# Workshop setup



## FlashG (Dec 30, 2011)

*Small beginnings*

These are the first couple of photos from my attempts to renovate my new garage. The previous owner didn't have it set up well so I'm filling in gaps, sanding, priming, painting, moving, removing, organising and eventually creating!

But there's a long way to go before then. My tools should arrive this week so I'll try and get the walls primed and painted, then I'll be able to set up the tools properly.


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## vcooney (Jan 4, 2009)

FlashG said:


> *Small beginnings*
> 
> These are the first couple of photos from my attempts to renovate my new garage. The previous owner didn't have it set up well so I'm filling in gaps, sanding, priming, painting, moving, removing, organising and eventually creating!
> 
> But there's a long way to go before then. My tools should arrive this week so I'll try and get the walls primed and painted, then I'll be able to set up the tools properly.


Setting up up a new shop is always fun…. wish I had time to re-do mine.
Good luck


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## FlashG (Dec 30, 2011)

*Painting 001*

First couple of stages done. Looks heaps better but still got a lot to do.


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## deleteme (Apr 7, 2011)

FlashG said:


> *Painting 001*
> 
> First couple of stages done. Looks heaps better but still got a lot to do.


Wow! That's going to look great! Quite some room to work with. Keep us updated!


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## therookie (Aug 29, 2010)

FlashG said:


> *Painting 001*
> 
> First couple of stages done. Looks heaps better but still got a lot to do.


What a change I love it.


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## workerinwood (Jan 1, 2010)

FlashG said:


> *Painting 001*
> 
> First couple of stages done. Looks heaps better but still got a lot to do.


Great start, looks good!! Always exciting to see the transformation.


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## helluvawreck (Jul 21, 2010)

FlashG said:


> *Painting 001*
> 
> First couple of stages done. Looks heaps better but still got a lot to do.


It's always nice to be able to start in a nice clean empty space. I hope it all goes well.

helluvawreck
http://woodworkingexpo.wordpress.com


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## FlashG (Dec 30, 2011)

*The main event #1*

Yesterday, I took delivery of almost every one of my Dad's collection of tools. The garage looks extremely crowded but I've got rid of most of the boxes so there's a bit of space now. This is the start of a very long road. The next step is to finish the preparation of the workshop but at least I've got the tools to do that now! Although of course even with almost every tool, drill bit, laser-level, long-nosed sander and clamp known to man, I still had to go and buy one thing today - a hammer! Back in August, I spent two weeks packing up all my Dad's stuff but I did leave a good few items behind - I made up a basic tool kit for each of my two nephews and they got a hammer each. There should still have been one left (the oldest of course!) but I haven't managed to find it yet - I think I must have left it at home by accident.

Anyway, after buying the hammer I was able to make some big differences, namely pulling out some nails which meant I could move the shelves from the back over to the side. Now I need to make the space as clear as possible, then buy a new sheet of MDF for the back wall along with some framing timber to make some new stud to cover the doorway (which I managed to remove last week with my girlfriend's pink flowery hammer even though it died in the attempt).

Has anyone got any pointers for making up some new stud wall? There's some already there but it looks like it's old non-standard stuff which has been put together in a pretty ham-fisted way so I don't want to just copy it.

Also, the reason I want to do it is to give myself more usable space in what is a reasonable but still-small shop. If I put a new door in there, there's no point having it unless it opens and I can use it (the previous one was an old door with no hinges just nailed in place). I think the best option would be to board it up and have the wall space available but maybe you folks have some better ideas??


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## clieb91 (Aug 17, 2007)

FlashG said:


> *The main event #1*
> 
> Yesterday, I took delivery of almost every one of my Dad's collection of tools. The garage looks extremely crowded but I've got rid of most of the boxes so there's a bit of space now. This is the start of a very long road. The next step is to finish the preparation of the workshop but at least I've got the tools to do that now! Although of course even with almost every tool, drill bit, laser-level, long-nosed sander and clamp known to man, I still had to go and buy one thing today - a hammer! Back in August, I spent two weeks packing up all my Dad's stuff but I did leave a good few items behind - I made up a basic tool kit for each of my two nephews and they got a hammer each. There should still have been one left (the oldest of course!) but I haven't managed to find it yet - I think I must have left it at home by accident.
> 
> ...


Usable wall space is always good. However is the roll up door the only way in and out of the shop without the other one? Might be nice to once and while keep that big door closed. ( I am not really familiar with the weather in your area but guessing it is generally nice)

The shop is coming together, good luck with it and look forward to seeing it shape up.

CtL


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## 3Gwoodguy (Jan 11, 2011)

FlashG said:


> *The main event #1*
> 
> Yesterday, I took delivery of almost every one of my Dad's collection of tools. The garage looks extremely crowded but I've got rid of most of the boxes so there's a bit of space now. This is the start of a very long road. The next step is to finish the preparation of the workshop but at least I've got the tools to do that now! Although of course even with almost every tool, drill bit, laser-level, long-nosed sander and clamp known to man, I still had to go and buy one thing today - a hammer! Back in August, I spent two weeks packing up all my Dad's stuff but I did leave a good few items behind - I made up a basic tool kit for each of my two nephews and they got a hammer each. There should still have been one left (the oldest of course!) but I haven't managed to find it yet - I think I must have left it at home by accident.
> 
> ...


From an organizational approach, this guy shows a fantastic use of the french cleat to maximize your space and it allows it to be changed or moved around effortlessly later. I plan on doing this in my workshop in the near future. Good Luck. sounds like a fun project.

http://homerefurbers.com/projects/522


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## FlashG (Dec 30, 2011)

FlashG said:


> *The main event #1*
> 
> Yesterday, I took delivery of almost every one of my Dad's collection of tools. The garage looks extremely crowded but I've got rid of most of the boxes so there's a bit of space now. This is the start of a very long road. The next step is to finish the preparation of the workshop but at least I've got the tools to do that now! Although of course even with almost every tool, drill bit, laser-level, long-nosed sander and clamp known to man, I still had to go and buy one thing today - a hammer! Back in August, I spent two weeks packing up all my Dad's stuff but I did leave a good few items behind - I made up a basic tool kit for each of my two nephews and they got a hammer each. There should still have been one left (the oldest of course!) but I haven't managed to find it yet - I think I must have left it at home by accident.
> 
> ...


Hey guys, thanks for the responses. I'm doing some investigation of French cleats - could be very useful and I'll definitely consider using it.

Clieb91 - There is another normal-sized door just to the right of the big door so I use it if the weather's not so good (like yesterday when it rained hard all day and would have been blowing right in because of the Southerly wind).


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## FlashG (Dec 30, 2011)

*Slight improvement*

Haven't posted in ages - work on the garage has been very slow. But, lots of stuff just about to happen. I got the other side painted a while back, then managed to get myself a bench. Couldn't build one until I got one, so in another few months maybe I'll build my own.

Took a *lot* of work to put up the cross pieces in the back stud wall - not one piece of the stud is square so I had to measure a lot of angles. Made even trickier when your saw isn't square either!! Took a bit of work to sort that first. Man, nothing's ever easy 

Am putting in lots of electrics tomorrow so there should be power points galore, then I can start organising the place properly. Enjoy!


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## FlashG (Dec 30, 2011)

*More power!*

As promised, MUCH better electrics have been installed! Heaps of powerpoints and in all the right places. Got two overhead sockets right in the middle of the garage which should minimise any trailing cables. I went and bought some more paint so that once the back wall is done I can get straight into the finishing process. I won't say the end is in sight just yet but it's definitely getting closer.


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## Alexandre (May 26, 2012)

FlashG said:


> *More power!*
> 
> As promised, MUCH better electrics have been installed! Heaps of powerpoints and in all the right places. Got two overhead sockets right in the middle of the garage which should minimise any trailing cables. I went and bought some more paint so that once the back wall is done I can get straight into the finishing process. I won't say the end is in sight just yet but it's definitely getting closer.


Cool! how much amp circuit breaker do you have for it?


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## jumbojack (Mar 20, 2011)

FlashG said:


> *More power!*
> 
> As promised, MUCH better electrics have been installed! Heaps of powerpoints and in all the right places. Got two overhead sockets right in the middle of the garage which should minimise any trailing cables. I went and bought some more paint so that once the back wall is done I can get straight into the finishing process. I won't say the end is in sight just yet but it's definitely getting closer.


Please don't take this as criticism, but why did you run on the outside of the walls when you had the studs exposed?


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## FlashG (Dec 30, 2011)

FlashG said:


> *More power!*
> 
> As promised, MUCH better electrics have been installed! Heaps of powerpoints and in all the right places. Got two overhead sockets right in the middle of the garage which should minimise any trailing cables. I went and bought some more paint so that once the back wall is done I can get straight into the finishing process. I won't say the end is in sight just yet but it's definitely getting closer.


Hi Jumbojack,

It's a valid question! The answer is that only the back wall has been exposed since I bought the property. I'm keen to get everything set up and am happy to have the conduit running on the outside walls. While I do like to do things "right", in this case I'm happy with the tradeoff between the amount of work involved in removing the existing walls and running the cables behind, and the potential difficulty of being slightly limited in where I might want to wall-mount some stuff with the conduit on the outside. I actually thought there would be three lines running vertically (one for each set of sockets) but I think this way is better.

And Alexandre, there's only a 20-amp circuit breaker. If I want anything more I'll need to run a new cable to the garage. Maybe one day when I learn how to drill, saw, sand and grind all at the same time 

Thanks for looking guys.


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## FlashG (Dec 30, 2011)

*French cleat rails complete*

Can't believe how long this took but I finally had some time to finish the lower stud so that I can attach some French cleat rails once the MDF covers the entire section. Progress should be a bit quicker from here - no annoying angles to worry about now!


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## camps764 (Dec 9, 2011)

FlashG said:


> *French cleat rails complete*
> 
> Can't believe how long this took but I finally had some time to finish the lower stud so that I can attach some French cleat rails once the MDF covers the entire section. Progress should be a bit quicker from here - no annoying angles to worry about now!


very cool! I've been wanting to set one of these systems up in my shop but haven't made time. I look at the pictures of other guy's shops and how nice their french cleat systems look and I get excited to set my own up but then find other shop projects that need to be finished first. Need to set aside a whole Saturday to just get it done. Looking forward to seeing your progress!


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## cls3277 (Jul 21, 2012)

FlashG said:


> *French cleat rails complete*
> 
> Can't believe how long this took but I finally had some time to finish the lower stud so that I can attach some French cleat rails once the MDF covers the entire section. Progress should be a bit quicker from here - no annoying angles to worry about now!


You could save some time on the french cleat by using the Monarch Z Clips instead. They are a little easier to level, install and shim to get a straight surface. It is basically an aluminum version of the french cleat. You mount a continuous length of the z clip on the surface to which the MDF panel is to be hung. Next you mount the smaller panel clips on the backside of the panel. Then you simply engage the panel clips on the rear side of the panel with the continuous length.










You can learn more about them or watch a video on how to use them at this blog How to Use Panel Clips


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## FlashG (Dec 30, 2011)

*Clamp tidying*

Yes, a topic close to all our hearts - how to keep our clamps stored efficiently but kept easily accessible. After realising that a previously-useless-seeming space could be used to hang clamps, and looking at many ways to do so, I grabbed some scrap, glued it, cut it, screwed it to more scrap, then screwed the whole lot on the wall.

I'll add some more jutting-out-bits so that the rest of the clamps can be hung on there too.


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