My Workshop

[DarrylF]

It's still a work in progress, but it's come a long way - and most things work pretty well now. I've had the last week off work, so I've spent a good chunk of that getting a few workshop projects sorted out, and reorganising to make some space in there.

The workshop is a standard double garage at the front of the house. The car hasn't seen the inside for probably 2 years :) One day I'll get something larger and my car will get a break from the birds :)

First pic is the left side as you walk in from the house. The workbench sucks, but building a new one isn't much of a priority right now. At least the storage is useful.

[DarrylF]

Delta chisel mortiser, GMC disc/belt sander and Dewalt CMS. Storage underneath & above, compressor behind the panel below the CMS.

[DarrylF]

CMS & clamp rack. I need more clamps :)

[DarrylF]

Jet air cleaner, Total Tools drill press & Jet 2hp DC.

[DarrylF]

Sharpening area and Delta 12" bandsaw. The bandsaw is on a mobile base.

[DarrylF]

Router table, table saw (with the 50" Biesemeyer fence), and the Dewalt 12" thicknesser rolls in underneath.

[DarrylF]

A better view of the tablesaw & base. The base is mobile - adapted from a design in Woodsmith magazine, where cams on each end are pushed down to engage the castors below. Dust extraction is built in - extracts from the bottom and out the back to a 4" PVC pipe. Needs better storage set up underneath yet - still contemplating the design.

[DarrylF]

Lathe & bench. There's a 4ft fluro light above and the desk lamp is fitted with a long life bulb (mostly because it's less likely to break than a standard one). Light is pretty good. Melamine behind keeps the mess contained and helps with light.

Dust extraction is built in - grill covered inlets the other side & below the lathe bed. I'm planning on building in more storage, other than that it works very well. Solid as a rock.

[DarrylF]

The latest project - wood storage rack. Believe it or not it actually saved a lot of space. It's built in several sections and bolted together so it can be moved.

Like most things in the workshop it's built from pine framing timber (run through the thicknesser) and MDF.

[station-rat]

Well done darryl,I like it, only wish I had the room
Station-rat:cool:

[rodm]

Well done Darryl - great attention to detail. Can you post a pic of the cam action cators on your table saw?
Thanks,
Rod

[Helix]

Daryl, that is the cleanest workshop I have ever seen. Go and make some mess!

Jealously,

Helix

[Dean]

Nice setup!
I particularly like the wood storage solution.
I've stolen some ideas for when I build my own :)

[Sturdee]

Great workshop, love your timber rack and yes you need more clamps.


Peter

[stephenmeddings]

when my wife asks why I keep buying them, I always say "you can never have too many".

[John G]

"The workbench sucks, but building a new one isn't much of a priority right now"

Great shop. Very jealous.

As someone looking to make a new one, what exactly is wrong with your bench?

Is it too narrow? Not enough overhang for clamping? Against the wall is a bad idea? Overhanging cabinets bad? Let me know...

[DarrylF]

Thanks guys - I still see nothing but flaws :)

Helix: It's usually a lot messier, but I like to do a good cleanup at the end of the weekend so I've got a clean start the next weekend. The dust extraction works well, so it's usually not a difficult job.

John G: The bench was one of my early projects, so I made a lot of stupid mistakes.

The frame is heavy, but the joinery is simple and imprecise (no thicknesser back then and still a lot to learn), so it tends to wobble a little. I also put more meat into the frame than into the top. The frame for the top has warped enough to be a pain.

The vice should have been mounted on the left I think, and the way it's mounted it wound up too low to make the top thick enough to be solid enough. I used a couple of 1200x600x16mm pieces of MDF making up a single layer - should have been two thicknesses of 16mm MDF laminated together with hardboard or something over the top. I'll probably wind up putting a vice on both ends.

In an ideal world the bench would be placed to allow access from all sides - but I don't have the room. The next one will be built for it. The tools hung above need to be set back from the bench - I'm planning on rebuilding that.

I kind of like the flat front - allows me to clamp a board on edge in the vice against it. With access all around and the ability to clamp on the other three sides it would probably be ideal.

The cabinets below are great, and they are set back just enough to be out of the way.

I generally wind up using the table saw as a workbench most of the time - and not much is going to change until I get a bigger workshop.

[vcohen]

Now, if only SWMBO would let me leave the car outside.....................................................................................................................................But that ain't gonna happen.


Beautiful Job

Sigh!!!:(