I've reached the point where I'm ready to equip my new workshop with benches and I have to decide on the working height.

My garage bench is 800mm high and, depending on the job at hand, I either stand at it or sit on a high stool -- which is not a very comfortable position for working as the stool, being around 750mm is too tall for the bench.

I am considering possibly going with a lower bench height that is more amenable to a computer desk type chair with castors on it. The dining room table is 750mm.

Alternatively, I could go for a 900mm bench height akin to kitchen benches.

What working height and mode (sitting or standing) do you guys prefer?

My work bench (with drill press, vise and grinder and also used for car maintenance and any other project or house hold repair that is going on) is 920mm high. So I stand or use a swivel high stool.

One advantage of the high stool is that you don't have to heave yourself up off a chair - good if your knees or back are playing up.

As with STC830, my bench is multi purpose and things get moved on or off depending on the project at hand. Being nearly three metres long I tend to spread out a bit meaning nothing is a ever at hand if I'm seated so I've always stood with a good quality rubber anti fatigue mat. My bench is 900mm, being about 5'8" this suits me just fine.

Opps wrong thread

My main bench is a former lab counter, so about 120cm high. I use a high stool or stand, and like being able to get a good close look at something I'm working on. I also have a Workmate vice-bench that is much lower and I use that if I am doing a lot of close soldering (say a PCB) and need the stability of sitting on a chair, or drilling or sawing where I need to be above the work.

Maven

about 120cm high

I guess you mean 820mm?

I guess you mean 820mm?

You prompted me to measure instead of guessing. It's actually 920mm at work surface, with a shelf under it at 820mm. Easy to attach vices and clamps.

Not sure why I thought it was taller - perhaps I am shrinking.

Maven

Thanks for the replies, folks.

I'm pretty well decided on a height of 900mm to 920mm which is a comfortable height for standing and suits a drafting chair for seated work.

I'm probably going to use Dexion Keylock for the benches.

Do not forget to think outside the square: I moved house.

This has resulted in the radio's and computers ending up out of the house. Radio's, Machinery repairs and Photo processing have never been done in the houses anyway, the house and garages are not workshops, nor offices their function is specific.

As expected the new "space" needed configuring. the heavier tooling, like the lathe, is in its own shed 14 x 30 ft and Radio's, Library & Home office, in another shed fitted out as a studio (sealed).

The radio bench is a table and there is one of those bedside units that sit next to Hospital beds as a mobile bench for working on things that need to be constantly revolved and it is easier & safer to have it sit & the bench rotate. Remember Parkinson's law: If the bench is too big, stuff will stall and accumulate on it.

I have yet to decide on the "bridge rail". I had one of those as a "sky hook" to hang some awkward chasses from, so they could not "topple".

Lastly there is power & instrumentation. As the studio was originally designed for art, the lights are on hanging power points and can be shuffled around & re configured at a whim. Light above the bench (table) is currently a twin 85Watt, eight feet long.

In order that one does not end up with chaos, there is a series of shelves (adjustable), that the table slips partially under, on one sits the Counters, Sig gens and the CRO etc. That means you do not have to shift them every time you want to use them and they are dedicated powered so that one does not have to chase power points. So should you wish to use it, you just have to switch it on. As yet no permanent 115V circuit.

There are power points under the shelf as well, for any thing on the bench, all on modern protected circuits (RCD's).

With a little bit of effort & thinking one can make repairing easier, if you do a lot of it. I can take photo's if anyone is interested, but as always, "it works for me".

Light above the bench (table) is currently a twin 85Watt, eight feet long.

If they are fluoro tubes then good luck at getting replacements. Last time I bought 6 and 8 foot tubes only GE were making them and there was talk of these sizes being phased out in most of the world. As far as I know only Great Britain still considers them a standard length and probably only because they have so many of them.

Shame in a way - they do put out lots of light.

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A valve a day keeps the transistor away...

I can take photo's if anyone is interested

Yes, please. I'm open to all suggestions.

I take your point about big benches accumulating stuff. The reason I want a long bench is so that I can work on several projects simultaneously, each in their own "section" as it were.

At the moment, when I get the inevitable hold-ups waiting for parts (especially from USA) I have to shift stuff on and off the small bench and they end up on top of other stuff or, worse on the floor.

Currently, my pending projects list (both build and restore) is 40+ items long!

If I were doing this for a living, I'd have a set of pigeon holes to store the projects in, like the old time radio repair shops had.

That small mobile/rotatable workbench is a good idea.

I have been thinking of having a mobile equipment trolley for the most commonly used test gear so that I can wheel it along to my current working spot.

My drill press and grinder is on a mobile cupboard, with associated bits stored therein, along with hand drills and electric saws.

I like the idea of hanging power points and have been considering that in order to keep the walls free of GPOs. Problem is the roof is about 3.2 metres above ground so they would be long drops.

As for bench lighting, I'm probably going to use LEDs under the equipment shelf.

One thing that I do want on the bench area is a curtain rail type of arrangement for reels of hookup wire.

And I'd really love to have a parts bin carousel, but they look to be pretty expensive.

Do note: This is a Farm that has always done a sprinkling of outside work and and I will resort to a wide variety of things; Hence some of the heavy toys.

The lathe & drill press in there situation, there is a 1920's Marelli ceiling fan above these that ticks over 24/7 to stop moisture forming on them. So far so good, with the right spray & cloths over them when not used. No rust new1982.

That hospital cabinet with the Collaro turntable from the Philips.

The bench, noting my comment for keeping it small

The envelope storage for small physical sized caps & resistances.

My bench is 910mm and I generally sit when doing repairs.
It is an L shaped setup. The long part is the repair side and the shorter side has the grinder, drill press and vice.

There is also a shelf above the repair side that is home to the test equipment.

I have a combination of LED and fluro lighting and lots of power points (although could be more)

The height was determined by the bench that was in place when I bought the place, I just added to it.


ben

It's probably time I took a couple of photos of my setup. It's not exactly impressive nor it is commonly used as I do most quick restorations in the kitchen.

I'll try and sort something out by the end of the week. I'll measure my bench height at the same time as it is the primary subject of this thread.

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A valve a day keeps the transistor away...

Thanks for the photos Marcc. That looks to be an old kitchen table pressed into service as your bench, so I take it you prefer to work seated rather than standing?

Nice looking lathe. I'd like to have one myself. Have never set about to do metal work but I would like to be able to cut threads, and turn down rod, etc. In my new workshop I have plenty of space but lathes tend to create quite a mess with oily swarf and I'm trying to keep the new shop a clean one. Perhaps I'll put a lathe in the garage once I get every thing out of it.

I guess that tin shed would be a tad uncomfortable in the middle of summer. One thing I like about my new underground bunker is that the temp stays around 20 degrees.