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Workbench made with 3 pallets, no tools, no nails, no screws

by bad pixel on January 29, 2014

Table of Contents

Workbench made with 3 pallets, no tools, no nails, no screws . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Intro: Workbench made with 3 pallets, no tools, no nails, no screws . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

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Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

http://www.instructables.com/id/Workbench-made-with-3-pallets-no-tools-no-nails-no/
Intro: Workbench made with 3 pallets, no tools, no nails, no screws
I wanted a workbench/utility table for a while now, when I got this idea of using two pallets for legs and one pallet on top to create the work surface. I then used four bar
clamps to keep the structure together. You can of course place another piece of wood on top of the horizontal pallet to form a seamless work surface, or fill in the gaps
with other wood planks. I have left mine as is to use the gaps between the planks to aid with holding beams in place when sawing. In the pictured arrangement there four
shelves right underneath the work surface to place tools in. In the pallets I have sourced there is a notch in the back end of the shelves that will keep things from rolling
out and falling out. That might be something to notice if you have a selection of pallets to choose from.

The workbench can be disassembled for storage, as it takes up less space when the three pallets are stored vertically. It can also be reclamped in different
configurations to change the height of it or change the structure's function completely. As it stands now it is 85cm tall.

Further improvement ideas

As it is now the table is pretty stable for most uses. If however force is applied horizontally, perpendicular to the pallets that form the legs, it does move a bit. This might
be rectified with bigger bar clamps, although those will be taller than the wood planks on the work surface and that might not be desirable.

Use another four clamps to hold horizontally crossing the clamps that are clamped vertically. But that will bring the cost up if you do not have clamps that you can
spare. A variation to this idea is to wedge planks in between the "legs" and the middle bottom plank of the top pallet to hopefully reduce movement.

Using a fourth pallet and placing it upside down on the bottom of the structure and clamping it (or wedging it) as the top one might also provide additional stability.

After reading Mr_Liss' comment the following idea emerged: Looking at the table from the side where the clamps are, a piece of wood can be bolted to the "cube"
which has EUR branded on it, on the left side of the left clamp, and continue down to the right leg to be fastened on the bottom right "cube". That will for a right angle
triangle where one side is the top horizontal pallet, then right angle down to the right vertical pallet and the aforementioned piece of wood would be the hypotenuse of the
triangle. Then the opposite can be done on the other side. The table should be solid as a rock by that point. If there still is some sway then another piece of wood to form
an X could be added where there would be no room for movement. In addition to removing the clamps in favour of using t nuts on one end and perhaps butterfly nuts or
bolts to connect parts together. Thank you Mr_Liss !

Please do share any ideas that can make this workbench better. I have not tested any of the improvement ideas myself so I cannot comment on their effectiveness. The
idea behind it is a simple fast and cheap way of getting a workbench that can be disassembled if needed and/or reconfigured for other uses easily, and more importantly
without tools, nails or screws!

Image Notes
1. Wedge wood planks here for stability as discussed in the improvement ideas
2. Add another clamp here horizontally for added stability as discussed in the
improvement ideas

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http://www.instructables.com/id/Workbench-made-with-3-pallets-no-tools-no-nails-no/
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Comments
2 comments Add Comment

Mr_Liss says: Jan 29, 2014. 3:54 AM REPLY

This is not bad! What I think could be improved about it (things you already have noticed) would be:

some sort of bracing between the 'leg' pallets at the bottom, to reduce 'sway'
fill in the gaps in the top surface

I'm not big on ideological purity - "... without tools, nails, or screws". Tools are good! Think bolts, washers & nuts instead of nails and screws. I feel that
perfection is the enemy of the good. If you want to keep this easy to disassemble, fasten the component parts with drilled holes, nuts, bolts & washers, so
that you can tear down and reassemble quickly. Think Ikea! For stability, figure out ways to incorporate new parts that when added form right angled
triangles, because triangles are very strong. Mitered cuts of wood, 45 degrees at each end, placed judiciously here and there, would add much needed
stability.

bad pixel says: Jan 29, 2014. 6:53 AM REPLY

Thank for your input! The nuts and bolts idea is great! using t nuts on one end and maybe butterfly nuts or bolts to connect parts together.

After reading through the rest of your comment i came up with the following idea. Looking at the table from the side where the clamps are, a piece of
wood can be bolted to the "cube" which has EUR branded on it, on the left side of the left clamp, and continue down to the right leg to be fastened on the
bottom right "cube". That will for a right angle triangle where one side is the top horizontal pallet, then right angle down to the right vertical pallet and the
aforementioned piece of wood would be the hypotenuse of the triangle. Then the opposite can be done on the other side. The table should be solid as a
rock by that point. If there still is some sway then another piece of wood to form an X could be added where there would be no room for movement.

I will actually paste this in the instructable itself, with credit to your comment of course, in case somebody does not read the comments!

Thank you again for your input!

http://www.instructables.com/id/Workbench-made-with-3-pallets-no-tools-no-nails-no/