I will be building the benchcrafted Roubo bench and want to shorten it. Benchcrafted is 87″ long and the article by Jeff Miller is 84″.
So what is the shortest base (outside leg to outside leg) I can do to build a 68-72″ bench.
Most plans I see call for a 4″ thick top. Has anyone built one with less thickness?
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Replies
Leaving all of the overhangs in the plans intact would be my approach, the intended functions should remain. My bench is under 6' and just over 3" thick... it hardly ever moves.
Just scale it down, reducing length by 20%, the base would be 20% shorter and the thickness 3 inches so you get 80% of the original, but keep the height.
I am just finishing a 6' Benchcrafted Roubo Workbench.
Benchrafted suggest you simply take 15" off the Leg Vise end. This will work.
I made some subtle dimensional changes along the way. After attaching the Base Assembly to the Top my Chop extended past the left end of the Bench Top by about 1". My Chop is oversized from the Benchcrafted drawings.
I bolted a couple boards perpendicular to the end of the Bench Top to extend the length of the Top. Looks OK.
It might be worth your time to look at the Blog on the Benchcrafted website.
You can email Benchcrafted Tech Support with any questions you may have as well.