Finished up my watch bench

gpraceman · April 7, 2023

I've been working on getting myself a workbench put together. The kitchen island was not going to cut it for the long term. Seeing as I wanted to save as much money for tools as I could, I wanted to do save some bucks on the watch bench. I took a 2nd hand desk that I got for cheap, refinished the desk top, installed a LED light bar, added a power strip, and created some storage in the otherwise useless keyboard tray pullout. The hutch is good to store some tools and accessories. I've got a couple of drawers to store parts, supplies, and project watches. I put a chair pad down over the carpet, to hopefully keep some flying parts out of the carpet. Hadn't used this much yet, but so far it seems like it will work. Eventually, I would like to add a binocular microscope to the mix.

Edited April 7, 2023 by gpraceman

HectorLooi · April 8, 2023

Nice woodwork.

But you'll need to improve on your lighting. The led bar is not going to be enough.

gpraceman · April 8, 2023

7 minutes ago, HectorLooi said:

Nice woodwork.

But you'll need to improve on your lighting. The led bar is not going to be enough.

Yeah, I agree on that. Not sure that a longer LED bar will help with that. I need some more back lighting.

gpraceman · April 16, 2023

I did add an inexpensive desk light, from Amazon, to give some targeted lighting. The color temp and brightness can be adjusted. This is definitely better than just the hutch light and room lighting.

I wasn't liking the silicone pad that I started with. It was a bit grippy so it wasn't easy to clean off. The new desk pad is faux leather and easier to clean.

I'll see how these go.

Edited April 16, 2023 by gpraceman

oldhippy · April 16, 2023

Its nice but you don't have a lot of leg room and things can easily roll off and end up on the floor. To many corners where dust will settle making it hard to clean. Mind you I'm the last person on here to give you advice as my bench was always untidy stuff all over the place. my master was always telling me to clean my bench.

gpraceman · April 16, 2023

9 minutes ago, oldhippy said:

Its nice but you don't have a lot of leg room and things can easily roll off and end up on the floor. To many corners where dust will settle making it hard to clean. Mind you I'm the last person on here to give you advice as my bench was always untidy stuff all over the place. my master was always telling me to clean my bench.

I haven't really seen an issue with legroom. I know that it is not the ideal workstation. I am working with what my pocketbook can manage and my spouse won't complain about. So, I'll make the best of this setup for now.

HectorLooi · April 16, 2023

I think all of us start with a nice and neat bench. Then things have a tendency to creep out of the drawers and scatter themselves all over the table. Perhaps it's the gnomes and elves hiding under the table that are responsible.

So, having more legroom means more room for elves and gnomes to hide.

Neverenoughwatches · April 16, 2023

2 hours ago, gpraceman said:

I did add an inexpensive desk light, from Amazon, to give some targeted lighting. The color temp and brightness can be adjusted. This is definitely better than just the hutch light and room lighting.

I wasn't liking the silicone pad that I started with. It was a bit grippy so it wasn't easy to clean off. The new desk pad is faux leather and easier to clean.

I'll see how these go.

Maybe something to surround the sides of the table to catch pingers. I just used some thick card as an upstand and on the front edge i have some self adhesive sponge thats around half an inch thick. This gives a soft edge for your forearms to rest on and also will catch the odd low flyer.

gpraceman · April 16, 2023

9 hours ago, HectorLooi said:

I think all of us start with a nice and neat bench. Then things have a tendency to creep out of the drawers and scatter themselves all over the table. Perhaps it's the gnomes and elves hiding under the table that are responsible.

So, having more legroom means more room for elves and gnomes to hide.

While my work areas can get messy during a project, my dislike of chaos won't let me keep them that way for long.

I intend to keep minimal things living on the desktop to make cleaning easier. I'll likely end up moving the timegrapher up to the hutch.

9 hours ago, Neverenoughwatches said:

Maybe something to surround the sides of the table to catch pingers. I just used some thick card as an upstand and on the front edge i have some self adhesive sponge thats around half an inch thick. This gives a soft edge for your forearms to rest on and also will catch the odd low flyer.

I appreciate constructive feedback to make this workstation more workable.

I am thinking how to incorporate some side rails. But they must look good with the desk. I think that I have some nice cherry wood scraps in my garage workshop that I could stain to match the desktop. But what's a good rail height?

Your self adhesive sponge comment made me think of using a keyboard wrist pad on the front edge. I might have to steal the one off my computer station to see if the idea would work. I had wanted to route out a channel near the front edge of the desk to catch anything trying to roll off the front, but despite the seller saying the desk was "all wood", the top is really laminated. I negotiated the price down because of that fact. Hard to find 2nd hand furniture these days that isn't at least some parts laminated particle board.

I do want to close up that gap in the back, but still allow to run power cords if needed. Not sure if server rack brush panels would work. Though, trying to find a fine wire spring in those brush bristles might be difficult. Might just have to do the card stock idea or maybe some soft foam sheet.

Edited April 16, 2023 by gpraceman

gpraceman · October 30, 2024

My setup has continued to evolve. Not ideal, I know, but it works well for the tight real estate that I have.

Added an optical microscope. Takes up a lot of space, but so much nicer than using a loupe or magnifying visor. Better on my back, for sure.

Added two sets of drawers for projects, parts and tools. Keeps me better organized. I now use the desk drawers for tools and supplies that I more commonly need.

The hutch and drawer units are handy to store all of the tools that I have been acquiring.

The computer wrist rests help corral parts. I plugged up the gap between the hutch and desk with some foam, where some parts liked flying to. I also added some cork board to the sides of the hutch for a bit of parts ping abatement. There's only one part (a screw) that pinged away that I haven't been able to find, even with the big magnet wand that I keep off to the left of the desk.

Lighting is still something that I want a better solution for. The microscope gets in the way of a portable desk light. I did buy a unit with two adjustable lights for the times that the microscope ring light provides too much glare for photography, but it's awkward to use and isn't as bright as I'd like.

I keep my ultrasonic cleaner and watch cleaning machine down in my basement.