Workmate Issues

[TheJay]

Hello eveyone, I hope you can help.

I have a couple of workmates, one is a prperty one and another is that style of workbench.

Both have a missing rubber foot, which is really annoying because it makes them unstable. I have seen spare packs and the feet are extortionate for the proper one, with the other I cannot find any.

Does anyone have a good recommendation for getting around this problem without buying new feet, which is more permanent than using a piece of wood to temporarily level them out?

Secondly, both could do with new wooden tops. What wood do people recommend to replace that used on proper (unlike one pictured below) workmates?

 

[Dave54]

They've got sets of various feet on eBay for a few quid.
I replaced my tops long ago with some pieces of oak around 30mm thick. It was what I had lying around. It does make it heavy though. Any fairly dense hardwood would do I'd have thought. I seem to remember that the holes are a weird size (or a size I didn't have), so I filed a spade bit to the right size, and used the old tops as a template.

 

[foxhole]

I replaced mine with mdf top, though last time I bought that cheap model it was £8 for the whole workbench, hardly worth fixing.

£18 quid http://www.clasohlson.com/uk/Workbench/40-6889?gclid=CLWs66qwqccCFWXItAod-IkLEg

 

[big-all]

They've got sets of various feet on eBay for a few quid.
I replaced my tops long ago with some pieces of oak around 30mm thick. It was what I had lying around. It does make it heavy though. Any fairly dense hardwood would do I'd have thought. I seem to remember that the holes are a weird size (or a size I didn't have), so I filed a spade bit to the right size, and used the old tops as a template.

yes the holes are imperial and as you say tight and if you go the next size up they are too loose

what i have done is to remove the rubber feet
form a wooden block to fit inside the leg
a bit off 12mm ply 15mm bigger than the leg all round
foaming pu glue to fill the voids flow over the metal and onto the lip off the ply that is now the foot
leave on the floor flat on a bit off paper for 20 times the setting time on the bottle so the foot will sit flat and level
next day drill and countersink 2 screws
fix rubber to pad or a further sacrificial bit off 12mm ply

 

[TheJay]

Does anyone know what make and model this workbench is?

 

[Dave54]

Possibly not an actual Workmate
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Silverlin...Bench-TB05-Workbench-Flip-Clamp-/360941127960

 

[TheJay]

Thank you for the reply, it's definitely not a proper workmate, but neither is it like the silverline model, the feet point inwards and the crossbars between the legs are thicker on this one. I think it might be quite old, it's really sturdy. Any more ideas?

 

[Dave54]

The slots in the lower cross member are exactly the same in both, as are lots of the details. Are you sure the legs haven't been transposed when it was originally assembled? Because that's how it looks.

 

[Burnerman]

You are right Dave - its a cheapo Screwfix type bench for around £15, and its been assembled wrong......the legs are reversed.
Its a reasonable bit of kit - just!
John

 

[TheJay]

Yes, you are correct. I have taken it apart and turned the legs around and now it looks like the heavy duty 150kg tb05 silverline flip top workbench.

To the person who mentioned a way to create new replacement feet, could you please post some photos of what you have done?