Birth of a shop - The Final Trimester

Ok Ok! Denise, I'm begging for your forgiveness Only meant it to be a compliment.

Carol Reed said:

Mike,

Marty didn't train Denise. She came that way. He was just lucky!

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Yeah, and YOU don't get to pick THEM even IF you find one, but if you are among the exceptionally few that are EXTREMELY Lucky..........THEY pick you.

Hey Marty good to see an update on the shop finishing room fan. But would sure like to here some more input on how your liking your shop, tool placement, functionality etc. I know you've been busy with your secret project, but maybe you'll have time to up date us when it's complete. Sounds like it's been a big project. Tod's got some great input....a wealth of information.


Doug

Doug Sinjem said:

Hey Marty good to see an update on the shop finishing room fan. But would sure like to here some more input on how your liking your shop, tool placement, functionality etc. I know you've been busy with your secret project, but maybe you'll have time to up date us when it's complete. Sounds like it's been a big project. Tod's got some great input....a wealth of information.


Doug

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Hiya Doug!

I'm pretty pleased overall with tool placement and functionality. Workflow is about right, with the lumber racks on the loading dock wall...and all the rough dimensioning tools a few steps away. The shaper on the wall furthest from the loading dock works out too, since stock is cut to size and on benches (near the shaper) when it comes time for it to be shaped.

The only shortcoming I've encountered so far are is...and I know I'll be hearing from folks on this one...the shop is TOO SMALL!

Seriously, with the tools I have, and working on large complex projects, I find that I'm constantly setting up make-shift benches on sawhorses. I plan to make another workbench (or two) as soon as I'm done with the current project. I'll also probably move some of the smaller tools and workstations around a little. I still have that huge pallet-thing full of storage boxes on the rear wall near my bandsaw. That has to go, since it eats up valuable floor space. I'll post some pics when I do my remodeling...

Oh, and my finishing room is woefully undersized for anything of any size. I've considered on more than one occasion during the finishing of my current project that I'd be saving time to setup sawhorses in the main shop and get to spraying. But I look down (at the nice wood floor) and around the shop (at all the money in various tools) and quickly decide I have to stick to the finishing room!


All in all...I think I done good!
- Marty -

Marty Walsh said:

I know I'll be hearing from folks on this one...the shop is TOO SMALL!

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Congratulations, Marty. You've come to the same conclusion as every other woodworker on the face of the planet. (and when we hear from the woodworkers out around Betelgeuse or Tau Ceti, I'm sure they'll say the same thing. )

Actually I find it kind of comforting and helps me be content with my own space. I know that if I had more, I'd just want more.

...art

ps: tag, Stu, your turn. All other small shop owners please form an orderly queue...


pps: reminds me, in a related way, of the the story about when someone asked a group of very wealthy billionaires "just how much money is enough". The response? "Just a little bit more..."

Art Mulder said:

Congratulations, Marty. You've come to the same conclusion as every other woodworker on the face of the planet. (and when we hear from the woodworkers out around Betelgeuse or Tau Ceti, I'm sure they'll say the same thing. )

Actually I find it kind of comforting and helps me be content with my own space. I know that if I had more, I'd just want more.

...art

ps: tag, Stu, your turn. All other small shop owners please form an orderly queue...


pps: reminds me, in a related way, of the the story about when someone asked a group of very wealthy billionaires "just how much money is enough". The response? "Just a little bit more..."

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Leave it to YOU Art, to be the first to give me grief about that!

Seriously, if I didn't have the space I do, I wouldn't being trying to tackle large projects. Since I do have the space, I take on large projects and find that 'space' and 'large' are relative!

Oh well...time to start sketching an addition or two...

- Marty -

Marty,

Your new Avatar is great. For those that have not been to Denise and Marty's Studio, it is a lesson in proper, over engineered building techniques. It should be a feature site on anyones travel plans. Besides, they are both nice people and worth a three hour drive. Just my $0.02 for a Friday afternoon.

You must put on the miles walking around your shop Marty, if it were any bigger, you'd have get a scooter or something to drive around it

I do hear you on the size thing, it is true, the bigger it gets, the more space you can use, and I think that is only right!

Can't wait to see the "Secret Project" as I can imagine by now you cannot wait to finish it!

Cheers!

I can't remember the vital statistics of your shop Marty but I hear your pain over the size issue. I work in about 1000 sq ft and am constantly battling with myself for space. All the major machines that I need just about find a space but I have pretty much everything on wheels or on a pallet so that I can move them. I tend to use my thickness planer in batch mode and that is not only on a pallet but is stored in pallet racking that runs along one wall of my shop. This gets swapped with the TS when I have a planing day in prospect. That lets me use the same tool space twice. Also , less frequently used specialist tools are stored in a "corral" in a corner and extracted as needed to do the job. It costs me a bit in time but saves me a lot in rent and taxes. - I'd still like a bigger shop though!!

I would also suggest some kind of mobile assembly platform/bench/workbench. Get nice big locking castors for ease of movement and stability and make the surface a reasonable size and it will cover a multitude of sins. I actually have gone one step more minimal and use a 6ft X 3ft (ish) sheet of 1" ply which rests on the forks of my pallet stacker as a temp workbench. When its not in use it leans against a wall but when in use it gives me a stable, height adjustable assembly platform. Of course you need to own a pallet stacker to make it useful but.....

I was going to start a new thread for this (mini) project, but it really is a continuation of my shop building so I opted to bring this thread back to life. (The shop will never really be 'finished', so I guess this thread will never truly 'die' ...

Anyway, while working with tod in his shop, I had the opportunity to use the vises on tod's kewl bench. He has a pair of the tai-chi clone of the Emmert Patternmakers vises, one on each end of his bench. What a pleasure they were to use...especially after dealing with the little 8" Columbia vise I have on my bench.

Well, I took a few hours the other afternoon and swapped out the Columbia for a single Emmert clone. I was going to get one from Woodcraft, but I found them for over $30 cheaper at Highlands.

Here are some pics to prove it happened...

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The installation was a little trickier than just slapping the Columbia on, but in a few hours I had the clone mounted just fine:

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I really like the way it tilts, rotates, swivels...and best of all it opens WAAAAY up...13" worth!!!

Thanks for lookin'...
- Marty -

Marty,

Nice looking vice,

What is the metal part on the left side of the underside picture used for?

Ken

Marty,
What's the function of the rectangular plate that's screwed to the underside of your bench?

Looks remarkably like the auxiliary swivel jaw tht came with my vise...

I've had my Emmert clone (also from Highland) for about five or six years, and I really like it. I have a 10" Wilton on the other end of the bench, but the Emmert clone sees about two or three times as much use as the Wilton. I did make a new, better fitting, handle for mine, though.

Ken Whitaker said:

Marty,

Nice looking vice,

What is the metal part on the left side of the underside picture used for?

Ken

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Jim DeLaney said:

Marty,
What's the function of the rectangular plate that's screwed to the underside of your bench?

Looks remarkably like the auxiliary swivel jaw tht came with my vise...

I've had my Emmert clone (also from Highland) for about five or six years, and I really like it. I have a 10" Wilton on the other end of the bench, but the Emmert clone sees about two or three times as much use as the Wilton. I did make a new, better fitting, handle for mine, though.

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Ken,

Jim nailed it. That plate is the auxilliary fence that came with the vise. It inserts into the right side of the jaw closest to the bench and allows tapered objects to be more easily gripped.

I didn't think it would see much use, so I drove a few drywall screws into it to keep it in place. Now I'll always know where it is, and it'll be close at hand when/if it becomes needed.

Jim,

I've already started eyeing pieces of scrap around the shop to make a replacement handle...actually, for DENISE to turn me a new handle. Got any pics of the handle you made...and/or pointers for Denise?

- Marty -

Marty Walsh said:

...I've already started eyeing pieces of scrap around the shop to make a replacement handle...actually, for DENISE to turn me a new handle. Got any pics of the handle you made...and/or pointers for Denise?

- Marty -

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No pointers. I sorta cheated, and used a piece of maple that I turned to fit the diameter of the casting - about 1-1/16" if I recall - and then drilled two 2" wooden balls I had left over from another project and glued them onto the ends. I made the new handle a bit longer than the original - 14" or so.

Make sure you deburr the inside of the casting before you install the new handle. Mine had some pretty sharp edged on it that had gouged the original, loose-fitting handle pretty badly.

I also made some half inch poplar jaws for mine, and used magnets to hold them in place.

Nice trick, screwing the aux jaw to the underside of thebench. Mine has been laying in a drawer - unused - ever since I got the vise. With the adjustable jaws on the vise itself, I've just never needed the aux jaw. Maybe someday...

Very cool Marty!!!! Nice to see you have not been lolly gaging around that great workshop. Thanks for the instruction on the vise. It looks like something I should work toward in the near future.

Wow! That is a long thread!

I was sent to this forum by a fellow at SMC because I was looking at solutions for dust collection that can be emptied with a tractor, and he said "Find the longest Thread".

Any clue about which page I should look?

Thanks, Larry

Really long when you consider it started over at SMC! Welcome and I have no idea where it is at, but I remember it.

Larry Edgerton said:

Wow! That is a long thread!

I was sent to this forum by a fellow at SMC because I was looking at solutions for dust collection that can be emptied with a tractor, and he said "Find the longest Thread".

Any clue about which page I should look?

Thanks, Larry

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larry do a search for dust collection by the poster or thread starter ,,marty walsh and if that doesnt work look for another key word

larry merlau said:

larry do a search for dust collection by the poster or thread starter ,,marty walsh and if that doesnt work look for another key word

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Nah, that's no fun. I encourage you to read the whole thing. I have several times. Lots to learn there! But the DC would be in the last 5 pages or so I would think. Jim.

Unfortunately the dust collection is spread out... from finding a great source of pipes, to the fan motor and controls, to the hook-up, to building the dust filter (bag house) and building and rebuilding the trailer, and the final test.

I would start looking around post 1000, but there is a lot to learn by reading the whole thread.