Shop Build...should be a fun journey...

[Bob Riefer]

Getting to the fun stuff now!!

Glad you refreshed my memory on the size of your space. At 24 x 36, your space is very similarly sized to my shop (yours being slightly bigger), but with 2 very important advantages that I wish for someday...


1 - Your wide open configuration is just easier to work with I think. I've turned my broken up space into an advantage wherever possible (e.g., using walls to hang jigs or storage, keeping dusty operations away from finishing area etc.) but think that it would be more flexible to have wide open spans.

2 - My ceilings are just under 8 feet to the underside of the barn joists above (and higher in between the joists). Totally manageable, but I hit the ceilings a lot and could use extra height to store less-used items. I think I remember your ceilings being at 10 feet, and you have volume above the bottom cords too which make it feel open.

Continuing to enjoy this thread, and happy for you as you hit each milestone!

[Jim Becker]

Yes, the ceiling height is 10' nominal. It's actually a couple inches shy of that because I chose to put in thee 2" of foam under the floor and that wasn't figured into the original design by the builder.

[Jim Becker]

The combined game of "tetris" and "shuffleboard" started in earnest today...after I put two coats of paint on my metal cabinets that I put finishing materials into. I've had those cabinets for over two decades and never painted them to look decent. That got fixed today after I picked up a quart of gloss black paint and used a small roller to, well...paint them.

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In between coats of paint on the cabinets, I got the CNC placed and off the wheels since I absolutely knew where that was going to be. This new floor jack was considerably easier to use for the purpose over the scissor jack I previously employed...including getting the first two feet of the machine down "exactly" where I wanted them given the jack has casters. After spinning off the wheels, with those feet lowered to about a quarter inch off the floor and with the wheel locks released on the other end, it was a snap to do that little bit of final movement and set it down right where I wanted it to go.

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For the rest of the afternoon, I started shuffling things around. Nothing is final, but I'm liking the angled position of the slider which is consistent with previous 3D renderings. The J/P is behind it and neither will interfere with the other for the kind of work I do. I'm still not totally convinced and have to revisit my renderings so I'm not working entirely from memory.

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The best news is that I actually found the floor! And there will be more of it once I get the cabinets placed and the finishing stuff off a pallet and into said cabinets.

[Jim Becker]

As I had to take my older daughter to see a knee surgeon today, I had limited time to faddle in the "shuffleboard" game. Before I did move some things around, I added a keyboard/rodent attachment to my monitor wall mount for the CNC. It was a reasonable cost to add ($49 off Amazon) and has enough adjustability to meet my needs. This is much better than installing a shelf and provides a little positional flexibility when I'm using said keyboard and rodent.

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And then I did some more moving things around. Today's arrangement is a variation on the 3D model I did awhile ago before the building was even built. It works for infeed/outfeed and there is enough space to have reasonable comfort maneuvering. I'm going to try a slight variation of this tomorrow and see how I feel about it. Since grouping like this does require overhead electric and dust collection, I also have to be careful with positioning to be able to leverage the trusses for support at the top without interfering with other things in the process. But it's not too hard to do that as it turns out. Please note that the G700 is not staying out there on the floor. It's only there right now because there's no duct work and I need to be able to use the saw for some of the shop fit-out and want to use dust collection when doing that.

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One thing I do plan on doing is installing some kind of formal storage under the right side table of the slider. It will have to be mobile "just in case", but there's a lot of space there that would be otherwise wasted.

[Kyle Stiefel]

I can't remember what thread it was in but I think it was something about TS clamping if I remember correctly. You wrote, "I work slowly," or something to that extent.

I have to strongly disagree as I think you crank.

All the best and you could be making dust by the new year!

[Jim Becker]

LOL..Yes, I'm moving pretty quickly on the shop, but I tend to work more slowly on actual "woodworking projects". I think that's all about the level of precision required, perhaps.

I technically have limited functionality right now to "make a mess" with all the big gear in there and between the slider, bandsaw and the CNC (which I hope to complete hooking up today) there will be enough functionality available that I can get to work on some storage things that need done once "final" placement is figured out. Extension cords are helpful things. to get by.

[Jim Becker]

Today included some refinement to the keyboard and monitor setup to lower it so that the keyboard/rodent shelf would be able to be essentially level as well as getting the CNC hooked up and functional. I do have a small issue to troubleshoot there, but that's not material to this thread.

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From there, the finish cabinets got set and filled up which freed up some more space in the, um...space...

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And then it was back to "shuffleboard". This arrangement has clear infeed/outfeed pathways that are longer. Interestingly, it's consistent with the 3D rendering I did quite a while ago in general. This will likely stay this way, but I'm going to sit on it for a few days before I commit to moving forward with electrical feeds. These shots are wide angle, so they make the space seem larger than it is, but that was necessary to best capture things visually. The views rotate around the machinery positions.

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And a shot from up on the scaffold.

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There is still more work to do for sure!

[Patty Hann]

Jim, in one of the pics I saw your router table against a wall (I think I saw that...).
What kind of dust collection box do you have underneath it... the blue thang....
Thanks

[Patty Hann]

LOL..Yes, I'm moving pretty quickly on the shop, but I tend to work more slowly on actual "woodworking projects". I think that's all about the level of precision required, perhaps...

I'm glad to learn I'm not alone in "moving slowly on projects".
I'm light years behind you in talent and skills (I just started WW about 5 years ago taking local JC classes and do all my work in the classroom shop).
But I get flack a lot because I'm slow and make measurements carefully using my own measuring instruments and not the "classroom squares and micrometers" that has been dropped innumerable times.
(Also I worked in a metrology lab for 30 years and that makes me careful by habit). But eventually [more or less] recognizable objects emerge from all the sawdust I generate.

[Mel Fulks]

“Careful by habit”, Patty you will do well !

[Patty Hann]

(Thank you)

[Chris Luke]

Jim, in one of the pics I saw your router table against a wall (I think I saw that...).
What kind of dust collection box do you have underneath it... the blue thang....
Thanks

Looks like a Rockler DustRight thingy. I have one, it's adequate -- I lined mine with that sound dampening foam for cars, helps contain the noise quite a bit.

[Leigh Betsch]

It's just me I know but I'd go nuts with my machines at an angle to the room. I just gotta have everything square and straight to the walls. I did consider putting my slider at an angle but I couldn't come to like it. I'm sure you are creating some space efficiency but I'd rotate the slider square to the room right where it's at, slide the J/P over to the wall on the right side of the slider, rotate the bandsaw so the right side of the slider could be the out feed of the bandsaw.
Sorry, I just think in square lines.

[Alan Lightstone]

that nesting, with the g700, worked out really well.

I agree. But that compressor move with the Big Orange Power Tool must have been petrifying.

Looking great. So jealous as to the space you have. Enjoy.

[Jim Becker]

Jim, in one of the pics I saw your router table against a wall (I think I saw that...).
What kind of dust collection box do you have underneath it... the blue thang....
Thanks

Rockler DustRight. For simplicity, I went with them for a new stand for the BenchDog cast iron router top and lift awhile ago when I sold the PCS I was using in the temporary gara-shop and caught a sale that made the DustRight containment box "worth it to me" to buy. I had too much going on to do a build my own thing again at that particular time.

It's just me I know but I'd go nuts with my machines at an angle to the room. I just gotta have everything square and straight to the walls. I did consider putting my slider at an angle but I couldn't come to like it. I'm sure you are creating some space efficiency but I'd rotate the slider square to the room right where it's at, slide the J/P over to the wall on the right side of the slider, rotate the bandsaw so the right side of the slider could be the out feed of the bandsaw.
Sorry, I just think in square lines.

I can appreciate that and my friend Helmut's reaction was similar to yous. I had the slider square in round two and it was functional but the outfeed side wasn't ideal. There's a reason there will not be stationary machines lining the right wall and why the J/P is positioned where it is relative to the slider relative to how I happen to work. I'm at least trying to make sure that the two groups have the SAME angle.