I installed an auxillary fence to my jointer fence that is the same height as my table saw. When I joint an edge, I turn around 180 degrees and am facing the table saw, ready to place the jointed edge against the table saw fence. A mininum of steps have been used. The auxillary fence on the jointer will support the end of any long board that I wish to crosscut while using the miter gauge.
Occasionally I need to rip a long board on the Band Saw, to just true up a ragged edge. My drill press table is located at the outfeed end of the Band Saw table and will support these longer boards. This same table supports long boards while using my planer. I thought about making a roller or ball/shpere rollers for the drill press table ,but have opted simply, for a slippery plastic surface as an auxillary surface on the drill press table. Works great.
My Radial arm saw table,miter saw station surface, router table, and horizontal router table, have tables/surfaces at the same height. Each supports long stock when using these machines. All are on casters that retrack for a firm rubber foot connection to the floor.
The outfeed table of my table saw is also a sharpening station. When not in use, the grinder hangs under the outfeed table on huge bent strap hinges. When I need it, I flip it up and clamp to the table. All sharpening stones ect are in a tub under the same table.
All my hand tools are kept dust free in large ventilated school lockers with shelves inserted. I obtained all the lockers from various schools for nearly nothing. I just contacted several business agents at various schools asking for them.
A “High-Low” table avaiable from Vega Enterprises, Decatur, Illinois is handy as not only a proper workbench but will support boards on any machine yuou wish. It has casters and a laminated maple top. Orginally made for hospitals. This is the same company that manufacturers the Vega Table Saw fence.
All my carving chisels and straight chisels are kept in Dollar Store, knife,fork,spoon trays. The sharp edges never hit each other and there is nothing quite like taking the tray to the work. Fast,quick,cheap,and easy.
I grounded my PVC pipe dust collection system by installing Pop rivets every 2 feet and attaching the wire on the OUTSIDE of the pipe. Works perfect. The static charges are no longer a problem.
I converted my inexpensive single stage dust collector to 2 stage by inhaling air thru a 45 gallon waste can. The plywood lid has plexiglass installed so I can see when it’s full. Screws and weatherstripping hold the lid in place. Only fine dust is trapped in the factory bags. Nothing hard ever hits the steel impeller and causes sparks.
My table saw guard hangs from the ceiling and is never in the way. It is counterbalanced thru pullys to an old wool sock full of lead shot.
I made a dirt cheap, low tech, turntable that can support any weight cabinet for spraying finishes and/or jobs that require bring the work to your comfy ,well lit,tools close by, position. It is simply a 31/2 foot diameter plywood surface with a pipe flange and short pipe installed at the center, This pipe goes into a hole in a 4 foot square workbench. There are 4 straight casters at the circumference of the plywood.
A floor standing workshop light with flexible neck is invaluable for lighting jobs to be done on machines that vibrate alot like scroll saws and saber saws. The bulb filiments are isolated from vibration.
I’m sure you have some neat-o tips to share also. I’m anxious to hear about your solutions/tips to workshop organization.
Don
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cheap garden hose holder mounted by a outlet with a nice long extension cord
Speaking of garden hose holders...
For about 10 years now I've been using a cheap water hose reel as an air hose reel. I reasoned that city water pressure can top 100 psi so using one for air should be safe for occasional use. It does hiss just a little in use--air is thinner than water :-)
Edited 2/26/2003 12:21:46 PM ET by MACH70
Donc4,
You sound a lot like me- creative user of any/everything available, especially to save space and make shopwork easier.
Recently I 'scored' two huge old file cabinets (surplus US Govt) upon one of which I mounted my new Hitachi chop saw. Now all the saw's blades, jigs, etc go into the file drawers. I put casters under the other file cabinet just the right height both for my planer infeed/outfeed and large router tables (the router table is also an old school surplus find).
I am in the process of building a long fence for the new chop saw. And again using resourcefulness found two lengths of wire mold channel which I will mount on top of the vertical aspect of the saw fence. The wire mold fits perfectly two lock knobs and carriage bolts scavenged from a ski rack. I will use the wire mold channel and lock knobs for stop blocks on the chop saw.
One of the things I'm most proud of dreaming up is the use of a Radio Shack surge protector. This multiple plug-in device is mounted on the side of the router table and allows easy on/off of the inverted router (I don't have to reach under the big table) as well as providing power to numerous other tools. The surge protector also provides power access to my sharpening set-up which at present consists of dedicated motors (four) for each sharpening need.
sawick
Donc4,
I really like this topic- SHOP TIPS- and hope for many more posts. I'll add a few more of mine to get the ball rollin. I get most of this stuff from the second hand stores for cheap cheap cheap <g>.
old credit cards, CDs, and laminate scraps/samples for scraping off glue squeeze out
my wife's nylons (after a night of jitterbug dancing thus ruin) for paint strainers, finish buffers, band clamps
old skis for bending and curve layout fixtures/jigs
old swivel and caster office chairs (seats and backs removed) with vertical pipe added for affixing shop lighting
old waterbed underdressers for storage or stacked up for workbenches
old doors for workbench tops, shop shelving, jig material
salvaged copper or brass pipe for tool ferrules
old baseball bats for turning/chisel/carving tool handles
small bolts on stepladder legs to mount stock for drying after spraying
five gallon bucket sawhorses, plank supports for drywalling/mudding
Looking forward to hearing from others and new shop tips.
sawick
Good stuuf saywick!
Thanks for mentioning doors for workbench tops. I went to the yellow pages and found a company that sells just doors. Most of their accounts are commercial doors. I visited their back lot dumpster of 3 occasions and found perfect 2 3/4" thick solid fire rated doors in huge sizes. They were so well built, I just mounted them to a top and added a vise at 2 corners.
By the way, I also found a 3/4" glass door with with flaws on most all edges. I surrounded it with a Cocobolo frame and gave it to my aunt to use as a contemporary dining room table.
Keep those tips coming.
Don
Keep those tips coming! My latest idea was buying a 4 inch U bolt and fabricating a wooden bridge that is held in place with a nut on each side. The bridge and the supplied steel strap serve as a clamp. This clamp will now support almost any chisel, gouge, plane iron, or lathe chisel for sharpening. Use wood, metal or cardboard shims to provide the proper height to the sharpening medium. The curved base of the bolt will support any curvature on the tool end. It really works great to put a fairing radius on the corners of plane irons to eliminate plane tracks. As an aid to the U bolt, take a scrap piece of 1X2 and mark lines with identifying notes to show the repeatable extension past the bridge for future sharpenings.
downspout sections under cabs for holding dowels, saw blades under the outfeed table, clamp storage which takes little space and about $2. What I got for now." I have learned silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet strange, I am ungrateful to those teachers." Kahlil Gibran
When I have turnning to do, I make a drawing of the spindle on a piece of 1/4"ply the same size(width)of my turning blank. I color code the different sizes of the parts of the spindle, like the depth of the coves and the outside diameter of the beads and fillets. I got lucky and caught a catalog with a sale of under $2 each for a half dozen outside calipers, and along with the fleamarket finds I have a good enough pile colection that I just set one for each size (they each have a spot of paint on them for the diff. colors on the pat. I also lay out the tapers by marking where each of the dif. diameters fall along the taper.
When I start to turn I use the color coded paterns and colored pencils to mark the piece once it is roughed out round. This makes it faster for me and helps avoid mistakes.
Here are a few paterns with the color coded markings.
for storing lumber, I put old 4by4 s in my rafters and drilled 5/8 hole through 4x4 and ceiling and put 5/8 threaded rod through approx.3ft hanging down, than put another 4x4 on. and that is where the lumber will sit. I did aset of 3 and put 1000 bdf of pine on them
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