Workmates/Workbenches

Edrof

Edrof

Edrof

Soldato
Joined
16 Nov 2009
Posts
16,034
Location
UK
Ello!

I've been after a classic B&D Workmate for a while but then I saw a Ryobi RWB02 Foldable Workbench with Adjustable Angle in the recent Black Friday sale. It was only £30 - down from £55. Great! It arrived last week and I put it together straight away as I have a bit of carpentry that I've been wanting to get on with. Sadly, the thing is USELESS as a clamping tool. And I do mean useless.

  1. All the nuts and bolts have been triple-checked and there's still a good four inches of play in the frame.
  2. When vertical, the wooden surfaces only really meet at the bottom, meaning the item being secured is loose at the top (like a metronome).
  3. A similar problem occurs when the wooden surfaces are used in the standard horizontal fashion: no matter how hard I clamped them together, a simple small plank of wood was held so loosely that I could lift it out of the 'grip' with a single fingertip.

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I've contacted Ryobi, but they haven't got back to me. I really wanted to get on with making this sword stand too :mad:

TL;DR - I take it this shouldn't be happening? Can anyone recommend a good, budget workbench for when I get an exchange/refund?
 
I got a B&D workmate from B&Q (IIRC ~£60-70). Clamping was good - no play.

I'd send it back.

Here's my poor workmate - note the lovely jigsaw line inside edge going through a dog hole.

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For about £40 I made my own workbench out of the cheapest wood I could find at B&Q.. actually the top was made using the workmate no problems in clamping (other than needing a few large clamps!)

photo

The above now has it's top doweled and glued.. the photo just had the top resting on the frame. Now have a few more shelves too..
 
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Well i've got my dads old Black and decker workmate, which is probably best part of 40 years old, if not older, and it has no play in it, but it doesn't half weigh a ton. The wood on the top is also teak or mahogany.

If you can find a old one at a car boot sale I would recommend looking at one. They're much better put together than newer stuff. I've had 3 new workmates and ended up returning all as they were so flimsy it was unreal. These made me realise that old woodwork tools are a lot better than new stuff, especially if they've been cared for.
 
I made my own workbench, these workmate type things are useless in my experience.

Got a large bench with a mild steel top at home, and a couple of fatmax saw horses I can lay something accross if I'm working away from it.
 
Thanks guys! This will be going back for sure. I emailed Ryobi with a chance to make it good, but they don't care enough to get back to me and there are so many problems with it that I feel obliged to leave negative feedback. It's just damned annoying because I have jobs to get on with.

I'm tempted to make my own table now after seeing yous guys'!
 
Hmm, that does seem strange. I remember it had a tilting top so that you can clamp larger items, when I looked at it in the black friday sale. Could it possibly be that there should be some sort of locking pins to stop the top tilting?

Agree with others about the older B&D workmates being better. The older ones had solid cast alloy H frames, rather than the bent steel they use now. Should be a lot sturdier and heavier duty. One other thing I like about the B&D design over the cheaper versions is that little step at the bottom, so you can hold the bench steady with your body weight while planing and sawing.

Definitely a good idea to make one, it'll be a lot sturdier than these portable ones. A bench hook is another thing that is easy to make and will come in very handy.
 
I'll have to keep an eye out at some car boot sales for an old workmate. Failing that, I'll make my own in the new year.

Amazon have been great and the bench'll be picked up by courier on Monday. The worst part is that I now need to disassemble to damned thing - and I put it together tightly! Ryobi still haven't replied so I've left a negative review. Live and learn!
 
Mark A said:
Hmm, that does seem strange. I remember it had a tilting top so that you can clamp larger items, when I looked at it in the black friday sale. Could it possibly be that there should be some sort of locking pins to stop the top tilting?

Agree with others about the older B&D workmates being better. The older ones had solid cast alloy H frames, rather than the bent steel they use now. Should be a lot sturdier and heavier duty. One other thing I like about the B&D design over the cheaper versions is that little step at the bottom, so you can hold the bench steady with your body weight while planing and sawing.

Definitely a good idea to make one, it'll be a lot sturdier than these portable ones. A bench hook is another thing that is easy to make and will come in very handy.
Click to expand...

I have one of those old B&D alloy workmates - unfortunately it's worn out - the pivot holes are oval and lost some of the screws that hold it together - also misjudged depth stop on circular saw and there is a long cut in top - couple of feet rubber feet have gone - in end brought a pressed metal one - That's behind shed and still use old B&D.

It's served me well for about 35 yrs.


Dave
 
I bought a black and Decker one about 5 years ago. It's only mild steel but it's lasted me well. It's got the little step at the bottom which is a must have imo.
 
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