No more rickety benches.

[Avery Todd]

Clyde,

    Have you ever seen James Grebe's description of how he reinforces benches
from a year or two ago when he was on the list? He then guarantees them for
the rest of his life.
    I'll send it if you're interested. It's similar to what Doug wrote.

Avery

At 07:07 AM 09/06/00 -0400, you wrote:
>Doug,
>
>Definitely sounds like this would be a big improvement.  One thing I find
>interesting in my own situation -- the high school where I used to teach music
>had no problem with the benches during my tenure, but in the eight years since
>then they've been breaking up.
>
>I think the kids tend to rock on the back legs.  The benches definitely 
>are not
>constructed with that in mind.  I'll turn your suggestions over in my mind.  I
>may find them useful one day.
>
>Regards, Clyde
>
>Douglasmahard@AOL.COM wrote:
>
> > Hi all:
> >
> > School benches are notorious for becoming rickety.  This always makes the
> > bench vulnerable to damage of some type, often times fatal if the 
> technician
> > isn't around to tighten screws and leg bolts.  The following is a
> > modification I made to several school benches over two years ago and 
> they are
> > holding up wonderfully.  I should note that I made sure the music 
> director in
> > each situation knew they weren't going to be able to use the storage
> > compartment in the bench. They were fine with this because they never used
> > them anyway.
> >
> > First remove the lid hinges and prop, then tighten all screws and corner
> > bolts as best you can.  Then scribe the profile of the bench rails onto the
> > legs.  Pad your work bench to prevent scratching the lid and place the top
> > face down on the pad.
> > With the legs attached, center the bench on the lid and scribe the 
> outline of
> > the bench to the underside of the lid.
> >
> > Next, remove the legs and take a 3/4" chisel and scrape down to bare wood
> > inside your scribe marks on both the underside of the lid and the side 
> of the
> > legs.  Also scrape the top of the legs and the tops of the rails.  Using
> > epoxy (I used West Systems) glue the bottom board into its dado or onto its
> > ledge.  Check for square and either let that set up or tack it into place.
> > Epoxy the legs to the rails using the original corner bolts as your clamps.
> > With the bench upright, epoxy and clamp the lid onto the rails and top side
> > of the legs.
> >
> > As mentioned above, I have modified several benches in the field this way
> > over the past two years and they show no signs of weakening.  I used this
> > same method on the legs of my artist bench that goes out with the rental
> > piano and it is holding up nicely.  I should note that the artist bench
> > travels in its own padded road case.
> >
> > Hope it helps.
> >
> > Doug Mahard
>