Hi Mike and many thanks for asking about buying workbenches for the home workshop in Thailand.
The first consideration when selecting a workbench is “what is it to be used for?”.
I have several workbenches for different purposes and they are all different construction, some purchased ready-made, some homemade.
The purchased ones are lightweight and suitable for light assembly work and marking out.
The heavier homemade benches are suitable for heavy metal cutting and filing (using a bench vice), metal bending and cutting etc.
The bench shown in your website link to A E Engineering shows a lightweight bench and I have a similar one. If you want to affix a bench vice for cutting using a hacksaw or anything other than light finish filing then you need to assess the type and strength of the working top of the bench.
In the case of my own lightweight bench which does have a bench vice fitted, both the bench top and the whole bench itself is far to flimsy for anything other than finish filing and occasional hacksawing. If I wanted to use it for serious hacksawing it would need first of all bolting to a wall, then the bench top would need fixing down (at the moment it just rests on the steel bench frame) followed up by general strengthening.
Even my robust homemade steel bench really needs fixing to the wall, something I must do one day.
As to A E Engineering this is the first time I have heard of them.
Another company in Thailand that supplies good quality workbenches is Cromwell Tools. If you go to their website you can download their catalogue in pdf format.
I and several other model engineers and metal working hobbyists in Thailand have bought products from Cromwell Tools and the tools and service have both been first class.
If you are interested in anything from Cromwell, then simply email the Manager Shaun Burke and mention ModelEngineeringInThailand.com.
To finish off here are a few photos of some of my workbenches (not all of them in Thailand).
First this is a bench I made myself and it sits out in the garden. The plastic bowl underneath is used to cover the vice when not in use.
You can see the vice has been removed temporarily to make way for my SBG-40 Universal Bender – a steel bar bending machine which is in use to bend 1/4″ x 1″ mild steel bar for my 6″ scale model traction engine. You wouldn’t be able to do this on a bench like the AE Engineering one.
Even though it’s a strong bench it moves a bit when hack sawing so it needs fixing to the wall, really.
You’ll also notice that I leave this bench in the garden and it’s completely unpainted! The millscale prevents it from rusting except in areas where the water ‘puddles’. That plastic bowl under the bench is what i use to put over the vice (or in this case the bender and the vice) at night or other times when it’s raining.
Here is a close-up of a couple of the welds and they aren’t pretty. Bench still works, though. I made the bench using oxy-propane gas welding but doing it again I would use electric arc welding.
Work Bench; should I buy or build my own? The only work bench I’ve found for sale in Thailand is from A E Engineering: http://www.aeengineering.co.th/Hand%20Tool/Tool%20Storage%20&%20Display/Tool%20Station/Workbench/Workbench.html?lang=2&customer_id=1215&name_id=21940&rid=16509&id=73155
Does anyone have any experience with AE Engineering or any other workbench supplier in Thailand?
Thanks for any recomendations,
Mike M (in Nong Khae)
Hi Mike and many thanks for asking about buying workbenches for the home workshop in Thailand.
The first consideration when selecting a workbench is “what is it to be used for?”.
I have several workbenches for different purposes and they are all different construction, some purchased ready-made, some homemade.
The purchased ones are lightweight and suitable for light assembly work and marking out.
The heavier homemade benches are suitable for heavy metal cutting and filing (using a bench vice), metal bending and cutting etc.
The bench shown in your website link to A E Engineering shows a lightweight bench and I have a similar one. If you want to affix a bench vice for cutting using a hacksaw or anything other than light finish filing then you need to assess the type and strength of the working top of the bench.
In the case of my own lightweight bench which does have a bench vice fitted, both the bench top and the whole bench itself is far to flimsy for anything other than finish filing and occasional hacksawing. If I wanted to use it for serious hacksawing it would need first of all bolting to a wall, then the bench top would need fixing down (at the moment it just rests on the steel bench frame) followed up by general strengthening.
Even my robust homemade steel bench really needs fixing to the wall, something I must do one day.
As to A E Engineering this is the first time I have heard of them.
Another company in Thailand that supplies good quality workbenches is Cromwell Tools. If you go to their website you can download their catalogue in pdf format.
I and several other model engineers and metal working hobbyists in Thailand have bought products from Cromwell Tools and the tools and service have both been first class.
If you are interested in anything from Cromwell, then simply email the Manager Shaun Burke and mention ModelEngineeringInThailand.com.
To finish off here are a few photos of some of my workbenches (not all of them in Thailand).
First this is a bench I made myself and it sits out in the garden. The plastic bowl underneath is used to cover the vice when not in use.
You can see the vice has been removed temporarily to make way for my SBG-40 Universal Bender – a steel bar bending machine which is in use to bend 1/4″ x 1″ mild steel bar for my 6″ scale model traction engine. You wouldn’t be able to do this on a bench like the AE Engineering one.
Even though it’s a strong bench it moves a bit when hack sawing so it needs fixing to the wall, really.
You’ll also notice that I leave this bench in the garden and it’s completely unpainted! The millscale prevents it from rusting except in areas where the water ‘puddles’. That plastic bowl under the bench is what i use to put over the vice (or in this case the bender and the vice) at night or other times when it’s raining.
Here is a close-up of a couple of the welds and they aren’t pretty. Bench still works, though. I made the bench using oxy-propane gas welding but doing it again I would use electric arc welding.
This web page “Setting Up A Model Engineering Workshop In Thailand – Making A Steel Work Bench” shows a typical lightweight work bench also full details of how I made my own heavy-duty steel workbench in Thailand.
Hope you find this of some value, Mike, but please feel free to ask if you need any more advice.
Also I hope that other visitors will contribute their opinions on buying or making work benches in Thailand.
Best Regards
Alan Brown