When my somewhat ancient Wickes own brand cheap workmate-alike gave up the ghost due to the not-proper-wood top failing, I bought a new one and made my old one into a vice/heavy duty work top. I bought a scaff board as a cheap bit of strong wood (cost about a tenner from B&Q), chopped it in half, and used that to replace the two original clamping pieces of wood. I then clamped them tightly together with the workmate winding mechanism, and screwed batons in underneath to hold them that way. It is now a big, heavy, portable worktop, with a top surface much bigger than the original and effectively a single piece. On to one corner of that top I bolted a Record 4 inch vice. It's a bit of a lump to carry around, but very useful having a pretty stable portable vice. I've used that bench a lot in the last year, for all manner of metalworking and welding jobs, plus using the vice to hold things whilst I apply big torque.
