Thread: A Real Workshop

Now for the fun part..........getting my tools out of drawers and into the cabinets where they should be easy to see and find.

The main cabinet near the workbench will have the hand tools they I use everyday.

On one door are a variety of squares.

My Japanese pull saws on the left wall.

Some hammers on the back.

A plane tray with a lip top and bottom to keep them in place. It also slopes back slightly so gravity works to lean then back.

A cabinet square and my nice back saw on the right hand door.

I made a box to hold the marking tools, some screwdrivers, scrapers and other little thing..........Most importantly it hold my Pencils......I have dozens but can never find one when I need it.
Now they are in plane sight and right at the front.......that should help.

That is the basic layout. I have had to move a few things because they would fall off when the doors closed or fouled the hinges. The Bevel gauge has been the main offender.
I put a small lip in front of the box for a few more things including the shoulder plane.

There is room for more tools and plenty of tools that could go in this part of the cabinet but I think I will work with this for a while. Then I can adjust the layout if I need to.

I am not sure what to put in the upper shelves yet but it will be things I don't use often like gloves, dust mask and a first aid kit???

I just finished a project making timber screens and I had to drill a LOT of holes.

My bench drill is still in the garage so I have to take boards from the shed to the garage, drill the holes and take them back to the shed. Not a problem when you only have a few holes to drill.

The plan was to put it on one end of the long bench with the MFT top. But I got carried away with the cabinets and took up all the space.

I decided to build a separate bench for it. It would need to be mobile so it would need castors.

Space is a premium so it needed to be compact. I do have a table with a fence and tracks but it might not have room in the shed?

I ended up with about 40 cm x 40cm x 40cm. Plus the castors.
In one of my storage drawers I found two sets of 3 castors. Pretty annoying when I need a set of 4.

The frame is Red Gum left over from the dining table.

The drill cart has Red Gum frame with some more of my doors for the sides.

The top and base are film ply. It is nice and strong and I can screw the castors into it.

I bought heavy duty castors. Two that swivel and two that also lock.

I fitted the castors so only the locking mechanism extended outside of the cart.
One less thing to kick or trip over........

The Bench drill was a bit of a challenge to move and get on the cart. Not that it was overly heavy but the weight seemed to be in awkward places.

When I rolled the cart and drill around it felt a little unstable. The motor extends over the back. That and because I had positioned the castors in from the edge of the base put most of the weight at the back of the cart.

It wasn't bad.........but it wasn't good either. So I decided the sensible thing to do was to widen the base.

To make the Bench drill cart more stable I added some 50mm thick rose Butternut boards to the base.

I extended it about 140mm to the back for stability and 30mm around the front and sides, for looks.

This time I fitted the castors closer to the edge of the base for extra stability.

The cart feels very stable now. it rolls around the floor easily and the locking castors work well.

I made some drawers for stuff......I need to buy some more drawer runners. Then I will put fronts on the drawers to make it look pretty.

Now I need to clear some floor space for it to roll around???

I thought this was such a good idea... It has officially been copied.
Just some draws to make to finish.
Had the draw slides the box and the bit of leftover kitchen bench top laying around for ever..now there still here but useful. Just bought the casters for $22.
It has come out to be very stable. Now I have the bench back and the drill live wherever I not using at the time till needed...perfect.
Thanks again for the idea Scally.

Yours looks good rusel.
It is probably more stable than mine being a bit deeper and the drill closer to the centre.

I am enjoying having the drill in the shed.
My old table is too long for the shed so I might make a smaller version. I thought I could get away with the small metal table but I like having a fence and the t-tracks.

Scally,

I am in the process of building a mobile cart for my (smaller) bench drill press.
I noticed on one of your pictures that you have bolted the base of the press down to the cart.
What is the reason to do so? I didn't plan to do so as I thought that if the press were to fall, it would only be the press rather than the whole contraption !!
My other Q is: why are the bolting slots on the base of the press so long?

Cheers Yvan

Originally Posted by yvan

What is the reason to do so? I didn't plan to do so as I thought that if the press were to fall, it would only be the press rather than the whole contraption !!

It won't make any difference if a wheel hits something at ground level as both will fall over.
It makes a big difference if the cart hits something up near the top of the cart.
When the two are not joined the DP will fall but is less likely to fall if the DP is joined to the cart.

I can't remember which mens shed it was, but the safest one of these DP carts I've seen had the wheels on outriggers (yeah I know they get in the way) and 3 concrete slabs in the bottom of the cart.

Originally Posted by yvan

Scally,

My other Q is: why are the bolting slots on the base of the press so long?

Cheers Yvan

They are slots to mount things like a vice when you are drilling at full height.

I am glad I was slow looking in on the thread, yvan.

I think bolting it down would be more stable if I am balancing long boards on the table. Thanks BobL.

But outriggers would be a nightmare but extra weight in the base sounds doable. I am pretty sure I have enough heavy things in the shed that need a place to be stored before I resort to concrete slabs


Thanks Bohdam, I knew the slots in the base would be for something useful............just not something I use.

Normally I have a 1m long table with a t-track fence. Both are very useful. I also have a normal vice and a two-way vice.

I had some people in the shed working on these African djembe shells.

The long timber steps to the house made a good display shelf for the finished timber work.

Most of them are back in Melbourne now. They will be turned into drums shortly.

Santa came early with a Bosch Glide, GCM 12 GDL, compound mitre saw.
I would have been good to have when I was cutting a few hundred boards for the timber screens.
The money from the job and a special insider sale at the local Total Tools shop gave me the opportunity to replace the screaming Makita.
The mobile bench that is set into the bench on the back wall had been adjusted to fit the old Makita mitre saw.

I was able to set the Bosch back further because of the sliding action. This gives me more bench to support wider boards.
To get the table of the Bosch level with the rest of my bench I added a 12mm sheet of plywood plus a couple of shims of veneer.

While I was setting it up I replace the plastic table insert with a Ply wood Zero insert.

Next will be a Shop Vac to fit under the bench with the hose coming through a hole in the bench and attach to the saw's dust outlet.

Later there will be a shroud to direct dust to the main dust extractor pipe which will come down the back wall.

Here are a couple of pics of the set up I made for the Makita mitre saw.

I added a long fence to the saw fence for the long boards. Holes in the saw fence make that easy. The Bosch has the same.

The Bessey Auto adjusting toggle clamps are great. No need to get spanners to adjust the height. I had the screwed to the fence at it was quick and easy to clamp and unclamp each board.
The Bosch has a fancy fence that is high and slides. It came with a screw down clamp. They are a pain to adjust. I will replace it with the Bessey auto adjust toggle clamp.
But the fence arrangement and the swing of the saw when you want to cut 45 degrees are making it tricky.

I think I might need to have my sacrificial fence straddling the Bosch fence after I remove their sliding fence......a job for after Christmas

happy new toy