Richard,

The heart of the Jack Bench design is the adjustable height base with a built in mobile base. One jack is used to adjust the top up and down and the other picks the bench up onto the mobile base. The base requires 3 sheets of plywood and about 45 board feet of lumber. I really like what Don has done using plywood in place of the solid wood inside the torsion boxes. A bonus to that is that plywood is less expensive per board foot than solid wood.

As Don mentioned, I am in the process of testing various different scissors jacks. I recommend a jack from a Chevy truck for the upper jack and until just now I recommended one from a Honda Civic for the mobile base. These run $10-$15 each at salvage yards. I am changing my recommendation on the jack for the mobile base to a motorcycle lift jack. This is a definite improvement for that application, but they go for $89. In addition to the jacks, the base requires 4-3" casters, 4-3/4" pipe clamps, and some miscellaneous hardware.

You can attach almost any bench top to the mobile base. The bench top in the plans will require about 45 board feet of lumber.

I am always willing to answer questions or to help others with their bench projects, so let me know if you would like any other information on the Jack Bench.

Thanks!
Charlie Kocourek