01Three metals, on the four properties that matter
Density decides weight, modulus decides stiffness, and the other two columns decide whether the bench survives the room.
That is the whole argument in one figure. A bench built from aluminium to match a steel bench's stiffness needs roughly three times the section depth, and by the time it has that depth the weight advantage has mostly gone.
02Where aluminium genuinely wins
Three cases, and outside them aluminium is a compromise rather than a choice.
- A bench that is moved by hand. A 1500 mm stainless bench is 60–85 kg. The aluminium equivalent is 30 kg, and 30 kg is the difference between one person moving it and two.
- A bench on a mezzanine or a raised floor. Point loads on a raised floor are usually the limiting factor, not the bench.
- A bench that is carried up stairs at installation. Common in refits of older buildings, and discovered too late.
What aluminium does not do well: welding reduces its strength in the heat-affected zone, so an aluminium bench should be bolted rather than welded, and bolted joints loosen. For a bench that will be dragged, steel is the answer.
03Electronics, ESD and the top that is not metal
An electronics bench is often specified as a metal workbench and should not be a bare metal one.
The frame is where stainless earns its place in an electronics shop: it is the earth path, it does not corrode at the fixing points, and it can be wiped. The mat is a consumable and should be treated as one, on a 5-year replacement cycle.
04The welding bench is the exception
A welding bench is the one metal workbench where stainless is usually the wrong answer, and the reason is not cost.
- Heat — spatter and heat discolour stainless permanently and cannot be re-grained locally without it showing.
- Impact — a 3 mm mild steel top takes a hammer blow; a 1.2 mm stainless top dents.
- Sacrificial — a welding table is expected to be consumed. Buying a surface that is expensive and then protecting it from the work is a contradiction.
- Earth — the table is usually the earth return, and a clean mild steel top does that as well as anything.
So the welding bench is 3 mm mild steel, unpainted on the working face, on a heavy frame. It is also the cheapest bench in the catalogue.
We make that bench by cutting the plate, folding a 40 mm return down each long side for stiffness, welding the frame square on a jig and leaving the working face bare. There is no grain to match and no finish to protect, so the bench can be inspected in a minute and repaired with a grinder and a coat of oil. Our mild steel benches are the only ones we pack without edge protection, because a mark on the working face is not a defect on this bench.
05Specifying by property, not by name
Write four things and the bench is unambiguous: metal, grade if stainless, top thickness in millimetres, and rated load. Add span if it is over 1800 mm, because span decides the frame section more than load does.
We build in mild steel, 304 and 316L stainless, at 1.2 or 1.5 mm skin or 5–6 mm plate, to ±2 mm on height, in 15 working days from a confirmed drawing. Where aluminium is the better engineering answer we will say so and refer it out rather than quote a bench we would not build well. Load ratings and how they are calculated are on the heavy duty workbench page.
Stainless steel workbenches · What the word steel covers · Laboratory countertops · Send a drawing for quotation