Thread: Finally getting a shed

Originally Posted by Bill Houghton

The old standby is still a useful approach: buy some graph paper, lay out your shop on the graph paper to whatever scale fits the page, and then make little paper dolls of your machines (and the car, of course), and move them around. Infeed, outfeed, side clearance all matter, more so in a machine-based shop, but even somewhat in a hand tool shop.

When I installed my dust extraction plumbing, I put my shed dimensions onto graph paper and used scaled rectangles representing the areas of my various machines until I came up with a layout which worked for both the plumbing and usage of each machine.

Make sure you allow for sufficient clearance for infeed and outfeed of the various machines. I've lined my planer/thicknesser up with an open doorway to pinch an extra bit of space.

mick

To be fair about cars and garages, there are climates where having your car inside a garage is a good thing. I am thinking here of, say northern Minnesota, in the U.S., where winter temperatures are regularly under 10 degrees Fahrenheit (that's -12 Celsius for metric types); or parts of the American Southwest, where a dust storm can give you frosted window glass in ten minutes.

Originally Posted by Bill Houghton

To be fair about cars and garages, there are climates where having your car inside a garage is a good thing. I am thinking here of, say northern Minnesota, in the U.S., where winter temperatures are regularly under 10 degrees Fahrenheit (that's -12 Celsius for metric types); or parts of the American Southwest, where a dust storm can give you frosted window glass in ten minutes.

Our two bay carport (ie not enclosed) is full of timber and the caravan. This means our two vehicles sit outside in full sun (anneal average high is 24ºC average low is 12ºC).

Last year SWMBO traded in her 8 year old pearlescent white Subaru Forester that she towed horses around with for many a year. I reckon it was lucky to get washed once a year and I only ever recall it getting waxed once and that after it was in the repair shop following a kangaroo running into the side (boy did that make a mess) of it black in 2014? Just before trading it in a decent wash and wax brought the paint up very nicely. The only thing that hinted at it being outside was the slight dullness of the acrylic headlight covers which some toothpaste did a fair job on. My Vehicle is a 13 year old Toyota van and being a working vehicle and oft borrowed by friends (used to haul rubbish, timber, furniture etc) means it's a tad beat up externally. I have never washed or waxed it. It gets cleaned up occasionally when my BIL borrows it, ie sweeps it out and sometimes washes it. Paint work has definitely faded but it has been 13 years outside.