First Steps in the New Shop

Kyle Murphy

Member
Messages
129
Location
Tokyo, Japan
Well, over the last few days I have made some steps in setting up my shop. I have a shop space but it does not have any windows (only open spaces) nor a door. It has a cement floor and some preliminary wiring. I also do not have any major machines. I used to have a lathe, drill press and a bandsaw, but I had to sell these when the building I had space in was torn down about 4 years ago. Since then I did not have a place to indulge myself. I did keep all my gouges, and small power tools as well as my grinder.

So, over the past few days I have online ordered the Nova DVR XP lathe which was on sale at Woodcraft. This forced me to order the other tools because I am sending all to a freight forwarder who will consolidate the order and ship it to Japan. In addition to the lathe (my most important machine) I also have ordered the following.

Grizzly G7944 12 speed Heavy-Duty 14" floor drill press

Dewalt 735 planer
Dewalt 745 contractor table saw. This was a difficult decision I want to have the ability that a table saw gives you (I have little experience with flat work). Would like to have bought a better one but I promised my wife not to exceed the budget that "we" established.
Shop Fox 6" bench top jointer.

Powermatic 1200 air filtration
Grizzly Polar Bear 1.5 hp cyclone dust collection.

I have a powermatic 14" bandsaw in Honolulu which I will ship to LA to the freight fowarder to consolidate with the rest. As you can see, I have focused my budget on the lathe, BS, DP and dust collection.

Now, I have to get the shop enclosed, a floor put in and get it properly wired. I posted some pictures of the empty shop in the past. The shop is about 400 sq ft with 11 ft ceilings. It is a walk out basement which the original owner had used as garage.
 
Kyle, Looks like you have things under control, so speaking. We will ned pictures as you go along.

Hope things are OK there where you are. i guess my boy, over in Niigata, is OK. Sad for all the people in Japan.

Aloha.
 
Stu,

Not sure. There may be a problem within Japan concerning the availability of sub flooring, plywood etc. Future supplies are being diverted north to the earthquake and tsunami areas. This is by government ordinance. They are starting to rebuild.

I will go up to Mt Fuji tomorrow to see if I can order the subflooring, insulation etc. before availability completely dries up.

On the ETA, I told the freight forwarder to use the cheapest shipping (slow) possible. So, probably early May. I need to at least make sure the basement is secure. I am not so worried about theft but brand new tools in boxes easily accessible could be a temptation.

BTW, I should thank you for the advice in choosing which tools to buy.
 
Here in the states, the best advertisement for theives are the expensive toy/shop/whatever boxes along the road for the garbage men. Shows everyone driving down the road what you have purchased and available for theft. I cannot imagine what you folks in Japan are going through. Congrats on a new shop, there is no feeling like it in the world.
 
Need to choose a different jointer

Previously, I had indicated that I was going to purchase a Shop Fox 6" benchtop jointer. Unfortunately, I do not seem to be able to get a company to ship to California. ShopFox says they will not do business in California because of tax reasons.

So, from what I can see I have two options. Delta 6" benchtop jointer or the Grizzly 6" benchtop. What are the recommendations? Price is almost the same. Will I be happy with either? Are their other options in the same price range? Help! I need to make a choice soon.
 
Kyle, I'm not sure if you know this, but Shop Fox is made by Grizzly. It is their retail line meant to be sold at tool dealers, whereas the Grizzly line is intended to be sold directly from the factory. They are very similar, with different paint jobs and a few minor differences to make each product line unique.

I'm surprised Shop Fox told you they would not sell in California, since I've purchased a Shop Fox bandsaw and mortiser from Battel's Hardware in Whittier, CA.
 
Depends on what you're doign with it. the grizzly is 100 lbs, if you can leave it stationary but just wanted the small footprint/price then go with it. If you are going to be moving it up/down from the table top, the delta is only 40 lbs and might work better.
 
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