem by putting in a fold-down workbench. I kept it clean, and my dad couldn’t put his car in the garage without folding the bench down. That meant, if he or my mom left their trash on it, it became his problem. The system worked well.
So I designed a simple folding workbench for the garage. There was a lot of space when the car was out.
I took a 4’ × 8’ sheet of plywood and cut one foot off one of the long sides, giving me a 12” x 96” shelf. I mounted this up on the studs at tall-guy height (HA is tall, too) to provide storage handy to the workbench. I populated it with clear storage containers for small parts and tools.
Then I cut front legs for the bench and mounted them on hinges so they could fold together. I mounted the bench itself on hinges on the studs. It’s a bit bouncy in the center (I knew it would be) but it should be more than sufficient to provide work space for all but the biggest repair projects. When the work is done, the bench folds down against the wall and takes up almost no space at all.
I have ordered some lighting that will arrive later this week (USPS willing).
Now I have one less excuse to start working on the backlog of repair projects.
—2p