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#1 ·
Background and history lesson. Welcome to the Wayback Machine!

This entry, the first in the series Workshop Development." is where we get into the wayback machine, and go for a little history lesson. Specifically, how, and why I went from a guy with a garage and some tools, to being a guy with a workshop in progress. Not sure if I will ever be done, but at least it is in progress!

In the beginning there was a garage, Dave saw the garage and said it was good… Hmmm okay maybe a little to grandiose for my posting… Let me try again…

In early 2002, I was in a lousy domestic situation, with one upside, I had just closed on a suburban Houston home, with a garage. Now this garage was on the smallish size, and lacked anything nicer than a structure, a door, a single dual recepticle outlet, and a single bare light bulb, I am guessing for interrogation purposes, because it simply was insufficient for giving any real light to the garage, but it had to do. Due to the lousy domestics, the only "shop" I was able to squeak in was my existing tool box from my prior career as a mechanic, and a simpson strong tie workbench made from 2×4s (free, neighbor was throwing them out after a completed remodel project), a sheet of cheap sheathing grade 3/4" plywood complete with dips, knots, and other fun stuff, Strong ties, and screws. That same bench still serves in my shop today.

Fast forward a mere year and a half, and the domestic issue had completely changed, I got the house (big deal) and the Dog (I know this sounds funny, but he was all I wanted out of the whole deal, and to get away from her…) Now I have a 2 car garage, all to myself.

Now in the time span between getting the house, and getting free of Mrs. mistake, I had acquired a few woodworking related tools, some because they were left in the garage when I bought the house, some because I needed them for home repair, and some because of a rented RV that suffered a broken dinette table, and it was cheaper to build a replacement than it was to get one from the MFG, and nobody could tell the difference. Those tools were a Skill jig saw, a Craftsman 3/8" VSR drill, a Ryobi fixed base router, Craftsman 6 piece bit set, and Wolfcraft cheapie table. Along with the mechanics tools that carried over from career #1, tools given to me by friends as they upgraded, and tools that I acquired when the hardware store I worked in during college went out of business and the boss gave me a box of misc tools that we used in the shop including a Skil circular saw, bench vise, Ace hardware 6" grinder, hacksaw, a mess of window screen spline rollers, box cutters, tape measures, hacksaw blades, and a myriad of drill bits. This was far from a workshop though, this was still a garage with some tools in it.

And so it sat, mostly because I was spending time (and money) pursuing other hobbies, particularly blondes, brunettes, and most importantly red heads… All the while this goofy looking guy with a beard and a plaid shirt would come on every week, enticing me back to the hobby I enjoyed so much as a teen, but have been unable to pursue as an adult… I watched, dreamed, and went out of my skull meeting new people and just having fun…

Needless to say, she happened, a firey red haired angel that got my attention… Time, attention, and finances went to dating, and then moving forward it was obvious we needed to be married, so we busted our hides and did a proper wedding, and honeymoon. You know it's amazing how much Cup O Noodles a guy can put up with for lunches when trying to shovel cash aside for a trip to Cancun… But that is a different story all together…

After the wedding, and the finances returning to normal, my lovely bride noted that I am always tinkering with things, and building this, that or the other thing, and I should put together a shop (Thank God for a wife that grew up with brothers, and a Dad that are tinkerers and craftsmen), so I started, slowly, putting a shop together. At first thinking I was just going to put together something I could stash aside and pull the car into the garage…

Now that car is an F150 super cab 4×4 lifted on 35×12.50 mud tires. Even if it was a 2wd on stock rubber, just fitting the mirrors between the door jambs is a challenge. Why I insisted on wanting to keep the shop small at first I do not know… I had even toyed with the idea of a shop in a dedicated outbuilding, but my HOA restrictions being what they are, meant no shop building big enough for me was going to happen, and even without the HOA, I would never get a building big enough on my little suburban lot.

So what to do about building up a shop? I already had a good amount of stuff stored in the garage, camping, hunting, lawn & garden type stuff. And I did NOT want to be tripping over tents, coolers, and lawn mowers to get to my table saw, and routers…

Well, that will just have to wait for installment #2. There is a reason I made this a series you know! There would be no way anyone would read the history and thought process of my shop all the way through beginning to end. But string y'all along and you might just stay interested…
 
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#144 ·
Kitty litter tub under table router dust hood prototype pics...

Sorry about the fugly "door". I am testing ideas, not execution here… The door with the duct taped hinge is just to close off the gaping hole to put the router in… But here are some pics of my progress so far…

If you look close enough, this time wasn't clear silicone, I had a mess of Alex Plus acrylic caulk left over from a bathroom job that just sort of blends right in, so I used it… The door / hinge are NOT permanent, nor is the hokey latch… Of course if I get super lazy, then it IS permanent. Who knows right? IF I decide to get un-lazy the frame I built yesterday will get screwed / caulked into place, a door made, and a latch / catch made for it… Gotta love putting scrap plywood to use!


I kept the run of flex hose short and sweet, but the table DOES move around from time to time, mostly from me bumping into it, so I wanted SOME flex here…


I know I need air make up holes so I don't suck the canister inside, or cause my Thien to scrub, I just hope these will be enough. If not hey, it's an old cat litter tub, who cares if I punch a mess of holes in it?


The KM12VC has NOT been test fitted yet. I am eager to see the results of that. I don't expect any problems though, this tub is plenty deep.

I know I could have, and I have seen lots of these made with bottom ports, I don't really care if dust piles up on the bottom, I wanted to reduce / eliminate elbows where I could…

If you have noticed a common theme in many of my dust collection projects recently, it has been reclaiming / recycling materials for use in these projects. These don't have to be show quality projects, just functional, so why spend what little free $$ I have for materials on something that I can do for cheap or free with as good, or better results?

I am getting kind of hooked on this recycling to build what I need thing, I am somewhat worried I might start fishing around for pallets and shipping crates for the lumber soon!
 
#149 ·
Kitty Litter Dust Shroud installed.

Okay so I am not a huge fan of cats. But at least their stuff can be somewhat useful… And yeah I know it's not pretty, but it should work well…


The table without the bucket installed. Note the location of the router table power switch. This is the reason for the location of the power cord hole…


The makeup air holes. Hopefully this SHOULD be enough. I will know soon! I am half tempted to punch a few more 3/4" holes in for makeup air.


The S&D PVC port held in with white latex caulk.


The door complete with *********************************** hinge, and improvised latch and hole for power cord…
 
#156 ·
Better late than never, the shop built floor sweep installed pic...



This hot to cold to hot to cold weather has ended up leaving me feeling kind of under the weather…. So I spent some quality time with some hot tea and my pillow instead of shop time or posting pics here…

But there you guys go I promised to get a pic of the shop built floor sweep that I installed this weekend posted. It works pretty well, with a tendency to pull material from a good distance on the floor away from the opening. There is some large debris that got stuck under it because, well it was too wide to fit the 4" opening, no problem….

I will call this project a success, and move on down the line….

Those of you that are keen eyed observers may also notice I took the opportunity to reorganize my feather boards to advantage of what wall space I do have better. And yes those are stainless steel 102" CB whips with 6" springs. The mount point I was using on my truck's toolbox wasn't holding up at all well… I need to find a better place for it. (One and a spare). I mostly keep CB around to comply with 4×4 club rules. (All off road rigs in the club MUST have a 40 channel CB radio, mine is 40 with AM/SSB).
 
#157 ·
I use my sweep a moderate amount. My biggest headaches are still the two big saws, although I have plans to upgrade the RAS dust collection, and the TS dust collection is a partially complete project….......waiting for the base for the project table to be done. The latter is a critical shop project with regard to housing the compressor and nail guns, and providing a safe base for my project table top with its slots, piers, etc. The saws throw sawdust in a corner furthest from my sweep, so I tend to just put the dust in a dust pan. Guess maybe I need another sweep…...huh.

Looks handy and well placed….........
 
#166 ·
Ripping the rotted masonite off, adding the Hardie siding...

It's been a busy weekend. I managed to rip off the old rotting pine and Masonite siding and trim from around my garage doors, and replaced it with products from James Hardie. I also was finally able to properly install both 5" louvered vent ducts for the air conditioning.

I still need to replace the semi-round trim, caulk and prime it all up, install the door gaskets, and paint. I started caulking, and very quickly ran out of caulk….

My trip home from work tomorrow will include a quick trip to Home Depot for the trim, and a case of caulk. I obviously won't use a whole case of caulk on this job, but I have a LOT more re-caulking to get done…

I have to replace the sheetrock in this section, which is going to be interesting. I don't want to take the garage door rails loose to replace the rock there… But I need to get that off of there so I can spray in the expanding foam insulation…Eliminate drafts and heat gain there…

I test ran the A/C this evening after a full day of just relaxing for Easter, and found that even with the drafty doors, the draft through the center post is now eliminated, and the shop cools down FAST. Went from 84 deg F to 74 in 30 mins…

I am actually looking forward to being done with this, and being able to work in a nice comfortable shop this summer, that won't run me into the poor house to use!
 
#171 ·
Keeping the outside out, and everything protected...

I know this is in all honesty more home repair and improvement, but it had to be done in order to allow for my portable A/C unit. The only other option was to vent it directly to the attic, which would have been simply terrible.

So with the new siding in place, as well as the garage door trim, and seals, the caulking and painting is finished more or less. There are a couple of spots where the trim color bled through or found a way through the painters tape and newspaper and on to the main color, which I am temporarily out of… So at this time, there are about 5 small spots that need to be fixed still, but aside from that, I am extremely pleased with the quality of the job. Next up is to rip out the bad sheet rock from between the doors, and stuff insulation in the gap, before re-rocking it…

The roll of R19 that had been stashed in the attic has been pulled down, and sits in the shop right now waiting for installation. If I had thought about it when I had the wall apart, I guess I could have added the insulation prior to reinstalling the siding, but I absolutely had to replace the sheet rock. 27 years of hot / cold / dry / humid, not to mention bumped by ladders, bicycles, canoes, and building materials and tools of all sorts have simply taken their toll on the sheet rock out here.

As I go through this process, i know I will need to do the side walls eventually as well, especially if I want to insulate, I have so much mounted up my walls, that I really don't want to tear the stuff down, or move it away from the wall as I am already cramped… It is likely that I will build or buy a rolling clamp cart, as well as a rolling tool stacker, and perhaps a free standing tool shelf in order to free up the left wall, I can temporarily move my lumber rack to the front wall if I have a vertical tool shelf / cabinet that I can move my peg boarded stuff to…

It might just be easier to rent a POD, move my shop stuff in there except for what I need to do the walls, electrical, and floors, get those tasks done, and then move back in…

I am pretty sure that when I get home tonight, since i have the trim color all mixed up, and ready to go, that LOML will have some ideas for what else needs touched up. A fresh coat on the garage doors wouldn't hurt things for sure!
 
#172 ·
DB, you could qualify to be a host on This Old House!!!

I feel like that a lot myself. Since I got more tools my wife is more tolerant of me learning some finer wwing skills, so at least I am not stuck in home repair all the time, but I get my share for sure and hey I enjoy having the right tools to do it.

Still she threatens that if I mumble about an idea she has, she will say she will go down into the shop and go through my stuff to do it herself. Of course I howl like a wounded animal and get it done, well most of the time anyway.
 
#174 ·
Can you fit 4" dust collection hose to 4" PVC S&D pipe? Yes you can!

This is an older video I made to answer a question on Phil Thien's forum about if you can fit 4" DC hose to 4" S&D pipe. The answer is a quick and simple yes. The video was to prove it to doubters. I thought LJs might be interested so I am sharing it here!

 
#177 ·
Progress on the wide drum sander.

I've mentioned it elsewhere, but like so many LJ's say, no pics, didn't happen…

Wood Gas Engineering Flooring Hardwood


This is what MDF scraps are useful for. My first couple of Thien separators were built on trash cans using MDF baffles, and plywood tops. I have since gone to hardboard baffles and reusing the drum lid. So I had to put that excess to use right?

The disks are 3/4" MDF cut into 3" disks using a cheapo HF hole saw set. I am anxious to get a much higher quality set, but these will do for now…

I will center drill them for the 1/2" rod, glue them up using the rod to align them, then epoxy the rod onto the whole assembly. Once that is done, I need to figure out a way to chuck it up to either the drill press or the lathe so that I can sand the burrs off and true it all up…

The entire thing is just under 18" long. My idea is to build a 16/32 sander, yes I think I am going to be crazy enough to try a cantilever frame. I have some ideas in Sketchup. I will hone them further as I gather materials. I have the basics down, but need to figure out adjustments for the table… This will likely be a multi year project…
 

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#178 ·
Progress on the wide drum sander.

I've mentioned it elsewhere, but like so many LJ's say, no pics, didn't happen…

Wood Gas Engineering Flooring Hardwood


This is what MDF scraps are useful for. My first couple of Thien separators were built on trash cans using MDF baffles, and plywood tops. I have since gone to hardboard baffles and reusing the drum lid. So I had to put that excess to use right?

The disks are 3/4" MDF cut into 3" disks using a cheapo HF hole saw set. I am anxious to get a much higher quality set, but these will do for now…

I will center drill them for the 1/2" rod, glue them up using the rod to align them, then epoxy the rod onto the whole assembly. Once that is done, I need to figure out a way to chuck it up to either the drill press or the lathe so that I can sand the burrs off and true it all up…

The entire thing is just under 18" long. My idea is to build a 16/32 sander, yes I think I am going to be crazy enough to try a cantilever frame. I have some ideas in Sketchup. I will hone them further as I gather materials. I have the basics down, but need to figure out adjustments for the table… This will likely be a multi year project…
Looking forward to watching your drum sander progress, as I plan on making a drum sander (someday).

I'm curious about your hardboard baffles. How long have you been using your "new" baffles and how are they holding up. I'm about to build a Thien seperator for my HF 2HP DC and like the idea of a hardboard baffle.

Keep the progress posts coming!
 

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#182 ·
Now that the cabinets are up, the peg board is down...

So I went ahead and installed the catches for the second clamshell cabinet, which freed me up to at last get rid of that old peg board. What a relief!

Miter saw Wood Table Gas Writing desk


I have a couple of small storage projects left to do that I can glean enough good peg board out of this, and what is left over from the cabinet project that I won't need to buy peg board.

Now on to fixing all the little holes, and slapping some bright white paint on that wall!
 

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#183 ·
Now that the cabinets are up, the peg board is down...

So I went ahead and installed the catches for the second clamshell cabinet, which freed me up to at last get rid of that old peg board. What a relief!

Miter saw Wood Table Gas Writing desk


I have a couple of small storage projects left to do that I can glean enough good peg board out of this, and what is left over from the cabinet project that I won't need to buy peg board.

Now on to fixing all the little holes, and slapping some bright white paint on that wall!
Go, go, go….........youse is getting there. Someday my shop area and the garage as well will get a complete makeover….......probably the next owner of the house. Very busy day yesterday in the hospital, 3 surgeries and a delivery. The rest of the week will be quieter.

I am done with the minibench, except that I decided to make a cord keep to store part or all of the cord. They will be 2 segments of large dowel, about an inch or so long, attached to the back of the bench at either end with a circular flange out of plywood. That will make it possible to also control the amount of cord that is loose for plugging into overhead drops (which I will make one day).

I am going to try to get enough pictures that I can write the blog and project posts while in La Conner (leaving this Friday for a week). Don't think I will get enough time before then.
 

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#184 ·
Cleanup, and tool tuning..

Sorry no pics, yet…

After my clam shell cabinet builds, and ripping down the peg board, I realized I have "stuff" pretty much everwhere I looked, whether or not I wanted it. LOTS of cardboard I had been using for prototyping dust hood ideas, cut offs not in the cut off bin, and generally tools not put back where they belonged. It was time to get busy…

After LOTS of picking up, sweeping, and throwing out junk that shouldn't have been in the shop anyway, I made a discovery… Not all my dust hoses were fully connected… As could be attested to by the PILE of sawdust behind my table saw. It appears the hose slipped off of the blast gate, and just dangled in the air above the floor… My above table collection worked great still, but below table, was horrid, and since the bench is in the way, no real way of telling…

So I went ahead and reattached my hoses, this time running the clamp screw in with a ratchet & socket instead of a phillips head screwdriver. I am pretty sure those aren't going anywhere now!

In my rearranging / cleaning, I managed to move the lathe, band saw, and drill press back to where I had originally had them when I installed the dust collection. After 3 different moves, I have decided I like the work flow from these positions best.

The miter bench is being ignored for now. I have several ideas I am narrowing down, mostly cabinet grade plywood based designs. I am leaning HEAVILY toward a simple rolling cart, sized for the saw, to put the table at 38" off the floor (casters included) with flip up wings, fences, T tracks, production stops etc… I know the features I want to put in. Just ironing out specifics. The cabinet case underneath looks like a GREAT opportunity to provide storage for pnuematic tools. I need to figure out what can go there, I would HATE to waste that much space!

Ever since I bought my Pittsburg #94386 woodworking vise (Harbor Freight 9" Quick Release version), I haven't been happy with the faces, they were FAR from flat, or square…. So I spent some quality time with a large metal file truing up the faces of the vise. As of last night, side to side we were dead on, top to bottom we still were slightly top proud, by about .001", however natural racking of the vise takes care of the problem. I have a little more cleanup work to do on this before I hit this with some primer, and then I need to locate some close to matching hammer finish enamel paint for this thing. This is something I don't think I should have to put up with, and it DOES have the lifetime warranty, however, they don't sell a comparable model any more… It does work well, so truing it up was my best option…

On the Sliding Miter Saw dust hood design front, well, hard to explain, but the design I found that seems to work best is a sort of rectangular funnel, attached to the back bracket of the slide tubes, with a 4" port, It seems to catch more or less all of the dust off the saw… I am sure there are better ideas out there, but this is what I came up with to solve my problem… I now need to go from the cardboard prototype to a wooden build. To keep it light, I want to go with 1/4" ply, but that means I have to build out some sort of frame in order to support the thin material.
 
#185 ·
Home in Anchorage, on call. I am making another shelf for my…...multipurpose bench…...I have changed the descriptive name, because minibench seems to mean other things to people. I have the compressor in it now, and I don't feel like I have to don ear muffs when it cycles. I am settup up the way the hose is corralled, so that I have a shelf for each of 3 nail guns, and 1 for the blower. It should be a pretty good set up. All four items are attached all the time.

I bought a Shopfox wood vise for the La Conner shop, but first I have to beef up the bench. Then install the vise. It is smaller, with 6 inch faces, I think, and an 8 inch spread. Should be fine for there. The ancient vise I have here is bigger, but not as good quality. Works well, however.

1/4 inch plywood, if the pieces aren't large won't need much bracing. Once you make something of it, with decent strength designed in, it is pretty rugged.

Have a good day, don't know how things will go this weekend. Sometimes I have lots of quiet time to get into the shop, like I did on Memorial Day weekend, other times not.

.......later..
 
#193 ·
Stealth gloat. New to me, NIB Central Machinery mortiser.

After checking out the reviews, seeing the shortcomings of the HF mortiser, and comparing it to models from Steel City, Grizzly, Jet, Delta, and WoodRiver, I noted they all more or less stink in one way or another. Mostly the fences and hold downs are pitiful. Seeing how the HF fence works it is similar to others, better than some, but worse than most, so that is not really a factor. The hold downs on all of them I looked at stank. I would end up using clamps as hold downs no matter the machine, but budget screamed, so I left well enough alone, until…

Monday afternoon, a coworker, that I had traded some other equipment with at an earlier time had a need for a miter saw. I happened to have 3, 1 of which was my keeper (the slider), the other 2, my B&D Firestorm, and a Delta I picked up off of Craigslist free posting, that I cleaned up, and reassembled, got it working like new. I was going to sell it for $75.00, well he mentioned he had this mortiser he never opened, and wouldn't use, and would I like to swap…

Hey, I can look at this like it was free, or $75.00, but since that $75.00 never hit my wallet, I am going to call it free…

I know no pics, didn't happen, pics are forth coming. I didn't have the assembly finished last night. I did get it bolted solidly down to my strong tie bench next to the slider. the tables align nicely between the SCMS and the mortiser, I will need to do a tiny bit of shimming on the mortiser to get it dead level, but it is within 1/16", so not a huge deal…

Assembly instructions were typical of Harbor Freight tools, completely forgettable, and worthless. But once I figured out which direction to put the handle on, and how to assemble the fence (still not sure I have it right,which is why I don't have pics…) it went together okay. The table itself is just a basic piece of MDF, which will likely be replaced with hardboard topped BB ply just for my own sanity sake. The cheesy wood grain sticker on the MDF arrived chipped off in 2 spots. I would love a cast iron table, but view the OE table as sacrificial for through mortises.

I did get a test cut done, using 6" bar clamps to secure stock to the table and the fence, and I must say it cuts nice, has plenty of power, and is quiet…

The timing couldn't be better either. I have a couple of projects that are going to call for a LOT of mortises, and while this won't be the fastest machine to use, it is a TON faster than drilling / chiseling out my mortises by drill press / hand…

Pics coming soon, as soon as I figure out what way the stupid bracket for the fence goes on. It can go both ways, but either way seems screwy to me…
 
#194 ·
Sounds free to me…........traded for something that was free…........of course, don't know what you put into the Delta miter saw.

Seems to me I saw a review of mortisers where Delta came out on top.

I am just putting some finishing touches on a project stand (elevator?) that I cobbled together to build the multifunction bench. Decided it was worth keeping, so just making it a little more stable and versatile. Then I will install a small vise on the multifunction bench, have the vise, from Veritas. It will be shoehorned into the end of the table, so the size was limited. As long as my back holds up, should get that done this weekend.

Think I will use some ancient left over prefinished oak flooring for the entry into the house from the garage. Probably use some oak veneer plywood with solid oak trim for the bench and the shoe rack. Think I will start working on that as I do some smaller shop projects that are not pressing.

Later….............
 
#199 ·
LOML is wanting storage in the garage. May be time to rethink the whole shop arrangement.

I know, I know, I've been gone from the blogging for a while now. Life has been happening, lots of stuff going on, not the least of which, my lovely bride is getting the itch to put the car in the garage, not to mention storage for household non perishable goods etc…

Time for rethinking the approach to my workshop… So let's look at the pros / cons of the options that are available to me…

Keep the shop in the existing garage.
Pros. #1. It's already set up. #2. No need to pull building permits. #3. Reasonable, but not great space. My 2 car garage IS small. #4. Ductwork for portable A/C already out there. #5. Non car storage can be put into a small shed, meaning less $$ to spend.
Cons. #1. LOML wants to store her car, and the freezer out there. #2. Other storage in the house has to end up in the attic. #3. Too easy for LOML to just wander out from the kitchen door and stop what I am doing to get on her schedule…

Move the shop to a dedicated outbuilding.
Pros. #1. Completely separate building. Less LOML intrustion to feed the cats etc sort of thing… #2. Isolates the noise from the house better. (additional insulated walls, and some distance between the shop and the house). #3. Frees up the garage for vehicle and other misc storage. Frees up garage for LOML's potting / gardening tasks. No more potting soil on my jointer! #4. If built on skid foundation, can be moved when we move. Truly plug and play shop. #5. Totally dedicated space, no flower pots, tents, lawn mowers or coolers in there. #6. A gambrel barn design can give me loft storage for additional materials and less frequently used tools. #7. Smaller interior volume means less HVAC and air filtration needed. #8. New construction means I can build in energy efficient windows, insulation, radiant barriers and proper ventilation BEFORE I have to tear stuff out to add it.
Cons. #1. Much more expensive to build out. And money is tight. However the plan otherwise still calls for a storage shed to keep lawn and garden stuff, as well as my woodworking / auto related flamables in. #2. Permits from the city building department. Staying in the garage means only having to pull an electrical permit. An outbuilding over 120 sq/ft means a building permit, AND an electrical permit. #3. MUCH less space. #5. Would need to rethink HVAC to insure ample floor space. #6. A 12×16 shed would be a big box in a little back yard. I have a deck back there that is 16×16, and it needs to go, so I am hoping freeing up that space will make the shed make more sense… #7. No matter where I place it, a shed that size would be in the direct line of sight from at least 2 of the back windows. #8. 12×16 footprint, and gambrel roof design would require special waiver from HOA Architectural Control Committee. Thankfully there is precedent within several hundred feet of my home that can be easily shown with Google Earth…

So those are the pros, and cons of each approach that I can think of. Anyone have any that I didn't consider?
 
#200 ·
Sounds like you hit pretty much everything. There is (likely) a sub-panel in your future with a standalone shop, and getting that service to your new building is either overhead (a pain) or buried (more pain). But that's reality.

What you've laid out above is an approach that says to me, pursue the permits / waiver etc. with the intent of moving forward with an outbuilding. It they go through, you've got a year to complete the work (at least around here; local ordinances may vary). If you're shot down re: permitting/waiver decisions, it means you're 'stuck' in the garage and the discussion would essentially end.

Good luck, let us know what you decide!
 
#214 ·
Adding the library wing to the manor...

Now I may have mentioned this before, but my collection of DIY, automotive, and woodworking books, magazines, and other misc publications is gobbling up space in the house, and not really where I need it. So a bit of inspiration came my way, and I decided to build a bookshelf for the shop, sideways, and mount it to the ceiling. Yeah floor space is priceless, but I have ceiling space that is unused…

So today, after work assuming everything has dried out enough, you see it rained like crazy here last night, but I digress, after work today, I head over to the BORG and pick up another 4×8 sheet of their "cabinet grade" sanded plywood that I have been building so many shop projects out of… The idea is a 16"x16"x6' open sided box, with 2 dividers. Construction will be simple locking rabbets, glue and screws, and the entire thing will be painted high gloss white to avoid darkening up the shop any.

Attachment is going to be directly through the panels / drywall into the studs with 3" #12 screws with fender washers to spread the load over a wider area. Not the prettiest, but plenty stout.

It's not much of a project to brag about, but it IS something that desperately needs to get done in order to provide storage for my stuff, and to buy some peace at home about where certain items are stored. Not to mention the next owner of the house might just like having a bit of overhead storage in the garage as I do NOT plan on taking this one with me. (However my clam shell cabinets are darned sure coming with me when I go!)

Will keep y'all posted on the progress…

Still looking for local help to install the sub panel / circuits and do the rock / insulation work… Any suggestions for how a not quite rich guy can get this done?
 
#215 ·
As long as it's functional Pat, that's all you need, good idea on painting it white, reflects the light more and lioke you I am forever thinking of ways to create storgae with sacraficing valuable floor space.

On this topic, I had a few days off work last week and spent them in the shop building storage and cabinets, I'll post you you pics for your perusal.

I heard you guys werer having snow??? in the past day or so?
 
#218 ·
More work on the Library wing...

So my idea was simple. Make a simple reinforced plywood cabinet, frameless, with the sole function of holding books and magazines in the shop.

The design was simpler still. a top and bottom panel cut to 12×72", a back panel cut to 16×72" 2 side panels cut to 16×12.75" all out of 23/32" cabinet grade ply, and then 2 divider panels cut to 12×14.5" centered 24" on each side made from 5/8" cheapie scrap ply. All of it simply butt jointed and screwed together with 2.5" screws.

The entire thing went together in less than 2 hours from deciding to actually get up off my butt, until the basic box was finally assembled.

I have a few screws left, some sanding where overdriving the screws caused some push out of the end plies, some filling, the french cleat setup, and lastly primer and paint… I originally intended to use just cheap contractor grade ceiling white paint, but I am leaning now more toward a high gloss white latex enamel for this cabinet, not so much for the light properties, but for ease of cleaning. Gloss paint tends to have a surface that is slicker than matte finishes, and should be easier to blow / wipe dust off of…

With the progress I am making, I should have this completed, and populated long before the weekend… Lord Willing I should have it ready to go. I do need to finish filling some nail holes, priming, and painting the wall that it will mount to, but that shouldn't take long at all…

I did notice that the height I intend to mount this at, it will be low enough I could use the top as a shelf, which would allow me to stash things like jigs and the like on top of it.

Before anyone nags me on this one. I am witholding photos until this is done. This will be posted as a project. Yes a very simple one, but a project no less..
 
#219 ·
OK, the mystery bookcase. But I am not one to talk, I have about 5 blog/project items to present. I have been busy, off and on, in the shop. But October was a bear at work, and now I am on vacation. In La Conner since Thursday, and we got surprised by good weather instead of wall to wall rain. Just started sprinkling today. Off to Orlando, and the family marathon at Disney world and a Disney cruise. I will try to blog some of the trip…......
 
#229 ·
The library progress thus far...

Okay okay, no pics, didn't happen right?



It's not much, but it IS big, and it is sized to be ideal for my books / magazines. The priming is coming along nicely, enough… This is coat #2. And I have noted a few minor problems… I have some more sanding to do, but we are really humming along. Or not… My long weekend is getting trimmed by work. Oh well, pay the bills right?
 
#239 ·
Almost ready to finish up the library...

I am now waiting for the final coat of paint to dry on the workshop library cabinet. I have the cleat ripped and ready to install, and am more than ready to put it to use…
 
#245 ·
The library is almost finished. Photos coming very soon...

I know y'all want to see photos, you are just going to have to be patient for a couple more days… Today is going to be install day. In what free time I did have over the weekend, I took the opportunity to fill holes, prime and paint the wall that the library will be mounted on. Now mind you, I didn't bother with sanding down the patches all that well. It IS a garage after all… and most of the patches will be hidden behind the library, but it's done. Gone is the badly yellowed paint that has been on these walls since 1984, in place is a nice bright coat (2 coats actually) of Glidden Semi Gloss bright white base (no tint whatsoever). Tried to make it as easy as possible to match later.

Once the library is installed the strong tie bench gets put back in place, and a fairly large scale whole shop cleanup project will be undertaken with LOML's help, so it shouldn't take too long…

God willing and the creek don't rise this will be a short task, and photos will be pending tonight…

I still have to measure, mark, and cut the shelf liner for this cabinet, but I feel really good about it already…

My next project is going to be in the house, and involve drywall… You guys recall me mentioning the water heater stand I built a few weeks ago? Once the shop is clean, so I can get to my sheet goods, it's time to get to the sheet rock, and close that thing in, and trim it out… And of course paint the old part of the stand…
 
#247 ·
The library is done!

I posted a project up on it, but since the recent projects change, they no longer come up in chronological order… Oh well… That's okay. Take a peek at my project page http://lumberjocks.com/projects/56261

It's just a simple box with a couple of dividers, a cleat and a spacer to hold it to the wall, and plenty of paint to keep it from making the shop feel more crowded.

One thing I was VERY concerned about was the mortiser handle, which thankfully clears no problem at all…

I am now in panic design mode to try to get my SCMS dust collected for fear of having dusty books and magazines!

To top it all off. I actually got LOML to help me clean the shop up… I loved spending time with her in the shop…
 
#250 ·
Sliding Miter Saw Dust Hood. Success and failure...

Over the weekend I cobbled together, out of scrap in my shop, a quick and dirty sliding compound miter saw dust hood.

Materials are cast off 3/16" tempered hardboard for the back and ramp, 5/8" Aracuo ply for the top and sides, screws, nails, and of course 4" S&D PVC.

I made a measurement error on the width, even after measuring 3x, and ended up about 1" too narrow. But I can slide it back and forth as I go all the way with miter cuts…

I still have to seal the port hole that the 4" went through, and am likely to swap the Ridgid vac hose for my Peachtree hose to make connection easier. I won't fee quite so bad about cutting the Peachtree hose…

It's a simple open box, with a shallow ramp that simply guides the junk to the port. No clue how well it is going to work, but it has to beat just the vac hose port…





 
#251 ·
Nice looking set up. I sure hope it works out good or you.

Those cut off saws sure throw the sawdust around.
 
#253 ·
Hunting and gathering for electrical and insulation work.

Okay, after meeting with the city code enforcement / permit office as well as a licensed electrician friend of mine, I am now in the phase of collecting the goodies to get the job done. Once the hardware and supplies are in hand, we will move forward with the project, and it will be done in steps…

Step #1. Remove everything from the east wall and ceiling of the shop, meaning all of the shop equipment gets pushed to the southmost and west most corner of the shop, leaving enough room for me to work on the south wall. I will have to do some squeezing, and I may have to for a SHORT period store a couple of the large tools in the guest room. I will leave the common wall in place, and the incandescent fixture in place sadly, that means there will only be a single 100W replacement CFL to light my shop while this work takes place, but I digress…

Step #2. Strip east and south walls as close to the bare studs as possible without disturbing the overhead door tracks.

Step #3. Remove attic stairs, and associated framing. Re-frame for larger, heavier duty attic stairs to accomodate my gravitational pull safely. (You'd be terribly frightened if you saw how my attic stairs are attached to the house!)

Step #4. With Electrician friend, mount sub panel, gang boxes, run wires, nail blocks and install outlets for the circuits, have everything ready for inspector and final connection / energizing.

Step #5. Get sign off by inspector and energize sub panel, or fix any issues inspector finds.

Step #6. Install insulation and sheet rock. No texture, just tape it, mud it, prime and paint it bright white. This is a garage workshop after all

Step #7. Install light fixtures. This is as good of a time as any to replace the T12s with T8s… But I have 2.5 cases of T12 bulbs, so not gonna happen yet…

Step #8. Mount up east wall fixtures. Specifically dust collection, clamshell cabinets, and associated shelves.

Step #9. Move everything from west to east wall. Stripping west wall of the lumber rack, tool stacker, and clamp racks.

Step #10 Strip west wall to the bare studs. There will be no electrical service on this wall, so no problem here…

Step #11. Insulate, re-rock, tape, mud, and paint west wall.

Step #12. Reinstall shop fixtures on west wall, specifically lumber rack, and tool stacker. A rolling clamp rack is in progress so I will not want the current clamp rack reused.

At this point, everything that is left on the floor can get shoved into a cargo trailer for a week or so while I strip, dry, then epoxy coat the floor prior to moving everything back in to the shop and setting back up.
 
#254 ·
OPPS!! Stairs are supposed to be attached….I'll be right back!

That was close!

Seems I need help with my shop build. In between work on your shop…
How about stopping by my place and helping me get my basement shop in order? Lol.

Sounds like you have a solid action plan!
Remember A failure to plan, is…...A plan to fail!

Good luck with your shop rebuild.
 
#262 ·
A Craigslist mini gloat, and one of the pieces of equipment I wasn't planning on but...

The "wood" holiday decor that LOML loves so much falls apart after one or two seasons… And she wanted me to make better ones NOT made out of pressed cardboard… So I needed a scroll saw…

I tried to snatch up a Delta that looked good in the pics, but the owner never did respond to me, so I assume he sold it…

This morning, a quick check of CL showed an older Dremel 1671 2 speed saw, with a cast iron base, and cast (aluminum, but cast) table. It is good and dirty, but no real signs of wear. Just lots of storage crud, dust, etc… caked on to it… Well I picked it up for a measly $60.00, grabbed a couple of packs of Bosch blades, and brought it home, and tried it out.

First things first, it cuts great, when you put the blades in right (don't ask).

Not sure how the blower thing a ma jig works. Anyone that has one of these feel free to clue me in on that!

The plastics are a bit sun faded, but some Krylon and nice black is back on them, or at least getting there…

Anyway, here's the pics of it so far… The last pic is a good example of the nasty gunk I need to clean off of it…

Sewing machine feet Sewing machine Sewing Wood Household appliance accessory


Wood Gas Engineering Machine tool Machine


Sewing machine Sewing machine feet Motor vehicle Sewing Household appliance accessory


Table Wood Bumper Automotive exterior Gas
 

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#263 ·
A Craigslist mini gloat, and one of the pieces of equipment I wasn't planning on but...

The "wood" holiday decor that LOML loves so much falls apart after one or two seasons… And she wanted me to make better ones NOT made out of pressed cardboard… So I needed a scroll saw…

I tried to snatch up a Delta that looked good in the pics, but the owner never did respond to me, so I assume he sold it…

This morning, a quick check of CL showed an older Dremel 1671 2 speed saw, with a cast iron base, and cast (aluminum, but cast) table. It is good and dirty, but no real signs of wear. Just lots of storage crud, dust, etc… caked on to it… Well I picked it up for a measly $60.00, grabbed a couple of packs of Bosch blades, and brought it home, and tried it out.

First things first, it cuts great, when you put the blades in right (don't ask).

Not sure how the blower thing a ma jig works. Anyone that has one of these feel free to clue me in on that!

The plastics are a bit sun faded, but some Krylon and nice black is back on them, or at least getting there…

Anyway, here's the pics of it so far… The last pic is a good example of the nasty gunk I need to clean off of it…

Sewing machine feet Sewing machine Sewing Wood Household appliance accessory


Wood Gas Engineering Machine tool Machine


Sewing machine Sewing machine feet Motor vehicle Sewing Household appliance accessory


Table Wood Bumper Automotive exterior Gas
Great find!
 

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#271 ·
Uh oh... Where to put the scroll saw?

Okay I admit it, I didn't exactly think this one 100% through…

You see, I have a "Tool Stacker" of sorts, that is basically a pair of Rubbermaid heavy duty closet shelf standards, and a series of 18" brackets, these in turn hold up my bench top tools that are mounted to 3/4" plywood mount boards (18" X 24"))...


I have my Ridgid Sander, Ryobi Planer, Sunhill Jointer, and Ryobi Grinder / Wolverine jig set up on this rig, and it utilizes wall space quite well with one slight problem…

I have no room for expansion… I can't go up because, well I am 1" below the garage door in the open position, and I can't go down, as the only place down, is the floor…

Now what can I do to fix this? I get to get creative here and find storage for this thing. It can't live its life just out on my bench top… I need to find stowage here… But where?
 
#277 ·
Pnuematic improvements...

I have been dealing with some stupid air system problems. Specifically I had leaks at critical junctions, and they were getting worse, and worse, and worse… Half my airflow seemed to be seeping out of 2 of my couplers. And I had wanted to do a little expanding of the system…

So a trip to Harbor Freight got me a bunch of the quick coupler setups, a 50' 3/8" polyurethane air hose, and a package of paint strainer cones.

Some quality time was in order to get all the components set up, so far I have the following setup…

2HP 8 Gallon Harbor Freight Air Compressor. 6 SCFM @ 40 PSI. Output pipe wrapped with 3 turns teflon tape->
Milton I/M quick coupler-> HF I/M plug-> HF 50' 3/8" Polyurethane hose-> HF I/M Quick Coupler-> HF I/M plug-> HF Air regulator / filter-> HF Quick Connector-> Milton I/M plug-> Hitachi 50' 3/8" Polyurethane air hose-> Husky I/M Quick Connector-> air tool…

So far I have been able to run 100% leak free with the following.

Blue Point 3/8" air ratchet, Ingersoll Rand air hammer, Blue Point 1/4" die grinder (this sucks the compressor empty FAST), HF Earthquake impact wrench, HF framing nailer, HF stapler / nailer, HF pin nailer, HF finish nailer, Husky conventional spray gun (1.5 SCFM @ 30 PSI), and a huge variety of blowers, siphons, tire chucks and misc bits and pieces…

One of the additions I have made is a I/M 3 way tap with 3 HF I/M couplers, and 1 HF I/M plug with a machined brass tee that has been sitting in my toolbox for the last 15 or so years…

I could use a bigger compressor, but space considerations not to mention power usage are critical. I would love a horizontal compressor instead of a vertical with about the same specs as the Central Pnuematic #68127 air compressor. The big thing is, it needs to fit under my stand I have for my dust collector. I could get rid of the Thien rig, but I need to stay smallish in case I ever wind up out in a shed instead of my garage…

Anyone have any suggestions for horizontal 30 gallon ish 110V compressors with decent flow?
 
#282 ·
Workshop library lessons learned. Use more screws and bigger cleats...

Note to anyone wanting to use a French Cleat system to support anything with any reasonable amount of weight on it. Do NOT make 1.25" wide cleats that are only held on every other stud….

Just sayin'....

Now mine are 2" with 2 screws in every stud…. Woo Hoo!

And yes, I underbuilt this thing, not imagining I would ever have nearly as much weight on it as I ended up with, and yes I did something insanely stupid…

Somehow, with working one day out of my weekend, AND spending most of the day I did have off clothes shopping with my wife (it was next to Harbor Freight okay?) I actually managed to get more shop time in this weekend than I have managed in the past month… Of course the ceiling is still only half painted in the living room but that's for a different time…
 
#288 ·
Fixing a stupid mistake.

So yesterday, while I was changing the oil in my air compressor, I discovered the paint on the tank to my HF 2HP 8 gallon compressor was flaking off, all over, the handles, the brackets, the tank body itself, everywhere, now I don't really care about cosmetics, this is a Harbor Freight compressor after all, but I do want to prevent rust, so I HAD to do something…

Out came the sanders, knocking the flaking paint off, sanding it all smooth, meant that I had to remove certain components to gain access…

Well during the whole removal process I managed to forget the difference between right and left, and snapped my regulator body.

Now I could have gone back to Harbor Freight, gotten a $10.00 regulator, screwed it all back together and been good… But there are things about this compressor that have ticked me off since day one.

Like the stupid petcock valve that they use for the tank drain. It just doesn't work well… They used silicone sealant in the threads the seal the stupid thing, and an errant flap of silicone that is now in the tank tended to block the holes in the petcock at certain angles… So I managed to spend a few extra bucks, get some quality pieces, or at least better quality pieces and improve the function of my compressor…

I started by stripping the offending pieces off, sanding off any flaking, loose paint, or potentially loose paint, masking everything else off, priming and painting the tank using Duplicolor Universal Black Gloss. Now that it has cured in the 100 degree heat we have today, it is hard to tell it's not OEM… I don't care that i was in a hurry and had runs in the paint. It's a HF compressor. Anyone will think that's OEM!

Next I went about taking that dumb petcock valve out, cleaning the silicone out of the tank, and replacing it with a brass street elbow, treated with teflon tape, over to a 3" nipple, again teflon tape at both ends, and I ended up at a heavy duty brass ball valve to act as a dump valve. Sort of a miniature version of what we used in the auto repair world.


Next I went about installing a Husky 200 PSI 1/4" regulator. The body is much smaller than the HF unit, but the build quality seems to be much higher. Ratings on this unit seem much higher too… The only drawback is the orientation for the flow direction puts the gauge on the wrong side of the tank, or it puts the knob pointing down the tank where I can't access it. I had to settle for pointing the gauge up, and the knob next to the OEM tank pressure switch / guague. It works pretty well there, I can fairly easily read both gauges when I need to. Some more teflon tape, a brass close nipple, a heavy duty ball valve, more teflon tape, and a Milton Quick connector complete the entire assembly.




Once I got it all together, I fired it up, ran it up to full pressure, and then regulated out to 90 PSI, which will go next down my HF Polyurethane hose to a second regulator with a filter / water separator, then on to my Hitachi Poly hose and to the tool in question.

The whole point for me for this weekend was to get some spraying done in the living room. I ended up trying to do the right thing by my compressor and OCD kicked in and here I am with diddly squat done projects wise. My wallet is around $50.00 lighter for a compressor that cost me about $80.00 new including the 2 year warranty, which putting that kind of funds into that sort of compressor seems dumb, but then again, this thing works VERY well now, and hey, if this sucker dies, I am stripping these good parts out of it and keeping them!
 
#289 ·
Some very useful improvements and you will now having spent time stripping and tinkering will have a better working knowledge of this particular machine.

Perhaps the house didn't get the projects sorted out but at least the compressor got a make over
 
#294 ·
Or in this case deconstruction to make way...

The freezer is coming, the freezer is coming! Of course along with it is going to be the subpanel, circuits, and insulated garage walls I have been wanting for the last few years. This means that for me, I have to get busy.

I have a 9.5' chunk of wall, a 36" wide freezer, and a presently 8' long Simpson Strong Tie 2×4 and plywood workbench that holds my mortiser, sliding miter saw, and LOTS of misc garage storage. I MUST make a change to this layout. NOW. I am not particularly fond off this layout, and the bench length won't quite cut it. Not to mention the 24" table depth required a cobbled together extension for my miter saw to clear the rails. So it's not only shortening time, but also serious rethink time for the layout….

The challenges:

#1. This bench SHOULD match the width of the workshop library. I sized and installed the Library cabinet with the freezer location and size in mind.
#2. This bench SHOULD be a minimum of 30" deep to allow clearance of the SCMS rails. However the space in the shop it sits on is 24" deep and then has a lip that drops 3.25" and proceeds to slope downhill. The front legs will have to be 3" longer or so, AND have some sort of heavy duty leveller.
#3. This bench MUST be lower than the bottom of the library cabinet. FWIW, the Library Cabinet bottom is at 58.5" off the elevated part of the floor, again the floor slopes. but the library is levelled, so levellers required on the back legs too.
#4. This bench must provide organized storage, and workspace for my Chicago Electric 12" SCMS, Central Machinery Mortising Machine and bits, as well as provide effective, or at least as effective as can be expected dust collection for the SCMS.
#5. This bench must provide organized storage replacement for 4 large Rubbermaid Totes worth of stuff. This stuff includes, temporarily until a proper workstation is built, storage for all of my table saw, and router bits, blades, jigs, and accessories, painting, drywall, plumbing and other home repair misc tools and supplies that do not fit in my Craftsman Roll around tool cart.

One of these totes is nearly FULL of 16 or 14 ga outdoor extension cords and is primarily used for outdoor lighting. It can probably be stowed in the attic along with the inflatable reindeer…

Well after spending a bit of quality time with "Trimble" Sketchup last night (not thrilled about that but oh well…) I decided it was time to start the tear out…

Step #1. Disconnect the DC ducting from the existing dust hood.
Step #2. Put the B&D miter saw stand back up by the shop overhead door.
Step #3. Move the SCMS to the B&D miter saw stand, secure it down.
Step #4. Remember why I retired the B&D stand in the first place…
Step #5. Unbolt mortiser from bench, set mortiser and accessories aside for safe keeping.
Step #6. Remove original dust hood and disassemble, placing what stock is recycleable back in the lumber racks.
Step #7. Realize I forgot to turn the A/C or fan on and it's over 100 deg F. Utter words small children should not hear, go inside for a beer and hang it up for the night…

More to come on this one, but needless to say, these builds are going to take me a while. I am weaseling them in between working on the house in general. This one has GOT to take priority over the drum sander though as I need to make room for that freezer in order to get my sub panel. A little deal LOML and I ironed out… While I am on this build, I am also planning on building the mobile base cabinet for my drill press and drilling accessories. I have been wanting to hold out for the hole saw set I have been wanting, but that is a few more bucks than I want to spend. I have the case size down now so I am good for the cabinet build. I just wanted to insure I had enough space in the drawers to fit the cases I want… I have a good selection of bits and accessories that I need to store, and my current storage shelf is just overrun.

I am more than slightly tempted to put the mortiser back, make all my cuts, and rig this whole thing using M&T joinery just for the practice, but I dread the idea of cutting tenons on over 5 foot long stock!
 
#295 ·
If you need to take a break from all your tasks & projects, you are welcome to come by my place for a few cold beers. Of course, I do need help setting up my shop. Would you like a beer? There are no kids here so foul language is not a problem. Would you like another beer?

Good luck with the sub panel & reorganization. However, we need pictures of the progress, if possible.
 
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