Freestanding work bench for my garage

[kiwi]

Jack,
Something I noticed in your shed photo was your A/C unit. It looks very close to the wall of your home. That in conjunction with the proximity of your trash can will greatly reduce the efficacy of the unit. In addition it is much harder on the A/C itself.

.... leave room for adequate air circulation. Without good air circulation, the temperature near the condensing unit will rise. The higher temperature will reduce the capacity of the air conditioner, causing it to work harder and provide less cooling....

Nick

[Jack Olsen]

That's a good point -- and something I considered. I talked to an AC tech who told me how much space he thought I ought to have around it (although whether he really knew what he was talking about is anyone's guess). When the AC is running, I try to move the green collection bin out of that spot. My wife puts her bicycle there. The picture kind of distorts it, but the roof doesn't extend over the AC unit.

I agree with your point, though. It's not ideal.

[KT WELDOR]

Thanks a lot guys. I'm no artist -- not by a long stretch. But I usually end up with a curve or an arch in most of the things I build. It's a throwback to a half pipe my father helped me build when I was 12. It's a simple thing, but...

...it shows up in the cabinet above that bench:



And in the roofs of the sheds I built for my driveway:



And in the wall unit for the nursery when my son was born:



Lots of curves.

I'll probably get a lot of use out of this roll bender. KT WELDOR, if you're patient you can usually find it at HF for $149 on sale. If you add a 20% coupon you get off the internet, it comes down to about $120. The round tubing dies that come with it are labeled wrong -- they're actually 1", 1.5" and 2". The 1/2" square tubing die sets go down to $39 on sale. One of these days, I'm going to figure out how to widen one of them for 1" square tubing.

I think you will find the more you use it the more you will want to add a curve to things you build. I just rented the working with tubing by Ron Covell to see if I could glean any information I might not be privy to. I was really impressed with the split and heat method for making a bend in tubing. Somethimes all you learn is one thing and its a jewel. You mentioned that you had to cut several cuts to get the correct radius for the arch was right in line with what he was talking about. He also had a lot of home / shop made goodies he used to demonstrate bends with. All in all it was worth watching.

You say your not artistic but you are lol. You have done really nice work on your shop and around your house. Always nice to see other guys handy work. Thanks for the pic.

[Jack Olsen]

Thanks, KT Weldor. I'm going to rent that Covell video.

[ekinservik]

I'm interested in getting that HF tubing roller and have been doing a ton of research. SWAG Offroad makes some great die sets and a bunch of other cool things to "hot-rod" various HF tools.

http://www.swagoffroad.com/Harbor_Fr...ng_Roller.html

Let me know how they work out for you if you end up getting them.

Oh, and also check out his "wing" extensions for the tubing roller.

Cheers,
-erik