Hacking Harbor Freight: Hardwood workbenches (review)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 23 ส.ค. 2024
- David takes you on a short tour of the Harbor Freight Hardwood Workbenches, and shows you some of his tips and tricks for both putting them together and using them.
Here's a link to my ZDNet DIY-IT projects: www.zdnet.com/b...
And here's a link to my Thingiverse page with the design for the bench dog covers: www.thingivers...
Let me know what you think of these workbenches and what you use for work surfaces.
That’s great to be able to cover the holes to prevent wood dust, chips, or other debris from getting into the drawers. Thanks for covering that.
I picked up two as well. Put locking caster wheels on and can put them back to back for large projects. Love these. I modified one with putting 4 drawers on one side, just using a piece of plywood on one side for drawer support. I also installed a router insert on one and have a vacuum hooked up underneath. Get a piece of 2" pink foam 4x8 to put on top and it's great for circular saw cutting and many other things. I did cut the 4x8 in 4 pcs, so I could use how much was needed for the project. Only need 1 pc for a small project. I did reinforce the bottom shelf with some 2x4's so it can hold heavier items without flex. I would get these again for sure, if needed.
Very cool ! My dad bought one of these and told me he had issues when installing one of the drawers as well.. he consulted his neighbor who is a jack of all trades and they got it together!
I put mine together by myself...no big whoop, I'm 65 & 5'2"..........I am an artist and they are awesome! I added a second shelf for frames and mat boards storage. Getting a second table as an island and I'll put another shelf in it. I was going to make a drop leaf on the none drawer side I can swing up when I need to cut large mat boards. Great table.
I have one of these and like it a lot. I use it for my guns and reloading. I've made a detachable reloading press which I accomplished by mounting the press to a piece of wood which in turn gets firmly held to the table by means of the vise on the end of the table.
It's got some problems, though - one of the drawers is very difficult to open and close, and so I rarely use it. However, for the price, it's a fantastic value.
Polkovnik Mosin Funny I came across your comment. I am wondering how this is working out for your reloading? Is it sturdy enough for resizing and work well with bullet setting. Also planning to do my builds on it as well. Any thoughts will be awesome.
I built an about 4 in deep 4 in wide caddy for tools , rulers measuring tape etc in between the 2 benches that I can drop things down into it and still use the top as one surface . you should try it. it runs along the entire length of the tables. works great .
Oh wow, i just bought this to build my new Tronxy X5S and was wondering what to do about the bench dog holes and BAM not only did you talk about them you provided the thingiverse download link! Very awesome...
I know this is old, but thanks for the review! Getting a pair of these tmrw!
Follow-up 12/27- I did end up getting two, put them back to back and mounted them on a wood platform I made with collapsible casters. Works great overall. There are a few issues, but still worth the cost. I would definitely consider using glue and better screws.
Yes, i like mine and I put them on wheels so that I can roll them out onto the driveway to do work out there as well. Plus I got to assemble them with the grand kid and that is always interesting in its self.
I just finished assembling my table by myself, I noticed that one of the drawers was binding and not shutting right. I ended up finding that the tiny tabs inside the slide weren't bent over to 90 degrees to stop the slide. They were pushing the slide out as it passed over them, if I had been persistent it would have popped the slide/bearing out.
So if your drawer is binding try pushing the slide to the stopping tabs and see if it goes pass or starts pushing it out. If it doesn't stop it, just bend the tabs to at least 90 degrees and it should work. It's a cheap table, but for the cost it does it's job well enough.
Thanks! Great tip.
My drawers wont close all the way. Any ideas?
Thank you for this video. I am putting mine together this afternoon and your comment about the cheapness of the drawer slides is an encouragement. I am having those very issues with the drawers right now, which is what prompted my searching and finding this video. I'll keep working at it. I have already had to re-bend the ball bearing holders back into place after carefully placing the ball bearings back into the little metal cut holes on the slider. Also, I subscribed and look forward to seeing what else you're up to. Cheers and thanks from Muncie, Indiana.
one of the best products HF sells. amazing to get solid wood for such a price.
I have two of the HF work benches.($119 each) I also have them back to back as you do. I use mine for out feed table for my Rigid table saw and work bench. I also done away with the fiber board and the drawer slides. . I replaced it with 1/2" plywood and better drawer slides. While building the second one I put all 4 drawers on one side and added a shelf on the other side. Also the vise is not very good. Not the best work bench but I really like mine. Thanks for the video.
Mountain Mike's Wood Works which table saw are you using? I just bought the r4512 and was just about to buy supplies for an outfeed table. how does the table compare to the height of the saw?
My R4512 is 37 1/2" high. The HF work benches are 34" high. I have a 3" x 3" x 40" piece of (pallet) wood beneath the work bench legs. This raises the benches to 37" making them 1/2" lower than saw table. Hope this helps.
Also had to remove the vise from end of one bench.
Mountain Mike's Wood Works thank you! I think this is a great option for me as well
I put casters on the bottom of mine so I can roll it around my garage
Instead of attempting to drill holes to move the vices & all that mess, what about just reversing the side the drawers pull out on, on one of them effectively resulting in both vices, same side
Excellent video, nice camera work! Liked and Subscribed.
I just finished putting my bench together. The labels on the drawer slides were BACKWARDS. I figured it out after building one drawer (glad I didn't glue it).
Yes the drawer slides are pretty flimsy, one of mine won't 'lock' to keep the drawer from coming out too far. I'll probably add some fold-up casters to be able to move it easily.
I think overall this is a good work bench, especially for the price. It is fairly stable, however it has a slight wobble from side to side. Front to back is solid without wobble. So what I did was put 1x6 or 1x8 pieces of wood going across at the base on both sides and and close to the top of the table on the back side. I couldn't really put a piece of wood on the top at the front because the drawers were in the way. I could have put it below the drawers, but chose not to. It made a big difference. Also I re-enforced the storage area by putting 1x6 or 1x8 pieces of would underneath for adequate support.
Constructive idea.
Thanks for that I'll go buy one tomorrow keep up the good work and thank you
I bought two also for same reason. Hoped to do same with vise on same side...
From your comment about the vise on the bench , I would assume it may also be very difficult to attach other types of vises ...
The drawer slides - if I encountered the problem you did with them, I would go to my local big-box home store & get the same quality slides used in kitchen cabinets. More expensive, but they won't spray parts all over if you look at them wrong.
My guess is it would be hard. It's certainly beyond my skill set. But if you're an accomplished woodworker, maybe it's doable.
I installed toggle clamps on each side so I can lock them together. I also added castors. When locked together I can move them around my shop as one.
What a great idea!
I couldn't hit the subscribe button fast enough after I saw your shirt. 🤣🤣🤣
Thanks! It's one of my favorites!
WOW, nice shop, nice benches, Best of all, Thanks for the thingaverse bench plugs...YAY!!!
Thanks. It's going through a lot of changes (I moved to the other coast). Here are two videos that give some idea of where things are going: th-cam.com/video/XNllWYrjaC8/w-d-xo.html and th-cam.com/video/4sUV7HVqyjA/w-d-xo.html
Great idea with the two benches
I put the whole thing together by myself. I just used a box to hold the legs up while I put the shelf in and then put the other legs on
I have 2 of these benches myself and I would like to point out that there are other negatives for a woodworker. The bench itself is a nice bench and as you pointed out I would not do heavy work on them. The negatives for a woodworker are that the vises have WAY to much slop in them and the sliding jaw is not square (atleast on mine) and the bench dog holes are NOT standard 3/4" holes for aftermarket accessories.
I do agree that these benches are good multipurpose benches, but me personally I looked at the drawers and just through them in the trash can.
Yeah, I wouldn't consider these professional woodworking benches, but then again, I'd think a really good woodworker would make his or her own bench. I'm still trying to remember to measure twice and cut once.
Curt Parker you not so smart are you
Another addition is to put better and longer draw slides so they open all of the way.
Have you done this? If so, what slides did you use?
I'm looking to install overtravel slides on mine so they open nice and all the way plus one inch.
around $15 each set x 4=$60 Not sure if I can justify that much right now.
I need one of them building long rifles muzzleloaders
sold! going to buy two soon. was searching craigslist for a used table, but for $260 this is great. thanks!
Yeah. I really like them. Far more than I expected.
If you wanted both vises on the same side could you switch the drawers around? Nice review, I think I will get two on sale and maybe put a tool well between them.
It's not easy to move the vices. You'd have to, essentially, reeingineer the underside of the table. It's doable, but would require cutting, fitting, and building skill. I didn't have the patience or time to try it.
Thank you so much for a very informative video
I had to same exact problem with the drawers. Completely unnecessary and caused so much frustration. I also had a problem with the middle divider with the slide rails on it too. The screws for it barely would bite into the top piece. So after two years it completely fell down and i'm re-engineering things....
Ouch. Mine has now survived two moves. Pretty darned happy with it, actually. Just put it up on some Rockler wheels and enjoying the ability to move it around.
Thanks for the 3D bench dog blanks!!!
I love my work bench I put hillsmen poly 2cotes it made the service of my bench vary storng
For actual woodworking, I'm not happy with this bench at all. As someone mentioned below, the end vise has way too much slop - it won't hold a board flat or securely for planing. If you want to plane a thin board, the non-recessed bench dogs get in the way. The bench moves laterally while planing and had to be reinforced with cross beams to keep it steady.
You can say the same about an ironing board, which is also, obviously, not to be used for "actual woodworking".
Or you can just turn the top the other direction when mounting it to the frame to put the vise on the other side.
Then the center support for the drawers likely wont line up.
In my opinion it's the best bench out there for the money.
If you don't want saw dust falling through the dog pin holes into your drawers simply heat up some wine bottle corks (the rubber ones) and push them all the way through the holes then peel away the excess rubber. Then repress them back into the holes for a prefect flush set with the table top. (It also is a better dog pin to hold your projects in place because they are rubber and will not mare your work) I used a jewelers torch to heat them. I'm sure a heat gun would work just as well.
That's a very cool idea. Gotta try it!
I just bought one, thanks for the tips! What do you think about adding wood glue to all the mating pieces before screwing them together? Would that help a little with the stability?
Hmm.. okay, so I bought mine five years ago, so the implementation might have changed in what you bought. That said, I did not use any glue. They have survived two moves (one across country). I have put them on retractable casters which clonk when let down. I have moved them three or four times a week. And they are still rock solid. So while glue might help, these things have definitely held up for me, and I just did the default assembly.
I had the same issue with the drawers and lost ball bearings.
can you still get these? I couldn't find this 4-drawer, only a 3-drawer that looked smaller.
I don't see an exact match for the model that I bought. The three drawer looks pretty good, especially since the four drawers were pretty narrow. Don't remember the dimensions off the top of my head. This is the model that is there now and it is different. www.harborfreight.com/tool-storage-organization/workbenches/60-in-three-drawer-hardwood-workbench-58832.html
That shirt is awesome 😂🙌🏾🔥🔥🔥
Great video, thanks!
I like the idea of putting two of these together like you did. Are these benches fairly sturdy? It seems like when I try out the ones they display in the store, they feel kinda flimsy. Maybe they're not assembling them well to start with. Did you have to do any reinforcement with the assembly and how well do they hold up over time? Thanks for making this vide review. It is very helpful!
They survived two moves, one across country, without developing any sort of wobble. They're not study enough from a true woodworker's perspective if you're planning on pounding on them with massive tools, but I've had them for about four years and don't have any complaints.
Hey, I thought your comments were very intriguing. However, I would have loved to know more about the phase of construction when you needed two people. I'm nearly always working by myself in a remote area, so I'll likely need to overcome this issue alone. I understand you tried, but what if you didn't have someone in the house to help? Would you have persisted and found some way that worked? Thanks so much.
Well, I'm not exactly the most mechanical person in the world, so my wife's help was good to have. But you can undoubtedly put it together yourself. You'll just need to find some way to support the parts that need to align correctly. In my case, I was just concerned that if I kept it up, I'd break something.
Thanks for letting me know!
As I mentioned below, you probably could just prop up the other end and be careful. I thought about being stubborn and doing it that way, but I know my limitations and figured it'd be smart to get some help. But a box or two, a clamp or four, and something to weight it down and hold it still should be fine. It's just one slab of wood that needs to be screwed in.
I did mine myself. I built it upside down laying the top of the table on the box it came in. Screwed everything in, added a support for the bottom shelf, which is a lot easier doing it upside down. Installed rockler rollers on it then flipped it right side up to add the drawers. Very easy to roll around at that point. Like you one of the drawers did not fit quite right, and had some ball bearings come out. Still need to fix that.
Thanks for the review!
I love mine. The only thing that's frustrating me is the right-side drawers that only go in half ways! I tried a rubber mallet but they only stick harder. Mine came with a rail with a dado cut at the center to make sure the center drawer slides are perfectly centered so I think the center drawer slides are perfectly centered because of this rail. I've got to look at those slides on the right a little closer. Argh.
Love the Binford Shirt.
I was SO hoping someone would notice!
DavidGewirtzTV
Need a Pam Anderson poster in the background. I almost did this same thing with the two benches, but the I needed to incorporate a table saw on the opposite side, so I would not be able to use the drawers. I wound up building the bench myself with a cutout for the saw top.
Cool. I've thought about putting a spacer table between them, or turning one end-area into something like a router table.
Freakin' geekalicious... I've been planning to build a bench for guitar repairs, but for the price and convenience and time savings, these are fine as frogs hair. I think I would shift the top over so all the cantilever is on one end, and then install a real side-vice deep enough to hold a guitar. Now we're talkin'.
Possibly the best comment evar!
Bought one of these used at a garage sale. Great bench and solid, nit wobbly like some of the comments. My question is that it was missing the wooden vice at the end. Braces and brackets still underneath. Can you get a replacement vice with screw and bars to insert?
Well, my bench vices tend to bind up. They're not exactly glorious. It's possible Harbor Freight (corporate) might sell you a new one, but you won't be able to buy one from the store. If you can put a third party vice on it, I would. As I said, the one that comes with it isn't great. I'm considering doing just that, but the vice's linear screw is integrated to the underside of the bench, so I'm not sure how easy it would be. Worth exploring, though. Good luck. Let me know what you come up with.
Great info. I picked one up today and I love it. Have you ever tried wheels on the legs?
Yep. Take a look at about 14:50 in this: th-cam.com/video/DCTzG01MWPo/w-d-xo.html I bought them from Rockler, but similar ones are on Amazon. I use them for almost every project.
Nice video. Also like the plugs you made. I’m sure you may hear this a lot but do you sell the plugs? Not all of us have a nice printer like yours. Thanks.
P.S. nice binford shirt.
Yeah, I'm asked that a lot. I know there are services that will take orders and print them, but I'm not familiar with any. If anyone has a recommendation, please feel free to post it here.
Great review, I would have just bought another bench taken out the draw slide and put the broken one back in the box and returned it to hf, for a refund.
I thought of that. But the thing was seriously heavy.
How thick are the legs? I want to add locking casters when I put mine together.
I'd say about 2 inches. Could be less, but they're not super-thin. You should definitely be able to put locking casters underneath. There's a wood bar that crosses between the legs and plenty of screw-in space. Not sure if that bar is solid or hollow, though.
Nicely done. It seems as if your table slides easily. Did you put casters on the legs?
No, although I'm looking into it now. Back then, I had a garage floor that was epoxied, which reduced the coefficient of friction. We're getting ready to move to a new house with older concrete, and that's going to require wheels (although it might be cool to epoxy it, as well).
I'm gonna buy one of these next month, and I would like to know how high your seat is. Being able to look down on my work is important, so I need to know how high it is from the floor to the bottom drawer, and you appear to be sitting at the perfect height, so how high is your stool. Thank You Very Much.
Can't give you exact numbers, but here's what I did to make the seat work with the bench. th-cam.com/video/dq9L8DENrwU/w-d-xo.html
Would you consider latching the dual tables together and adding castors a decent upgrade?
Adding casters has been life-changing, but I wouldn't recommend latching the tables together. When the casters are up, the tables don't move, but the ability to rearrange the tables is amazingly helpful. In this video (th-cam.com/video/DCTzG01MWPo/w-d-xo.html), I arrange them end-to-end for a long project. Casters I used were the Rockler www.rockler.com/rockler-workbench-caster-kit-4-pack ones. And no, that's not a sponsored plug. I just paid for them. I definitely have a clip with them on the benches, but can't find it offhand. It might be on the video I linked to above and it might be in this one th-cam.com/video/4sUV7HVqyjA/w-d-xo.html
I love mine!!
Good reveiw , i agree on the bench for the money they work okay they are not by any means a Woodworking bench as they advertise them a Woodworker needs a much heavier bench that. You can attach Items you. Need to machine , cut, chisel , etc I guess you could solve that with those benches by attaching the permanently to something solid like a wall or A concrete floor ? The reality for a inexpensive, fast. Solution the Rubberwood ones from HF are good most Woodworkers like Maple wood benches And the cost of just the material Would be twice the price or more than these little HF ones ive. Bought 2 of them myself over the years to use independently of each other and they held up. Just fine BTW i used them more as hobby benches for small projects as i do have 2 other larger Workbenches 1. A 8 foot Steel one for automobile repairs and other heavy mechanical products. And a homemade. Wood bench. For Woodworking tools and operations
I have this bench and due to very heavy use ive stripped the side vise screw. Do you happen to know if a replacement part is available. Like can you just buy the vise replacement?
I have no idea. I can tell you that when my drawer was broken, I tried to get my local store to give me a replacement or let me pillage another unit for parts and they referred me to their main office. I never got to calling them because I was too impatient and fixed it myself. You might want to consider just removing the vice, slamming a piece of wood under the bench, and adding your own aftermarket vice. Anyone else know about availability of a vice screw? Please let @k3ith29 know.
I put it together by myself. I built it upside down and then stood it up.
David, would it be possible to buy a bunch of your printed hogs for filling the holes? I don't have access to a 3D printer but would pay you whatever you need.
Julius in Tucson, AZ
Go ahead and send an email to david@zatz.com and I'll follow up with you personally.
Just bought one today, put it together without help took me about an hour and a half
I would consider these "wooden tables" although Harbor freight calls them "workbenches". The tops are less than 1/2 inches thick with a border around to make them look 2+ inches thick.
The top on mine is either 5/8 or 11/16. Seems to be kind of between the two. Still not a surface for heavy pounding but they will easily support just about anything that will fit in them.
@@bradarsenault6984 Easy enough to glue some plywood or MDF under the bench top before assembly to give the thing some heft.
Ty friend
i just bought 2 of these and (1) one of them was missing the drawer fronts and (2) the
drawers just plain suck !!! they stick and look like they are misaligned , wife is gone to HF now to get the replacement drawer fronts (30 mile trip each way )
Gee, that sucks. Sorry 'bout that. It's funny. Back when I got these I was so upset about the broken drawer. But five years later, using them constantly, that no longer seems like such an issue (although I may yet replace the drawer slides with full-extension ones).
@@AdvancedGeekery i did solve the problem with drawer slides , I had put the drawers together not paying attention to which way the little black things were, once i corrected that the drawers worked better ( they are not marked front or back so its easy to get one on the front face and one on the back face of the drawer ) .....we are making these into a kitchen island kinda like you did but, are only using one vise , i used 3/4 dowel rods to plug the holes in the table and used my belt sander to sand the tops smooth and (4) 5/16 bolts to join the tables ( my wife LOVES this island )
Thanks for the info. I was looking to buy it, but now I know I need to build one myself. This ain't the right stuff for me.
Anybody try to mount the Central Forge 3" Vise on this?
BTW, I built mine myself and don't recall any issues.
I have one of these Harbor Freight WB, how would you install a vice on this?
I just have a heavy vice I put on it and move it around. I guess you could do bolts and washers through the bench dog holes. We like having the open flat space, so we're not going to put a vice on it.
How would I add a vice to it?
The negative are the drawers, the rails are crap, bend, break etc and they only allow the drawer to open half way. If the drawers were better these tables would be a steal. Harbor Freight also really needs to sell both caps like you made for the holes and spare drawer parts.
I agree. I've been trying to build up enough courage to replace the draw slides, but I'm just not good enough yet to be sure I won't just eff them up.
How do you remove drawers need adjusting?
Very carefully. Okay, seriously, I don't really know. I would assume very carefully, but I did mine, wow, more than four years ago, so I don't remember the details all that much.
How did you get the discount codes?
Just go to the Harbor Freight website and sign up for mailings. You'll get more discount codes (not to mention promotions) than you'll know what to do with.
i love your shirt haha
Just me, but wouldn't it have been much easier and faster to just go buy a new set of drawer slides rather than go thru the process of re-bending and assembling the cheap set that comes with the bench???
Yeah, at the time that never crossed my mind. Live and learn.
Will this fit a miter saw or will that be too big?
Depends on the miter saw, but it's big enough. You'd probably want some kind of side trays to hold the wood. They're not ideal for miter saws, but I'm sure it's doable.
could you put big wheels on these?
I've seen some folks who have done that. I thought about it myself, but they seem to move relatively well on my concrete floor.
I put it together by myself in 20 minutes
2 people not necessary. I’m 14 and put it together myself
Don't you know that 14 year olds are smarter than adults? Of course you could. :)
What item # bench did you get?
They appear to be the same: 69054, 62603, 63395 Here's a link: www.harborfreight.com/60-in-4-Drawer-Hardwood-Workbench-63395.html
Love the tshirt lol
You noticed! :)
Advanced Geekery lol do they still sell them I would love a few? So let me ask you man I bought that bench and I’m upset because it seems to rock a lot when I am doing any pulling or pushing movement like with hand planes. I don’t have the room for another one like in your video but any recommendations on stiffening it up because the whole reason I bought it was for the vice and to be able to do things like planing but the movement is killing me
The reason those vices are positioned there is because most people are right handed %%%%
I assumed that as soon as I first saw one. Just more open discrimination asgainst we Lefties.
How to secure wood to bench?
I'm not sure what you mean. I use bench dogs, clamps, and a vice. But I also don't use this bench for much wood work, since I'm not terribly experienced with real wood working.
sounds like you had the drawer sides backward and then tried to force the drawer in.
It's entirely possible.
The only thing I don't like about these benches is that they don't have a vice on the front. That is literally the only thing holding me back.
You don't have to install them.
but are the tops flat?
Pretty flat. Haven't had any problems, but I'm not doing precision work on them.
thank you!
You should read some of the 1 star reviews....
"Broke in half 1st time I used it."
"Garbage! Broke after light duty use."
I really wonder what tgese people have done to break a Chinese tree after one use.
Yeah. Well, I've moved these three times, including across country and they've held up. On the other hand, I'm not doing hand-tool woodworking on them.
Would you sell me a dozen of the hole covers? I dont have a 3D printer
Sadly, I'm just not able to do that. The STL is online and there are a lot of local makerspaces that will do it for you.
Would you print and sell me a dozen of those flat bench dogs
Actually 2 dozen
Wheres the hack 😕
That was when I was crawling all over the floor looking for ball bearings the size of a pinhead. :)
I wouldn’t take one of those things for free It probably has a value of your buying it for firewood. (Only if you plan to do any type of woodworking on it )
I really like it. Of course, I'm not doing any really serious woodworking on it. Not sure how it would stand up to hand-planing a table top, for example. But for non-stressed work, it's pretty nice. Had these and the metal workbenches now for a few years and no regrets.
picked this up today. Not impressed. the drawers are complete garbage. screws falling out and bearings missing. HF should quit selling this junk. Continues their bad reputation.
I've had mine for years. Like it a lot. But as the video showed, installing the drawers was a nightmare.
I'd put my 2x lumber bench up against these cheapo benches any day and my bench cost less than 100 bucks to build and weighs about 200 lbs..
Everyone should build their own bench instead of the HF junk.. That's just my personal opinion.. Nobody is required to agree.. ;)
I agree with you. I got mine,and it was almost 2 months before I could put it together the thin drawers bottom made from MDF was all chipped up one was worthless,and couldn't be used. The clamps suck their worthless if you're trying to clamp small stock. The bench dogs had so much play in them so their also worthless. I finally put it out on the curb with a free stuff sign. Then I made my own with 4x4's and 2x4's On a funny note one guy was going to take until I told him it was from HF he just drove off without it. LOL Finally a guy picked it up,and said he was just going to use it for firewood when they went to the campsite. Finally a good use for it. LoL
Too many ums! Very annoying....
Um...
Spoken by an ignorant idiot!
Try filming yourself talking on camera and see how many times you say something that is considered filler like ..um.