dbhost's Workshop

Welcome to my budget shop tour! The name brand snobs won’t like my equipment, and my space is less than ideal, but every single item in my shop earns its keep. Nearly everything was bought used, on sale, with a gift card, or with some coupon. For those of you wanting to build up a hobby woodworking shop, I encourage you to ignore the brand snobs. Do your careful shopping and fill out your shop the best way you can afford to. Sure if you are awash in money, you can sink $100K or more into outfitting a full on shop, but that isn’t most of us… And honestly you are robbing yourself of the pleasure of hunting down the greatest bargains. So read on, and hopefully you will get some inspiration for your own shop…

I am constantly refining and updating my shop, and this page. So keep checking back to see what my latest updates are!

Shop type: 2 car attached garage, 18’ wide x 20’ deep, with a 5’ 6” wide by 2’ 6” deep niche in the back corner. This gives me a grand total of 373.75 square feet of space. Not the smallest here, but far from the largest…

Challenges. My shop is a shared space featuring storage for bicycles, a New Braunfels Smoker Bandera Smoker (6’ tall x 6’ wide x 2.5’ deep), yard tools and equipment. I also use this space to stage building materials for my many home improvement projects, And to top it off, LOML thinks that her garden stuff needs to be in here too! So I am always on the prowl for space saving, and organization ideas.

Flooring: Flooring is poured / smoothed concrete, a 24” deep shelf along the back wall, then 2” drop, followed by a slope of 3” over the remaining 18’ run. The slope becomes very noticeable in the first 6’ in from the overhead doors. A single Craftsman anti fatigue floor mat is currently in the shop sort of spread out by the lathe. I am presently considering options to level up the floor, at the very least along where the major tools sit. But for now I live on a slope…

Lighting: 6 Lithonia “Shop Light” 4’ T12 2 bulb fixtures in surface mount configuration arranged into 2 columns of 3 fixtures arranged 4’ in from the walls, center row mounted right at 10’ from garage doors. The fixtures themselves were inexpensive. $9.99 each, it was running the power for them that cost the $$... I am using Phillips Daylight White bulbs in these fixtures to eliminate any color problems as well as improve available light. I had considered using T8 fixtures, but I already had 2 of the T12 fixtures, and 2 cases of bulbs in the garage already, no need to change over yet… When T12 bulbs get too expensive to replace, or If I just want the cool factor, and sales appeal to the car guy crowd if and when I try to sell this house, I could swap over to the Diamond Plate aluminum T-8 fixtures pretty easily…

Dust Collection: Central Machinery #97869 2HP Dust collector fitted with a Wynn 35A cartridge filter. Plumbing is 4” S&D (Yeah I know, but 6” is out of my price range for now). Blast gates are Lee Valley Self Cleaning models. The DC is sitting on a basic 2×4 and plywood stand with stamped steel corner braces. This brings the DC up to the point where there is FAR less hose and fewer bends to get to the separator, and gives space for the air compressor. The entire system is plumbed with as few bends as possible, and is sealed with a mess of GE Clear Silicone Adhesive Caulk.

-Shop built Thien Cyclone pre separator based on a plastic 55 gallon drum. This is the second revision of this separator, you may tell by the HVAC tape on the lid, the original 4” inlet was in the lid. I converted it to a side inlet 5” to HUGELY improve my air flow. it works. You can see I also have it connected up to the overhead, and down wall DC drops…

-Ridgid 12 gallon wet / dry vac plumbed to a Thien Baffle equipped trash can separator. The vac is also fitted with a Ridgid HEPA rated filter. While this for the longest time was my primary dust collection rig, the remaining functions of the shop vac system is for attachment to handheld tools such as sanders, biscuit joiner, and routers, and to extract as much dust as possible from the sliding miter saw.

- Shop built dust collection hoods and fittings made from things like plywood, kitty litter tubs, duct tape, and 4” Sewer and drain thin wall PVC pipe.

My shop made floor sweep.

My shop made kitty litter tub router table downdraft box.

- Grizzly G0572 hanging air filter with remote. This is mounted to a pair of 36” mounting cleats made from 2×4 cut offs from my shop. This was picked up on sale and is well worth the $$ paid for it. My only complaint with this air filter is that Grizzly does not offer a washable replacement filter for it. I had to order those from Penn State Industries. (Sorry Grizzly, you lost out on a potential sale!)

Saws:- Ryobi BT3100-1 fitted with the wide table kit (extended rails), wide table legs, shop built mobile base (needs a redesign to work with the wide table), router accessory, Shark Guard, SG-K1 model with the 4” dust port, custom belly pan with 4” port. Freud Diablo blades. Ripping, General Purpose, and Crosscutting.
Oshlun SDS-0630 6 inch Dado. The wide table top needs to be redone, but I will do that with a build of a full on table saw workstation. I bought the basic saw sans blades, wide table legs and wide table top from a fellow member of BT3Central. He had upgraded to a Grizzly G1023SL and needed the room. He gave me a fair deal, but this saw honestly had seen a LOT of use, and had been exposed to high heat in a shop fire (did not impact the main saw, but the fences were on the wall that burned). It has been restored, mostly. The handwheel has some residual soot staining that I simply can NOT get off of it. If I can find one, a cast metal handwheel and knob from an early BT3000 would be a GREAT replacement for this!

- Chicago Electric #98194 12” Sliding Compound Miter Saw with Laser Guide. I have found this machine so far to be very accurate. Not quite a Festool Kapex, in MANY ways. But it cuts exactly where I want the cut to be, and it’s smooth once you replace the OEM junk blade. Mine is running a Freud Diablo D1280XH 12” 80T fine finish crosscutting blade. The OEM dust bag is useless, and you can see in this photo below (in the drilling section) that it is presently on a Black and Decker portable miter saw stand. Not an ideal situation. I am presently building a proper miter station for it.

- Central Machinery #32208 14” band saw with riser block, Olson Cool Blocks (SKU # CB50050BL – Imported 14 in.) , a Grizzly GO555 tension release mechanism, a Carter Cobra Coil tension spring, Craftsman band saw fence, a 4” dust collection port upgrade with added 2.5” dust port on the upper blade guide. A Carter Wheel brush, a selection of Timberwolf blades, A Rockler snake arm light, and urethane tires are on the upgrade agenda, I have it mounted up on a Central Machinery #95288 universal mobile base which keeps it able to be moved around the shop on the rare occasion it needs to be moved. This in turn keeps me from getting a hernia…
The Grizzly tension release set to the released position.

The Grizzly tension release set to the set position.

You can follow my thought process, or lack thereof on the band saw upgrades in my blog series Hot Rodding A Harbor Freight Bandsaw . This saw works amazingly well, especially considering how inexpensive it was… Now having said that, if I would have been able and willing to wait another 2 years from the time I bought this, to the time Grizzly introduced the Polar Bear series models, I would have bought a Grizzly G0555P. I have effectively upgraded the HF to the Grizzly specs anyway…

- Dremel Model #1671 2 speed scroll saw. This was a dirt cheap Craigslist find, on a very well made machine. Been enjoying this immensely. Using Bosch blades. Need to get plain end blade holders for it though so I can get through smaller openings to do internal work in tight areas.

- Old Skil 14 amp circ saw. (Circa 1993). Assortment of blades including plywood blades, Hardi blades etc… I have this all housed in a heavy ballistics nylon tool bag for organizational sanity purposes… Works so well no need to upgrade.I have an 8 foot piece of 2.5” x 2.5” aluminum angle that I use for a cutting guide. The front of the shoe of the saw is marked where the kerf will be. I am using Irwin blades and so far getting good results.

- Ryobi variable speed reciprocating saw with an assortment of the decent BiMetal blades from Milwaukee.

- Old cheap Skil jig saw with Bosch blades. A truly awful jig saw, but with some decent blades, it is usable for very rough cuts that either just don’t matter, or will get trimmed down to final dimension…

Routers- 2 @ Hitachi KM12VC routers, 1 fixed base in the router wing on the table saw.

- Wide assortment of router bits and accessories including 1/2” and 1/4” shank bits in sets, and a few specialty profile bits… The big box of bits is the 66 piece set from MLCS, and is the 1/2” shank set. I am pleased as punch with this set.

The MLCS bits I own all have worked way better than my expectations, and MLCS has been a stand up company with top notch customer service. They are highly recommended here!

Drilling: – Northern Tool 16 speed floor model drill press. Basically the same thing as the Central Machinery #43378 but with Burgundy and black paint. This was originally fitted with a shop built table with walnut trim, Rockler DP accessory tray, and Rockler Drill Press Magnetic Retractable Chuck Key Holde. The DP is about to be mounted to a Harbor Freight mobile base, which in turn has stretchers attached for mounting the drill press. This elevated the DP approximately 3”, and increased the footprint and stability of this tool making it a dream to use. A storage project I am working on is a removable base cabinet that clamps to the mobile base using draw hasps. This will provide storage for my handheld power drills, and all of my drilling accessories except for some larger jigs.

- Wall mounted drill press accessory tray that holds all of my drill press bits and pieces that do not have their own case. I also have storage for my drilling jigs, and a shelf for my drilling accessories that have their own cases on this same piece of wall, which is the sliver between the garage doors… This is being replaced by the mobile base cabinet mentioned above.

- Craftsman 3/8” VSR corded drill with case. Not sure of the model. I got this after I burned up an old B&D my dad gave me. I’ve probably had it for 20 years now.

- “Ryobi 3/8 VSR clutch driver drill with cord. I had the Craftsman dedicated to a Vermont American drill press jig for the longest time. I got the Ryobi because it didn’t overdrive screws. Love this drill. Not as powerful as the Craftsman, but I haven’t blown out any screws with it yet either…

- Not exactly drilling, but yes, drilling, just square holes… I am talking about my Central Machinery #35570 Top Mortiser. I can’t say too much about it at this point, it is a pretty solid basic machine. Nothing too fancy, but it will do what I want. I hope. I got it cheap… (I traded a Delta CMS I got for free and fixed up for it. I was planning on selling the CMS for $75.00, I think I got a good deal…). This will be mounted on that new miter saw cabinet. I have already built a chisel / key / accessory holder to mount to the cabinet for the loose parts for this.

My effectively free and NIB when I got it Central Machinery mortising machine.

Now this mortiser has a HUGE flaw from the factory, like most, the hold down clamp stinks. However the HF mortiser is honestly worse than others as the clamp tends to interfere with the operation of the chisel. My solution is to simply remove the clamp, and replace the table with a plywood table with T tracks to allow usage of drill press style hold down clamps. I can also straddle the work piece with a U shaped wooden clamping caul attached to the T bolts and secure the work piece that way. It works great, and was a nice quick fix for a stupid design choice. If at all possible, shimming the workpiece goes a LONG way to getting the clamp happy… Just wish HF had designed it better…

Turning: – Central Machinery #34706 lathe with shop built tool shelf and ballast box / shelf. Wood River Chuck, Benjamins Best lathe tools. The shop built tool shelf has holes that SNUGLY hold the tools without cases like the knockout bar, drill chuck, faceplate, spanners, etc…

Air System: – My original compressor is a Central Pnuematic 40400 2HP 8 gallon oil lubricated air compressor (Also known as the #95386). Not a big fancy one like I would have liked, but it provided sufficient air flow for my needs, just barely, until I started spraying, and is conservative with the space usage in a small shop which is important to me. I snagged this on sale for $79.99, threw the 20% off coupon at it, and then bought the extended service warranty. I don’t recall the exact model, but this compressor is nothing more than a Campbell Hausfield with a black paint job instead of blue. Part for part it is exactly the same as the oil lubed CH that I was looking at at Home Depot for twice the price…

- Central Pnuematic #68127 2HP 29 gallon belt drive air compressor. was purchased, and installed after getting frustrated with my little 8 gallon job running almost all the time when trying to spray finishes using the lowest flow guns I could find. I have not only been able to spray well, but I am actually able to go with HVLP, and I don’t have to listen to the compressor cycle all the time. Unlike a LOT of Harbor Freight tools, I have seen no other compressor on the market that even vaguely resembles it. This thing actually looks like it was truly designed and spec’d in for Harbor Freight. And they did a nice job of it. The component selection is top notch. MUCH better than the Husky, Powermate, or Craftsman units I was considering, not as nice as an Ingersoll Rand I was drooling over, but then again, the IR was out of my price range. The space it is living in now is temporary, but long term, this rig will live in a dedicated compartment in the back of the miter saw / mortiser cabinet. The idea is to keep it accessible, but out of the way, while not interfering with the rest of the shop.

- “50 foot Hitachi 3/8 Urethane hose. Great hose, very light and flexible, hardly notice it’s there. Greatly reduces operator fatigue. I am looking for a self retracting winder that will work with this hose. Suggestions welcome! I may have to settle for a manual winder like the Grizzly… You may notice the pictures I have posted show the compressor with a red rubber Goodyear 1/2” air hose. I gave that hose to my brother in law (he has a body shop) as I HATED untangling it, and dragging it around the shop. I do NOT recommend those hoses. Yes they are durable, and work well, but they are also really heavy, and tangle easily…

- Central Pnuematic #66872 16 gauge brad nailer which is my least used nailer. I ran maybe 10 nails through it before it spit the driver out. Took it apart and found that they did not install a wrist pin in the piston, they just crimped the skirt down. Harbor Freight took it back on warranty no problem. But this was a STUPID, CHEAP choice in production, not a mistake or error. HF really ought to lean on their producer some over stuff like this… I have yet to plug in the replacement nailer as I use it so infrequently. On the plus side, I got the 2 year warranty with it, so I am covered for a while…

- Central Pneumatic #98917 28 degree framing nailer which I bought mostly to work on framing errors in my attic (stuff I found that should NEVER have gone through inspection, that I found when working my insulation) building things like fences, decks, and sheds. Simply put, I am too old to want to swing a hammer all day, this will make my work easier, and faster… Already put it through its paces, and really like how it works. I got this one on sale for $49.99, and applied the 20 percent off coupon on this thing…

- Central Pneumatic 23 gauge pin nailer which was bought on sale, and had the coupon on top of that. It was cheap, it works great, and has run through several boxes of pins already. Probably my most used pnuematic tool.

- Central Pneumatic #91011 32 Oz. Automotive/Industrial Air Paint Spray Gun With Internal Mix Nozzle. It’s a cheapo, very basic gun, but once dialed in it shoots nice, and is very easy to clean.

- Central Pneumatic #47016 20 Oz. HVLP Gravity Feed Spray Gun fitted with the aluminum paint cup. This thing shoots thinned laqcuer and poly like nobodies business, doesn’t consume air like you think it would, leaves a great finish, and to top it off, is cheap enough if I break it or lose it, who cares?

- Husky Pro HDS50099AV Multipurpose Siphon Feed or Pressure Feed Spray Gun This gun was made by Campbell Hausfield. It’s a nice, well machined, pretty gun that came in a great blow molded case making it easy to store and look at. It was more than twice the price of, is harder to clean, and doesn’t spray any better than my HF guns, so it tends to stay on the shelf. This gun runs the snot out of my 8 gallon compressor. Not a fault of the gun, the compressor is just barely within the usability matrix for this gun. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a joy to use it, nice and smooth trigger, good balance, but I am almost afraid to hurt the thing where with the HF guns, who cares?

Bench Tools: I have also build a “Tool Stacker” basically a system based on Rubbermaid closet standards, and brackets, used as a rack, and 3/4” plywood mount boards to store the tools in the rack, and allow for quick, and easy clamping to my benchtop to allow them to be put to use QUICKLY.

In that stacker I have…

- Ryobi 8” Bench Grinder model BGH-827#. I fooled with some 6 inch models at first, but decided I wanted an 8 inch grinder, the BGH-827 was on sale, and my local Home Depot accepted the Harbor Freight 20 percent off any one item coupon. The grinder also sports Norton 60 and 100 grit white aluminum oxide grinding wheels. The Norton wheels were WELL out of balance when I got them, and after doing some online research I found that the plastic bushings they use to neck the thing down to various grinder shaft sizes tends to put the entire wheel out of round and out of balance, to correct this I got some solid machine bushings from McMaster Carr, and a Geiger’s Dressing and Truing solution grinding wheel truer gizmo. The combination of these has my grinder running silky smooth. After everything I have invested in this grinder, I am thinking I should have gotten the Grizzly Tormek knock off… I love this grinder setup mind you, but BOY it sure added up…

- Ridgid EB4424 Oscillating belt / spindle sander. Sale again… Father’s day deal at Home Depot in 2008 I think it was. A LOT of folks love these things, and for good reason! They do exactly what they are supposed to do!

- “Ryobi AP1301 13 planer. A great little planer for the money. Knife changes are easy…. Very little snipe when used right. This one was a valentine’s day gift from my lovely bride on our first married valentines day. I cherish this tool!

- Sunhill Machinery SM-150B 6” Bench top Jointer. This appears to be discontinued now. Too bad, this is a nice little benchtop unit. A great piece of gear for a small shop! This same jointer was also sold by Sears with the Craftsman name, and by Wilton, all of them appear to be discontinued, which leads me to believe that Geetech is no longer making them.
(See pic on gallery with the band saw, the tool stacker and bench tools are right behind the band saw)

Hand held power tools: – Ryobi Corner Cat detail sander#, and quarter sheet sander# fitted with dust collection adapters that go to the shop vac.

- Skil Random orbit sander fitted with dust collection adapter to the shop vac.

- Ryobi Biscuit Joiner#.

- Ryobi “6 buffer#.

Clamping: – Shop built clamp rack with a dozen each 6, 12, 24, and 36 inch bar clamps (mostly HF, but a few Jorgensons), plus spring clamps, corner clamps, cargo straps with shop built corners, and a few, but not enough hand screws. All those clamps. On sale…

Hand Tools -While I don’t have the best hand tool selection, I am starting to get a decent set built up. Among the listing are Groz bench planes in #4, #5, #6, and #7 sizes, not to mention the standard block plane. I originally had big box Stanleys and got rid of those things. The Groz planes I could tune and make useful, the Stanleys aren’t worth using as paper weights… For marking knives I use an old Ace Hardware retractable utility knife, my mortise depth guage is shop built and down right funky. Combination squares, and engineers squares are from Johnson, and are the all metail versions. My chisels are Stanley Fat Max marked made in England, not China like the current ones are… Love em, but they could be better.

Comfort: Heating and cooling in the coastal Texas environment is a bit tricky. For heat, a standard 1600 watt oil filled electric radiator keeps the shop in the 70s on the rare occasions that the overnight lows dip below freezing. Cooling is a Royal Sovereign 14K BTU portable A/C unit, ducted through the wall between the garage doors with 5” dryer vent like ports, and then the unit’s hose mount attached via LOTS of aluminum HVAC tape.. I have the ceiling packed with R30 (code for my area) and the rollup doors packed with 2 layers of R5 each radiant barrier / foil backed foam insulation for an R value of R10 plus radiant barrier. I have also sealed the doors with garage door weather striping from Home Depot. These improvements have already netted a very positive result. My normal daytime highs lately have been in the mid to upper 90s, and my shop temps haven’t gone over 82 degrees yet, typically hovering around 78 degrees. And that is without the A/C going. My next steps are packing the walls with R19 when I do the wiring, and redo the sheet rock. An AtticFoil barrier is being installed over the whole house, including the shop, I should eliminate a LOT of heat gain with that too! A standard 20” box fan is in the mix of things, not so much to heat up or cool down, as it is to mix the air up so that the air 15’ away from the A/C or heater can get mixed with the air that is heated or cooled. It’s been reasonably effective, especially since the single heat / cooling source doesn’t move air completely around the shop…

The end result of all of the heating / cooling, and insulation work that has gone on in here has been that my workshop stays somewhat comfortable. In the summer when it is 90 plus degrees outside, with 90% plus humidity, I can get the shop down to the mid 70s in less than an hour. Likewise I was able to bring the shop up to temp, from overnight lows of 26 deg F, and was able to maintain 64 deg F in the shop with the radiator on the 600w (low) setting. The reason for the heater overnight is the water softener. Here in TX we rarely insulate our pipes, and the water softener is in the garage, I am concerned with burst pipes… Hasn’t happened to me, but has to a neighbor…

Storage.
-A 6’ x18” deep plywood shelf was mounted to the top of one of my clamshell cabinets which allows the space just below the ceiling to be used for my hand held power tools and their accessories excluding the routers. (for now). (The handheld saws, and sanders will be moved to the workbench when the lower shelf is finished, the routers will go on this wall shelf).All of my handheld stuff that did not come with a case or a bag, got a bag of its own. I used inexpensive tool bags from Lowes and Harbor Freight I will soon be moving the second clamshell cabinet closer to the first, and I will span both of them with a total 8’ wide by 18” deep shelf acting as a sort of bridge between the two giving me more upper storage space, and a way to connect the two cabs so that I can squeeze some shelves of consumables between the two cabs.

-The lumber rack is Closet Maid heavy duty shelving standards and 20” brackets that were on clearance from Lowes. I got 4 6’ standards, and 12 20” brackets for $24.00. Can’t beat that! So far they have been working great. The standards are attached to the studs in the garage with #10×2.5” coated deck screws.

-Not woodworking related exactly, but shop storage related to keep the lawn and garden stuff out of the way of the rest of the shop, my smaller power lawn tools are held by some pretty heavy duty Rubbermaid power equipment hangers. They are more or less overglorified rubberized heavy duty wall hooks, with special arrangements to hold the edger / weed eater by their respective motors, and a large hook underneath, which hold my electric hedge trimmer, and electric chain saw. A 36” wide “broom handle tool holder currently holds things like rakes, shovels and brooms. I am planning on replacing it with something along the lines of the Plano 9123 Corner Storage Rack to allow me to compress yard tool storage into an even smaller footprint, thereby creating more usable space for woodworking…

- I have 2 of the large black plastic storage shelving units from Lowes, 18” deep x 48” wide. They replaced 5 much smaller Plano units. I found the Plano ones couldn’t handle a decent load, and they took up more storage space than they offered. So out they went. I am not 100% thrilled with these either. The shelves tend to flex under a heavy load. I am seriously considering building shelving out of 2×4s and plywood to get the sort of shelves I want… Honestly, the bulk of what is on those shelves needs to go into a garden shed, and one of the features I want to build in to a garden shed is SHELVING…

-Recently completed clamshell cabinets. They are based on Wood Magazine’s Shop In A Box clamshell cabinet design. The first one was modified so that it serves to house my 39 drawer Stack on multi drawer small parts bins, Everything that can be, is hung, or stashed in these cabs. Measuring, marking, cutting, etc… The photo is the one in the turning section here. The cab on the right will be moving left when I run power and insulate the shop this fall.

Workbenches: Every woodworking shop needs a workbench. Right now I have 2, both are in need of work though. Bench #1 has been an evolving piece of equipment as my needs have changed over the years. It is a very basic, 2×4 and plywood construction, joinery courtesy of Simpson Strong Tie connectors. Dimensions are 24” deep x 8’ long, x 36” high. This bench was originally designed and used for auto and home repair tasks, and was fitted with an old Ace Hardware bench grinder, and 6” machinists vise. Those have both been replaced with newer, more appropriate for woodworking alternatives. The grinder was replaced with a Black Friday special Ryobi 6” grinder, and the vise, which can be swapped out via wing nuts, is off of the bench now. A Wilton 7” woodworking vise is fitted to the rail. No wooden jaws have been fitted to it, yet… As you can see from the photo, it is pretty much always a mess… This bench will be shortened to 6’ in length, and the 2 rear legs will be replaced with 84” tall legs to allow for moving the peg board to the bench, and adding a shelf to the bench top.

An old pic, but a good one to show the bench…

A current pic of the layout of the peg board over the work bench. The bench top is rarely that clean…

Bench #2 is a modified version of the design featured in the Fine Woodworking Get Started in Woodworking Season 2 video and magazine…
The top is 2 layer lamination of 3/4” Birch ply, the base is cedar. I have finished it with BLO, and wax. Vise is a Central Forge 9” Quick Release model from Harbor Freight. My design changes from the FWW design are a longer top surface, 6’ instead of 5’ 2”, and recessing the lower shelf and mounting it on cleats instead of cutting slots and mounting the shelf to the tops of the lower spreaders. I just feel the flush mount buys me that little extra bit of space that otherwise would be wasted. Not to mention it looks better… All I have left to do on this bench is the lower shelf. I am already putting it to fairly heavy use and am not certain the lower shelf will actually ever end up on here… I have been somewhat disappointed with the mass of the base, or more specifically the lack of mass of the base. Actually the whole thing rather drives me nuts. I have to constantly tighten up the bolts to keep the base tight, and even at that, it just wants to walk around on me. I like the dimension of the base though. I am considering ripping, and gluing up some select SYP 2×10 stock to create a 72×30x3” bench top, as well as 4×4s for the base. The lower shelf on the new one will be similar to the top, but 1.5” thick instead of 3”. And joinery will likely be mortise and tenon.

Upcoming improvements to the shop that are not listed above are…
- 60 amp sub panel run to the garage, dedicated circuit to the Table saw, a dedicated circuit to the dust collection, and the remainder going to everything else…. Lighting will stay on the current 20 amp circuit. Addition of 2 more 4 foot lighting fixtures, and a few magnetic task lights will help finish up the electrical.
- Insulation in the walls.
- Storage shed out back to house lawn, garden, BBQ stuff, and bicycles.

Sorry I went so long, but if you see me elsehwere, you will notice I tend to be a bit long winded. I hope you enjoyed seeing my shop. And for those of you working on a lower budget, if you shop on deep sale, and used like I did, you can put together a very well equipped shop for not much more than some guys have in their table saws… My shop is proof!

I’ve said it here, and many other places before, Ignore the brand name snobs, unless you plan on reselling your stuff while you are still alive, or make your living doing woodworking 8+ hours a day (neither description fits me), aim for best bang for the buck and you can end up with a pretty nice shop for not a horrid amount of cash. (Still not dirt cheap, I could have gone cheaper, but would have ended up with a far less functional shop).

And for what it’s worth, anyone that wishes to donate to my shop fund is free to do so... :-D . I am only partially kidding there…

Part 1 of my video shop tour.

Part 2 of my video shop tour.

-- Manufacturer of fine quality sawdust since 1984. Comments and advice on my shop welcome. Check it out at http://lumberjocks.com/dbhost/workshop. Gladly accepting shop build donations!