| Workshop by Tim Pursell | posted 49 days ago | 204 reads | 2 times favorited | 11 comments | ![]() |
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My humble shop is a rebuilt 20’s era brick garage. When we bought the place in ‘91 the roof was sagging, the floor had sunk, cracked & spalted badly and someone befor me had cobbled together the original two doors into one crazy monster that took 8 springs and a large chunk of concrete as a counterweight to raise. SCARRY.
Due to a small lot & zoning restrictions I needed to upgrage the building without replacing it. I took the roof structure off and hauled out the old floor. I then added 12’ to the back, 10” to the walls (so I could have a 9’ ceiling inside) & a second floor. The floor was repoured adding a grid of heating pipe. The 2×12 joists for the second floor have 11” of fiberglass & the brick walls were covered with 2” foam & drywall. A donated boiler & new insulated doors went in. I had an electrician add a new 200 amp pannel just for the shop. I added phone lines & a gas line from the house.
The 12’ addition is where all my auto machanic tools are stored along with the usuall yard stuff & bikes. Upstairs is 1/2 wood storage, the rest is Christmas dec’s, out of season yard stuff, etc.. The woodshop is 18’x16’. Tight on a good day, really tight 1/2 way thru a sizeable project, You can see most of my “toys” in the photos but not all. An old 4” jointer & my scroll saw are stuffed in the back room & an old lathe is upstairs, waiting a need. 7 routers are stored in the cabinets, smaller clamps in some of the drawers. One neat thing is that every thing on the floor is on wheels and evey cabinet & the clamp racks on the walls are hung on a bevel cut 1×4 mounted to the wall. Nothing is permantly mounted. When it comes time to move the shop, everthing is in a “shipping container”. My only complaint is a common one. I need more space!! I spend too much time rearanging things to access one tool.
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11 comments so far
GaryK
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8183 posts in 379 days
posted 49 days ago
Great looking shop! Looks very well organized.
-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.
ChicoWoodnut
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380 posts in 206 days
posted 49 days ago
Looking good Tim. Seems like there might be enough room upstairs to do something with. Finishing or assembly?
-- Scott - Chico California http://chicowoodnut.home.comcast.net
tenontim
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620 posts in 135 days
posted 49 days ago
Nice upgrade to an old garage. Looks like you’re making good use of the space that you have. You’re right, there’s never enough space. I didn’t want to do it, but I think I’m going to have to put some more things on wheels. Seems I’m always sliding something out of the way to make room for the larger projects. Thanks for the post.
-- Tim -- http://tmuli.com
runngt
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105 posts in 130 days
posted 49 days ago
looks like a place I could call home myself! great shop.
runngt
-- It seem's I just make scrap wood and saw dust most of the time !
Karson
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11555 posts in 791 days
posted 49 days ago
Tim Looks great.
I notice that you have a random orbital table sander. I’ve got one in a box that I’ve never taken out.
How does it work. I’d like to get mine up and running some day. I thought it might be useful leveling up legs on a table and chairs.
-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com
sandhill
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226 posts in 315 days
posted 49 days ago
Your to organized Tim! Nice lay out.
-- Just another day in paradise.
Tim Pursell
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168 posts in 173 days
posted 49 days ago
Thanks all!
Scott, if you could see the upstairs you would be amazed at how little space is left to walk, let alone work. Right now there is 700-800 bd ft of lumber, 14 large Rubbermaid tubs of Christmas dec’s, extra parts for the boat, a snowblower. & stacks of ”stuff” Plus the headroom makes me crouch, he village has a height restriction on “out buildings” & I’m 1/4” over as it is! GRRRR.
Karson, The big ol ROS sees quite a bit of use, especially when I’m doing one of my mini production runs. If the piece to be sanded is the right size it’s alot faster & easier to plop it on the sander than to use the hand held sanders. The fence also makes it easy to sand edges 90 to the face. I’ve even built a few auxillary jigs to sand the bevels on some of the lamp shades I make. It’s got hook & loop discs so it’s a breeze to switch grits. I’d give it four stars.
Times I’ve had the drum sander, the random orbit table & 2 hand held ros all set up in a line around the shop to get some parts ready for finish! Then there is the osolating drum sander in the corner , a 12” disc sander & a 1” belt sander plus lots of sanding blocks for that final hand touch—-God, I hate sanding.
My hands ache just thinking about it! LOL
-- http://www.grandprairiewoodworks.com
trifern
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1924 posts in 158 days
posted 49 days ago
Very nice looking workshop. I could take some timber off your hands if you really need some more space. But then again, I don’t know where I would put it. Thank you for sharing.
-- Depend on the rabbit's foot if you will, but remember it didn't work for the rabbit.
Scott Bryan
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7813 posts in 213 days
posted 49 days ago
Tim,
You have a nice shop in which to work. It looks well organized and you have a nice set of tools to play with. I like the mobile table saw station. It gives you some needed storage, mobility and a large surface with outfeed support for your table saw.
Thanks for sharing and I really enjoyed visiting with you.
-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.
ChicoWoodnut
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380 posts in 206 days
posted 49 days ago
Rats,
Sounds like my attic. Christmas decorations, baby clothes, grama’s dishes . . .
Stuff goes up there and disappears LOL
-- Scott - Chico California http://chicowoodnut.home.comcast.net
bobdurnell
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144 posts in 288 days
posted 48 days ago
Great shop, I especially like the use of your big door to store the long straight edge clamping device. I’m sure it has a brand name. Thanks
-- bobdurnell, Santa Ana California.