What do you use for a bench top?

[luminous]

My anodizing workbench top is just plain old plywood. After a year or so of use it's starting to look pretty crappy and disreputable from all the acid and chemical and dye drips that have landed on it. I think it's time for a new top.

What do you folks use on the top of your bench to keep it nice and clean?

Something that cleans easily, is chemical resistant, and dirt cheap would be nice.

Suggestions?

Thanks!

[chromo]

Well nothing stands up to everything, but I like formica myself and sometimes you can find seconds on counter tops with small chips that make a nice workbench.

It's not that hard to lay formica on a bench or counter, but it may not be real cheap to buy the glue and formica itself. Been years since I bought a sheet to lay.

If you can find usable sizes used stainless steel is great. Kinda expensive to buy a new 4x8 sheet but that's probably the best thing you'll ever buy that holds up to nearly anything really well.
Look for used restaraunt equipment sales places. You might find a decent deal on a used counter top of stainless steel.

Cost is relevant on how often it may need replaced also. If your doing tons of work and have to replace plywood tops once a year then Stainless once for life would be cheap. If your hobby working and cheap plywood lasts 5 years or more then Stainless might seem expensive.

[acidrain]

I use plain ol' plywood, and when it starts to look like ****, I just replace it.

[luminous]

Thanks for the input guys!
I considered using stainless sheet (even have some), but I also use the bench for some electronics work occasionally and I'd rather not have a conductive surface on top of the bench.

Plywood is cheap, but it just looks so gross when it gets all chemical stained.
I was OK with it for a while, but I'd like to try something else I think. Formica counter top sounds great and I've been keeping my eyes open for one, but nothing cheap has appeared.

I'm actually starting to think about using some LDPE sheeting. TAP Plastics has 2' x 4' sheets .060" thick for about $12 ea.

Any reason anyone can think of why that wouldn't work good? It's acid resistant...

Steve

[acidrain]

Pastic would be a great alternative... I had my ano tank built out of HDPE. A full 4x8x1/4in sheet of that only cost me $90 at a local distributor, but I'm cheap, and nobody is allowed in my garage anyway, so I'm not spending money on looks.

[destroyer125]

Acidrain, who built your tank for you?

I would lay a new piece of plyboard down, then get a piece of plexiglass cut from the local hardware store to the size you need, it is pretty cheap.

[acidrain]

Originally Posted by destroyer125

Acidrain, who built your tank for you?

A local guy welded it up for me.

[mcaswell]

USE PLYWOOD - IT'S CHEAP - THEN COAT WITH GAS TANK SEALER!
It's a phenol novolac epoxy - cutting edge for chemical resistance.

Add a little lacquer thinner 5-10% to thin it, to aid in painting it out.

[luminous]

Originally Posted by mcaswell

USE PLYWOOD - IT'S CHEAP - THEN COAT WITH GAS TANK SEALER!
It's a phenol novolac epoxy - cutting edge for chemical resistance.

Add a little lacquer thinner 5-10% to thin it, to aid in painting it out.

Hmmm... that's an interesting thought. But plywood is pretty porous. How many sq/ft of plywood do you think a pint would cover?
I've got 20 sq/ft of bench I'd like to do.

steve

[FigureLLC]

i got a 4x8 piece of countertop laminate (maybe immitation formica) from home depot for $20. i actually got it to use as a whiteboard.