Need Recommendations: Rolling workbench top, SS or wood, Drawers?

[MarsLander]

Just finished up putting heat in the workshop. Ready to add workbench space.

If you have one of these [see pic] (doesn't matter the brand), for rocket building:

1. Do you have a SS or wood top?
2. Given your experience, would you now order SS or wood top?
3. Again, for rocketry purposes, (I have most of my large tools already stored in other cabinets), would you get more shorter height drawers, or fewer taller drawers?
4. Any other advice?

Thanks!

Fewer (15), Taller Drawers:

More (22), shorter drawers:

 

[Hobie1dog]

i prefer deeper drawers as a lot more bigger tools can be spread out instead of a bunch of them having to fit in the taller/lower drawers making them harder to get out. Especially that main drawer right under the top were all of your most frequently used tools need to be .
The stainless steel top is great if you do a bunch of automotive work we're oil and gas are going to get all over it but for all other stuff like rocketry stuff I like the wood tops.

 

[bjphoenix]

I prefer a table where I can sit down and roll a chair under the table, or even an old desk with a big lap drawer. I don't use all that many tools- hobby knives, rulers, pencils, things like that. All of the tools fit in the lap drawer. My little table is in a corner of my garage with all of my other tools so if I need something else I can get to it.

 

[David Schwantz]

Wood top with a cutting matt on top of that.

 

[MarsLander]

I prefer a table where I can sit down and roll a chair under the table, or even an old desk with a big lap drawer.

That's an interesting thought. My first intent was to get something with NO drawers, just a workbench. Then I thought, I do need some (more) storage space, and ended up with the full drawers. Here is one option, and it is 30" deep vs. the 24 with the other. Maybe this is a good compromise:

https://www.uline.com/Product/Detai...es/Modular-Drawer-Workbench-72-x-30-Maple-Top

 

[SolarYellow]

I have maple on my indoor work bench that I use for rocket stuff.

 

[rharshberger]

Wood tops are a must for me, they provide a surface with some "bite", so parts dont want to slide around on them as easily, but then again I am also a wood worker not a mechanic. A mechanic would probably prefer a metal top since its easier to clean.

 

[Capt. Eric]

I built a work bench for myself about 25 years ago. Very strong but also very tall. I'm 6'-3" tall and wanted something at a comfortable height that I didn't need to reach down to or strain my back leaning over. All wood construction with a cabinet on one side and I can sit with legs under the other. Originally I would roll a tool cabinet under it. The 6 legs are 4x4 posts. The top is 3/4" plywood, but... I then covered it with a sheet of hardboard, tacked down with finishing nails. When the hard board gets chewed up, I can strip it off and replace, giving me a brand new clean surface. Have done that twice in 25 years and works out great. After getting into rockets these last few years, I mostly work with a cutting mat on top of that. Also mounted a big vise on one corner, bolted over one of those 4x4 posts, which I use often, even if just holding a stick with a rocket horizontally.

As for drawers, for general tools I use small and deep drawers. But for rocketry parts and tools, I don't think you'd need too many deep drawers. I have far more smaller parts and tools that I keep (aside from range boxes and the build pile, which is in a big plastic bin). On my cart of rocket parts the biggest and deepest section is for just scrap wood and tube pieces.

Oh, and always get it bigger than you think you need. You'll fill it up!!

 

[Hobie1dog]

Maybe this is a good compromise:

https://www.uline.com/Product/Detai...es/Modular-Drawer-Workbench-72-x-30-Maple-Top
View attachment 624397

going with that concept, you might want to consider getting a wooden top like that which you can get from places like Lumber Liquidators in an 8-ft long piece, they're usually 25 in deep, which works very well with those type of drawer units. I bought one from them as well as one from Sears. S get two drawer units, one for the left side, one for the right side and lay the top across them and it gives you plenty of room to slide a chair up underneath the middle of it.... that way if you lay a rocket on stands in front of you, it can stick out over the left hand and right sides. The one you pictured, the bulk of any big rocket is going to be on the left hand side.
like this:

 

[OverTheTop]

My normal workbench has a laminate top. My heavy mechanical workbench has 1/4" steel plate.

 

[FredA]

We built new work benches for the rocket barn.
Did a regular height section and a tall section.....forget the actual heights.
Nobody uses the regular height section.
Just food for thought.

 

[SolarYellow]

This is the only easily available COTS workbench I found that is the right height for me (41 inches). When I got mine, Craftsman was sold by Sears and I caught a big sale on the 8ft long version plus two drawer cabinets to go under each end.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/CRAFTSMAN-72-in-W-x-41-25-in-H-Wood-Work-Bench/1000462545
It might be a few bucks cheaper at Ace.

 

[kenstarr]

I love my MDF workbench top. Relatively low cost, easy on blades and drill bits, I don't feel bad about damaging it and it's easy to put some body filler in holes and gouges to clean up! As a for drawers, if I were to have some, thinner is better as things don't get stacked on top of each other in the drawers.
Ken