After moving into my new shop my lack of an outfeed table/workbench is glaringly obvious. In my last shop I built the "Ultimate" workbench which sat in the middle of my shop and served me very well. My new shop, however, requires a slightly smaller version so I needed to design a new one...from scratch.
Before starting the design I had to ask myself, "what do you want in this piece of shop furniture?" After having the "Ultimate Workbench" for so long I naturally gravitated towards many of the same features but made some slight modifications. The first modification is the dust collection system. I moved to a smaller, more compact setup consisting of a small shop-vac (different brand) and a cyclone separator. The original design featured a full size dust collector and cycle separator. Since the new design was going to be 2' shorter and I actually wanted to build in some more features, that was a sacrafice I needed to make. The second major change is the integration of a router table. I originally didn't think I needed one but after a couple years of building things I now realize having one would make my life so much easier.
And thus the "Versatile Workbench" was born via Autodesk Fusion 360:
This new design is better thought out, packs more punch, and is an approachable size for most garage shops. I do realize, however, that there is still a need for an even smaller version so I will release plans for that one as well. I will call that one the "Schmedium" Workbench because the name is just too fitting.
I will document the construction of my new workbench in a brand new build series detailing most steps. The full color plans were released just ahead of the first episode so anyone can follow along if they wish! I also released a set of metric build plans for this same design.
Happy Building!
Check out more of my build plans here:
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