Customer Reviews

2x4basics 14429 Workbench and Shelving Storage System with Hooks and Clamps

5 star:		(108)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

My wife bought me the workbench kit for Christmas from my Amazon wish list. I just put it together this weekend and had a blast doing it! I built a 3' by 8' bench and used the shelf links to make a hutch style two shelf unit on the top. One was 24" off of the bench surface and the second a foot above that. The whole unit is about 6' tall. I backed it all with a sheet of peg board (every work bench needs pegboard!), added a florescent light and a heavy duty powerstrip. The whole thing ended up costing about a hundred and fifty bucks in additional lumber and the light and the strip. I submitted a customer photo if you want to see it. The instructions were great to me because they left a little room for you to make changes in the design if you want or need to. If you must have rigid step by step instructions from beginning to end, you may have a little trouble. The end result was a very sturdy and well made workbench that I feel is as strong and much larger that what I could have purchased anywhere else.

I really like that this bench is expandable to any size. I needed something at a specific height and couldn't find it anywhere else.
Also, I do metal work on this and it is extremely solid.

Very solid and sturdy. Fairly easy to build as well. Be ready to spend an additional $40 to $100 for lumber depending on quality and design. Still a good deal for a solid workbench. I built mine to be 4' by 8' and used 3/4 inch BC plywood for work surface. It's big but had to make minimal cuts to lumber. If you have the room, your workbench can never be too big.

This is a great kit and using it, I was able to build a very solid workbench. The leg clamps and storage hooks that come with it are a nice bonus. I subtracted one star because the screws that came with it were a little too short to get a good bite into the wood. I ended up using 1.5 inch wood screws to assemble it and it's rock solid. I made mine 6' by 3' with a shelf on the bottom and used the shelf links to build a hutch with a pegboard back wall. Plenty of work and storage space. I spent about $100 for lumber. Like several others have stated, this kit does not come with lumber. The pictures are meant to representative of what you can build using your own lumber.

For those of us that can't cut a straight line, this workbench is the right item. In deciding the size, I went with a 2x8 workbench. Initially I thought of 4x8 workbench, but there's no way I could reach items on the back shelf. Helpful tip: Measure from your armpit out to your fingers, and make the bench this width. Anything longer than this and you won't be able to reach the back edge. I ended up using more screws than required to keep the plywood from lifting/warping. As noted, the vices are cheap but a nice thought from the manufacturer. They will lock into different positions too. Once assembled, the workbench is rock solid. I have loaded it up and it never strains. The plastic legs allow for it to slide across smooth concrete floors. The directions are bland, and written with pictures instead of text in order to avoid translation problems. Only problem is that they are lacking in absolute guidance. If the directions said "To build a workbench X by X dimensions, use __ of 2x4 pieces .." it would be much better. Because of the directions this gets a 4/5 stars.

As for the free shelflinks, they are nice and it is just as easy to build as the workbench - BUT - the tight tolerances that are in the workbench are not in the shelf unit. Mine came out slanted, and will require some unscrewing and fixing. Yes, a level would have fixed this, but after building the workbench where it literally requires you to just cut wood and scred it together, one would hope that the shelf would be the same way. Wrong. Know this in advance and you'll be fine.

I was looking for a sturdy and large workbench to house my reloading supplies (Dillon 650 with goodies). Most of the commercially available benches did not fit the bill or were overly expensive. The Finley kit allows for great flexibility along with good savings. Obviously, you have to supply your own lumber given the price of this kit. I built a 6'x3' bench with a one-tier shelf.

As noted by others, the large home improvement stores (Home Depot and Lowes) will cut panels/sheets for you. However, both the Home Depot and Lowes by me would NOT cut 2x4s. So I had to invest in a circular saw and do the cutting myself. This added a bit to the cost, but I have the saw available for other projects. Another good tidbit is to pick up some 2-1/4" screws (1# box) to use in lieu of those provided by Finley. This makes for a more secure attachment of the legs. I also found a 1# box each of 2" and 1-1/4" screws handy for tightening down the large panels/sheets (didn't use a lot of the 1-1/4" screws, but I did use a few).

I used 2 sheets of MDF (6'x3'x1/2") and one sheet of plywood (6'x3'x5/8") to make my bench. In retrospect I might have gone with a full 1" thickness for the plywood, but what I have now is certainly stout enough. I used 15 2x4s overall to cut the various pieces I needed with some scrap left over. I added some cross-beams on the bottom two shelves to help support the MDF. I screwed down the sheets along with some glue. The plywood was used for the top as I wanted something to support the press. The shelves are sturdy and give excellent support. I went with a one-tier shelf using the six included supports.

One tool I found essential was a good pair of clamps. When working solo, these helped out a ton!

Given the weight of the completed bench, it was surprisingly easy to maneuver across my garage. The robust legs slide easily across the solid concrete.

The instructions are simple and if studied you can figure out what to do. I departed a little from the instructions and had no problems. However, some careful planning and dry runs can avert disaster.

I'm no craftsman (I'm a lawyer), but I am pleased by how my bench turned out. The Finley kit is great, even for us reluctant do-it-yourselfers! Check out Finley's website as it has the cutting guide to determine what sizes of lumber you need depending on the size of the table you want. This is what I followed and it turned out without any problems.

I purchased 2 sets of shelflinks a month ago and found that building the shelves was very easy. The workbench was also very easy to build. I decided to make mine 3'x 6' but I could have made it up to 4' x 8' if I has the room.

The shelves below the worktable include a lot of storage. My only real complaint is that the vise attachments are kind of cheap. The kit also includes a set of shelflinks, I used them for more storage. I redid my garage with these products and it looks and functions very well. Total cost for my garage renovation was $120 for the workbench and all the shelves and $150 for wood.

This is an excellent product; easy to assemble strong and affordable, instructions could be a little clearer. As for the set of clamps that are included they are not very functional (for me anyway) What really helped me in the assemble was going to Fenlys web site http://www.2x4basics.com and using the picture that has a precut list for different size tables, this should be included with shipment. Overall I am extremely happy with the product but I must take away 1 star, for those few things I mentioned.

Using one workbench kit and two sets of shelf links I reorganized my entire garage in one weekend.

Total cost about $100 for the components plus $300 for the wood - great deal.

I'm ordering more shelflinks right away for my workshop.

I bought this system about a month ago and ended up building it a couple of weekends ago.

There are a couple of areas I was disappointed in.

1) The screws that come with the kit are woefully inadequate. I ended up replacing all of the screws with 1 1/2" and 2" wood screws and it made it far more stable.

2) I would recommend that you nail the shelves in the workbench down with a pneumatic nailer or stapler if you have one.

I ended up securing the shelving unit to the wall, that really improved the stability.