First big project - Garage Workbench

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Hi gang.  I've been a regular lurker for a while, but thought I should post a couple of my recent projects for public scrutiny since others have given me good ideas this way...This workbench was my first "real" welding project.  I'm a generalist metalsmith at this point having been to blacksmith and bladesmithing schools, I am now attending college welding courses and have learned oxy fuel, MIG, TIG and stick welding.  After months of practice projects at school I decided I needed a better workbench for my garage at home so I designed this frame to fit a top from another bench that I wanted to recycle.  The base is made entirely from 2" x 2" x 1/8" tubular steel.  It required about ~50 feet of it, and I purchased the steel as "seconds" for about $2.50 per linear foot.  The four feet are each rated at 2,000 lbs and screw into threaded inserts which hammer into the tubular frame.  Feet and inserts ran about $50, but were worth it to me as this is a very heavy duty table.  (I wish I knew how to calculate how much weight it would bear... I bet its humorous).I used a chop saw to cut down all the pieces which I then assembled with a MIG welder.  After grinding down the welds on the top so the surface would be flat, I cleaned the base and had it powder coated "hammered black".  Powder coating ran about $125 including the powder.  So I guess I'm about $350 into the table, but honestly I've never seen its equal available at any store, at any price, so I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.I've posted several pictures here:http://pozadzides.com/john/workbench/ I'm happy to answer any questions if I forgot anything.  Unfortunatly I do not have plans for this project as I just hand sketched it on paper and then summarily lost the paper.Comments, suggestions and general advice are welcomed.John
Reply:Hey! that shop is way too clean!!!Why buy when you can build
Reply:That bench looks like it does'nt belong in a workshop - just too damn beautiful but so is your workshop!Good going!
Reply:Thanks for the comments guys.  Actually, this "shop" is my garage at home.  The deal with the wife is that I can keep all this metalworking stuff in there as long as I keep it clean, and as long as I can still get the cars in the garage at the end of the day.  :-)Now the shop I do most of the work in is not very clean at all... ;-)John
Reply:yeah, id be scared to work on that.... TOo nice
Reply:Great looking workbench! I'm jealous. Just moved into a new house and the garage is full of boxes and stuff. I hope to get going on the shop soon.What did you coat the particle board with? I may just copy yours.DaveDave
Reply:You mentioned the feet.  Rather fancy.  Just food for thought but I have built various items, workbenches, jack stands, saw roller stands, ect.  These items I wanted to be height adjustable so if you use tube its really easy.  You take a run of 3/4" or 1" allthread rod.  You get the mating nut. The nut gets welded just inside of the tube.  Then you weld a foot to the bottom of your rod.  The foot is typically just a piece of I use 1/4" plate cut 2"X2"  Its a lot cheaper.  But considering this bench you really wanted it to look spiffy I think you made a good choice.  But for your rough beat up benches at your other shop you may want to give it a consideration.  Good luckCHRIS
Reply:thats to nice a bench to weld on John. Steel top for welding is best, then you only need to ground the bench and not the work pc. Nice job, and it's done right....
Reply:Thanks for the previous comments guys.  I was out of town for a couple of weeks but back now.  To answer the previous questions... - I actually recycled the particle board top from another bench which was on clearance at Lowes for $125.  I think the reason was that it had a fabulous top, but the legs were crap.  No support between the legs on either end meant that over time the top began to sag in the middle.  I made my base to fit the top, so unfortunatly I'm not sure what the coating is on it.  Sorry about that. - Thanks for the ideas on the feet Chris.  I think for my welding bench I'll use the nut and rod method for those instead of the feet and inserts because as you rightly point out they are too expensive for a bench not meant to be beautiful. - TigMan, I agree about the top.  I'm going to build another bench specifically for welding on.  This one was actually built to accomodate my belt grinder on one end, vises on the other, and have general workspace inbetween.  Next project, which I won't pony up for the powdercoating on, will be a welding bench with 1/2 the surface plate steel and 1/2 the surface criss-cross flat bars standing on end.  The non-solid side will be for oxy and plasma cutting.  I'm thinking about making that table with just slightly different dimensions.  Perhaps 25" x 72" as that would give me a 2'x3' solid surface and a 2'x3' cutting surface.Now that I think about it, I'll have to put it on wheels because I don't have much more room in the garage! :-)John