As I relayed in an earlier blog, https://bomodeling.com/2018/10/13/making-a-modeling-bench/ I have repurposed a used jeweler’s bench as a “modeler’s bench”. It has some ergonomic features not readily apparent but probably developed over time. My experience over time has taught me to keep my glues and other liquid bottles to the left, out of the way of my dominant and sometimes clumsy right hand. This makes them much harder to knock over. Tweezers and cutting blades are to the right for easy access by my right hand. Other tools are arranged to so that those most often used are closer to the right.
The wood slat sticking out to the right of center of the work area is an elbow rest to keep your right arm steady and supported. The center anvil is a solid work surface for a jeweler’s soldering, filing, and cutting. This is the part I modified.
I don’t do a lot of filing and soldering up close like a jeweler, but I do cut and trim small plastic parts with an X-acto knife and prefer them close to my body for precision and control. So I converted the anvil to a cutting surface with a small piece of oak and a cutting mat. It has slight angle to put my hand in a more natural and ergonomic position when cutting.
I glued a small piece of oak trim to the bottom of the oak board to keep the cutting mat in place. I sanded the edges of the oak to give a smooth surface.
Then I screwed the oak board to the anvil with countersunk wood screws. Next time I am spraying some gloss clear coat I will put the boards in the paint booth and give them a protective finish.
Finished, an ergonomic cutting surface close to my body with an arm rest to the right to steady my cutting arm with a catch tray below that I can pull it out close to my knees to catch scraps or the occasional dropped part. Not an earth changing improvement but an incremental one that makes my modeling easier and more precise.
B&O Modeling 