Noden adjust-a-bench

Re: Noden adjust-a-bench

William Duffield, on the Cohansey

>It rocks on the heavy duty casters, even when they are locked down. but is quite stiff if the casters are removed. It has two approx. 2x8 hardwood rails that do a great job of stiffening the legs lengthwise so it will not rack.

It's a bit narrow, so if you plane across the top instead of lengthwise, you might be able to tilt it back, lifting the front legs. Take thinner shavings :^)

Re: Noden adjust-a-bench

paul womack

>It's a bit narrow, so if you plane across the top instead of lengthwise, you might be able to tilt it back

Yeah - I get that with my bench. Fortunately most of my planing is done lengthways.

The feet are only 19" apart (he said, having done some pixel counting on my pictures)

BugBear

Re: Noden adjust-a-bench

Raymond in Trenton, NJ

>Hi Thom,

I've never used this bench so don't have first hand experience to relate. I can however offer that while at the recent WW Show in Ft Wash PA, the 'Aniano Unit' and I were talking to Toshio Odate between his demos � well, John was talking to him, I was just standing there mostly :o) Anyway, he was using his (I believe) Adjust-A-Bench and we both were wondering the same thing you were and asked him. Toshio said that he didn't find that the bench racked or moved around. He said it was stable and he liked it.

Geoff has spoken at our club a couple of times and brought his prototype and initial trials of the bench as an aside to his talks. What I remember is what Sir William has pointed out; it was very stiff in the racking department. The metal ends and wood stretchers are substantial and not like what I would normally think of as metal legs. As to moving, anything on casters will move, even with brakes. Can't remember if Toshio's had casters or not. Maybe John remembers.

Just my opinion and worth about 1 1/4 cents.

Raymond

who still remembers what planes and shavings are

Re: Noden adjust-a-bench

ThomD

>Thanks for the help!

I'm a little leary of the stretchers, because I have had bad experiecnes with just about everythign except the old fashioned bases. Actually, some cheesy plywood and nailed tbases work great, but there is a lot of load on ingle bolted stetcher connections.

My Lee Valley metal bases wobbled a bit. I think the problem was partly the metal is flexible in the thickness they have used, and the other thing is that single bolt is not as broad a base. Also I modified it with a much stiffer, and better bolt take-off, but it is possible that my system is so stiff the preload is not springy enough.

I did notice that he has a cabinet system ilustrated on his site, and it both improves the look, and must be rack free.

I'm also worried about wobble within the individual legs. I get the idea that they are clamped under bench weight.

Are there any pictures anywhere of Odate's bench? That is partially what I am aming at. A bench I could incline. I probably won't have any vises since I have plenty of those elsewhere, but i might put a patternmaking vise on it just cause i have one kicking around.

Re: Noden adjust-a-bench

ThomD

>Gadget greed aside, I need a small basement shop. I can't afford to run the gas heater in my outdoor shop at these prices. One thing about the noden, is it would allow my kids to use the indoor bench. I fantasize about building them cute little benches, but I can't afford the quality of work I put into things when it gets outgrown in a season.

Justification number 1387!

Merry Christmas!

Re: You Asked For It! *SCANDALOUS PIC*

William Duffield, on the Cohansey

>Here's the bench Toshio was using at Ft. Washington. Here, he's teaching an old dog some new tricks :^) Frank seems to have picked up the "Pull Japanese Plane on Inclined Bench" technique in short order.

The shavings were too thin to get autographs.

Re: Noden adjust-a-bench

John Aniano...

>The "Aniano unit" remembers nothing about the events of last Saturday... He is not programmed to remember...

"Dave, don't pull that card, Dave..."

Re: Noden adjust-a-bench

William Duffield, on the Cohansey

>Yes, the one Toshio was using had casters. My impression is that the Adjust-a-Benches being used by guest demonstrators were provided by Geoff Noden, so this one did not actually belong to Toshio.

Re: Noden adjust-a-bench

ThomD

>Thanks for the picture. I does look like a standard bench, but it shows how much it can be inclined, and also shows that the attachement for the rails is pretty substantial.

I think the wheels are really ugly, and they look like a triping hazard, and they are expensive. There really isn't any more reason to have them on this style of bench than any other. I think I would just buy the regular leg kit, and then add some wheels of my own if I needed them. Any bench that can be lifted up and then lowered, give you some options for getting it on pallets and such anyway.