Yes, I know the forum's "The Workshop", but how about your workshop? How have you set it up? Do you work out of your garage, a warehouse, or your living room? Are there any tips or tricks you've got for organization or convenience? What tools can't you live without? And what tools are your newest toys?

My workshop's in my garage; I'm lucky enough to have a wife who doesn't want to park her car inside, so I've got at least half the space for a work area (the other half is storage, but I'm working on cleaning it up to get more floor space.) My advice is to mount as many tools as possible on wheels- I built a wheeled cabinet for my router table, use a portable table saw, etc. Oh- and make sure it can all be plugged into a shop vac. This lets me do the messiest work out in the driveway to keep sawdust off all the stuff stored in the other half of the garage. I may be taking the concept too far- I also just finished building a "clamp cart", basically a few pieces of wood mounted to casters, on which I now store all my C-clamps, strap clamps, spring clamps, and pipe clamps. At least I can wheel it to where I'm working and never have a clamp more than a few feet away...

My newest toy is a 12" bench top drill press with a laser guide- of course, I do make some cabinetry in addition to my magic, and after having a drill stop slip while drilling peg slots for a nightstand shelf (putting four holes cleanly through a piece of red oak plywood), I decided the drill press was probably the next tool to put in my workshop... though the work horse of the shop is my Ryobi portable table saw, with some assistance from a roller stand and saw horse, since I do most of my work alone. Although it's not a really pricey table saw, it's precise and easy to set up; I prefer it to my circular saw- it's actually quieter, and quicker when I need to set up cuts. The router and router table come in second for most used- I use it mainly for cutting rabbits and dados- although I love my table saw, I don't quite trust it with a dado blade stack.

How about you guys?

-Erik (day 14)

I spend aprox. 24 hrs a week in my shop so I built a 28' x 32' shop.
I have also placed most of my tools and some workbenches on wheels. Weather permitting I can roll what I am working on through the double doors and onto the roofed deck.
Dust is always hard to control and I use 2 hanging air cleaners and have 1 large dust collector on wheels to roll up to the power tool in use and another stationary one in the woodcarving room.
My favourite and most used tool is a Oneway 2436 lathe. I can turn a large log on that baby.
I will be retiring in about 6 years, so working in the shop will turn into a full time job mixed in with magic gigs I hope.


Eric

Hey, Erik:

May I chime in slightly off-topic?

Few of the tools I've bought have caused regret (outside of those acquired from Harbour Freight's collection of tool-shaped objects), but there are two standouts. One, my Porter-Cable two-handled 1/2 hp router (the depth adjustment is incredibly difficult to secure with its tiny t-shaped knob, and the torque throws the tool out of balance); and two, my Delta half-inch "shaper," whose magnetic switch was "repaired" by a Delta-authorised dealer after it failed right out of the box, and then failed again. I paid almost 4 bills for less than 14 hours of use from this machine, which now does a swell job of holding down the floor.

By contrast, my Ryobi "portable" planer continues humming along a decade-plus after the AP-10 went out of production.

Howdy,


Most of my power tools are DeWalt and they have never let me down.
The only Ryobi tool I have is a 18volt Cordless Screw driver and it works great.

salute,

Eric

Papasmurf, Leland- yes, DeWalt makes great tools... but they're a bit out of my price range. Most of my tools are Ryobi or RIGID (which is made by Ryobi for Home Depot) with a few Sears Craftsman tools thrown in. I'm not as happy with the Craftsman jigsaw- though the construction's fairly solid, the blade has a tendency to start curving on thick wood, giving me a bevel cut I don't really want.

Leland- That's surprising, I'd expect better from a brand like Porter-Cable. I did some research before picking up my router, and ended up with a RIGID 2 1/4 HP multi-base router; it was on sale at Home Depot for under $200. Unfortunately, I don't see the model I bought on their website anymore, but this is pretty close- Ridgid Pro Multi Base Router Combo. I've been picking up bits as I need them- couldn't justify buying a $199 router bit set, as I didn't think I'd be using most of the bits.

I was just at Harbour Freight a few weeks back during a sale. Though their tools appear to be made of the same plastic Fisher-Price uses, they had great deals on drop forge C-clamps- which are simple enough that you really can't go wrong for the price.

-Erik (day 15)

The one thing that is outstanding about Sears Craftsman is their Warranty.
Anything screws up with it and they replace no problem at all.


Eric

I think that is also the case with RIGID tools from Home Depot.

Erik,
Like Papasmurf, I am building a seperate shop next year in preparation of retiring in 3-4 years. I currently work in the garage like you. I have a Craftsman Radial Arm saw that I have owned for about 27 years. I also have a Craftsman 12" Bandsaw w/2hp motor, a 12" bench drill press, a Rigid portable planer, and a Craftsman 12" belt/disc sander. Hand tools include 2 circular saws, a Craftsman corded drill, a DeWalt cordless drill, a Craftsman Sabre saw, a Craftsman portable belt sander, a DeWalt biscuit joiner, a Craftsman router, and a Ryobi bench scroll saw. My plans are to add a Grizzly Table Saw, a Cyclone vacuum system, and a small engraving laser when I get the new shop built.

I need to admit I was mistaken- my jigsaw isn't Craftsman. I had to use it today (cutting out a space for the height crank on a table I attached to my Ryobi drill press), and my brain went "D'oh!" as I saw, emblazoned on the carry case, the word "Skil".

Magic-dabra- Radial arm saws are great, but I can't justify the cost since between my table saw and chop saw I can do everything I could do with a radial arm. I do recommend you get your table saw- it can be pretty scary ripping boards and plywood on a radial arm saw.

My next planned addition is either a band saw or a MiG welder- my jigsaw can't make curved cuts in thicker wood (needed for an illusion or two I'm working on), and I plan on starting metalworking and could use the bandsaw to cut metal (and the MiG welder to weld it.)

-Erik (day 15)

Hi Erik,

I use a King 15'' and a Delta 9'' bandsaw alot.
With the Delta I use the smallest blade 1/8th inch and take a stone to the back of the blade while in motion. This rounds off the edges on the back of the blade and helps in making super tight turns. Once I did this I hardly use my coping saw especially since it will cut 3'' of hardwood compared to the coping saw that can barely do an inch of hardwood.

Some of you may have seen this before, but since you ask, here are some (old) photos of mine: http://www.capital.net/~georgefl/Workshop

I have a combination of stuff collected over the years, but my biggest workhorses seem to be my Porter-Cable cordless drill (about ten years old and still plugging away), and the Craftsman benchtop band saw. I also have a Craftsman benchtop radial drill press which is built like a tank... and probably weighs as much.

What I do like is having a couple of ceiling-mounted 4' flourescent strips. I mounted one over where the table saw normally goes and the other one over the workbench itself. I also mounted a roll-up extension cord in the middle of the ceiling (plugged into the same outlet as the garage door opener), which is great when I use the table saw.

Aside from that, a rug by the door into the laundry room helps keep the sawdust in the garage.

My shop is half shop and half storage but in 2000 square feet I can just manage to get everything in.

Anyone want some free sawdust?

You are right Erik. 27 years and I STILL get nervous ripping wood on the arm saw. At the time I bought it I was doing almost all cross-cut work using 1x12 boards. I rarely needed to rip. Because it is scary, I took one of the circular saws and mounted it to a table that Craftsman makes for that purpose to make it a small bench table-saw. Works pretty well but not the most precise piece of equipment.

Also, when I began buying the larger equipment..... there was no such thing as a "chop saw" or a power Miter saw. That was over 25 years ago. I love new technology

My shop is approx 1800 sf as I work there full-time. most of my tools came from second hand sources over the years. always looking for the "heavy metal" stuff, so if you ever want to sell that drill press george, let me know. my favorite tools are all sanding helpers. I hate to sand!
bob

My workshop is in the garage. I wish I had seen George's cabinet with storage sooner, I have the drill Press and sanders on several stands and no wheels.

Note to self........ organize your shop half as nice as George's and life will be wonderful! BTW George, don't ya just love the little Jet lathe, I know I sure enjoy mine!

Mick

I have a 60' X 40' shop next to the house here...but that's just for the vintage race car (a '79 NASCAR Dodge Magnum) and SCCA race car (a '99 Cougar)

The magic "shop" in on the table next to the chir in front of the tv...or the kitchen table!!

Bob -- As to the drill press, I bought it from a friend who wasn't using it. Took both of us to put it in the SUV. Actually, I found something very similar in the Grizzly catalog, but I do have to wonder if it's built as well as the Craftsman.

Mick -- Thanks for your comment. I do like the Jet lathe. Heck, I love lathes in general. It's almost like instantaneous gratification: put in a square blank and half an hour later you have a round something-or-other. And no commercials.

George,

I was already planning on mounting both my drill press and compound miter saw on the same cabinet (once I got a new compound miter saw), but I love the design of yours- how the table on the drill press can be rotated to form an extra support table for the saw. I'll have to use that configuration myself (hope you don't mind)- thanks for the idea!

-Erik (day 19)

Leland, you have a floor? Haven't seen mine in ages. Hate to say it but my shop is a mess. Every time I set a tool down it disappears. So now I pretty much have a duplicate tool somewhere in the shop. As far as big tools I have a few of each. 3 Table saws, 3 radial arm saws, 1/2 doz drill presses various sizes, 3 miter saws, a couple of router tables, misc routers, 1/2 doz hand drills, numerous sanding devices, a couple of generic wood lathes, some small metal lathes, and heaven knows what else is out there. Got tired of hefting the large sheets of plywood so made a panel saw which helps my double hernia feel better. Why so many tools? I couldn't afford any when I was younger so when I see one at a sale or auction I just gotta get it. Also helps when I'm making a few different items at the same time. Don't have to change the settings. Oh well back to work....now what did I do with that screw driver?
Ray

Erik,

Glad you like the idea. Be my guest and use it, or whatever else you want. Let us know how it comes out.