DIY Portable Workbench

Efficient use of limited space often necessitates doubling or tripling-up on functionality. Condominium, townhouse and apartment dwellers might have to back the car out of a single-car garage to access their workshop-on-the-wall. A sheet of plywood or a heavy corrugated box may have to shield the dining room table while remodeling or when school projects are being cut out and assembled on top of it. Relief may be on its way, though, with a DIY portable workbench which also functions as a heavy-hauler dolly or a portable picnic table on its day off. Does this Spark an idea?

Design Strategy

The heart of the workbench is its top, which consists of three 5-foot-long pressure-treated 2-by-4 inch wood studs in parallel with 8 1/4 inches between them. Topping these three longitudinal beams is a 24-inch-wide by 48-inch-long piece of 3/4-inch thick CDX pressure-treated plywood. The plywood is centered and fastened to the beams with both construction adhesive and coated wood screws. The beams extend beyond the plywood by 6 inches on both ends to act as mounts for the axle and main wheels on one end, and a 1 1/2-inch-thick wooden closet rod at the other for a handle. The two full-depth folding legs are also cut from the plywood sheet and swing up against the beams to lock in place. One is pivoted on the wheel axle, and the other is pivoted on the round handle.

Leg Strategy

Make one leg 16 1/2 inches wide by 31 inches long, and the other 24 1/2 inches wide. They are bolstered by two pressure-treated 2-by-4 inch studs 34 inches long and protrude above the plywood by 3 inches at the top. In order for the legs to be able to fold properly, the wider legs bolster studs fold outside the outer beams, and the narrower legs studs inside the outer beams. The exact outside angle of the legs when folded down is determined by chains that are connected to the center of the bench top and the bottoms of the legs.

Wheel Strategy

Two 6-inch polypropylene wheels with roller bearings ride on a 5/8-inch steel axle which is routed through two holes in the protruding struts at one end of the bench. The wood handle is at the other end, which allows use as a box hauler hand truck with an optional top platform. If optional rotating heavy casters are attached to the bottom of the bench to protrude the same distance as the main wheels, the bench can roll on all four wheels like a dolly.