Flat work bench

[orchardair]

Builders,
Just to revive some traffic in the forum, I'd like to solicit ideas as to how to construct the flat workbench to build the fuselage on.
I know builders out there are if nothing else full of ingenuity, and so I wonder how did you get your work surface of ~16 feet flat.
Did you just use some 2X4s and a sheet of MDF? did you use some metal bars to make the top lay flat? Am I too worried about flatness?
Let's hear the ideas!

[Bitshifter]

Great question, I should get my plans this week and I was wondering the same thing.

[dougm]

ok, here's my $.02

I built two 8 foot tables and used some short length of 2x4 to cleat them together. I built a basic rectangle box 8 feet long and about 30 inches wide. For the width I wanted it wide enough to accommodate blocks on the outside of the tubing to hold it in position. I added cross braces every two feet to support the table surface.

What worked well: Using adjustable feet to ensure the surface was level and not twisted due to an uneven or sloped floor and also to ensure the two 8 foot tables were level with each other. The feet I used were the adjustable ones that go on appliances and can be found at Home Defects or Lowes. I also bought 5/16 (I think) tee nuts to screw the feet into. I bored holes in the bottom of the 2x4s, installed the tee nuts and then screwed in the feet. Simple and worked like a charm.

What didn't work well: Using MDF or not using enough cross braces. While it is a nice smooth surface that easily shows the lines you draw, you'd be surprised at how much 3/4 MDF flexes even over a short distance like the width of the work table. I ended up shimming it in a bunch of spots and adding some bracing after the fact to get it perfectly level, but planning the bracing differently or using 3/4 plywood would have provided a much stiffer surface.

[dougm]

I also built a shelf under each table running the entire length. This not only added support to the legs, but gave me lots of room to store tubing that I had cut for the fuse and the various tools I was using regularly.