Sit or Stand... How tall is your workbench?

[TomCarlos]

Hey Friends...

Just curious... For your workbench, do you sit or stand? There is no right answer and I am not reporting you to the NSA! http://music-electronics-forum.com/i...lies/smile.png I am merely curious if you (personally) find it easier to work on gear while sitting or standing.

Being a guy with a bad bad (or late), I am trying to avoid sitting when I can and work, compute, etc in a standing mode. So I will most like change my current work desk (28" tall) by elevating it another 12" to 40" off the ground.

When watching many of the YouTube videos on amp repair, I see (unscientifically) that most work benches appear to be belt high and 30" deep.

Care to weigh in?

Thanks, Tom

[Tom Phillips]

My bench is 40" high and 30" deep. I have a tall stool for the times I feel like sitting but I do prefer to stand while I work. The optimum bench height will depend on how tall the user is of course.
Tom

[nosaj]

Hey Friends...

Just curious... For your workbench, do you sit or stand? There is no right answer and I am not reporting you to the NSA! http://music-electronics-forum.com/i...lies/smile.png I am merely curious if you (personally) find it easier to work on gear while sitting or standing.

Being a guy with a bad bad (or late), I am trying to avoid sitting when I can and work, compute, etc in a standing mode. So I will most like change my current work desk (28" tall) by elevating it another 12" to 40" off the ground.

When watching many of the YouTube videos on amp repair, I see (unscientifically) that most work benches appear to be belt high and 30" deep.

Care to weigh in?

Thanks, Tom

Mine is waist high, but my chair is like a drummers throne(round with no back) where you can spin it up or down. So i can work how ever i feel like.
nosaj

[Chuck H]

I have a lowish bench area for sitting. That way I can still see down into the amps with a standard chair. All my wiring and component boxes, soldering iron, scope, sig gen, current limiter, etc. is at or around this area. I have a highish bench for standing. That way I can work without stooping much but still see the work at all angles. I have my little jewelers saw, files, nut drivers, screw drivers, drill bits, Dremel, eyelets and eyelet punch, etc. at or around this area. I do most of my wiring and soldering sitting and most of my physical fabrication standing.

[Enzo]

My bench is standard height, which I guess is about 33-36". I used commercial steel legs from WW Grainger, and made a top from 2x10s, with a 3/8 ply surface on top. Carpet on top of that.

I prefer to sit, but I use a stool of appropriate dimension for sitting at the bench. I used a plain stool for years, but I like a draftsman stool with a back. I like to lean back now and then. I don't like arms though, they get in the way.

[TomCarlos]

Thanks Mates...

Using an old table top from an Office Depot folding table, I removed the metal supports, folding legs, then built a support system to hang this about 40". Being 6'3", its a good fit.

If I need to sit, I have a tall stool that sits nicely under the table.

Tom

[Mick Bailey]

I set up a new workshop for some employees and had the benches all made to a comfortable working height, without thinking who would be using them.

I'm 6'7" so the joiner had to be called back to saw the legs off.

Same thing happened when I wired up my first house - all the light switches ended up being lowered by 18". Some people never learn.

[David King]

Someone just gave me a sit-stand adjustable height table from Ikea. I'm really impressed with how sturdy the steel legs are. the table top is some very light weight particle board material with white melamine covering but it would be very easy to adapt the legs to a new wood top. SKARSTA Desk sit/stand - IKEA
There's a simple hand crank that lifts both sides simultaneously.

[TomCarlos]

Hi David....

Interestingly enough, I looked at that table recently. In addition to my home office desk (which aint going anywhere) , I need something for when I need to compute (on a laptop) and stand. I found this desk from Stand Up Desk Store. But I wouldn't trust it to hold my test gear and items I am working on.

Tom

[Enzo]

If the Ikea bench top is not heavy enough, just slice some 3/4" ply to size and put on top of it. That won't break.

I used commercial legs, but it isn't hard to knock out some 2x4 supports for a bench.

I have a pair of 2x12 cabs I use as bench speakers all the time, I stand them under the bench, they don't take up room from my shop that way. Tom looks to have such space under there.

[drewl]

The same waist level cool lab tables I have at my lab at work I have one at home with the 48" fluorescent lights with lighted magnifyer.

Wife bought me a real nice leather office chair which raises up if needed but mostly I sit unless I have to stand over something or have something on it's side.

Proper ergonomics is very important.

[J M Fahey]

It depends on type of work:

Sitting: general electronics work, drilling, punching, winding, inserting laminations, reconing, etc.

Standing: Cutting/folding sheet metal, any and all carpentry jobs, tolexing, applying grill cloth, accessories (Corners, handles, etc.) mounting speakers, sanding, silkscreening, painting (pistol/brush/roller) , magnetizing, packing, phosphatizing, etc.

Each type of job is best made either one way or the other.

[Chuck H]

FWIW as often as either sitting or standing I still find myself on my knees on the floor to accomplish something or other. The consequences of making one off amps. Always reinventing the job.

[Randall]

I have two. A 30" that is smaller, and a 40" that is bigger. I have an office chair for the shorter one where I can scoot around on. I either stand or use a stool for the taller one. Sometimes I times I put the amp on the stool and go back and forth depending on what I need.

[Chuck H]

Ok... I just measured my short bench and it's only 26"! I like to use a normal chair (like a dining chair) so I can sit back with my grid paper pad and scratch out designs and notes. Stools are cool, but you can't lean back in most of them. When I set it up I didn't even measure with a rule (other than for actual building and installation of course). I just sat in the chair where the bench was to be and with my hand going up and down I figured for leg clearance and looking down into a chassis. "Yep. This is where it goes." My higher bench isn't in the house. It's in the garage. I might measure it tomorrow. I'm pretty sure I did that one the same way though. I stood there and thought "Where do I want things to sit so I can see all around it but I'm not stooping?" Then I put it there. No rules.