The Final rearrangement, forever!
Now that Im retired and can devote time to helping my son with minor home improvements, and then spend time just building the furniture he, I, wifey, daughter, wants, I decided to make my garage fully suited to my own needs.
IM not saving any of the old wood I used for the work benches or the old cabinets.
Most of that wood has been recycled once, and has holes, chips, etc.
New plywood and 2x4s are not prohibitive costwise. IM not building any cabinets, just a series of rolling work tables, some fixed work tables, and some small racks eventually.
This is what I want to do, and will attempt to do over the next couple of months.
First, rip out everything, which Im working on right now, right down to the bare studs. Clean all old nails out of studs. Im finding tons of stuff hidden, so Im sorting it as I go along, and will leave alot of it in boxes and sort out during the winter months when its too cold to work outside.
Im going to build to the left of the mitre saw, a rolling work bench. It will be set at the height of the lathe. The lathe will be mounted on the back of the bench, facing the wall, the table will be on strong castors and will need to be pulled out and turned in order for me to work with lathe.
I will not add extension to lathe, but will make the table long enough to add extension whenever I need it. Extension will be stored underneath lathe on shelf.
The other side of the table, will have a simple, straight foward(rob keeble sent me pictures months ago) way to mount different table top tools when I need them.
Each tool, drill press, mortiser, and grinder will be mounted on plywood which will be slid into slot made opposite lathe side of table and I will have a secure spot where these three machines will mount. Now, this will be left of the mitre saw, so using the same mounting technique, I will build a ramp, with t track that secures into the same mounting place, but will be higher to meet the mitre saws height, and this will be used when using mitre saw. The mortiser and grinder will be stored underneath table top, they are light enough I can lift them when I use them, and then Ill just take the mitre arm /ramp off and lean it when not in use.
The drill press is a bit heavier, so it will just sit at the end of the work bench, further down from the lathe on wall side, and Ill slide it into mount when I need it.
I dont use the drill press often, but it will always be ready to use and if I dont need it mounted heavily, I can just clamp it to surface to make a hole or two.
I will move the mitre saw down to the left around 12 inches, and build the left lathe/machinery table just long enough that it doesnt impede the garage's walk in door.(without a seperate doorway, I believe they call it a coffin garage. I like to have the doorway for the winter months when I run my small heater and not have to open the overhead door)
I will then shorten the work bench I already have on the right of the mitre saw, build one just long enough to house the rolling cabinet underneath it, and then build a rolling workbench, close to 6 ft long, with a vise(I finally purchased a jorgenson 9 inch vise) that will go right of the rolling drawer cabinet, up to the back wall where the soon to be ripped out cabinets are.
I will also build a rolling table for the dewalt 735 planer and the new 22-44 coming in.
I will mount each one on a different end of the table. I purchased expensive 4 inch well built castors for these tables.No more 3 dollar cheapo castors than dont work properly under heavier loads.
Ill roll the planer/sander table against back wall, along with the Rolling tool chest(the red craftsman tool chest) and park the bandsaw along the back wall also when not in use.
My dust collection system will remain intact for now.
Eventually, I will drop a line again for the mitre saw, have an additional line for the new cabinet saw, and still run the one line into the center dropped down from ceiling for the planer, sander or bandsaw.(jointer just stays parked against the wood stack, uses same dropped dust line as planer)
Ive had very little success with dust collection with the drill press,mortiser and lathe, but I might just drop a line with a big scoop(I have 2 of them not in use) for the lathe, so Ill just buy some of that bendable flex hose(4 inch) and make a setup for the drill press or mortiser.
Eventually, Id like to move the dust collector outside the garage, for space and noise reasons, and into a small shed attached to the side of the garage. This will be tricky, so Im not doing it right yet. Nosy neighbor issues.Id rather just run the dust line right into his dryer duct line and let the fun begin, but this isnt the time or place for those issues. I actually like living next to the moron, because if he was like the guy across the street, who works nights, if hed ask me to keep it down a bit for some hours so he could sleep, Id have to oblige, but with the moron, I take pride in running my planer outside some days. Yes, I know I sound childish.
anyway, those are my plans, its a rather big undertaking, no furniture building for a while, and in between this all, Im still emptying out my old business, moving stuff, and will be assembling my new machinery, have no clue where Im putting the ridgid saw at this point. Maybe I can ask the moron next door if hed let me store it in his garage for a few weeks.
oh, on a very positive note today, my physician just called me, my sugar level dropped back down to 115, high, but not medication dependant yet, and said something about my hemoglobins/sugar levels have been steady so as long as I start to diet and make an attempt to excercise, I wont have to go on diabetes meds, But she wants me to go for another colonoscopy. Ok, so while Im cleaning out the garage, I guess Ill have to clean my garage out also. (bad joke)