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Channel Top Assembly & Clip Spacing Instructions 

Thank you for choosing our Channel Top Benches. You will find them easy to assemble, providing you lay the materials out properly. Before starting, be sure to carefully read the Clip gun use instructions. The clip gun should always be handled carefully when air pressure is present. There are some spare pieces of wire and extra clips for you to experiment clipping before you start actual production. Removing clips is difficult and time consuming, and practicing with the clip tool is recommended. If you have purchased our fixed or rolling legs, or support tubes please refer to those instructions prior to continuing.

Enough clips have been provided for assembling your benches provided you follow these clip spacing instructions. Failure to do so will result in a shortage of clips to finish the project. Below is the number of clips to use per Channel.  Start off by circling the numbers that corresponds with your bench widths.

Bench Width:      36-44”      45-56”      57-66”      67-74”      75-86”      87-96”        (For split tops add 2

Clips/Channel:       14            16            18            20            22            24                    clips per Channel.)

Most benches have split tops, where the bench width is made up of two separate pieces. (The two pieces aren’t necessarily of equal width. See your packing slip to match panel widths.) Channels are shipped one piece, where the Channel length is the bench width, except for benches over 96” wide, which are two piece Channels. For those benches every other Channel pair should be turned around to increase strength.  

Pre-Assembly:   (Get Organized!)

1. Locate the packing slip that came with your order. It will list all the components and the bench or table sizes. Make sure the components are all there and the bench sizes are correct. (The limit for claims for missing parts is 30 days.

2. Use a  worktable or two lengthwise boards to place your Channels on.  If your benches or tables are longer than 8’, you will be connecting panels together lengthwise and will want to do the connecting of sections after they are put in their final locations. Do not attempt to move multiple panel sections as they may buckle.

3. Determine the panel length for your benches.  The standard length is 90”, but you may have a bench length that requires different length panels, or just a special end panel length. 

4. From the packing slip determine your Channel spacing. The standard spacing is 18” on center. “On center” means from the center of one Channel to the center of the next, or the left side of one Channel to the left side of the next. Lay out some Channels on your table or supports spaced appropriately. Nailing some small sticks on the table as a jig, to mark the location of the Channels will help. The Channels lay with the open side up.

Attaching top to Channels: 

1. If you are installing any heat tubes and/or irrigation tube, do those next.  It is much easier than doing it from underneath later. Either the top or bottom row of meshes in the Channels is OK to use for tubing.

2. Place a top panel so the end meets the outside edge of the end Channel of the bench. Start clipping the Channels to the top using spacing that uses the proper number of clips per Channel. If you have “split” tops, place one clip at the joint of the top panels halfway between two Channels. Include a clip at each of the four corners where the panels join at a Channel. (See photo at right.)

3. Continue clipping Channels to the top until you reach the other end of the top panel. If your tables are not longer than 8’, clip the last Channel flush with the end even though the spacing between Channels may more or less than your standard spacing. 

4. If your benches are more than one section long, a joint will need to be made at a Channel.  The photos at right show how a joint should look. The top shows a Channel attached to one panel, the bottom shows the second panel attached. The last Channel of the first panel should overhang the end of the panel by one mesh (1˝”). (It’s not important whether a joint has two meshes on the left and one on the right or the other way around. It is important that it is consistent for the length of the bench. In addition to the correct number of clips for the Channel, place clips about 12” apart on the top panel joint that runs parallel to the Channel.

5. When finished clipping a bench, the sides of the bench may bow out in between the Channels because of less than a 90-degree bend at the side. Use a rubber mallet or the palm of your hand to bend the sides in to be straight. Install plastic corners and end pieces according to instructions. 

One of our main objectives at Bartlett Bench & Wire is to make doing business with us easier for your company. If you have any thoughts, comments or questions that you feel could assist us in achieving this objective, please feel free to let us know. Email us today!