Electronics Workbench Material - Recommendations?

[PaulAm]

Looks like it's trendy for kitchens and architecture as well.

I saw one estimate at $15/sq ft US.  Add $5/sq ft for shipping.

A large (6'x7') sheet of white was around $350 + $114 shipping, so maybe $15 sq ft shipped.

Looks like nice stuff, but out of my price range.

[SeanB]

It is used for toilet walls as well ( or at least a variant is) so you can get something like it there where you buy industrial and commercial toilets and stalls. Murder on the carbide tipped saws though, you eat blades with cutting it.

[free_electron]

correct. it is used as building material or as materials that see high wear or sit in aggressive environments. like toilet stalls ( graffiti , carving , moisture ) . it doesn;t blink.

i can't remember what we paid for them but for a large panel it should be around 150 $.
Some may say that's expensive, but hey , it lasts a lifetime and looks really nice.

[SeanB]

I can get it in any colour I like, so long as it is white, beige or light grey, from Pelican. Around $200 for a sheet 1800 by 1800mm. If I buy one of those sheets I will use a reseller that has a rip saw and get them to cut to size....... A lot better thanb trying with a hand held circular saw.

[lewis]

What's the best way to finish the edge of the Trespa when it's cut? I'd like some sort of rounded edge to the front of the bench.

[robrenz]

It comes in different thicknesses so the thinest (I think 1/4") should be the cheapest per sqft and then glue it to your cheap benchtop material.

[SeanB]

The toilet panels generally use an extruded aluminium edge cover. There probably is a plastic variant of that for sale, or you use a stick on laminate edge. for benchtops you get a sheet with a bullnose edge for the one side. I have one at work unused, too much work to cut it, though it is only a melamine laminated top, it does burn if you drop a soldering iron on it for a while. I used a sheet as a tabletop for years, it does not mind anything else, even survives direct sunlight for decades.

[free_electron]

we had the front edge edge chamfered. Don;t know how it was done. The manufacturer did it.
I specified the size of panels i wanted. i had picked a standard plate size and then designed the bench so i had one main working surface and one shelf. only one long cut was needed in the standard panel. the outer edges come chamfered out of the factory. so they only needed to route the long cut.

the reason for designing the benches myself is that everyone was complaining about the depth of a standard bench. the moment you drop a deep machine like a spectrum analyser on a bench you have no more working surface in front of it. the deepest standard bench i could find was 90 centimeter. my custom benches were 130. with a shelf on top of 50 ( i used the 180 cm panel. this allowed for deep machines both on the bench and on the shelf. without problems.

[nanofrog]

Can you recall what that panel cost?