Mark's Workshop

NIce bright shop! Looks well layed out.

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

Nice shop with lots of good stuff. Do you ever use it. It’s toooo clean.

-- Ron in Osseo, Minnesota

Hi Mark,

You have a really nice shop. It looks like you have plenty of room and it is well organized. And I assume that it has both heating and air.

-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.

Dang that’s clean. Looks well equipped, with plenty of Dust Collection. I could work there.

-- Stevethepeeve -- I'm no rocket surgeon

Excellent shop Mark! Very professional looking. I imagine that last pic is a sheet cutting jig? I made one out of 2×2’s that conviently stores in the lumber rack but unfortunately, you have to flip it over to crosscut. Looking forward to seeing some of your other projects.

-- Bob Vila would be so proud of you!

Thanks, guys—it only looks clean because I blew out the dust right before I took the pictures. But I had decided an insulated shop with heating and air conditioning was a “must have” for me—it’s really damp in Oregon, reallly dusty in a horse barn, and together these make tools rust faster than I can make sawdust.

Dadoo, you’re right, that last picture, an inclined “false wall” with cleats, can hold a 4×8 panel so I can crosscut it safely with a clamp-on guide and handheld circular saw. The angled “dead space” between that and the real wall behind isn’t wasted, either – it is used for storing panels and can fit over a dozen sheets, accessed from a little door in the side wall. As my tool appetite grows, my space shrinks, and I have to invent ways to use space as efficiently as possible.

-- Mark

Great shop! The dust collector mod looks sweet. I have a Delta AP400 that could use this design to free up some floorspace. Any chance you could post some close ups of this? Thanks! Horob

Glad you got some ideas from the dust collector installation. I added a closer picture of it. By mounting it high on the wall, in a corner, I minimized the loss of key “outfeed” space (35”-39” from the floor) in my space-limited shop. If people are interested I can add it as a project and show more details, including how to set up automatic triggering from the various tools in the shop.

-- Mark

I would really appreciate it if you detailed the dust collector mod in a project. This would go a long way to add some much needed floor space to my shop.

The auto triggering is intriguing as well. I find myself not turning on the DC sometimes if it is just one small cut on the table saw because I have to cross the room to turn it on. All of those “small cuts” add up to a lot of dust.

Your inclined “false wall” would be a great topic for a project as well. You look like a master of maximizing shop space! Horob

Great space. How do you like the Ridgid OSS?

-- Maplewood, MN

Lot’s of nicely organized cabinets. Good job!

-- Earle Wright, Lenoir City, Tennessee

Well thought out design. Like the dust collection system that frees up floor space! Thanks.

Rich – Seattle, WA

-- Rich, Seattle, WA

Rikkor, I really like the Ridgid Oscillating Spindle Sander. It works best with coarse sandpaper belts and spindles for removing material fast. It’s not as good for fine sanding as the up and down motion creates both vibration and some cross-grain scratches. You can’t turn off the oscillation feature, by the way.

It has a nice big table with a miter slot and someday I want to make a sled that gives better control over the workpiece for sanding to a straight line or a radius. Maybe someone has ideas to share who has done that?

-- Mark

great shop!!! i really like the router table and storage drawers!!!

-- Matt, Napa, CA: Lj's...I love logging on--I feel so young after being around teenagers all day!