I have sort of limited space in the garage and a spare few pieces of kitchen worktop. Thinking about making a fold down (or up) bench type thing with some hinges and legs but debating what ironmongery would be best suited. Has anyone done this and got any advice?

Piano hinge trailing edge to the wall.

Piece of horizontal wood with an angle cut on top.*

Piece of wood on a hinge to leading edge of work top with a corresponding angle on it

Lift worktop over horizontal and then slot the wood into the horizontal bit.

* Size your wood to the strength you need.

Or. Gate leg it.

Following. I was about to build the same thing but I had a few drinks and turned my last sheet of OSB into a ramp.

My actual work bench is a little narrow so I’ve decided I need a fold down table again.

There’s loads of easily copied examples if you do a quick Google

Depends a bit what you want to do with the bench and how you will load it. Will it be heavily loaded from the top, will there be movement along its length that might cause legs to wobble.

Edit for example I wouldn’t want to be doing lots of lengthways planing/sanding/hammering/along the grain handsawing on that second bench in the pictures above. It’s a neat design but I reckon it would wobble side to side. The top one looks better in that regard.

I was going to go down this route and decided that actually some saw horses (big Stanley plastic ones) and a 1200×600 piece of OSB edged with some batten and a place to mount a small vice + a cheap workmate copy would give me what I needed for most jobs with very little compromise and portability to work outside on a nice day as well as saving space (as I needed the saw horses and workmate anyway for some stuff).

Horses for courses but even at this time of year if it’s dry I’d much rather be working outside than in.

You know one day you’ll leave it down and thirty seconds later it will have a tonne of shit on it, and it will become a permanent table but a bit flimsy?

I’ve got a 8*4 sheet of 18mm ply that folds down on standard door hinges. There is a 15cm shelf with legs to the floor, standard door hinges recessed into the shelf and the top surface of the ply. The rear legs protrude out so the rear edge of the ply is supported and keeps the weight off the hinges. Due to being a large sheet I have a central leg underneath, I can kneel on top of it when cutting large sheets. Spare sheets of ply and large offcuts are stored on the shelf, hidden when its all folded away, held by a strap when the bench is down.

http://12-gaugegarage.com/blog-11/index.html

Couple of sturdy designs. Also pure garage porn if you’ve never seen it before.

Watching with interest

You know one day you’ll leave it down and thirty seconds later it will have a tonne of shit on it, and it will become a permanent table but a bit flimsy?

I think this is true. Also for it to be a proper work bench it needs a decent vice and maybe a bench grinder or something so make it very un-folding friendly. Probably just better off with a decent fold out/protable workbench, like a decent workmate or something like this:-

https://www.onbuy.com/gb/keter-folding-worktable-with-adjustable-height-and-clamps~c13127~p29726937/?exta=gshp&stat=eyJpcCI6Ijc5Ljk5IiwiZHAiOjAsImxpZCI6IjQwODQxNzU4IiwicyI6IjEiLCJ0IjoxNjEyMTIxODI0LCJibWMiOiIwLjAifQ==&lid=40841758&gclid=Cj0KCQiApsiBBhCKARIsAN8o_4hWJSgh9fhAaWptoU9LuGbeyl7ciZJg1N7IapjWA80lK49AeR3negMaAh5iEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

You know one day you’ll leave it down and thirty seconds later it will have a tonne of shit on it, and it will become a permanent table but a bit flimsy?

he’s right!

made a temp table with 2 folding trestles and an old kitchen worktop. Thinking back its been there maybe 5-6 yrs now. Ended up buying another 2 trestles as the table was fully loaded and I needed 2 for a job.

Thanks guys, you are a persuasive bunch. I’m now leaning towards building a fixed one out of ply and softwood framing!

See if you can get hold of any old kitchen cupboards – it’s what’s supporting my bench and they make excellent legs. Saves you having to build any storage too.

I made this one with a solid core door as a top. Cheap, easy to build and solid. I’ve chucked the link up here once or twice before, and I think a few others on here have used the same design.

http://straightchuter.com/basic-workbench-design-plans/

@nedrapier Wrong link?

works for me.

There is a note to say the site’s not secure, and not to enter any sensitive information. That’s maybe triggering a firewall blockage your end?

I made one, kitchen worktop and gate hinges. Fold up rather than fold down so the batten hinges screw on support the top directly. bolt on front legs.

Very solid. I’ve never folded it away since I built it.

I had a fold down bench in the old garage where the layout was awkward and it worked fine. Piece of kitchen worktop, piano hinge against the wall, sturdy legs that store out the way and slot into a pocket under the table and on the floor.

I cant think of a job I ever needed to do where it wasn’t sturdy enough. It does require some discipline to not dump stuff on it but that was easy in my case as I couldn’t get the motorbike in or out without it being folded down.