Linear Actuator Legs - MOVABLE Workbench!

Using four linear actuators, we made extending legs that expose castors to allow movement of the workbench. Once in the desired position, the bench can then be lowered to make a solid working platform. Thank you for watching!
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[@NicoSmets]

That is a level of over-engineering that I haven't seen before. Thank you for sharing, it was wonderful to see.

[@AMBuilds]

Thank you Nico. I always think of Victorian structures, generally well over engineered that are still here, whereas more modern things have come and gone.

[@57z]

Incredibly well produced and explained. Great approach to engineering those legs. You should consider posting a video of the bench in action

[@AMBuilds]

Thank you ZTron57. I'm not sure what you want to see when you mean "in action" Can you elucidate?

[@therealtimwarren]

9:37 may show what you want? Bench moving up and down?

[@josheee3e]

Very smart idea and very well executed!

[@AMBuilds]

Thank you Joshua.

[@chriscookson6133]

Honestly speechless. Very impressive engineering! I’d love to know how your brain goes about solving these issues. Very very good work. 👏

[@AMBuilds]

Thank you Chris. Starts with a finished idea and then some on-line research and a look into parallel fields of endeavour such as medical equipment. All the info then churns away in the back of my mind for some time and usually in fits and starts the solution emerges. A secondary churn to simplify the first thoughts, then good to go. I've always tried to live by the motto taught by my old friend, Brian, of "Don't start with your hands until the job is finished in your head." Even with that, on account of my poor productivity, opportunities along the way arise to further simplify and tweak. I do enjoy coming up with a solution with elements that has not been reported before.

[@phoebevalentine-wood8327]

Great descriptive video! I wish I had your brain 🤩 and Malcolm’s voice!

[@AMBuilds]

Thank you Phoebe. We reckon Malcolm could be the Barry White of woodworking, smooth and mellifluous.

[@marklorenz4302]

A thing of beauty to be sure! Really well put together, too. Thank you for posting.

[@alistairmarks]

Thank you, Mark.

[@AMBuilds]

Thank you Mark

[@StrawbyteWorkshop]

A really interesting build for me as I've been playing around with linear actuators myself in mobile bases for my bandsaw and planer. I didn't see raising and lowering the castors when I was thinking about my situation I could only see raising the tool off the castors. Anyway, food for thought. And what a lovely bench you've got. Take care - Karl.

[@AMBuilds]

Thank you again, Karl

[@garybiggs6559]

Great work and very descriptive

[@AMBuilds]

Thank you, Gary.

[@steveparkes1266]

Brilliant idea 💡 thanks for sharing 👍

[@AMBuilds]

Thank you, Steve.

[@bothorsen4292]

Why did you choose to not have the motors much further down? That way you could have bought fewer of those gray/black castors. As this is a very well thought through process, I assume there is a reason for it.

[@WNeiman]

I was wondering the same. I assume it’s for easier access for service on actuators if needed (also assuming he can remove the top). If on bottom you’d need a side access panel or to jack it up pretty dang high.

[@AMBuilds]

Hello Bo, thank you for your message and I am sorry it has taken me so long to answer you. I wanted to have as long a gliding area as I could so that it would best withstand lateral forces from pushing the bench over smaller items such as bits of wood. With a short gliding block, I would be worried over time the block may become twisted in the leg and overload individual castors.

[@loganlake6045]

I guess there are two actuator benches on KZbin now, I just want to say I was first lol.

[@AMBuilds]

There's many more than two, Logan but thank you for your comment. You don't say why your bench does what it does with the actuators. Do you use it standing and sitting? Mine was all about being able to isolate the castors for stability as I have to stand on the bench for my high timber store and at the moment I have over 300kg of steel box section sitting on the top, with the castors tucked away.

[@OPPOSABLETOE]

Great build. I am currently designing my work bench with a similar powered wheel retraction. I think I even have the same linear actuators as yours. Do you power all four of the actuators from the same 12v power adaptor? If so, what amperage did it require?

[@AMBuilds]

I had the same dilemma as you, Opposabletoe and in the end used a sealed lead acid battery like that of a golf bag cart and the smallest conditioner from Ctek range to keep the battery in good condition. That way I could put the table up and down without external power, for example in my case, if I took it onto the patio outside my workshop.

[@derekhollingsworth9604]

Looks very interesting. Unfortunately there just wasn’t enough information about what you are doing and why. Very hard to follow. For instance why do you need 100+ mini rollers? This is a common issue when one is very familiar with something. When explaining it to someone else you assume they know or understand things they do not. I find myself really wanting to know more. Love to see a more detailed breakdown of your project with drawings of your design.

[@AMBuilds]

Hello Derek. I'm sad to hear of your disappointment. I do my videos to put ideas in circulation, as a way of thanking the You Tube folks who have inspired me with their ideas. There are no drawings, as the inner legs were built to a square size as a consequence of the plywood scrap thickness in my store. I then made the double thickness legs to size to accommodate the laminate and castors. Laminate to provide a durable running surface and the castors were the smallest height castors I could find to keep the legs as small in cross section as possible. I disregarded the supposed load of each castor as you see so many cases being dragged along with broken castors and I worked on the basis that if I put a group top and bottom, any "tall poppies" might be squeezed down until all in the group were in contact with the laminate running surface. As to how many to choose, they were cheap by the 100 and the lateral forces say when bumping my heavy bench over the threshold onto my patio to get something large through the workshop and into the garden would, in my mind, quite considerable and a collapsed leg would have been a disaster. Do please ask other questions and I'll try and answer them.

[@nialstewart8263]

That's a _very_ solid build. You don't thnk you could have got away with building hollow legs? Do you have a link to the actuators you used?

[@AMBuilds]

Thank you again for your interest, Nial. By hollow legs do you mean just single skinned. Yes probably I could although I would have glued screwed and dominoed them and made a C on its side shape or a long A shape for the front and shorter C/A for the ends of the bench to do away with leg to body joints. As the rise is modest, I would have thought any lateral forces would be modest unless you wanted to be able to bump the fully laden bench over a threshold, in which case that could create considerable disruptive forces at the top of the legs. With all my tools, internal cabinet units (video to come) double torsion box, planer, vacuum set up etc, I reckon I'm on the way to 400lb or 180kg and I have a 13mm threshold onto irregular stone flags, if I want the bench out of the way. For the linear actuators, it is just a case of searching for the stroke and weight, 50mm and 6000N and for my build and see who has them. The original link for my purchases on eBay has gone. For me 1500N and 3000N would also have been fine but I think these short stroke actuators end up with a big load rating on account of the gearing.

[@nialstewart8263]

@@AMBuilds "By hollow legs do you mean just single skinned" Yes that's what I meant, though you showed the solid legs were actually pretty fast to construct (when the wood was cut). I'm not immediately after actuators but you never know when they might be useful, I'll try ebay if the need arises. Thanks for the reply, btw I've got the parf guide system if you ever want to borrow it for a comparison.

[@AMBuilds]

@@nialstewart8263 Thank you and I'll keep your kind offer in mind.👍

[@sikosis999]

i don't understand why you built such large housing sleeves with all those rollers versus pucking up the top and bottom of the actuator and affixing them at a point where they could extend and lift the cabinet? what am i missing? i still liked the video and am in the middle of doing something very similar with a kitchen island for my 71 yr old mother so it all made sense to me save the excessive amounts of rollers in the actuator sleeves, is it just an over engineering thing? to address possible drift? cause now you have me reconsidering all the mounting scheme'n i've been doin hehe, this kitchen island is gonna be @ 750lbs when it's done and the granite top installed, i can't have any binds or issues :)

[@AMBuilds]

Hello sikosis999. The most important thing here is that I'm not an engineer, just a retired vet. surgeon in a home workshop showing what I did, as is, with no guarantee of success or correctness. I do tend to take a rather Victorian attitude to construction, meaning everything ends up very very strong, just in case. When I made the bench I had another 8x4 foot bench which is now away so if my new bench fails, I'll struggle to fix it. I need my bench to be able to bump over a half inch threshold to park it on the patio if I need wide access through to my back garden and that in a heavy bench, I would image is a significant lateral load on the structure. Your 750lb island is much heavier and if things go wrong potentially life altering, if it fell on someone and I'm not sure what "pucking up the top and bottom of the actuator" means. I would be very wary of that weight, in the circumstances and probably best to get advice or at least duplicate something commercially tested and safe. Thank you for your interest in my video and good lick with your project. 😀

[@sikosis999]

@@AMBuilds excellent so i wasn't missing anything, you are a bit more of 'better safe than sorry' guy than i am :) i think i've settled on a metal H frame under the island with the casters and actuators attached directly to it, then racking that H into the bottom of the cabinet base. . . i'll get back when it's done :) i'm playing concrete monkey right now heh