Shop Tour *LOTS OF PICS*

Messages
28
Location
Austria
Hi folks,

Being a great fan of shop tours who can spend hours and hours looking at the photos of other woodworker’s shops I’d like to invite you to a tour through my shop. I’ll will also add a few links to some of the manufacturers of the equipment I own as you might be interested in the stuff that is used in my neck of the woods.
"My" shop isn’t exclusively used by me but also by other members of my family. I’m not really enthused about this because some members of family don't seem to share my passion for keeping the shop clean and organized. Nevertheless, this is the "family woodworking" board so here’s my "family workshop".
Basically, I work in two rooms.

Room No.1:
This is not a shop but a multi-purpose room. Many years ago (I was a young boy at this time with way less tools), it had been used as a shop. Then it was turned into a (chunk and old stuff) storage room. Today, it’s still being used to store stuff in there but last year, when I bought a few stationary machines I just had to adopt it to a "part-time workshop".
I placed my dust collector and my bandsaw in this room. The recently purchased compressor found its place on a shelf next to the dust collector.
As you can see from the pictures, I drilled and chiselled a hole into a wall. A buddy of mine was kind enough to lend me his Hilti TE 16 rotary hammer drill. The "real shop" is located on the other side of this wall. The 120 mm dia suction hose will be replaced with a aluminium pipe as soon as possible. The hole dust collection system should finally look like this: Short 160 mm dia hose from the dust collector to the pipe, pipe through the hole in the wall, long 120 mm dia suction hose on the other end of the pipe, hooked up to tools.

This is my Schuko Profi S 3 dust collector and my small Kaeser air compressor on the shop-built rack:

S3_Mini_01.JPG


I only need to loosen three screws in order to remove the compressor from the shelf. At approx. 65 lbs the compressor it still a portable unit.

Close-up pictures of the dust collector:

S3_03.JPG


Motor_01.JPG


Close-up pictures of the compressor and its rack:

B1704.jpg


B1703.jpg

B1702.jpg


My Hema Garant 400 (16") bandsaw. Hema is probably the most reputable (German) manufacturer of bandsaws in Europe. The Garant types are actually made in Italy and fine-tuned by Hema in Germany. Fine-tuning means that Hema adds the APA bandsaw guides, Hema bandsaw wheels etc. Hema also offers several bandsaws made by themselves in Germany but those were way out of my budget.

Garant 400_02.JPG


The mobile base for the ~ 350 lbs bandsaw is shop-made:

Fahrgestell_01.JPG


Fahrgestell_02.JPG



Room No. 2 – the "real" shop:

These two photos give you an idea what the shop looked like a few years ago:

Werkstatt_alt_01.jpg


Werkstatt_alt_02.jpg


Most recently taken pictures (I shouldn’t have taken them before I cleand up):

Gesamteindruck_01.JPG


Gesamteindruck_02.JPG


So what’s new?

First, I installed a some simple shelves where I store all kind of wood (parts of handrails, parquet floor cut-offs etc.), tool cases, Systainers, guide rails (for my Festool saw and router) and clamps.
Currently, I’m already in the process of planning a cabinet that should be mounted instead of the shelves.

Regal3.jpg


Regal2.jpg


The clamp rack looks "ugly" in the photo but I already improved it.

Regal_Zwingen1.jpg


Next, I replaced the poor-looking shelf (actually, it wasn’t only poor-looking it was really poor) above the three cabinets with a cabinet built from melamine laminated particle board.
Cutting and edge-banding were outsourced, I only installed the hinges, drilled the shelf pin holes, "biscuited” the joints, routed rabbets …

Gesamtbild_02.JPG


I filled the gaps between the cabinet and the walls with small stripes of melamine laminated particle board (sorry, no photo).

Lots of different stuff is stored in this cabinet. I built boxes from cheap pine plywood in order to keep things organized.

Seekiefer-Boxen_04.JPG


Seekiefer-Boxen_03.JPG


Another important improvement was the installation (French cleat) of OSB tool boards. Apparently, there’s still some empty space where I can store chisels (above the screw drivers), hand planes (above the workbench) and clamps (next to the clamps).

Gesamtbild_SS_01.JPG


Gesamtbild_SS_05.JPG


Akkuschrauber_Messen_01.JPG


Bord_01.JPG


Bord_03.JPG


Gesamtbild_OS_03.JPG


Schraubzwingen_02.JPG


Schraubzwingen_01.JPG


Finally, I had to have a jointer and a planer. In Europe, single machines are very uncommon in the hobby woodworker’s range. It’s mostly the companies that produce industrial grade woodworking machines that offer single machines.
Most hobby woodworkers use jointer/planer combo machines and I also decided to purchase such a unit – a Hammer A 3-31. (A review of the machine can be found in the latest FWW magazine.)

A 3-31_02.JPG


A 3-31_07.JPG


The mobile base of the jointer/planer combo (approx. 680 lbs) was also shop-built:

Fahrgestell_04.JPG


Fahrgestell_05.JPG


Fahrgestell_07.JPG


This pictures was taken while I was standing in the "real" shop. It shows the hole for the dust collection plumbing.

Abrichtanschlag_01.JPG


Did I mention that I should build a stand/station for my Makita SCMS? It’s rather inconvenient to cut on the floor.

LS1013_02.JPG


I hope you enjoyed the tour.
Thanks for looking.

Christian
 
Fantastic tour!

We had a Exchange Student from Austria. She was an incredible gal......fluent in 5 languages and highly intelligent. She was from Feldkirk in the Alps, as I recall. We still keep in touch with her, although she's been back in Europe for 8 years.

Where did you purchase your wheels for your shop-made bases? They look very strong. Nice job......your pics gave me some ideas on bases.

Thanks again for the tour.

Arnie
 
Christian, the shop looks great and you have done some great work since the last tour that I saw. The Festool collection is extensive and I hope to have as many as you someday. Festool rocks!!
 
Whoo Hoo!! :thumb:

Boy has your little shop come a long way, man, it is bursting at the seams with great and innovative ideas and the use of space, man I really can appreciate that :clap:

Thanks SO MUCH for taking the time to put that together, it is really nice to see another perspective, not the same old boring "I've got a zillion square feet of space and it gets cold here in the winter" that all them Yanks are always putting up........................ (kidding fellas!! ;) :D)

Neat to see the different plugs and stuff, I guess you run all 240 volt over there, correct?

Thanks again, VERY great job!! :thumb:
 
Thanks for the tour!

Love your mobile bases. The way you built them they don't raise the machinery too high off the floor!

I like the way you do your hand tool storage as well (wrenches, clamps, etc).

No tablesaw or do you use the Festool for that?
 
Thanks for the tour Christian. You have added a lot since I last saw photos of your shop. You continue to make impressive improvements in the small space available to you. :thumb:

In particular, I like the mobile base for your bandsaw. The one I made raises the bandsaw too high off the floor. I want to build a different one and, when I do, I might model it upon yours.

Of course, I continue to be fascinated by all the different tools available to you in Austria.
 
Hi folks,

thanks for your kind words.

Just as an additional information: The "real” shop is about 5.5 x 2.1 x 2.2 m or 18 x 6.9 x 7.2 ft (length x width x height).

We had a Exchange Student from Austria. She was an incredible gal......fluent in 5 languages and highly intelligent. She was from Feldkirk in the Alps, as I recall. We still keep in touch with her, although she's been back in Europe for 8 years.

I’m glad to hear that you have made "good experiences" with people from Austria.

Where did you purchase your wheels for your shop-made bases? They look very strong. Nice job......your pics gave me some ideas on bases.

I purchased the casters at a store called Schachermayer.
The casters are rather heavy-duty (and thus not cheap) because each of them is designed for 180 kg (396 lbs).

The Festool collection is extensive and I hope to have as many as you someday. Festool rocks!!

The Festool collection isn’t really as extensive as it seems according to the number of Systainers. Currently, I own "only” five Festool power tools and – believe or not – I also have five Makita tools (among other brands, of course).

Neat to see the different plugs and stuff, I guess you run all 240 volt over there, correct?

The hand-held power tools (sanders, jigsaw, etc.) are 230 V single phase (that’s the official voltage, years ago it was 220 V) and the stationary equipment uses 400 V three phase. The funny looking plug of the dust collector (easily visible in one of the pics) is a 400 V plug.
Some companies do offer (rather small) stationary tools for 230 V but whenever 400 V is available this is the way to go.

No tablesaw or do you use the Festool for that?

Correct, Travis, I don’t have a table saw. There’s no doubt that I’ve reached the limits of the shop’s capacity. The only more or less big tool that might fit the shop is a drill press.
Other reasons why I don’t own a table saw:
The small units that would have fit my shop before I bought the bandsaw are really expensive here. For example, the Bosch GTS 10 which is the European version of the 4000-09 costs more than EUR 900. This is way more than I’m willing to pay for this kind of saw that gives me mostly ripping capacity but is hardly good for cross cutting larger boards or even sheet goods. So if I bought a saw like this and could finally upgrade to a larger shop one day I would have invested lots of money in a saw that I never really wanted.
This is not going to happen with the bandsaw that also gives me great ripping capacity. This bandsaw will still serve me very well even in a larger shop.
The typical European jobsite table saw (e. g., Mafell Erika) is certainly worth a look but a fully equipped saw (small sliding table, rip fence etc.) costs approx. EUR 2500 and this is "only" EUR 500 less than what Hammer charges for the smallest sliding table saw.
Long story short, if mobility is not an important issue, I don’t think that the cost of the job-site table saws is justified compared to Euro-style sliding table saws.

In particular, I like the mobile base for your bandsaw. The one I made raises the bandsaw too high off the floor. I want to build a different one and, when I do, I might model it upon yours.

Frank, feel free to drop me a line if you need more specifics on the bases.

Of course, I continue to be fascinated by all the different tools available to you in Austria.

To my knowledge, most of my tools are also offered in North America.

Regards,

Christian
 
I really enjoyed the tour Chrisitian. Thanks for going to the trouble.
I love the way you put the walls to work and like everyone else, I like the home made bases too.

DT
 
Hi, Christian, I was wondering why you had been so "Quiet" here on the forum for a while,:huh: but now I see, YOU HAVE BEEN "BUSY, BUSY, BUSY",:D both building things in the shop, AND.....buying lots of new Shop Toys. Your shop has really ADVANCED since I first saw pics of it. It's looking VERY Good, and you have a well rounded assortment of tools in it.:thumb:

Very nice Tour.
 
Thanks, Glenn.

Hi, Christian, I was wondering why you had been so "Quiet" here on the forum for a while,:huh: but now I see, YOU HAVE BEEN "BUSY, BUSY, BUSY",:D both building things in the shop, AND.....buying lots of new Shop Toys. Your shop has really ADVANCED since I first saw pics of it. It's looking VERY Good, and you have a well rounded assortment of tools in it.:thumb:

Very nice Tour.

Thanks for your kind words, Norman. Actually, I haven't posted much in the past few months because I've been busy with less pleasant activities than shopping and building things but nevertheless, I changed a couple of things in and around my shop indeed.

Regards,

Christian
 
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