It’s been long year. After doubling the size of my family last May my wife and I decided we need a little more space (or at least a better layout). My wife had her priorities in a house, and I had mine: A bigger space for a shop. We found the perfect house, complete with a three car garage.
The deal was that I could have the two bays, and we’d park in the third. We arrived in the house on the last day of November 2007. I figured I’d be back making stuff in three months.
On this shop I wanted to do things right. My last shop was cozy, but it was dark, poorly laid out, there was a minimal amount of storage. While I had fun I was always struggling against the shop. This time I was going to do it right…
I started by getting a 60,000BTU heater installed, then I completed the drywall in the rest of the shop. When the drywall was I up had an electrician come and install a 60Amp sub panel, and some 220V circuits and a 20amp 110V. One that was done I completed a bank of cabinets separating the parking from the shop. Work stalled about that time, as I was sucked into a basement renovation to make room for another addition: a nanny. That work was completed last month.
I moved onto completing the mudding and taping on the drywall portion as well as putting some epoxy flooring down. I messed with my layout a bit as well. The last thing I needed to do was mount the cyclone… The hardest task so far. That was completed tonight.
I still have a few workshop tasks to do… But I’m tired of it. I think at this point I have a very good starting point, trying to plan from here is an effort in futility. I have to let the planning go, and let the shop evolve around my work. The real work is after all the reason for the shop.
Edited 10/30/2008 1:49 am by Buster2000
Replies
Buster,
Congrats. on the new woodshop. Looks like you have lots of room in there.
Just a couple of suggestions: That canister is not supposed to go in the bin and ye need to stop usin yo bench as a catchall for that electrikery stuff. And them metal loops are supposed to, uh, what the hey are they for!?
And............. I need to have a word with my girlfriend about posin for them calendars. Please don't tell Mary 'bout the girlfriend!
Regards,
Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
The metal loops are for the cyclone... That's an old picture. The bench has now become a catchall for all the beer bottles that people drank as we tried to get the cyclone up...
I prefer Kokanee Gold, but they all prefer Kieths... As a coincedent, I received a donation of a small 'beer' fridge for the shop just as I went into major construction mode last month.
Pretty elaborate set-up for carvin' those 3 punkins, ain't it?
;-)
Mike Hennessy
Pittsburgh, PA
Pretty elaborate set-up for carvin' those 3 punkins, ain't it?
Actually 4 pumpkins... That was the breaking point.
Buster,
Where's all the sawdust, tools that haven't been put away and extra crap that doesn't belong in a shop? Doesn't look like my shop at all.
Jim
Nice shop. One question: why is the cyclone so frigging high? Are you going to attach a 400 gal drum to it? :-)
Better life through Zoodles and poutine...
The cyclone is high for two reasons. The main it saves me on floor space along the only real usable wall I have. The second reason is it allows me to come directly out of the cyclone with no static pressure increasing bends. I would have had to taken the pipe up that high to get over the garage door anyway.
I'm debating now if I'm just going to put the drum on top of a cabinet, or hard pipe the dust chute down to a reasonable level. It's only a 35 gallon drum... But I might upgrade to something bigger.
I have the same system and believe me, a more or less full 35gal drum is not that light. More a PIA to handle due to shape and the Oneida cardboard drum has no handle. I definitely would not put it on top of a cabinet. Damn awkward to move from there. You are in a good position here to put the drum on a plywood base with casters to roll away for emptying. And the only wall/shelf space that it would take up is the flex hose down to it.Be sure to show us pics when it is all installed.Cheers,Peter
Better life through Zoodles and poutine...
I actually have a little platform that I built to move equipment. I was considering doing pretty much what you suggested. Hard pipe the dust chute down, to the bin on casters. I could always build a cabinet around/over the bin. I've also considered trying to bet a bigger drum for the dust collection as well... Do you know if the bin is a standard size?
The only standard size I know is the 45gal fuel drum. I don't think this is that size. Bear in mind that you have to keep a tight seal around the rim for the thing to work properly.Cheers,
Peter
Better life through Zoodles and poutine...
As I recall, fuel drums usually come in 15, 30 or 55 gallon sizes.
As I recall, fuel drums in the Canadian arctic were 45 gals. Imperial gallons.
Better life through Zoodles and poutine...
Oh, you got me there. And don't you have five quarts per gallon? That would still be about fifty five gallons. (US gallons). I thought Canada was metric. Would simplify things if the world would standardize by going straight metric.
Edited 10/31/2008 8:18 pm ET by Tinkerer3
Agreed. Then we could use a 208 liter drum. Or a 159 liter barrel of oil. :-)
Better life through Zoodles and poutine...
But then if we were really converted to metric, it would probably be 150 or 200 liters. The problem is that when we do convert, we carry all this baggage along. Ever use a metric socket set? Did it have a 1/2 inch drive?
Edited 11/1/2008 12:13 am ET by Tinkerer3
I do and it does.
Better life through Zoodles and poutine...
Here in the states, probably thirty some years ago, the governments (state and federal) tried changing to the metric system. The populace just didn't go along with it so we are still saddled with this outdated system. I wish we could make a swift change, sweat it out for a couple months to get used to it and join the rest of the world.
Tool wise that would be great. I still have a fondness for imperial (or US) weights when it comes to buying food. But that is just old fuddyduddyism on my part.It is strange indeed when autos are metric (use a tool on a recent Ford or GM or Honda etc and it will be metric), new airplanes are metric and so on. Why is woodworking stuff still different?*sigh*Cheers,Peter
Better life through Zoodles and poutine...
Yep we in the USA did it again.. The Bankers put out adds.. NO Metric.. NO Metric..
As their manufacturing plants were stockpiling Tool boxes at very high prices with BOTH US and Metric sizes!
Lookin' Good.
I assume 'your' side is sealed off from the other side! Not sure from the pictures.
No there is still airflow. Mainly due to the heater. We intended to seal it off, but the heater and the steps made sealing it off much more difficult than expected. The heater sits in the single bay, as the gas line and the side we need to vent out of are there. As well we're in Canada, so in winter I'll park one of the vehicles in the garage so we wanted some heat for that as well.The other reason is value, our realtor advised us not to do anything too permanent, as most people still view the garage as a place for storage. (Not anyone I know.)
No offence intended by my question. You did not seem to be, which is good at my end.
Just a question asked in order to keep your wife from being unhappy with dust all over (and inside) her car.
I asked because I recently cleaned my shop. As in a really good cleaning. I was amazed where I found wood dust! Even inside closed tool cases... I thought clean when I put the tool away. Yes I clean my tools before putting them away. And I clean the shop when I leave for the day.
I see your point about a permanent wall.
Absolutley none taken (or preceived), it was a very reasonable question.
My last shop was a two car, and we eventually stopped parking in it due to the dust. When I moved from the shop I swept up a full garbage bag that was hiden under/behind/in/on all the stuff, and I had cleaned the shop prior to showing the house, and had done a minimal amount of work in the two months prior to moving.
The storage in the new garage is all sealed in. I have a couple of open shelve sthat I store recycling on, but that's a temporary measure since the city is getting curbside next year.
I've been considering building a shed/playhouse next spring to house all the kids outdoor toys. Which will leave us with just a few non camping/automobile items in the garage.
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled