Let’s face it: for tradies and craftsmen alike, having a well-laid-out workspace to ply their trade from can make all the difference in how well the project they’re working on will turn out. And it’s not just about space for the sake of space, either. It’s about a working area that’s conducive to getting the job done.
A proper workspace provides a hardy benchtop that can also serve as a stable mounting surface for fixed equipment like table vices and drill presses. It’ll also accommodate storage for tools, as well as consumables like screws and fasteners. In short, a good bench provides the kind of working space that puts all of a craftsman’s resources in a single location where they’re instantly accessible, and ready to tackle any job. Fortunately for them, implementing a good workshop bench solution doesn’t require much more than making better use of the space they already have.
Configurable Solutions
If you’re in charge of a plant or factory workshop, or just a hobbyist working in the corner of your garage, there’s an excellent chance that you’ve wrestled in the past with optimizing your working area. There’s never enough of it; which is why when you’re considering expanding your workspace, the objective has to be to buy workbench assemblies and accessories that are going to improve your working area without the need to redo it completely. First and foremost, you want heavy-duty workspace solutions that can keep up with your momentum and productivity; but you also want ones that are configurable enough to change right along with how you’re using that space as well.
Casters Matter
Very often, just having the ability to quickly reconfigure a workspace will completely change the way you approach a job. That’s why it makes perfect sense to consider caster-mounted workbenches and parts trolleys that let you reposition your work or your tools whenever you need to.
Rolling Parts Trolleys
8 and 16 bin parts trolleys with 100mm casters are the ideal size for keeping parts organized. They’re tough, but they’re compact enough to be able to be moved quickly into position wherever they’re needed, and back out quickly when not. Welded steel construction also allows them to accommodate load capacities up to 400kg, so you can put an end to stopping every few minutes just to chase parts.
Cabinets and Workstations
With their 125mm casters, heavy-duty tool workstations are designed to hold a full complement of tools and equipment, with the ease of swivelling them right to where you want them. They’re manufactured to the same tough construction standards as parts trolleys, and their large, fully lockable drawer capacities of up to 100kg ensure your tools are going to be precisely where you want them at all times.
Heavy-duty Workbenches
A broad selection of moveable benches are available to choose from, so you’ll never have to buy a workbench again that can’t be instantly relocated when you need it. With 125mm casters, widths up to 2500mm, and 25mm MDF shelving rated up to 500kg, rolling benches will not only support your work, but also make perfect mounting surfaces for power strips and heavy power accessories.
Make Space on the Floor
In spite of everything, sometimes there’s just no getting redoing of an outright inefficiently organized floor space. There’s no need to shrink from the task though, because there are lots of stationary alternatives available for reshaping an area into a space that is organised precisely how you want it.
Industrial Workbenches
If you’re regularly performing extra-heavy-duty work, nothing short of an extra-heavy-duty custom work bench will do. With widths between 1800mm and 2100mm, and capacities up to 1000kg, custom benches come with fireproof PVC laminated tops, metal pegboard back panels with convertible shelving, and optional additional underside shelving or storage drawers to get the most out of your bench.
Storage Cabinets
If you don’t have the space for a full-sized bench, then an industrial storage cabinet may be your ideal solution. With their 900mm width tops and a pegboard back panels, they require only half the floor space of a bench, but with lockable underside shelving and cabinets, they offer full-width storage for all your high-value tools and equipment.
Stainless Steel Benches
Sometimes, all you need is a tough, no-frills bench to place heavy, messy things on. If that’s the case, then maybe a couple of 304 stainless steel workbenches for sale are exactly what you want. 1.2mm thick tops and 1mm thick under shelving give these benches plenty of open work and storage area, and with widths between 600mm and 1800mm, you can order them in combinations that will perfectly match the space you have available.
Going Up
Even in the best-configured workspaces, it’s still easy sometimes to overlook that the most obvious free space there is the vertical. Walls and workbench tops offer clear, unimpeded storage space that’s ripe for the taking if you have the accessories to utilize them.
Louvre Panels
Slotted or pegged louvre panels mount to walls, benches, racks, or any vertical surface, and allow you to free up all kinds of workspace below by your hang tools and other items conveniently up and out of the way. They’re available in widths ranging from 450mm to 900mm, and can also support Stor-pak storage bins and drawer organizers.
Industrial Tool Drawers
These heavy-duty, 6-drawer cabinets are 580mm wide, and built to the same tough standards as rolling parts bins, but with 2 fewer drawers and a smaller footprint. Their compact size however makes them optimal for situating atop any workbench, work station, or even rolling parts bin to effectively double your lockable tool storage capacity.
The Final Word
The reality, at the end of the day, is that somehow finding more workspace isn’t very likely to happen. Finding ways to better organize and utilize your existing space, however, is a very real and achievable undertaking. Very often, all that’s required to optimize a work area is having the correct workplace equipment. That’s why you want to buy workbench assemblies that are designed specifically to make workspaces more productive. If you’re considering how best to reclaim workshop space for either yourself or your company, then now’s the time to start looking into some real space-saving solutions.