Howdy. I found this forum when shopping for a new bandsaw and enjoyed reading all of the advice and opinions on here.... so I joined.
It's a work in progress, but here's my shop. I've been doing this about 6 years teaching myself as I go. Two small kids and the responsibilities they bring mean my progress comes slowly these days. Oh yeah, and the job thing - thankful for that in this day and age, but it is definitely demanding time-wise. I'm an engineer at an oil refinery.
I have most of the garage to myself but my wife has a cabinet for her inventory of stuff that can be kept outside of A/C. Also I have forced myself to set it up in such a way that we can park her car unless I'm in the middle of a big project.
Thanks for the advice - this my attempt to give back for the help I got picking the bandsaw and blades.
Ricky
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Redneck A/C - it is hot here in S. Texas pretty much year round. Someday I'll have an air conditioned shop but not yet. I just added two 20A circuits... last several years have been spent running all of my tools (DC plus sawdust creator) off of one outlet. After many nuisance trips I finally sunk some money into electrical infrastructure. Also added lighting. Truth in advertising - I paid for this stuff to be added. Money well spent - I didn't spend multiple weekends crawling around in the attic... a couple guys knocked it out in a little more than half a day. Craftsmen are worth their money. What you see hanging down there is a 3' extension cord... it has a piece of hose wrapped around it and clamped to the ceiling to keep it from coming out of the outlet. Allows me to plug things in without reaching too high.
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Wood storage. Plywood storage isn't ideal - wish it were flat. But floor space is precious. The caddy is attached to the wall with a 12" standoff, hinged there. It swings out on ball bearings which ride on the floor. Cut plywood pieces are stored on stickers off the floor in the 12" space behind the caddy. On the wood racks above I have a pretty big stock of walnut and lyptus. Also some maple and spanish cedar. The lowest shelf is 24" deep and is where I keep the cut stock for my current project.
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backed off view of the storage wall - this is the side where the car parks so no tools other than the DC, which is mobile. No dust collection header - that's for my next shop.
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Wife's storage area plus some shelving for miscellaneous items.
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DP and BS. New BS came in two days ago - I've been waiting a few years to get this baby. It's a Grizzly G0513X2F. Worth every penny. It's the only tool I have running on 220 - so I had to install a new outlet for it yesterday.
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Last cabinet I built is for paint and stains - probably should be metal but I don't store the real volatile stuff there. The compressor sits in there for noise abatement. 6" Grizzly jointer tucked in there too. That really rough looking cabinet there is my rolling workbench - my first project a few years ago. It is MDF and building it is when I realized dust collection was worth the money. It has fold out wings which make it about 10' long when both are extended. Since I built my new cabinets the storage underneath is not critical but the workspace on top is... so I've kept it.
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Craftsman hybrid table saw - has been good for me. Router table and new work bench with lots of drawers. Better pic of the work bench later. I have some more work to do on that wall, including finishing the drywall repairs after the electrical work - then I'm going to paint everything.
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Cabinets are made based on the advice from Tom Clark's "Practical Shop Cabinets". Under the miter saw and to the left is a big pull out shelf with my benchtop planer on it. I'm working on a dust collection system for the miter saw and will put up more pegboard behind it. Then finish out the benchtop to the left so it's flush with the miter saw bed. Will end up being 12' of workspace that's 32" deep (not the most economical dimensions for plywood economy but I wanted deep drawers). That black fan and the other one you saw earlier are just residential... not sure how long they'll last given the motors aren't sealed. They're mounted high but came with remote controls so I can turn them on easily.
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