Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Handy Little Work Table, January 25, 2007
I've owned my little Workmate for about 15 years so I can't comment on the quality of the newer units. As for mine, it is an extremely handy portable bench. When used within it's obvious limits I have no doubt that you would be happy. Beyond the obvious things that come to mind when you look at one, let me list the things I've done with mine to give you a sense of what it can do.
1. Assembly table - By clamping a larger sheet of plywood, with a small rib down the bottom center to fit inside the clamp, it functions as a terrific assembly table.
2. Cutting bench for deck work - Clamp your 2x4s, 2x6s and 2x8s into the moving jaws and measure and cut them to size with a handsaw or power saw. It's so light it's easy to haul to the site.
3. Plumbing table - Similar to #1, I've screwed a rib to the bottom side of a piece of plywood, covered the plywood with tin, bolted a small vise to it, and then used it to do plumbing work. Again, its so easy to carry you can take it right to the spot. I even solder on it although I lay a piece of 1/4 inch plate steel over the tin covering.
4. Bench top power tool table - I use it to hold my Delta miter saw, my Sears scroll saw, my Grizzly 6 inch grinder, and I used to use it for my little drill press (my wife bought me a floor model for christmas last year.)
5. Oh yeah, before I forget, I saw on it, hammer on it, drill on it, screw things together on it, plane on it, and do a host of other simple tasks with it.
As you can probably tell, this little inexpensive table is a very versatile tool and it uses are probably only limited by your imagination and their overall weight.
It does however have a few downsides. Out in the field it can sometimes be a bit tricky to get all 4 legs actually sitting on the ground. Because it is so light it really isn't as stable as a real workbench. As an example, planing wood with a hand plane can be a bit tricky since it is easy to tip it over or push it along the floor. Additionally, my scroll saw vibrates enough to cause it to dance around unless I put my foot on the bottom brace to hold it in one spot. While plenty good for most tasks, the clamp can be a little tricky to use. For example, to get the most clamping strength each side needs to be parallel to grip things equally. This can be a challenge sometimes. Mine also has a little piece of metal below the main table with various holes in it that was intended to hold screwdrivers and other tools. Forget it. The only thing that this little piece of metal is good for is to interfere when you want to clamp a board vertically instead of horizontally. It can be worked around but it definitely wasn't one of their better ideas.
However, if you keep in mind that this is a very light (so it is portable) folding work table made of plywood, some plastic parts and some thin metal, you will get along fine with it. Even after all these years I use it quite a bit because I haven't found anything else anywhere near as handy. I've looked at the fancier Workmates a few times but, since this one is still chugging along I have no real reason to buy one. I built a full size woodworking bench for my heavy work so I don't try to use it as my primary workbench. But I should point out that I built that heavy duty workbench using this little portable work table. It's light duty but it is a great design and I gave it 4 stars because, although not perfect, it's good points far outweigh the bad ones. In fact, I have recently started teaching my grandchildren the basics of working with wood, and I will be buying each of them one of these portable work tables to learn on.
|
|
|
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent value, June 22, 2005
I like this Workmate a lot, especially considering how inexpensive it is. I don't have room for a real work bench, so I needed something that can be stored away compactly but isn't too complicated, and this bench fit the bill.
I recommend this Workmate for people who need a small work bench for the occasional project, but don't know much beyond that. The higher-end Workmates are probably very nice, but I would suggest that you get the WM-125 unless you know there's a feature of the higher-end models that you want. I'm still impressed at the versatility of this one. I've been using it for months, and I have no desire to replace it with a more expensive model.
|
|
|
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
good design, poor quality, January 5, 2006
I bought this little Workmate recently from Amazon. It's a good
design but the quality was lousy and maybe not what it used to be.
One of the crank knobs came broken, and the general fit of the parts
was poor: the lead-screws that work the clamps were too stiff, even
after being greased; the pins that held the cranks were too big and
wouldn't come close to press fitting until I squeezed them down to a
smaller diameter with a vice grip; the plastic parts the front board
sits on didn't fit into the boards well and had to be pressed in with
a vise; and the foot-rest leg braces needed some bending before the
whole thing would sit square.
On the positive side, it's very portable and fine for light work,
especially for the price.
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
