Well, I have finished my shop (are you ever really finished?), and I thought I would share with all. We bought a small piece of land and I tell family and friends that we built a shop with a house attached. The stand alone shop is close and connected but no dust in the house. It is 24 by 28, I wish I had made it bigger. I have been heavily influenced by your advice and I have used a lot of Norm’s ideas in the outfitting of the shop. You can see his stuff in the pictures. It has heat and air so I can work year round. The roof is quite high so I can add an upper loft later. The walls are lined with CDX so I can screw and nail to the walls without looking for studs. The builders splashed paint on the walls while using the space for painting so they had to paint the CDX. I have pretty much all the tools I need. Not visible are the scroll saw and mortise.
The shop is now producing projects as you can see. I am using the roll around dust collector and some day may put in a cyclone but the high ceilings will make it difficult. I am pleased with it and I am thoroughly enjoying working in it.
Nice shop. Looks like it can handle just about any project you could dream up.
Ah, my dream shop! Since my lot is tiny, I’d have to buy & bulldoze my neighbor’s house in order to be able to move out of my basement. I’d love to have dedicated stations for various tools, but in my small basement shop mobility is key, along with stow-ability.
Nice shop, Richard!
That’s quite the workshop Richard. The cutting boards look great too.
I’m sending this to my husband for inspiration- he has the basement for his shop, but it is a disaster (not entirely his fault… I am guilty of moving things as is my father… and he is sharing the space with a lot of storage). Perhaps this will give him a nudge to do one organization project over the long weekend. Thanks for sharing.
Real subtle sending me this link. Maybe I’ll play more Dragon Age this weekend….
Very nice shop. I am lucky enough to have a good friend that converted a old barn into a shop and I am lucky enough to be able to use it whenever I want.
I’ve never met anyone who said, “Gee I wish I would have made my shop smaller!” Never the less, very nice!
Nice shop. I hope to have a dedicated shop someday, in the not too distant future.
Mike
Nice work space.. Enjoy!
Very nice shop Richard. Looks pretty roomy. Have you thought about how you might increase the size in the future if things become too tight?
The birth of a new shop, what a joyous occasion!
Nice shop. I wish i had mine organized with no yard junk in it.
I love the shop. I only could dream of such a roomy location. I’m stuck in my crampt garage.
WOW, it’s great. Congratulations on the great space and i’m sure some great projects will come out of it. ENJOY!
Wonderful shop. Looking forward to your projects.
Nice shop Richard. Wish i could have a dedicated shop instead of a space in the basement. How do you like the Rigid planer and jointer?
Thanks for all the nice compliments.
Bill, I designed the house and shop and itstarted out at 18X24 and morphed to its present size, but they are never quite big enough.
Dean, I may be able to add a lean to on the side but maybe only enough for a cyclone.
Dennis, we have a rule, nothing goes in the shop without my approval and nothing goes in the house without my wife’s approval.
Matt, before I built the house and shop I used space in a friend’s barn but too far to go and he was watchful that I didn’t expand too much.
I am now having fun making the stuff on my wife’s wish list.
The cutting boards were well received by our daughters and grandson at Christmas
Very nice begining……we are never finished working on our shops. We have to continually move things around to get at the dust bunnies. And that leaves a space for a new tool.
Very nice shop. Looks like you have a garage door to insulate yet to keep heating/cooling affordable.
Nice shop. I wish I had that much room, but we all wish we had more. The cutting boards look good.
Nice shop – inspiring!
If you think having high ceilings makes dust collection difficult, try it with low ceilings! My dust collector bag hits the ceiling every time I turn it on. I’ve got 9′ ceilings, with plumbing and HVAC criss-crossed underneath. I don’t hit my head, but I’d love to have the problem of ceilings that are too high.
The loft is a good idea, or just a few joists that you can hang dust collection duct-work from, and store lumber on top of.
Thanks for sharing the pics!
My shop is very similar, but only 20×24. You mention the dust collection. I have the same DC but mine is located permanently in a corner and connected to the tools with PVC pipe and blast gates. I find it is very adequate for a permanent solution. I did have it converted to 220v.
One thing important in a shop is adequate power. I ran 100 AMP service to mine and has plenty to run anything I can throw at it. Including a 30amp electric heater.
Dan
I had considered making the DC permanent but was concerned about the long run from the only corner I could use to the BS.
I also tried to make it a 2 stage but the 30 gallon can is too big and the cyclone lids don’t fit a 20 gallon
So I am left with roll around and that works OK
I also have 100 amp sevice
Nice shop.
Richard, you and I have the same dust collector, band saw, spindle sander, and drill press. My planer is very similar; a Delta rather than a RIDGID. I think it’s time I buy a drum sander; just for synchronicity, of course.
Thanks for sharing. It’s always cool to see another woodworker’s shop.
Great looking shop! Just curious … how do you heat it? I’m thinking about a standalone shop, and where I live (Wisconsin) heating is an important factor.
Nuclear reactors are making a comeback. ;-)
Seriously, I too have been looking at heating options for my shop. I could probably get natural gas into shop fairly easily. But every gas heater option appears to be downright pricey! I’m going to do some research on gas wall heater next.
I have this heater. It does a great job in my 20×24′ shop.
http://www.grainger.com/Graing.....Pid=search
Gerald
I have a heatpump. It is the same units you see in Motels.
It cost me about 1200 and does a fine jog. It is about 20 degree here now and the shop is a nice 68 degrees
You can see it in picture 4 under the Radial arm Saw
Ok, I’m offically jealous. Looks like your enjoying it already.
Fantastic shop Richard! You’ve got to be proud. As many others have said, that is the dream sized space for me. I like how it is a dedicated space, detached from the house, yet you have a cover that ties it in and protects you from the elements to get there. Thanks for sharing, and congrats on your new baby!
The influence of Norm Abrams is very apparent in your shop! Good job!
I love the bandsaw and fence
Just curious, how do you like your miter saw stand? I’m on the cusp of building one and been toying with making it mobile. Do you like it stationary and does it limit you at all?
My chopsaw station design is a design that I got out of a magazine. The design is meant to be a mobile stand that would be used by a contractor on a job site … mounted, stradling saw-horses. See http://woodtalkonline.com/gall.....w-station/
I have the chopsaw station bolted-down in my shop but it would be fairly easy to pop out and load into a pickkup. The thing I like the best is that I have a large surface with the saw set, down below the main surface. You will see some designs, where the saw sits on the main surface and uses a narrow extension platform that also sits on the main surface. I use the main surface for many things, in addition to being an infeed for the chopsaw. Does this answer the question?
Very much so. Thanks for the info.
I am still trying to figure-out the best way to do a long left-side fence for my chopsaw station. I guess it’s not finished yet. The challenge for me is to design a fence that is removable. For everyday in the shop, I like to keep the main surface open. I have good lighting there and like to work on the hard masonite surface.
But I do want a full length fence with a measuring tape mounted on its top and a movable stop-block for repetition of cuts. I have the wall space above the chopsaw station to hang this removable fence. But the fence needs to be fairly light weight and easy to mount … and very accurate after mounted. Maybe this is a tall order??
Chester
where do you buy your planer blades and what is the part # where you buy them. i have come across a used ridgid planer and trying to find the correct blades for it? thanks- like your collection of tools-