New Shop Construction

[Kris Cook]

22 degrees below zero here last night, and pretty chilly today - although a beautiful day.

Working in my little temporary shop on the garage doors.


Used the rip cut-offs from the door edge facing to make some fake rail, and stile material.
20190304_142013002.jpg

This is the outside of the door pretty much ready for paint
20190303_142634001.jpg

This is the inside - was breaking the edges with a block plane and hand sanding a radius on the edges - ran a splinter under my fingernail. Managed to pull most of it out with my Leatherman, then pulled the rest out by catching it with my thumbnail against the inside of the afflicted nail and scraping repeatedly until it came out. Let her bleed good and went back to work. Good news is; I didn't get any blood on the door.

I will say, that was the kind of pain that will make you sit up and take notice...
20190304_163912003.jpg

[John K Jordan]

...- ran a splinter under my fingernail. Managed to pull most of it out with my Leatherman, then pulled the rest out by catching it with my thumbnail against the inside of the afflicted nail and scraping repeatedly until it came out. Let her bleed good and went back to work. Good news is; I didn't get any blood on the door.
I will say, that was the kind of pain that will make you sit up and take notice...

I hate it when I do that. I keep good tweezers with built-in magnifiers in the shop and iodine and more in the first aid kit. For splinters that break off or are otherwise impossible to get out otherwise I use a scalpel under low-power stereo microscope I keep handy for wood id.

JKJ

[Dan Hall]

Hello Dan!

I have no regrets installing T5 fixtures with HO lamps in my shop. I use 4-bulb fixtures and make good use of the feature built into the electronic ballast to turn on just 1/2 of the bulbs in each fixture unless the others are enabled by a separate switch. The fixtures are installed in zones which lets me add more light for certain tasks.


My advice is to plan the space carefully before moving in the first tool, including the storage and working space including in- and out-feed space for the types of things you plan to do. Plan dust collection from the start. Space attached to the house needs some special considerations, of course.

So, what kinds of things do want to do in your shop?

JKJ

Thanks John, and Kris for your replies. I need to take a look at the notification options. I did not know anyone had replied to the thread. For now I'll be doing the normal householder type of flatwork like shelving, tables, and maybe some furniture. I used to build custom tube guitar amps along the lines of Ken Fisher's "Trainwreck", "Liverpool" and "Rocket" series along with a Dumble clone or two. This required speaker and head cabinets out of pine with telex covering. They turned out well. I'm out of that business now because I never made a nickel at it but will from time to time build one for a friend. I currently maintain equipment for one pro guitarist in the local market. I'd like very much to get in to turning and that's why I need a bigger shop. I'm stuffed into an incredibly small space with a Powermatic 66, compressed air, old Delta drill press, a combo belt and disc sander, my "Snowflake" Boice Crane 14" band saw from the 1920s, a 9" early DeWalt Radial Arm Saw, a short 6" Delta jointer and a modern Delta 12" planer. A vacuum cleaner hangs on the wall and my power hand tools are on a high shelf along one wall. All of that in 9 1/2 feet by 13 feet. Ha! All assembly and fit up takes place in the garage on a 4' by 14' heavy table. The wife's car lives in the driveway Summer and Winter. It's hard to find the ideal piece of property that meets both my needs and those of my wonderful wife. I'll check out the Grizzly shop planner program. I've also heard often about the scale cutouts of equipment. I think that will be a good start. I used to use Microsoft Office Visio for an object interface for planning component layout on guitar amp circuit boards. I't a dinosaur program but can be made to work.
Anyway, thanks for the feedback
Dan

[John K Jordan]

I need to take a look at the notification options. I did not know anyone had replied to the thread. ...I'd like very much to get in to turning and that's why I need a bigger shop.

Dan, I know of several ways to see replies to a thread that you have started or posted in. One is to click the "Settings" button at the top right of the page, next to "Log Out". (I have no idea why it is labeled Settings.) This will show you all of your "subscribed" threads. I don't like to use this alone since it only shows threads that I have not accessed and sometimes I haven't finished reading reading some after the quick first look. Clicking on "View All Subscribed Threads" at the bottom of the list will show them all, read or not.

Another way to do the latter is to click on "Forums" in the menu bar, "Quick Links" below and to the right, then "Subscribed Threads" from the drop-down menu.

I haven't used the notifications, but clicking on "Subscriptions" in the panel on the very left of the screen will bring up a list of subscribed threads with notification check boxes.

That is a tight space. Before I built my shop I worked out of 1/2 of a two car garage in the house with two lathes, two bandsaws, two welders, and a bunch of shelving racks for turning wood storage, tools and such. I kept the overflow in an adjacent shed. That was tight! (And not heated/air conditioned.) My planer, sander, portable job-site table saw, router table, and radial arm saw lived in the space between the two bays and I sometimes hauled things outside to use them. It was impossible to find a place that would suit me without building from scratch. I'm so glad I built the new shop with more space.

I used to do professional 3d modelling, graphics, and animation with high-end software but for shop planning I think paper and pencil is much quicker. And by keeping everything in a notebook I can flip back to look at previous ideas to compare.

You might consider trading the RAS for a SCMS (I have a Bosch Glide) to free up some space for a lathe. If I had to, I'd ditch my PM66, jointer, and a bunch of other equipment to keep the lathes, sharpening stuff, and the 18" bandsaw. Get a good lathe to start with and never be sorry.

This is my lathe "alcove" with a couple of students.

WVR_IMG_5458.jpg

JKJ

[Kris Cook]

As I wait for the weather to improve, and have my son back next week to (hopefully) get the last of the garage roof decking on I am noodling on other shop ideas.

One idea I have been playing with is an assembly table that can be used at two different heights. Below is my current thinking on shop layout, and the assembly table is behind the work bench. I don't have any surplus room so being able to get double-duty out of a piece of shop furniture is important to me.

Shop Layout 2-18-19.jpg

I had given some thought to an adjustable height table but I am not going to buy something like that, and I don't have the time or gumption to try and design/build something real fancy. I also want to have storage underneath. My thought is to build something like in the sketch below.

Assembly Table.jpg

The table would be 42" wide by 72" long. The base would be 18"-24" high, and would have drawers and/or cubby holes for storage.

The normal working height would be in the neighborhood of 36"-48" which would be a comfortable height for most work. The "extended height" would be created with the interlocking panels shown, and the top would lay on the panels.

For assembling larger/taller projects, the panels would come apart and nest in the base, and the same top would cover the panels.

I have seen these kind of "knock-down" panels used for temporary work surfaces (I believe in a Jim Tolpin article). I haven't seen a table done this way but seems like it would work.

The configuration of the panels needs some more thought as I would probably want sides that come out to the edges of the base.

Comments, and input are welcome.

[Jim Becker]

I'm a "fierce" proponent of adjustable height work surfaces, especially for assembly and suggest that if you can accommodate that, you will be very well served over time. It's easier on your back and more efficient for the task. Knock-down supports can provide a lot of flexibility in various heights and they can be extremely simple, such as mere "X"-es with interlocking joints. When not in use, they can hang on the wall or slip into a rack.

[Dan Hall]

It would be nice if it had a dust collection feature too so that it could be used for sanding.

[Peter Christensen]

I wouldn't go to that much trouble because you have to lift the top off and set it aside while you assemble the mid base and then hump the top back on again. Then to take it down you need to reverse all the steps.

I'd be more inclined to make a torsion box top to keep the weight manageable. Have a 4"x8" open box (think rectangular tube) the width of the table and a second set of boxes 6"x 12" for the first set to nest in. Store the nested boxes in the ends of the base. Then all you need to do is lift one end of the top and slide the box under. Repeat at the other end. Now you can lift your top 4",6",8", 10", 12", 14", 16" and 20" plus you can toss other boards in the mix if you need more flexibility. Perfect height for the saw in feed table if you like. A couple small clamps would keep the boxes together if you think they may move around at an inopportune moment. This would let you also put drawers in the middle of the base accessible from both sides and castors to move it around as needed.

[Dan Hall]

I had to think that through. Great plan Peter. What's a torsion box?

Sorry, I'm new to some of this.

Ahhh.

[Peter Christensen]

Thanks. That's a torsion box when the top sheet is glued on. Hollow core doors with the cardboard cores are torsion boxes as are the honeycomb aluminium skins used in aircraft. I think that one pictured is way too heavy for what I have in mind. I was thinking sanded 3/8" plywood sheets with softwood for the core. 1/2" top skin and 1/4" bottom if you wanted and if you want it lighter 1/4" top and bottom would be more than strong enough. Unless you plan on dropping very heavy things corners first I doubt you'll punch through the top. You can glue a solid wood edging around it to make them a little more damage resistant and visually pleasing if you want.

[Kris Cook]

Just saw this Peter. I will give this some thought when it isn't so late and get back to you. Thank you for the input.

[Kris Cook]

I'd be more inclined to make a torsion box top to keep the weight manageable. Have a 4"x8" open box (think rectangular tube) the width of the table and a second set of boxes 6"x 12" for the first set to nest in. Store the nested boxes in the ends of the base. Then all you need to do is lift one end of the top and slide the box under. Repeat at the other end. Now you can lift your top 4",6",8", 10", 12", 14", 16" and 20" plus you can toss other boards in the mix if you need more flexibility. Perfect height for the saw in feed table if you like. A couple small clamps would keep the boxes together if you think they may move around at an inopportune moment. This would let you also put drawers in the middle of the base accessible from both sides and castors to move it around as needed.

Peter - So I get the concept now. Your explanation is actually quite good when it isn't after 10:00 PM

Is this something you have built or seen in use?

I like the flexibility but maybe more options than I need. I am not sure.

The thinking was this table would pretty much live in one spot.

I could see using the table at the highest elevation most of the time with the switch-over to the lower setting infrequently.

I have some time to think about this as I am a ways out from finishing the shop.

Dan - I was planning to do sanding elsewhere with local dust collection (another bench) but it is worth considering. Thank you.

[Peter Christensen]

I haven't made one.

My father had a stroke sander and he adjusted the sliding table height with various pieces of wood for different thicknesses. That let him sand pieces 1/4" thick or more and then with a few flips of the boards or sliding different ones in or out he could sand table tops with aprons and legs still attached. It was faster than hand cranking the elevation screw. It isn't a great leap to make the concept work for your application. You can easily make just one box size that suits most of what you do giving you 3 heights. None, laid flat and laid tall. The dimensions of the box is up to you. You can still toss flat boards in the mix if you ever needed it.

[Jim Becker]

Kris, torsion box construction for shop work surfaces is a pretty common thing. It's possible to get "really flat" and strong while keeping weight down in a serious way. It can be pretty darn surprising how strong the structure can be using modest thickness materials to build them and for something that might be used at multiple heights leveraging alternative support structures, the lightness is a big plus for changing things around.

[Kris Cook]

Jim - thanks. I agree on the advantages of the torsion box concept, and will consider that in whatever I end up building.

Peter - thank you for the additional info.