Reinforcing Benchtop Question.

[little_scrapper]

In my basement shop I have 28Ft of counter top. Hope it will be enough to set up my single stage.

I am wondering if I need to reinforce the countertop before I bolt the press to it. It is EDIT 1.50" thick pressboard with some crappy wood finish. Do I need to mount a piece of 3/4" plywood or something under it? Under and over it? If so what and how big?

I have about 8" inches of lip before I run into the under cabinets. I'm about 250 lbs. and even when I reef on it up and down its pretty much rock solid. Whoever installed it did a really good job. That being said, its particle board and I am wondering if over the years the lip will eventually deteriorate and break apart if I don't reinforce it. Please advise.


Thank you,

L_S

 

[spife7980]

I think if you use fender washers underneath it would suffice but additional bracing won’t hurt.

 

[rweaver00geo]

some good fender washers on the bottom and try some perforated angle iron along the edge
somehow i did refresh my screen and missed spife7980's post

 

[little_scrapper]

I have two spots that are open frame shelves underneath. I decided I will just put the press in one of those spots that is 24" wide. I already cut, glued and screwed a 1/2" piece of plywood under the lip to fir out the whole underside all the way to the back. I already have a 12' pressure treated 2x8. Tomorrow I was going to cut a couple/few 2x8s and run them under the counter from the lip of the countertop back to the wall. Glue and screw. That will give me 15" (or 22") wide area that is at least 3.5" of thickness and should be very rigid.

Questions: Seeing as the Rockchuckers mounting holes look to be about 3" apart; should I put both holes in one 2x8 or should I split the seam and put one hole each 2x8? My gut says put both holes in one board with a couple washers. If I split the seam and use a steel plate to really spread the load? Is that just too much overkill?

 

[WhiteDingo]

That's a little overkill. Washers are fine

 

[TheOfficeT-Rex]

That's overkill unless you're going to resize 50 BMG and want to kill all flex - At that point I'd start looking at the attachments at the floor and the wall instead, to create a torsion beam design. Depending on if you stand or sit, since you reinforced such a large area you could roll an inline mount to spread the load out a bit and raise the press up if you wanted.

Get the biggest OD washers you can with the correct ID for the bottom, the biggest OD that will fit on your press for the top, and roll.

 

[Doom]

I would recommend that you find a way to support the lip to prevent the constant bending that the top will experience at the under cabinets.

 

[little_scrapper]

^ This ^ Is my intend with 2x8's

If I simply mounted with no support; all the force is at the washer interface at the lip and/or the edge of the cabinets. Even if I ran a single board, along the lip; all the flex/forces would still be concentrated along the edge of the board. All be it a longer area thus better.

However, by putting the cut edge of the 30ish inch boards flush with the lip and the board running back to the wall; I effectively make the entire depth of the bench one solid piece. Unless the whole top breaks loose, there should be almost no ability to flex. Unless one can break off the end of a 2x8, 2 inches from the end. LOL