If you recently purchased a Black+Decker WorkMate 125 portable workbench — and there is a good chance you did because it’s a perennial Amazon.com best seller — you might be having some problems putting it together.
Don’t worry! We’ve done this job before and can walk you through the process.
The Black+Decker WorkMate 125 is a folding workbench with a built-in clamp, metal legs, and handsome wood top. It’s sometimes sold as the “Workmate Portable Project Center and Vise” or by its model name, the WM125. It’s the thing in the picture at the top of this article!
People love this workbench because it’s light, it has a 300+ pounds capacity, and it can fold and hang on your wall. Plus it has a handy vice build right into the top.
The thing is that the WorkMate isn’t super easy to build. The clamp system is a little bit confusing.
How To Build A WorkMate 125 Video
Sometime visual methods are the best. The included manual with the WorkMate 125 isn’t entirely clear on a few steps so we made this video.
This should help your problems!
Instruction Aids
Here are some tips to read alongside the manual in order to make your WorkMate build easier.
- The WorkMate has two leg pieces that come mostly assembled. These are held together with cross-members that are about 4 inches from the floor. Keep in mind that there are two different cross-members — one for the front and one for the back!
- The workbench slides to open and close. It has a nut, bolt, and washer combination that you must install to make this possible. When doing so, don’t forget the large plastic washers! Black+Decker calls them “spacers” and they are easy to forget. Without them the bench won’t open and close smoothly.
- The wood on the top of the bench has 4 pieces that go under it. These are the vice slides, and they look like large plastic blocks. There are 4 of these blocks but 2 kinds of block! One set with a large circle sticking out goes in the front of the bench and the other set goes in the back of the bench.
- The slide blocks essentially rest on top of the bench until you add the self-tapping bolts (ones used without nuts) to tighten them down.
- There are two long metal threaded rods that move the clamp piece. Our instructions in the video install these as late as possible in order to make the assembly easier. This is a slight change from the included paper directions, but the end result is the same!
Hopefully this will help you put together your WorkMate 125! The total process should take about 30 minutes the first time. The next time will be about half that!