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Author Topic: Best work surface for rc boat building  (Read 2057 times)

dillinger 04

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Best work surface for rc boat building
« on: October 12, 2018, 10:05:26 pm »

Hello everyone




I have a top question that probably come to everyone's mind . What is the best work table or work bench for rc model building?
I have been on various sites looking for answers rc forums. From solid core door,  to glass table tops when talking about flat surfaces, to work from. Most of the information I found was from Rc model airplane enthusiasts. Which I gather for the most part is light duty work applied to the table as most of the work they do does not require weight to weigh things down when gluing things up, unlike wood model boat building at times. So I was looking for a good flat solid work surface to work from that can withstand some weight being put on it with out sagging or getting distorted. 
 Any help appreciated David       



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Colin Bishop

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Re: Best work surface for rc boat building
« Reply #1 on: October 12, 2018, 10:16:59 pm »

A good idea is to use kitchen worktop if you have somewhere to put it. In my small workshop I have two surfaces. One is kitchen worktop on top of a kitchen cabinet fot 'high level' work but my main sit down working surface is a sturdy office desk covered by a sheet of MDF over which is laid a sheet of white faced hardboard. The hardboard takes all the cuts and scrapes etc. and I just replace it when it gets too scarred.

You can often get cheap offcuts of kitchen worktop in DiY stores who cut them to length for customers and sell off what's left over.
If you have to work on an existing kitchen table etc. then a sheet of plywood or MDF from your DiY store will do the job, you can use a hardboard sacrificial topping to make it last longer.
Colin
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Taranis

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Re: Best work surface for rc boat building
« Reply #2 on: October 12, 2018, 10:42:55 pm »

Kitchen worktop is the mutts nuts in my experience. I have about 7 metres of it around our second bedroom.
Ikea drawer units below or pedestal legs. I also have an Ikea kitchen side table that acts as an island bench with two drawers two shelves and two wheels. Fits a 44" model superb and I hated turning the model around all the time. Now I just walk round.
Covered with an old towel here
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ANDY
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tigertiger

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Re: Best work surface for rc boat building
« Reply #3 on: October 13, 2018, 02:08:23 am »

If you are looking for less weight, block-board is lighter, more rigid, and cheaper than ply. Like ply, it is stable in all directions. MDF needs to be supported at intervals along its length as it can sag between supports.

I also second the comment about having a sacrificial top.


If you want to go incredibly strong, reasonably light, and  totally flat (if you have the tools) make your own torsion box; I use one as an assembly table for furniture. The one in the pic is very heavy duty but you could go for a much lighter construction than this.
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dougal99

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Re: Best work surface for rc boat building
« Reply #4 on: October 13, 2018, 08:13:11 am »


In the workshop (garage) I use benches from Bigdug (others are available) which provide under shelf storage as well as a work surface. In the study I use an old dining table with a ply cover. In both cases I have self healing cutting mats. Any bench must be sturdy enough to cope with any sawing, drilling, filing or hammering you may need to do and support your machine tools. Oh and big enough for your projects.


IMO the most important thing is to have the working surface at the correct height. Nothing worse than hobby induced backache.  <:(
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g4yvm

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Re: Best work surface for rc boat building
« Reply #5 on: October 13, 2018, 09:07:46 am »

I agree, height is probably more important than surface.  I build a sturdy work bench using a household door as the top onto which I lay a heavy sheet of 15mm plywood on to which I have glued cork tiles.  I've left a six inch strip the whole length free of tiles in which I can cut, solder etc . It means i can move the ply building board and free up the bench should I need to.
The bench is high enough to work at whilst standing but requires an engineers or bar stool for sitting work.  I have used it for years now, about fifteen, and it never induces back ache.


You spend hours at the bench...do it right.


David
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Taranis

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Re: Best work surface for rc boat building
« Reply #6 on: October 13, 2018, 09:42:52 am »

Absolutely height is most important. For myself there are few tasks I do seated so I found 800 to be ideal for my height (or lack of it  {-) ) and my bench mounted power tools too. Kitchen cabinets have a lot of adjustability without a plinth


This is the mobile bench I use and my kitchen worktop is 100mm lower than this pictured
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John W E

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Re: Best work surface for rc boat building
« Reply #7 on: October 13, 2018, 11:39:28 am »


Hi there


I was fortunate enough to be working for a Company who were modernising their offices and I managed to lay my hands on an old desk from the typing pool.   I ended up removing the drawers from either end, cutting the worktop to fit in my work room - then reattaching the drawers with supports underneath.  The only other alternative thing I did was to put a soft wooden strip along the front; this just helps to prevent chipping the very edge of the workface of the bench.
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derekwarner

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Re: Best work surface for rc boat building
« Reply #8 on: October 13, 2018, 12:06:35 pm »

Well Bluebird.....not sure about South Shields, but in OZ.......Typing Pools disappeared from commerce & engineering about 30 years ago......so I am not sure how old that desk is %)


Having said this, I too had a similar desk together with a household door supported on a pair of B&D triangular wooden vice type units


I do like the gas support chair that supports my back  O0 instead of 5 minutes standing, then the need to sit down for the same


Derek
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Brian60

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Re: Best work surface for rc boat building
« Reply #9 on: October 13, 2018, 12:44:25 pm »

This is mine. An old computer desk frame which originally came from Ikea, the top is an offcut of kitchen worktop. This is protected by a full size cutting mat, I think this was 0A0 size or around 40 by 25 inches when I bought it. For actual cutting I use an A3 size cutting mat over that as can be seen. I protect the desk surface with the large cutting mat, because you are always going to have accidents. If you look at the large cutting mat the surface is terrible, twice in the last year I have knocked over a bottle of plastic solvent and it has dissolved the surface.
Its not bad enough to throw away yet, but if it had been the worktop itself it could have been ruined by now, and its cheaper to replace the cutting mat than a kitchen top. Although to be honest here in Spain I could get a perfectly flat surface made of marble, just by crossing over the road and helping myself from a disused marble cutting plant about a 100metres away. But what I have is ok for now.

Tombsy

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Re: Best work surface for rc boat building
« Reply #10 on: October 13, 2018, 07:22:52 pm »

I use a piece of 3’x4’ 1/2” plate glass saved from the bottom of a 300 gal. aquarium that I had to disassemble when we moved. I cover it with some wax paper to make epoxy clean up easier.
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grendel

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Re: Best work surface for rc boat building
« Reply #11 on: October 15, 2018, 07:42:48 am »

my workbench was constructed from 50mm square timber, covered woth 3/4" thick oak flooriing, with a sacrificial 1/2" ply top, the bench is L shaped and the short leg has a 2mm galvanised steel top over it, this was an old sheet I hhave had for years and still going strong, it has a return that drops over the front edge of the bench, it is held in place by the 6" engineering vice bolted through the lot.
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