The Complete Bench Story
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| In 1979 I was a student in a small dormitory. I needed more space so I decided to move
the bed up to the ceiling and put the desk underneath it. I got some 2x6s, 2x4s and
particle board and made a loft. In 1983 I needed a desk and didn't need the loft anymore
so I made a bench out of it. It was a poor bench, only 4' wide and 2'6" deep, with an
instrument shelf above the bench. It worked. It used triangles for the sides and a
diagonal in the back, for stiffness. |
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| In 1985 a friend of mine (Mike, N3DZM) needed a bench and I owed him a Christmas
present so I took my original idea and made it better. It had to travel in a Datsun
hatchback. I made it 6' wide and 3' deep with a small shelf high above the bench-top to
hold a light and maybe wire and clipleads. |
| In 1988, having moved five times since I made my college loft conversion, I realised
my bench needs exceeded the features of the conversion bench. I started designing a new
one in my head, It was going to be the biggest I could conveniently make yet would have to
be able to be broken down and moved, more easily than my conversion. It also had to
support a large amount of junk as I was sharing a house. So... |
| I used two sheets of particle board and lots of wood. I made a bench
that had 64 square feet of space (including the shelves) but occupied less than 32 square
feet of floor space. It was strong enough for three heavy people to stand in the middle of
the main work surface, yet it had no middle legs so you could roll a chair back and forth
across the entire front of the 3 foot deep by 8 foot work bench. The materials cost less
than a hundred dollars. It took a whole weekend to construct it. It could be broken down
(once the bench was cleaned off) or assembled in 20 minutes. It could be broken down,
moved with a midsize station wagon and then reassembled at the other end by one strong
person. I finished the bench in a weekend and a bunch of evenings. |
| Christmas was coming and a friend of mine (Dana, WA2WNI) needed a bench badly. I decided I could build
another in a weekend (with no false starts) so I gave the first one to Dana. |
| The following weekend I build another one. Two local friends saw it and decided they
needed their own. I took my drills and C-clamps and went visiting. Larry, KA1CRN, and
Pete, KA1OKQ got benches. Word got around and MORE benches were desired. Dana, WA2WNI
wanted one for work. John, N0NDO,
wanted one for his computers. Steve, KZ1X needed one. Dana and John desended on my house
and in one weekend the three of us had built three more benches. |
| Two years later I moved to Potsdam NY to go back to
college. I was going to live in on-campus housing so I didn't have space for benches. I
gave mine to a friend in NH. One week after school started I moved out of on-campus
housing to share a rented house with several other students. I built a custom bench to fit
the room. Four weeks later the house burned down. In our new house I planned to
built a real Taddbench as we had the room. The students I was sharing the house with
liked the idea and so we built three Taddbenches, I
got one, John and Matt each got one. |
| One Spring Break a new friend from the ham radio scene (Bob Seger) offered that he
wanted one. One of my college friends and I spent Spring Break touring and on the
way, stopped by Bob's house in Knox NY and built him a custom L shaped bench. |
| Eventually people left school and the benches left Potsdam. John donated his to the Clarkson University
Amateur Radio Club when he graduated. I took mine when I moved to Washington
state. A third was given away by Matt. We're not sure where that one ended up. |
| In Washington I built two more benches. I had three now. The last two were heavily
modified to fit the room they were located in. Because of several factors (they are
destroyed, there are no pictures, and they were built with major modifications) they are
not part of the numbered sequence of benches. Only benches built with the diagonal braces,
and the double 2x4 front edge were counted. I also built a bench for Scott in
Seattle. His bench was intended to support a set of 6 radio modems and radios.
It is pictured here. |
| Next I moved to NJ from Seattle. I moved light this time so the three benches got left
to housemates. |
| In NJ I built a new bench. Two
moves later I sold it to Gerry,
KE2RC. |
| Now I am married and living in NH and have an office in town. Not enough furniture in
the office. Time for another bench! The photo on the first page is of my office bench.
Click here for Taddbench 012. |
| Bob, WB2DWD
moved to Manchester NH. No furniture. Bench time! This one I took several pictures of the bench while construction is in
progress. |
| During the fall of 1997 I got a 2nd computer for my wife and I. The nonsense
shelves we had for our computer in the bedroom didn't have the space. Also our
baby Jack
is getting big enough to pull the shelves over, so.. time for a new bench.
This one is a custom L shaped bench
sized to fit the back of our bedroom. |
GO ON to pictures of old
benches
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