building a wooden workbench, how much margin of error is acceptable

MassiveJim

MassiveJim

MassiveJim

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22 Feb 2014
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I am building my own woodworking bench out of 4x2 and 3x2 timber supplied by local building supplier.
As with all timber you have to deal with twist and bends etc.
the bench will be 2100mm long when finished.
I am making it with 8 legs in total, I am up to the stage where I have the top frame built and attached to the 4 corner legs.
All the legs were cut at the same time so that I could get them all to the same length, and if I offer one of the middle legs up to the legs that are on the bench now they are the same height, however when i put the middle leg in its actual position it sits proud of the top of the bench by about a 1mm
I have put a long spirit level on to check and it looks straight (no visible light coming through under the level) but I am able to press down slightly on the middle of the sprit level.
which I can only assume means the length of timber running down the side of my bench has a very slight bow in it, both sides are the same.

I can obviously shave the leg down by 1mm to get the top level but not sure if this is deemed acceptable, what else can I do though as no timber that is bought is perfect I checked every piece of timber I had delivered and selected what I saw by eye as the 2 straightest pieces for the longest part of the bench
 
I can take a picture of it tonight when I home but it won't show much, a bow of 1mm in the middle of a 2m long timber isn't really going to be noticeable, I can barely see it with a straight edge on it.

I will be embedding the sliding mitre saw into the top but I am hoping to also have a piece of wood that can fit into the space to cover the gap if i ever need it.
I also want to add a table saw to one end when I find one for a reasonable price, having done a little bit of research most places I look are suggesting the DeWalt DW745 as a "starter" table saw but its £500 new, I'm not willing to pay that much for one at present.
and possibly a router station at the other end if I get round to that.

Width of the bench was originally 1200 but I looked at it last night in the garage and it was just a bit too big for the space so I have cut 300mm off the width now.

Floor is another issue, I think crazy eyes laid this floor, its not level anywhere, so that is another hurdle I will have to overcome as I am planning on having this bench on wheels and shoving it in a corner then wheeling it out when its needed. I currently have the bench sat on 3x2s that are top of the 18mm ply sheet I am using for the top so that I can rule the floor out as causing this issue

8 legs only because I am cutting the top out for the mitre saw. so the middle is going to need support.
the 4 legs currently fitted are made from 2 4x2s glued together, the middle legs will just be single 4x2
the bottom shelf is made from 3x2
The top will be a sheet of 18mm ply

I think given what has been said, I'll shave the 1mm off the middle legs.
Its probably not ever going to sit right on the garage floor anyway with it being so unlevel.
 
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