Work Benches

[ABearden]

My $0.02:

First, I heard we may have something coming in June. Overall, I think getting together and making something before that would be good if we can raise the funds and materials.

A hammering surface and a smooth laminate or painted surface are mutually exclusive. It works for metal, but that gets expensive fast. I would suggest multiple benches. One with a plywood surface for hammering/painting that we don't mind destroying and occasionally replacing, then another that's laminate or painted for the delicate electronics stuff. This is something that would need to be self-regulated, though I don't think we have many hammering projects yet I can see us having them from time to time.

Multiple 2' x 4' benches would be more useful than a single 4' x 8' bench. More edge space, easier to move, easier to customize (i.e., 2x electronics benches, building bench, etc).

Changing height in a safe manner tends to be expensive though. If the legs are pipe, you can drill holes for pins and adjust ahead of time for classes for children, but it will generally be a pain to adjust for daily use.

GFCI should be standard on every bench. Only slightly more expensive and much safer. I would personally err on the side of caution with a 10A or 15A circuit breaker feeding a GFCI outlet on each bench (power strips connected downstream from the GFCI are also protected). Draw too much power, or accidentally shunt it somewhere else, and it'll shut down. Heck, if you want fancy, you can also control the whole thing with a light switch. Things like Tesla coils can be run on something other than the bench power.

We could put a frame over some of the benches for fluorescent fixtures, at the cost of vertical space. We could also put LED desk lamps on the edge to be positioned as needed.

Pegboard tends to only be useful if you've organized things (or have a specific vertical project in mind). Whiteboards are good. Having one bench setup as a teaching station with the whiteboard above the tabletop would allow for both projector use and hands-on props while teaching. Both limit how many people can sit around a bench though, so there is the trade off. I do like the removable walling idea if we can implement it simply.